[Footnote 1:  Leang-shoo, A.D. 630, b. liv. p 11.]

[Footnote 2:  Ts[)i]h-foo yaen-kwei, b. dcccclxi. p. 5.]

The Chinese authors, like the Greeks and Arabians, are warm in their praises of the patriotism of the Singhalese sovereigns, and their active exertions for the improvement of the country, and the prosperity of the people.[1] On state occasions, the king, “carried on an elephant, and accompanied by banners, streamers, and tom-toms, rode under a canopy[2], attended by a military guard."[3]

[Footnote 1:  Ibid.]

[Footnote 2:  The “chatta,” or umbrella, emblematic of royalty.]

[Footnote 3:  Leang-shoo. b. liv. p. 10.]

Throughout all the Chinese accounts, from the very earliest period, there are notices of the manners of the Singhalese, and even minute particulars of their domestic habits, which attest a continued intercourse and an intimate familiarity between the people of the two countries.[1] In this important feature the narratives of the Arabs, who, with the exception of the pilgrimage made with difficulty to Adam’s Peak, appear to have known only the sea-coast and the mercantile communities established there, exhibit a marked difference when compared with those of the Chinese; as the latter, in addition to their trading operations in the south of the island, made their way into the interior, and penetrated to the cities in the northern districts.  The explanation is to be found in the identity of the national worship attracting as it did the people of China to the sacred island, which had become the great metropolis of their common faith, and to the sympathy and hospitality with which the Singhalese welcomed the frequent visits of their distant co-religionists.

[Footnote 1:  This is apparent from the fact that their statements are not confined to descriptions of the customs and character of the male Singhalese, but exhibit internal evidence that they had been introduced to their families, and had had opportunities of noting peculiarities in the customs of the females.  They describe their dress, their mode of tying their hair, their treatment of infants and children, the fact that the women as well as the men were addicted to chewing betel, and that they did not sit down to meals with their husbands, but “retired to some private apartments to eat their food.”]

This interchange of courtesies was eagerly encouraged by the sovereigns of the two countries.  The emperors of China were accustomed to send ambassadors, both laymen and theologians, to obtain images and relics of Buddha, and to collect transcripts of the sacred books, which contained the exposition of his doctrines[1];—­and the kings of Ceylon despatched embassies in return, authorised to reciprocate these religious sympathies and do homage to the imperial majesty of China.

[Footnote 1:  Hiouen-Thsang, Introd.  STANISLAS JULIEN, p. 1.]