“Se[)i]h-lan is situated in Southern India, and is a large island in the sea, on the south-east coast, its circumference being about 1000 le (300 miles), having in the centre lofty mountains; on the coast the land is low and marshy.  The country is characterised by much rain and constant thunder.  The hills and valleys are beautifully ornamented with flowers and trees of great variety and beauty, the cries of the animals rejoicing together fill the air with gladness, and the landscape abounds with splendour.  In the forests are many elephants, and the natives use them instead of draught oxen or horses.  The people are all of the Buddhistic religion; it is said that Buddha was born here:  he was born with an excessive number of teeth.  The grain is not sufficient for the inhabitants, and they depend for food on the various districts of India.  Gems are found in the hills, and pearls on the sea coast; the cinnamon that is produced in the country is excellent, and much superior to that of Kwang-se.  In the middle of the Ming dynasty, the Portuguese seized upon Se[)i]h-lan and established marts on the sea coast, which by schemes the Hollanders took from them.  In the first year of Kia-King (1795), the English drove out the Hollanders and took possession of the sea coast.  At this time the people of Se[)i]h-lan, on account of their various calamities or invasions, lost heart.  Their city on the coast, called Colombo, was attacked by the English, and the inhabitants were dispersed or driven away; then the whole island fell into the hands of the English, who eventually subjected it.  The harbour for rendezvous on the coast is called Ting-ko-ma-le.”

To this the Chinese commentator adds, on the authority of a work, from which he quotes, entitled, “A Treatise on the Diseases of all the Kingdoms of the Earth:”—­

“The Kingdom of Se[)i]h-lan was anciently called Lang-ya-sew; the passage from Soo-mun-ta-che (Sumatra), with a favourable wind, is twelve days and nights; the country is extensive, and the people numerous, and the products abundant, but inferior to Kiva-wa (Java).  In the centre are lofty mountains, which yield the A-k[)u]h (crow and pigeon) gems; after every storm of rain they are washed down from the hills, and gathered among the sand.  From Chang-tsun, Lin-yih in the extreme west, can be seen.  In the foreign language, the high mountain is called Se[)i]h-lan; hence the name of the island.  It is said Buddha (Sh[)i]h-ka) came from the island of Ka-lon (the gardens of Buddha), and ascended this mountain, on which remains the trace of his foot.  Below the hill there is a monastery, in which they preserve the nee-pwan (a Buddhistic phrase, signifying the world; literally rendered, his defiling or defiled vessel) and the Shay-le-tsze, or relics of Buddha.