NO. '43. — 1892.] ANCIENT CHRONICLES OP CEYLON. 163 



a given date, and in a book written by some one else quite 

 independently the same state of things is described under 

 the same date, the accuracy of the historian is established. 

 Thirdly, the history is tested by examination of its own 

 contents. If it contradicts itself, if in an early chapter some- 

 thing is referred to, which in another place of the same book 

 we read came into being much later, — if there are contradic- 

 tions and anachronisms, — the history is so far discredited. 



Of these three, it is to the first two heads that most can be 

 contributed. As to the test of inscriptions and monuments^ 

 there are so many of these in Ceylon, and they do so often 

 illustrate or support the histories, that a great deal may be 

 done in noting these verifications. For instance, the Mahd- 

 wansa tells us that King Parakrama II. in the thirteenth century 

 cleared the road from the Kandy side to Adam's Peak, with 

 particular reference to Ambagamuwa. In Ambagamuwa 

 there is now a stone recording the precautions taken for 

 keeping that path clear. If Mr. Bell* finds on that stone proof 

 of its having been set up by the very king — I do not know 

 whether this is the case or not — whom the Mahdwansa speci- 

 fies, the history is so far confirmed : for the reign of that king 

 at any rate the author had access to trustworthy materials. 

 If of the same king it is related that he planted fruit trees in 

 a certain part of the district of Bentota, and those who are 

 familiar with that district find that there are indications of its 

 having been very early planted, the history is so far confirmed. 



And here I will suggest, though out of its place, a possible 

 test connected with trees. I do not know when the cocoanut 

 was introduced into the Island. But our historian says a good 

 deal about cocoanuts in connection with the reign of the same 

 Parakrama II. in thirteenth century (chap. LXXXVI.). Can 

 we trust the history securely enough to say that the cocoanut 

 had certainly been introduced as early as that, or shall we find 

 from other sources that it was introduced later, and so convict 

 the author of the Mahdwansa of writing from imagination ? 



* Archaeological Commissioner for Ceylon. 



