country, was refused a settlement on the coast of India before he attempted Ceylon, which had previously attracted the attention of other adventurers.  This story is in no way inconsistent with that told by the Chinese Buddhists, who visited the island in the fifth and seventh centuries.  FA HIAN states, that even before the advent of Buddha, Ceylon was the resort of merchants, who repaired there to exchange their commodities for gems, which the “demons” and “serpents,” who never appeared in person, deposited on the shore, with a specified value attached to each, and in lieu of them the strangers substituted certain indicated articles, and took their departure.[2]

[Footnote 1:  Mahawanso, ch. vii.]

[Footnote 2:  FA HIAN, Fo[)e]-Kou[)e]-ki, ch. xxxviii.  See a notice of this story of FA HIAN, as it applies to the still existing habits of the Veddahs, Vol.  I. Pt III. ch. vii.]

[Sidenote:  B.C. 543.]

HIOUEN-THSANG, at a later period, disposes of the fables of Wijayo’s descent from a lion[1], and of his divine mission to Ceylon, by intimating, that, according to certain authorities, he was the son of a merchant (meaning a sea-faring trader), who, having appeased the enmity of the Yakkhos, succeeded by his discretion in eventually making himself their king.[2]

[Footnote 1:  The legend of Wijayo’s descent from a lion, probably originated from his father being the son of an outlaw named “Singha.”]

[Footnote 2:  “Suivant certains auteurs, Sengkia-lo (Wijayo) serait le nom du fils d’un marchand, qui, par sa prudence, ayant echappe a la fureur homicide des Lo-tsa” (demons) “reussit ensuite a se faire Roi.”—­HIOUEN THSANG, Voyages &c. l. iv. p. 198.]

Whatever may have been his first intentions, his subsequent policy was rather that of an agriculturist than an apostle.  Finding the country rich and fertile, he invited merchants to bring their families, and take possession of it.[1] He dispersed his followers to form settlements over the island, and having given to his kingdom his patrimonial name of Sihala[2], he addressed himself to render his dominions “habitable for men."[3] He treated the subjugated race of Yakkhos with a despotic disdain, referable less to pride of caste than to contempt for the rude habits of the native tribes.  He repudiated the Yakkho princess whom he had married, because her unequal rank rendered her unfit to remain the consort of a king[4]; and though she had borne him children, he drove her out before his second marriage with the daughter of an Indian sovereign, on the ground that the latter would be too timid to bear the presence of a being so inferior.[5]

[Footnote 1:  HIOUEN THSANG, ch iv.]

[Footnote 2:  Whence Singhala (and Singhalese) Silan, Seylan, and Ceylon.]

[Footnote 3:  Mahawanso, ch. vii p. 49. Rajaratnacari, ch. i.]

[Footnote 4:  Mahawanso, ch. vii. p. 51.]