Page:Indian Shipping, a history of the sea-borne trade and maritime activity of the Indians from the earliest times.djvu/187

 in these three works, viz. Pliny's Natural History, the Periplus, and Ptolemy's Geography, is to be found the largest stock of primitive Dravidian words contained in any written documents of ancient times.

More interesting and reliable information regarding some of these South Indian ports is supplied by the Tamil literature of the times, in which are contained descriptions of their magnitude and magnificence which cannot fail to bring home to our minds the throbbing international life pervading entire Tamilakam. Thus Muchiri, an important seaport near the mouth of the Periyar, is described by a Tamil poet as follows: "The thriving town of Muchiri, where the beautiful large ships of the Yavanas, bringing gold, come splashing the white foam on the waters of the Periyar which belongs to the Cherala, and return laden with pepper." "Fish is bartered for paddy, which is brought in baskets to the houses," says another poet: "sacks of pepper are brought from the houses to the market; the gold received from ships, in exchange for articles sold, is brought to shore in barges at Muchiri, where the music of the surging sea never ceases, and where Kudduvan (the Chera King) presents to visitors the rare products of the seas and mountains." The description given of Kaviripaddinam (the Kamara