King of Portugal.  The Arachy having arrived and delivered the presents to the King of Portugal, obtained the promise of great assistance,” &c.—­Rajavali, p. 286.  See also VALENTYN, Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, ch. vi.; TURNOUR’S Epitome, p. 49; RIBEYRO’S History, trans, by Lee, ch. v.  But as the embassy sent to the Emperor Claudius would necessarily have been deputed by one of the kings of the Wijayan dynasty, it is more than probable that the rank of the envoy was Indian rather than Singhalese, and that “Rachia” means raja rather than arachy.

It may, however, be observed that Rackha is a name of some renown in Singhalese annals.  Rackha was the general whom Prakrama Bahu sent to reduce the south of Ceylon when in arms in the 12th century (Mahawanso, ch. lxxiii.); and it is also the name of one of the heroes of the Paramas.  WILFORD, As.  Res., vol. ix. p. 41.]

The Singhalese king of whom this is recorded was probably Chanda-Mukha-Siwa, who ascended the throne A.D. 44, and was deposed and assassinated by his brother A.D. 52.  He signalised his reign by the construction of one of those gigantic tanks which still form the wonders of the island.[1] From his envoys Pliny learned that Ceylon then contained five hundred towns (or more properly villages), of which the chief was Palaesimunda, the residence of the sovereign, with a population of two hundred thousand souls.

[Footnote 1:  Mahawanso, ch. xxx. p. 218; TURNOUR’S Epitome, p. 21; AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS mentions another embassy which arrived from Ceylon in the reign of the Emperor Julian, l. xx. c. 7, and which consequently must have been despatched by the king Upa-tissa II.  I have elsewhere remarked, that it was in this century that the Singhalese appear to have first commenced the practice of sending frequent embassies to distant countries, and especially to China. (See chapter on the Knowledge of Ceylon possessed by the Chinese.)]

They spoke of a lake called Megisba, of vast magnitude, and giving rise to two rivers, one flowing by the capital and the other northwards, towards the continent of India, which was most likely an exaggerated account of some of the great tanks, possibly that of Tissaweva, in the vicinity of Anarajapoora.  They described the coral which abounds in the Gulf of Manaar; and spoke of marble, with colours like the shell of the tortoise; of pearls and precious stones; of the luxuriance of the soil, the profusion of all fruits except that of the vine, the natural wealth of the inhabitants, the mildness of the government, the absence of vexatious laws, the happiness of the people, and the duration of life, which was prolonged to more than one hundred years.  They spoke of a commerce with China, but it was evidently overland, by way of India and Tartary, the country of the Seres being visible, they said, beyond the Himalaya mountains.[1] The ambassadors described the mode of trading among their own countrymen precisely as it is practised by the Veddahs in Ceylon at the present day[2]; the parties to the barter being concealed from each other, the one depositing the articles to be exchanged in a given place, and the other, if they agree to the terms, removing them unseen, and leaving behind what they give in return.