No. 60. — 1908.] barros : history of ceylon. 



33 



man we shall see presently what the same people of the island 

 think. That the Chijs were masters of the Choromandel coast, 

 part of Malabar, and of this island Ceilam, and of those called 

 Maldiva, besides that the natives thereof affirm it, as testimony 

 of it there are buildings, names, and language that they left in 

 it 1 , as did the Romans with regard to us Spaniards 2 , whereby 

 we cannot deny that we were formerly conquered by them. 

 In which island they left (according to what the natives say) 

 a language, which they call Chingalla, and the people them- 

 selves Chingallas, principally those that live from the point of 

 Galle onward on the tract of country facing the south and 

 east. For near to this point they founded a city by name 

 Tanabare, of which a great part is standing today 3 ; and from 

 being close to this Cape Galle, the other people, who lived up 

 above in the middle of the island, called those who dwelt here 

 Chingalla, and their language likewise, as much as to say, 

 " language" or "people of the Chijs of Galle" 4 . The which 

 Chijs gave up voyaging to India because of its consuming 

 so much of their men , ships , and capital 5 ; and the peoples that 

 remained of them, on account of being a mixed race of many and 

 divers regions, abhorred by the dwellers on the sea-coast of the 

 other part of the island opposite to the land of Cape Comori j , 

 left the sea-ports, and betook themselves to the mountain 

 ranges, where they have always dwelt 6 . And of this race are 

 the mountaineers, with whom at present they are at war 7 , and 

 others went to the district of Choromandel, which is on the 

 mainland, where there were many colonies and settlements 



1 That the Chinese ever dominated any territory in India or Ceylon 

 is improbable ; and the arguments Barros adduces are, to say the 

 least, dubious. 



2 Barros rightly says " us Spaniards," since in the time of the Romans 

 the Portuguese did not exist as a separate people (see Morse Stephens's 

 Portugal, chap. i.). 



3 When Barros wrote (about 1560) the famous temple of Dondra was 

 still standing. For an account of its destruction by the Portuguese see 

 infra, p. 375. Of course the statement regarding the foundation of the 

 city is erroneous (c/. Couto, loc. cit.). 



4 This derivation is on a par with the others given by Barros in this 

 chapter. 



6 The real cause of the Chinese withdrawal from Indian and Persian 

 waters was Arab competition. 



6 This idea of a Chinese origin of the inland Sinhalese persisted 

 down to Dutch times (see Bald., chap. i. and the illustrations). 



7 Barros doubtless refers to the fact that when he wrote the Portu- 

 guese and their ally Dom Joao Perea Pandar were at war with Maya- 

 dunne (see Decs. VI. and VII.). 



t> 36-08 



