Early Exports of Ceylon.—­The native historians give an account of the exports of Ceylon, which corresponds in all particulars with the records left by the early travellers and merchants, Greek, Roman, Arabian, Indian, and Chinese.  They consisted entirely of natural productions, aromatic drugs, gems, pearls, and shells; and it is a strong evidence of the more advanced state of civilisation in India at the same period that, whilst the presents sent from the kings of Ceylon to the native princes of Hindustan and the Dekkan were always of this precious but primitive character, the articles received in return were less remarkable for the intrinsic value of the material, than for the workmanship bestowed upon them.  Devenipiatissa sent by his ambassadors to Asoca, B.C. 306, the eight varieties of pearls, viz., haya (the horse), gaja (the elephant), ratha (the chariot wheel), maalaka (the nelli fruit), valaya (the bracelet), anguliwelahka (the ring), kakudaphala (the kabook fruit), and pakatika, the ordinary description.  He sent sapphires, lapis lazuli[1], and rubies, a right hand chank[2], and three bamboos for chariot poles, remarkable because their natural marking resembled the carvings of flowers and animals.

[Footnote 1:  Lapis lazuli is not found in Ceylon, and must have been brought by the caravans from Budakshan.  It is more than once mentioned in the Mahawanso, ch. xi. p. 69; ch. xxx. p. 185.]

[Footnote 2:  A variety of the Turbinella rapa with the whorls reversed, to which the natives attach a superstitions value; professing that a shell so formed is worth its weight in gold.]

The gifts sent by the king of Magadha in return, indicate the advanced state of the arts in Bengal, even at that early period:  they were “a chowrie (the royal fly flapper), a diadem, a sword of state, a royal parasol, golden slippers, a crown, an anointing vase, asbestos towels, to be cleansed by being passed through the fire, a costly howdah, and sundry vessels of gold.”  Along with these was sacred water from the Anotatto lake and from the Ganges, aromatic and medicinal drugs, hill paddi and sandal-wood; and amongst the other items “a virgin of royal birth and of great personal beauty."[1]

[Footnote 1:  Mahawanso ch, xi. pp. 69, 70.]

Early Imports.—­Down to a very late period, gems, pearls, and chank shells continued to be the only products taken away from Ceylon, and cinnamon is nowhere mentioned in the Sacred Books as amongst the exports of the island.[1] In return for these exports, slaves, chariots, and horses were frequently transmitted from India.  The riding horses and chargers, so often spoken of[2], must necessarily have been introduced from thence, and were probably of Arab blood; but I have not succeeded in discovering to what particular race the “Sindhawa” horses belonged, of which four purely white were harnessed to the state carriage of Dutugaimunu.[3] Gold cloth[4], frankincense, and sandal-wood were brought from India[5], as was also a species of “clay” and of “cloud-coloured stone,” which appear to have been used in the construction of dagobas.[6] Silk[7] and vermilion[8] indicate the activity of trade with China; and woollen cloth[9] and carpets[10] with Persia and Kashmir.