60 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XII. 



rice boiler was of gold." Supposing the throne of ivory and 

 the festoons of pearls were Oriental exaggerations, there is 

 the undoubted ring of simple truth in the mention of the 

 rice boiler. 



Such being the facts of the history recorded in the Mahd- 

 wansa, and such the tenour of the story of the first four 

 centuries, what becomes of the dictum that at the time of 

 Wijayo's landing and for several centuries afterwards there 

 was no regular agriculture, and that the people subsisted on 

 fruits, honey, and the products of the chase ? 



Mr. Senathi Raja having expressed regret that being 

 away from Colombo had prevented him hearing some of the 

 previous Papers of the series of the " History of the 

 Ancient Industries of Ceylon" contributed by Mr. Wall, 

 said that he had found the Paper read that night extremely 

 interesting, especially from an antiquarian point of view. 

 He thought it had been shown from the materials found in 

 the Mahdwansa chat agriculture was in an advanced state in 

 Ceylon at the time of Wijayo's landing. Any one who 

 studied the historic incidents recorded could hardly doubt 

 that fact. They read of tanks and of princes being employed 

 in agriculture, and perhaps the Island was divided into 

 several provinces, as England was in the time of the Hep- 

 tarchy. There was mention also of such towns as Larika- 

 pura and Siriwardhanapura. Besides these deductions there 

 was external evidence that there was agriculture at the time 

 of Wijayo's arrival. He believed it was now admitted by 

 most Orientalists that the Phoenicians had commercial 

 relationships with Southern India at very early times, as 

 early as perhaps the time of King Solomon, and Ceylon 

 being so near Southern India it was highly improbable that 

 agriculture should be unknown. Possibly the question 

 might arise as to who the inhabitants were. They were in 

 all probablity Nagas and Yakkos, and the coasts were 

 inhabited perhaps by Dravidian people ; and they read of a 

 Brahman village shortly after Wijayo's arrival. It was 

 therefore highly probable that agriculture was in a very 

 advanced condition in Ceylon at that period. 



The Chairman (the Lord Bishop of Colombo) said he 

 might be allowed to offer some criticism of the Paper. And 

 there was one criticism which he had ventured to make 

 before, on hearing one of the previous Papers of this valuable 

 series, and which he would repeat briefly in order to add 

 something to it. 



