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



87 



Qamatra in the middle, and it does not extend on one side and 

 the other towards the poles more than five degrees : whereby 

 those that live at the point of Day a, which is the most north- 

 erly, do not see that star at an elevation of more than five 

 degrees ; and in the same manner those that live at the other 

 end in the direction of the arctic scarcely get a glimpse of it : 

 which is contrariwise in Ceilao, because those that live at the 

 point of Jafanapatao see the arctic pole at an elevation of 

 eight and a half degrees ; and those that dwell at the point 

 of Gale (which is the most southerly) see it at an elevation of 

 five. Hence it is clearly seen that the latter is Tapobrana,, 

 which at that time extended to two degrees south ; and that the 

 Colaicum Promontorium of Pliny and the Comori of Ptolemy 

 is to be found in Cape Comorim we hold as indubitable : 

 because at that time, and many years afterwards, the king- 

 dom of Coulao was the greatest in the whole of Malavar, 

 and extended to about the shoals of Chilao 1 ; and as that Cape 

 Comorim belonged to that kingdom, and is one of the famous 

 ones of the world, it was denominated by Pliny Colaicum 

 Promontorium, as much as to say, " the promontory of 

 Coulao," or " of the kingdom of Coulao." And Ptolemy's 

 calling it Cori Promontorium may well be from the town of 

 Titi Cori, which lies beyond it, and which at that time would 

 be an important place and frequented by strangers, wherefore 

 Ptolemy gave that cape its name. 2 And for this reason, and 

 for others that we omit, it appears to us that this island of 

 Ceilao is that of Jambulus 3 , of which Diodorus Siculus 4 

 makes mention at the end of the second book of the abbrevia- 

 tion of his history, which Baptista Ramnusio and others make 

 Qamatra. 



And it has given us no little trouble 5 trying to find whence 

 this name of Tapobrana had its beginning and origin, which 

 we have turned over in our mind many times : because in the 

 whole island of Ceilao there is not a port, bay, city, town, 

 promontory, spring, or river, that bears any resemblance to 



1 Of. Barb. 157 et seq. 



2 Like most of Couto's etymological explanations of place-names, the 

 above are merely pour rire. 



3 Here Valentyn has met the deserved fate of literary pirates. Mis- 

 taking his original, he has made himself ridiculous by saying " it appears 

 to us that this island of Ceylon is also the same as Sambola [ate]," &c. ! 

 He evidently thought the writer Iambulus was an island 1 



4 See McCrindle's Anc. Ind. 204. 



5 Valentyn is not ashamed of deliberately lying, by taking over these 

 words. 



