December i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
417 
ANCIENT INDUSTRIES OF CEYLON. 
(Summary of Paper read by OtEORGE Wall, Esq., at 
the meeting of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal 
Asiatio Society, November 22, 1898.) 
Mr. Wall began by quoting Turnour'o opinion 
that the history of Ceylon from tlie landing of vVijayo 
in ">i'i d. c. was " authenticated by the concurrence 
of every evidence which could contribute to verify 
the annals of any country." History however was 
a record of the doings of rulers and priests, and 
afforded little, if any information, concerning the 
industries of the people. These, being the source of 
all national wealth, might be inferred from the 
facts of the narrative. After some allusions to the 
anoiontimlustries of other countries, ho said that their 
epitaph was inscribed on the monuments they had 
left. If tho Sinhalese had been as careful as the 
Chincso had been to protect their territory and 
treasure from foreign invasion, thoy would have 
had a similar progress, instead of being despoiled 
by their rapacious neighbours. The ancient history 
of the Sinhalese, as shown by their great works, 
advance in art, and moral culture, proves that they 
would have attained a high moral and intellec- 
tual condition. But instead of protecting their 
defenoeless coasts they attracted their enemies by 
lavishing gems and precious metals upon tho 
decoration of their public buildings. The policy 
of the ancient Sinhalese was that of a people too 
intent upon their occupation, to ascend to their 
national interests. They were a domestic, not a 
political people, and continued to be such to the 
present time. Thoy had therefore generally ac- 
quiesced in and acknowledged the supremacy of 
foreign invaders so long as these ruled them with- 
out undue rigor ; when oppressed cruelly they 
turned upon the invaders with fury and expelled 
or extirpated them. Tho character of the people 
aud the nature of their industries could ouly now 
be inferred from the events of history, which 
must have depended on their sinew, either for the 
things done, or for the means of doing them. 
Tennent had stated in his great work on Ceylon, 
that agriculture was unknown here in Wijayo's time 
and fur centuries afterwards, and that the people 
lived on "fruit, honey and the products of the chase," 
but this was quite irreconcilable with the authentic 
facta of history. Wijayo found Yakho sovereigns, 
courts, social institutions, and a considerable degree 
of civilization, a state of things wide as the poles f:om 
that of nomadic tribes, who lived like the Bed 
Indians of America, Bushmen of Australia, or the 
Veddahs of Ceylon. The sovereigns, cities, and 
court dresses of the Sinhalese whom Wijayo con- 
quered, contrasted strongly with Chiefs in war paint 
an 1 leathers, as did also the gems, and precious 
metals and luxuries of the former with the 
scalps, skulls and other savage trophies of the latter. 
The Sinhalese were called Yakhos, and they con- 
tinued to familiarly call each other so to this day. 
It may then have been used by Buddhist his- 
torians, perhaps as the Chineso designate us British, 
as barbarians and foreign devils. After answering 
Tonnont's arguments, and analyzing tho events of tho 
invasion by Wijayo, the lecturer proceeded to show 
that the speedy dispersion of Wijayo's small party, 
ho to scltlo in Tambapanni, and they to found 
settlements in widely separated parts of the island, 
was a proof that thoBe parts wcro populated, and by 
a peaceful people. In further proof he adduced the 
fact of a great embassy to Madura with costly presents 
10 select a wife for tho newly established monarch. 
This embassy wa9 received by 1'auduwo with 
gnat favour, and he, deoidinfl to send his own 
daughter as tho bride, invited his nobles to send 
thoirs to accompany her to " renowned Sihala." Tho 
68 
bridoand 700 noble ladies were then despatched with 
magnificent presents of slaves, chariots, and horses 
in charge of 18 ollicers of state, and a great retinue. 
Such a cortige would never have been despatched, 
to a country inhabited by demons, or savages, 
but could only, in fact, have been received amongst 
a peaceful people who had a settled government, 
and resources adequate to the maintenance of a 
court. The king of Madura must have been fully 
satisfied on these points, or he would not have sent 
his own daughter nor have bestowed on her such 
costly and luxurious dowry. These aud other col- 
lateral facts proved incontestably that Ceylon pos- 
sessed civilization and wealth anterior to Wijayo's 
landing. This was corroborated by recent philo- 
logical researches, which had satisfactorily proved that 
the Sinhalese language was spoken long previously, 
and Mr. Spenco Hardy had expressed his conviction 
that the people of that time were very far from being so 
rude and barbarous as thoy were generally regarded. 
Tho lecturer closed by adducing a number of tho 
authentic facts of the history to prove that the 
country must have possessed considerable wealth to 
have enabled them to achieve the great works which 
were undoubtedly done during the reign of the con- 
queror, and his immediate successor. A comparison 
of these works with what had been done in Ceylon 
during nearly a century of British occupation with 
the advantages of several millions of imported 
capital, utilized by some thousands of Britain's 
most energetic sons, employing modern appliances, 
and with the aid of nearly 300,000 imported Tamil 
coolies in a time of undisturbed peace, could not fail 
to convince tho most sceptical persons of the great 
resources of Ceylon live centuries before the Christian 
era. 
The reading of the paper over, 
The Chairman said : — I am sure I shall be only 
acting in accordance with the wishes of the mem- 
bers as well as the custom of the Socitty in 
inviting discussion on the paper and reminding 
those present — visitors as well as members of tho 
Society — that they are invited to take part in it. 
Mr. A. M. Ferguson, c.m.c;., thereupon rose 
and said : — 1 am placed at a great disadvantage 
in off ering any observations on the very able paper 
to which we have listened by the fact that I had 
no knowledge of its contents until I heard it read. 
The practice of the Parent Society I understand 
is, that, when papers are passed by the Beading 
Committee, they are printed and very confidentially 
communicated to members before the meeting, so 
that they may come prepared to make such obser- 
vations as may occur to them . and I submit that 
it might be well, in the case of this Society, to 
adopt that practice. One eflcct which it would 
have would be that the papers being in type 
would be printed in the proceedings of the So- 
ciety within a reasonable period. At present, it is 
quite on the cards that a paper read in 1S80 may 
not appear in the proceedings till IS'.MJ. (A 
laugh.) Having said so much, 1 would like lirst 
of ull to remark, in fairness to Tennent, that 
Mr. Wall has, curiously enough, omitted a very 
important fact mentioned by him. Tho absence of 
the notice of any particular product in the old 
records is of very little value, because, us Mr. 
Wall has pointed out, tho records being made 
by Buddhist priests, they confined themselves 
very - much to what concerned the Buddhist 
church and monarchy. Cinnamon, strikingly 
enough, is not mentioned, and that has led 
to very great debate as to whether cinnamon 
is or is not indigenous to Ceylon, but, in 
tho caso of agriculture, Tennent mentions tho fact 
that tho Queen had to provido her guest: with 
rice from a wrecked vessel. Now, if rice were colli - 
