ticularly mentioned by Marco Paolo a Venetian, who visited the east in the thirteenth century.

Our countryman Sir John Maundevile, who travelled nearly about the same time with Paolo, relates very accurately that it is eight hundred miles in circumference*.

* The following extract from his work is added, as a curiosity which may gratify some readers:

"The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundevile, Kt. which treateth of the Way to Hieusalem; and of Marvayles of Inde, with other Ilands and Countryes. Now published entire from an Original MS. in the Cottonian Library about 300 years old.-London: Printed for Woodman and Lyon, in Russel Street, Covent Garden, and C. Davis, in Hatton Garden. 1727."

Cap. XVIII. p. 238. "Fro this Lond men gon to another yle, that is clept Silha: and it is welle a 800 Myles aboute. In that Lond is full mochelle waste: for it is full of serpentes, of Dragouns, and of Cockadrilles; that no man dar duelle there. Theise Cocodrilles ben Serpentes, zalowe and rayed aboven, and han 4 feet and schorte Thyes and grete Nayles, as Clees or Talouns: and there been some that han 5 Fadme in lengthe, and sume of 6 and of 8, and of 10: and when thei gon be places, that ben gravelly, it semethe as though men hadde drawen a grete Tree thorghe the gravelly place. And there ben also many wylde Bestes, and namelyche of Olifauntes. In that yle is a gret Mountayne; and in mydd place of the Mount, is a gret lake in a fulle fair Pleyne, and there is gret plentee of Watre. And thei of the Contree seyn, that Adam and Eve wepten upon that Mount an 100 Zeer, whan thei weren dryven out of Paradys. And that Watre, thei seyn, is of here Teres: for so much Watre thei wepten, that made the forseyde Lake. And in the botme of that Lake, men fynden many precious Stones and grete Perles. In that Lake growen many Reedes and grete Cannes: and there with inne ben many Cocodrilles and Serpentes and grete watre Leches." Cap. XXX. p. 364. 364. "Toward the Est partye of Prestre Johnes Lond, is an yle gode and gret, that men clepen Taprobane, that is fulle noble, and full fructuous: and the Kyng thereof is fulle ryche, and is undre the obeyssance of Prestre John. And alle weys there thei make hire Kyng be Eleccyoun. In that Ile ben 2 Someres and 2. Wyntres; and men hervesten the corn twyes a Zeer. And in alle the Cesouns of the Zeer

Its general direction is nearly north and south: the length from Dondra-head to Point Pedro is two hundred and eighty miles: the greatest breadth, from Columbo to Komary, one hundred and fifty. On the south and east sides it is washed by the great Indian ocean: on the west it is bounded by the gulph of Manaar, which separates it from the coast of Coromandel: the north point stretches into the bay of Bengal; and the southern extremity extends nearly two degrees beyond Cape Comorin. The nearest passage to the Indian peninsula is by the small islands of Manaar, and Ramisseram, commonly called Rama's, or Adam's Bridge, and measures nearly thirty miles.

The island, which forms the subject of the present work, is the Tabrobane of the Greeks and Romans, although they have differed widely in their descriptions of it. Concerning its ancient state, and the revolutions which it has undergone, history affords us but little precise information. Prior to the age of Alexander the Great, who died three hundred and twenty-three years before the birth of Christ, the name of Tabrobane was unknown in Europe. From that period

ben the Gardynes florisht. There dwellen gode folk and resonable, and manye Cristene men amonges hem, that ben so riche, that thei wyte not what to done with their Godes. Of olde tyme, whan men passed from the Lond of Prestre John unto that yle, men maden ordynance for to pass by Schippe, 23 dayes or more: but now men passen by Schippe in 7 dayes. And men may see the botme of the See in many places: for it is not fulle depe."

"Sir John Maundevile, was a native of the town of S. Albans, and died at Leege in the yeere 1371."

until the landing of the Portuguese on the island in the year of our Lord 1505, the various accounts transmitted concerning it are often confused, and sometimes contradictory. One description, representing it as stretching several degrees on each side of the equator, accords not with the situation of Ceylon, but is applicable to the larger island of Sumatra, which forms the western boundary of the eastern Archipelago. Every thing that relates to this island is well described in Marsden's elegant History. Doubts have even been entertained whether Tabrobane was a name given to any particular island, or only a general title expressing the ultimate limits of ancient discovery. The Sanscrit name of Ceylon, however, is Tapobon, a word implying the wilderness of prayer; the hallowed groves consecrated to devotion, whither pious pilgrims repaired from the farthest corners of India to offer gifts and adorations to the unknown God.

This name is also derived by Mr. Duncan, in the Asiatic Researches, from Tapoo Rawan, the island of Rawan the Giant, who, according to the Indian mythology, fought with Rama on this very spot.

The island is called by the natives Lanca* (or the Holy Land), which is the name it still bears, in the Cingalese

* "Antiquissima itaque hujus insulæ appellatio, si vera narrant Taprobanensium annales, videtur fuisse Lamcab, vel Lamca. Terram sanctam id interpretantur Malabarri Taprobanensium aborigines." Pomp. Melam, Lib. iii. Cap. vii.

Is. Vos. Obser. Ad

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and Malabar languages, on the government paper currency. The names of Ilanare and Tenasserim, which have also been given to it, are supposed to be of Sanscrit origin, and to denote Plenty. That of Palesimundo, which is mentioned by Ptolemy, has not yet found a satisfactory derivation. It is said by this author, and by others subsequent to him, to be a corruption of Salice (Eán); and the inhabitants are said to have been called Salæ (áλ). That of Zeilan, or Ceylon, by which it is now known, is derived most probably from Sinhal the Lions, the name by which the natives of the island are still denominated as Cingalese, from the Indian word Sing, a Lion. From Singal, or Sinhal-Dwipa, the Lion-Island, may have been derived the Sielendiba (dißa) of Cosmas Indopleustes, who wrote in the seventh century, and the Serendib of the Arabians, by which name it is called by all the nations which profess the religion of Mahomet.

After Don Lorenzo Almeyda reached the shores of Ceylon in 1505, the Portuguese maintained a superiority in the island for one hundred and fifty-three years; during which time they were engaged in constant struggles with the natives, and latterly with the Dutch, who succeeded in expélling them in the year 1658. The dominion of the States General continued, with little interruption, until the years 1795 and 1796, when the coasts of Ceylon were finally taken possession of by the British arms.

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By the fifth article of the treaty of Amiens in 1802, the Batavian republic ceded and guaranteed, in full property and sovereignty, to his Britannic Majesty, all the possessions and establishments in the island, which, previous to the war, belonged to the republic of the United Provinces, or to the Dutch East-India Company."

The territory which now belongs to Great Britain forms a belt round the island, extending, in some places, not more than six, in others thirty, and on the northern side even sixty, miles into the interior country. The inland provinces, cut off from all communication with the sea, and occupying the greater part of the island, are still retained by the king of Candy, whose capital is situate in the centre of his dominions.

Almost the whole circumference of the coast is lined with a sandy beach, and a broad border of cocoa-nut trees, behind which are seen double and treble ranges of lofty mountains covered with wood. The south-east coast, viewed from the sea, is particularly picturesque and romantic. The country, in the highest degree mountainous, presents hills beyond hills, many beautiful and verdant, others huge and rocky, of extraordinary shapes, resembling ruined battlements, ancient castles, and lofty pyramids. The northern parts of the island are flat, and frequently indented with shallow inlets of the sea.

The interior, or Candian territories, contain many hun