Upon trade the natives appear to have looked at all times with indifference.  Other nations, both of the east and west of Ceylon, made the island their halting-place and emporium; the Chinese brought thither the wares destined for the countries beyond the Euphrates, and the Arabians and Persians met them with their products in exchange; but the Singhalese appear to have been uninterested spectators of this busy traffic, in which they can hardly be said to have taken any share.  The inhabitants of the opposite coast of India, aware of the natural wealth of Ceylon, participated largely in its development, and the Tamils, who eagerly engaged in the pearl fishery, gave to the gulf of Manaar the name of Salabham, “the sea of gain."[l]

[Footnote 1:  The Tamils gave the same name to Chilaw, which was the nearest town to the pearl fishery (and which Ibn Batuta calls Salawat); and eventually they called the whole island Salabham.]

Native Shipping.—­The only mention made of native ships in the sacred writings of the Singhalese, is in connection with missions, whether for the promotion of Buddhism, or for the negotiation of marriages and alliances with the princes of India.[1] The building of dhoneys is adverted to as early as the first century, but they were only intended by a devout king to be stationed along the shores of the island, covered by day with white cloths, and by night illuminated with lamps, in order that from them priests, as the royal almoners, might distribute gifts and donations of food.[2]

[Footnote 1:  TURNOUR’S Epitome, App. p. 73.]

[Footnote 2:  By King Maha Dailiya, A.D. 8. Mahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 211; Rajavali, p. 228; Rajaratnacari, p. 52.]

The genius of the people seems to have never inclined them to a sea-faring life, and the earliest notice which occurs of ships for the defence of the coast, is in connection with the Malabars who were taken into the royal service from their skill in naval affairs.[1] A national marine was afterwards established for this purpose, A.D. 495, by the King Mogallana.[2] In the Suy-shoo, a Chinese history of the Suy dynasty, it is stated that in A.D. 607, the king of Ceylon “sent the Brahman Kew-mo-lo with thirty vessels, to meet the approaching ships which conveyed an embassy from China."[3] And in the twelfth century, when Prakrama I. was about to enter on his foreign expeditions, “several hundreds of vessels were equipped for that service within five months."[4]

[Footnote 1:  B.C. 247. Mahawanso, ch. xxi. p. 127.]

[Footnote 2:  Mahawanso, ch. xl.  TURNOUR’S MS. Transl.]

[Footnote 3:  Suy-shoo, b. lxxxi. p. 3.]

[Footnote 4:  TURNOUR’S Epitome, &c., App. p. 73.]

It is remarkable that the same apathy to navigation, if not antipathy to it, still prevails amongst the inhabitants of an island, the long sea-borde of which affords facilities for cultivating a maritime taste, did any such exist.  But whilst the natives of Hindustan fit out sea-going vessels, and take service as sailors for distant voyages, the Singhalese, though most expert as fishers and boatmen, never embark in foreign vessels, and no instance exists of a native ship, owned, built, or manned by Singhalese.