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



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it appears that in his time it had the same magnitude ; and the 

 natives affirm, and hold it to be fully confirmed by their 

 writings, that formerly this island was so large, that it joined 

 on to the islands of Mai diva, and that in course of time the 

 sea consumed it at that part, covering it in the manner in 

 which it is seen today ; and that the highest parts remained 

 separated into many islands, as they lie today stretching in 

 a line in the rumb that seamen call north-west and south-east, 

 in which they assert that there are more than thirty thousand 

 islands. And already in the time of the same Ptolemy, who 

 lived in the year of our Lord 143, it appears that the sea had 

 begun to cause this devastation : because he says that around 

 Tapobrana there were one thousand three hundred and 

 seventy -eight islands. And with regard to the freedman of 

 Annius being carried -by the winds from Arabia in fifteen days 

 to Tapobrana, it is very clear that Ceilao is spoken of, which 

 lies five hundred leagues from the coast of Arabia, which is 

 the most that can be sailed in fifteen days. And this island 

 lies on the coast of India beyond Carmania ; and Qamatra is 

 outside the whole of India, and many leagues beyond the 

 Ganges ; and simply to go from Ceilao to Camatra other fifteen 

 days with a stern wind are needed. 



And in addition to all these proofs we find today in Ceilao 

 vestiges of Roman buildings, which shows that they formerly 

 had communication with that island. And we may even say 

 more, that in it were found the same coins that this freedman 

 took, when Joao de Mello de Sao Payo was captain of Manar in 

 Ceilao, in the year of our Lord 1574 or 1575 1 , in excavating 

 some buildings that stand on the other side in the territories 

 that they call Mantota, where even today there appear here 

 and there very large ruins of Roman masonry work ; and 

 whilst some workmen were engaged in taking out stone, they 

 came upon the lowest part of a piece of foundation, and on 

 turning it over they found an iron chain of such strange fashion 

 that there was not in the whole of India a craftsman who 

 would undertake to make another like it. And they also 

 found two copper coins, one quite worn, and another of base 

 gold, likewise worn on one side, and on the other could still 

 be made out the figure of a man, from the breast upwards, 

 with a piece of lettering around worn away in some parts, 

 but there could still be made out clearly at the beginning this 

 letter C, the following ones being worn away, and the lettering 



1 This must, I think, be an error for " 1584 or 1585," since Joao de 

 Mello was captain of Mannar in 1587-8 (see infra, pp. 305, 361), and it 

 is improbable that he had held the post for so long a period. 



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