[Footnote 4:  Between the years 317 and 420 A.D.—­Journ.  Asiat. tom. xxviii. p. 401.]

In A.D. 670, another ambassador arrived from Ceylon, and A.D. 742, Chi-lo-mi-kia sent presents to the Emperor of China consisting of pearls (perles de feu), golden flowers, precious stones, ivory, and pieces of fine cotton cloth.  At a later period mutual intercourse became frequent between the two countries, and some of the Chinese travellers who resorted to Ceylon have left valuable records as to the state of the island.

[Sidenote:  A.D. 413.]

[Sidenote:  A.D. 432.]

It was during the reign of Maha Nama, about the year 413 A.D., that Ceylon was visited by Fa Hian, and the statements of the Mahawanso are curiously corroborated by the observations recorded by this Chinese traveller.  He describes accurately the geniality of the climate, whose uniform temperature rendered the seasons undistinguishable.  Winter and summer, he says, are alike unknown, but perpetual verdure realises the idea of a perennial spring, and periods for seed time and harvest are regulated by the taste of the husbandman.  This statement has reference to the multitude of tanks which rendered agriculture independent of the periodical rains.

[Sidenote:  A.D. 459.]

Fa Hian speaks of the lofty monuments which were the memorials of Buddha, and of the gems and gold which adorned his statues at Anarajapoora.  Amongst the most surprising of these was a figure in what he calls “blue jasper,” inlaid with jewels and other precious materials, and holding in one hand a pearl of inestimable value.[1] He describes the Bo-tree in terms which might almost be applied to its actual condition at the present day, and he states that they had recently erected a building to contain “the tooth of Buddha,” which was exhibited to the pious in the middle of the third moon with processions and ceremonies which he minutely details.[2] All this corresponds closely with the narrative of the Mahawanso.  The sacred tooth of Buddha, called at that time Datha dhatu, and now the Dalada, had been brought to Ceylon a short time before Fa Hian’s arrival in the reign of Kisti-Sri-Megha-warna, A.D. 311, in charge of a princess of Kalinga, who concealed it in the folds of her hair.  And the Mahawanso with equal precision describes the procession as conducted by the king and by the assembled priests, in which the tooth was borne along the streets of Anarajapoora amidst the veneration of the multitude.[3]

[Footnote 1:  It was whilst looking at this statue that FA HIAN encountered an incident which he has related with touching simplicity:—­“Depuis que FA HIAN avait quitte la terre de Han, plusieurs annees s’etaient ecoulees; les gens avec lesquels il avait des rapports etaient tous des hommes de contrees etrangeres.  Les montagnes, les rivieres, les herbes, les arbres, tout ce qui avait frappe ses yeux