Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1117

 TAPEOBANE. Head of the Holy Law, which is confirmed by another name of analogous character, Andrasimundu (Ptol. vii. 4). a promontory now called Ccdpentyn (Mannert, /. c. p. 211). The ancient city noticed by Pliny, with the royal palace, must be that elsewhere called Anurogrammon, and by the natives Anurajdpura, the royal scat of empire from b. c. 267 to A. d. 769 {Mahawanso, Intr. p. Ixi.). (For other de- rivations of Palaesimundu, see Dodwell, Dissert. de Geogr. Min. p. 95; Wahl, Erdheschr. ii. p. 68-1; Eenaudot, Anc. Relat. des Indes, p. 133; Jlalte- Brun, Precis de Geogr. iv. 113; Mannert, i. p. 210; Paolino-a-St. Barth, Voyage aux hides, ii. p. 482.) The conjecture of Wilford (^As. Res. x. p. 148) that it may be Sumatrct. and of Heeren (<Soc. Reg. Getting, vol. vii. p. 32) that it is the town of " Pontgemolle," do not need refutation. The other names which this island has borne appear to have been as follow: Salice, with its in- habitants, the Salae, Serendivus, Sielediba, Serendib, Zeilan, Ceylon. These are all closely cotmnected and in reality euphonic modifications of one ori- ginal form. The first, Salice, — perhaps more cor- rectly Saline, — which seems to have been in use when Ptolemy wrote the common name of Taprobane (Z. c), is certainly derivable from Sinala, the Pali form ul Sinhala (^Mahaio. cap. vii. p. 50): from this Would naturally come the SisAe of Cosmas (Cosm. Indicopl. l.c. theterminationof this name, 5i§a, being nothing more than the Sanscrit d'vipa, an island. (Cf. in the same neighbourhood the Lakkarfwe and ^hidlve islands.) The slight and 'common inter- change of the L and R gives the Serendivus of Aiiimianus (xxii. 7). From this, again, we obtain llio more modern forms of the Arabic, Dutch, and English. Sinhala would mean the abode of lions — which word is found with the same sense, and the form Sengkialo, in the narrative of the Chinese travel- lers who visited Ceylon in a. d. 412. (^Foe-koue-ki, p. sli., cf. p. 328, Annot. p. 336). Besides these luunes there is one other whereby alone this island is known in the sacred Brahminical writings. This i.^ Lanka (see Mahdbh. ii. 30, v. 1177, iii. c. 278, cvc). It is most likely that this name had passed (Hit of use before the time of Alexander, as it is not mentioned by any of the classical writers : it has bi'cn, however, preserved by the Buddhists, as may be scon from the notices in the Mahaicanso (pp. 2, ■3, 49, &c.). (Comp. also Colebrooke, £■««. ii. p. 427; Davis in As. Res. ii. p. 229.) Ceylon is a very mountainous island, the greater mjusses being grouped toward.s the southern end, and forming thereby the watershed for most of its rivers. The ancients had a tolerably accurate know- li'dgc of the position of these hills. To the N. were the Montes Galibi, terminating in a promontory lulled Boreum (now Cape Pedro), and overlooking the principal capital, Anurdjapura. To the S. the doubtless a form derived from the San.scrit Mala, a mountain. The centre of this group is the well- known Adams Peak — in the native Pali language, Siimana Kiita (the Mountain of the Gods) (Uphani, S:icred Books of Ceylon, iii. p. 202), and the high land now called Neura-Ellia. Tlic ]irincipal rivers of Ceylon, as known to the .•iiieients, were the Phasis, which flowed from the Jlnntes (lalihi in a northern direction; the Ganges (now JiJahdvali- Ganga), the chief of all the streams whereby the island is watered, the prin- cipal source of which is in the S. range, of which TAPEOBAXE. 1093 Adams Peak is the pre-eminent moui.tain (Brooke on Jlaliavella- Ganga, Ray. Geograph. Jnnrn. iii. p. 223), and whose course is nearly NE.; the Baraces, which rose in the SI. Jlalea, and flowed SE.; and the Soanas, which flows from the same source in a westerly direction. Besides these rivers was the celebrated lake called Jlegisba. the size of which has been extravagantly overstated by Pliny (vi. 22. s. 24). It is probable that this lake was formed by the connecting together of several great tanks, many remains of which still exist; and thus Forbiger suggests that it may be near the mouths of the A/aAifwa/i'-Gaw^n, in which neighbourhood there are still extraordinary remains of canals, earthworks, &c. (Brooke, I. c). It was on the shores of this lake that Pliny placed the capital Palaesimundum, with a population of 200,000 souls. The i.sland was ricii in towns and peoples, which are not clearly distinguished by ancient writers; of these the Anurogrammi with the town Anurogrammon (now Annrdjdpurd) is the most important. The great- ness of this place, which was the royal residence of the kings from B.C. 267 to a.d. 769 {Maha- wanso, Introd. p. Ixi.), is shown by the vast remains which still exist on the spot. (Chapman, Ancient Anurdjapura, in Trans. Roy. As. Soe. ii. pi. ii. p. 463). Other less known peoples and places were the Soani, Sandocandae, Rhogandani, Danae (now Tangalle), the Morduli with their seaport Mor- dulamne, the Nagadibi, Spartana (now Trinco- mali), JIaagrammon (probably Tamankadawe), and the Modutti. For these and many more we are in- debted to Ptolemy, who from his own account (i. 17. § 4), examined the journals and conversed with several persons who had visited the island. It is a strong confirmation of what he states, that a con- siderable number of the names preserved can be re-produced in the native Indian form. The people who inhabited the island were for the most part of Indian descent, their language being very nearly connected with the Pali, one of the most widely spread Indian dialects. To this race belong all the monuments which remain of its former greatness, together with a very curi<ms and authentic series of annals which have been of late brought to light by the exertions of Sir Alexander Jolmston and the critical acumen of Mr. Tumour (^Alaha- wanso) and Upham (^Sacr. Hist. Books). There are, however, still existing in the island some few specimens of a wholly different race, locally known by the name of the Veddahs. These wild and un- civilised people are found in the valleys and woods to the E. and S. of the Mahdcali-Ganga; and are, in all probability, the remains of the aboriginal race who dwelt in the land antecedent to the arrival of Vigaya and his Indian followers. In physiognomy and colour they bear a striking resemblance to the earliest inhabitants of the S. provinces of llindostdn and are, most likely, of similarly Scythic origin. (Knox, AccoitntofCeylon,lMA. 16.'>7; Perceval, Account of Ceylon, hmA. 1803; Gardiner, iA'scr. of Ceylon, Lond.. 1807; Davy, Ceylon and its Jn- iiuhitants, Eond. 1821; W. Hamilton, India, ii. 522* Ritter, iv. 2. p. 226; Lassen, Jndisclte Alterlli. i. p. 198; Dissert, de Taprobane, Bonn, 18.32; Turnour, Mahatcanso, Ce)-Vm, 1836; Jonr. Asint. Peng. vi. 856; Chapman, Anc. City of Awirdjdptira, in fr. R. As. Soc. iii. 463; Chilly, Ruiyis of Tam- mana Auircra, in R. As. Soc. vi. 242: Brooke, Mahavella-Ganga, R. Geogr. Soc. iii. 223.) [V.] 4 A 3
 * _icHt chain was known by the generic name oi Malea,