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JOURNAL

CEYLON BRANCH

OF THE

ROYAL. ASIATIC SOCIETY,

_ “The design of the Society is to institute and promote enquiries into

the Hi istory, Religion, Li:erature. Arts and Social condition of the

- present and former inhabitants of this Island, with its Geology, Mine-

' Yalogy, its Climate and Meteorology, its Botany and Zoology.’ "Rus.

Price to Members, per Number [ rupee, to Non-Members, 2 rupees.

Copies are supplied to Booksellers at Home, at 5s.

” af Communications intended for publication ww the Journal

must be forwarded to the Sécretary at least a fortnight before

the assembly of the Gener al Aeeung at which they are to be sub-

st ch |

| AGENTS:

MESSRS. TRUBNER & Co., 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON.

eee oa THACKER, SPINCK & C Co., Sr. ANDREWS LIBRARY, CALCOTTA.

W, HENRY HERBERT, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, CEYLON.

| 1879.

JOURNAL

OF THE

CEYLON BRANCH

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.

1879.

ZS EMOS

- vy ‘ i

Tie fr te = ==

YR! sas

+) YEN AIS

=i)

. C O LOM BO:

W, HENRY HERBERT, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, CEYLON.

1879.

CONTENTS.

‘Notes on ancient Simhalese Inscriptions __... oh

‘On the preparation and mounting of insects for the Binocular

Microscope eee a Bee ee

Notes on Neophron Puenopterus (Savigny) from Nuwara Eliya

On the Climate of Dimbula a ae

Note on the supposed cause of the existence of patanas or

grass lands of the mountain zone of Ceylon eae

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY,

CEYLON BRANCH.

Patron.

His Excellency Sir Jas. R. Lonapgen, K.C.M.G., Governor.

President.

Col. the Hon. A. B. Fryers, R.E.

Vice-President.

Gro. WALL, Esq., F.R.A.S.

Treasurer.

ALEX. Murray, Esq.

Secretaries.

Rev. IT. F. Farxner, M.A., (In Europe).

H. Drew, Esq.

. Committee.

KC. Brirron, Esq. L. Dr Zoysa, Mudaliyar.

W. Fercuson, Esq., F.L.S. Dr. Kynszy, P.C.M.O.

J. Ferguson, Esq. ALLANSON BAILEY, Esq. C.C.S.

J.J. GRINLINTON, Esq., E.R.G.S. H. J. MacVicar, Esq.

J. Capper, Esq. |

JO A

THE CEYLON BRANCH

OF THE

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS,

By P. GOLDSCHMIDT, Pu. D.

I proposs, in the following pages, to give an analysis of

all the forms of words contained in the inscriptions (or

extracts from such) translated and rendered into Hng-

lish in my last report to the Ceylon Government (September,

1876.) I have not, as a rule, attempted here to deal at

any length with phonetical or grammatical laws which

occasion required to touch upon, as I hope, ere long, to be

able to publish some general results of an historical survey

of the Simhalese language.

I have also omitted the six published lines of the long

inscription of Parakramabahu I. at Polonnaruwa (Report

p. 11, 12), as the whole or at least a considerable portion of

it ‘will be printed the next time, for which work I am

now specially prepared by the discovery of an interesting

manuscript containing a hatikdwata or religious ordinance of

Parakramabahu identical with the first part of our inserip-

tion, which has been communicated to me through the

courtesy of the learned Mudaliyar L. de Zoysa.

2 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH. )

J.—Iyscriprion AT Vessaciri, ANURADHAPURA.

(Report p. 4.)

Parumaka Palikadasa bariya parumaka Tirakita jita

upagika Crtaya lene gagaga catudiga.

1) Parumaka “a Brahman.” From this and other pas-

sages where either a female is called at the same time the

daughter of one and the wife of another “pyarumaka,” or one

“parumaka” appears as the son of another “ parumaka,”’ it

is evident that this word must be the designation of a caste.

Again there is another form, though not so frequently

employed, darumaka. This latter is easily derived from

Samskrt drahman “a Brahman,” which would become*

baruma in Simhalese, and with the addition of the suffix ha

(which in Simhalese is even of more extensive use than in

the other vernaculars sprung from Samskrt) barumaka.

There are not afew instances in Simhalese in which a sonans

has been changed into a surd, particularly in the beginning

of a word, where, as is well known, this is the rule in the

Dravidian languages of the South of India. Simhalese

instances are: kurulléd “bird,” crude form kurulu (comp.

kureli apo€@ “female bird” in an inscription of the tenth

century, see VI. A. 11); derived from garudat) which pro-

bably in some dialects had retained its original signification

of a bird in general, garuda being an early Prakrticizing

form of garutmat “ winged” through* garutta, *earuta (t

cerebralized by the influence of r). Kumbura “ field, paddy

field” (ancient form fubari, 1-4th century A.D.) from

gabhira, gambhira “ deep” in the sense of a low lying, “ low

land.” Poda “drop” Samskrt bindu. 2 migrating into o by a

sort of epenthesis through the influence of w in the following

+) The mythical Garuda appears in Elu poetry in the form Gurula.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 3

syllable (comp. Hindi binda, bumda, Mar. Panj. Guy.

id., Sindhi bumdo, bimda, Beames Comp. Gr. 1135). In

the middle of a word we find the same process to have taken

place in apr “we,” Pali and Prakrt: amhe, Oriya ambhe

(Beames Compar. Gr. 1262), Gipsy 4me (Miklosich II. 24)

—topt “ye” for tumhe Oriya tumbhe (Beames ibid), Magadhi

tuphe (Kern, Over de Faartelling, etc., p. 102, 103), Gipsy

time (Miklosich ibid)f and sporadic instances in ancient

inscriptions, as Mahanaka (—= Mahanaga), Alunaka (Maha-

vamso: Ilanigo),t Sari Naka (= Siri Nago), Nakasena

(= Nagasena), Mekawana (= Meghavarna), ydku (for

Pali yagu = Samskrt yavagu), daka (= bhaga, see below

IV. 27) ; again p for Samskrt rv appears in hapanawa “to

bite, chew” Samskrt Vearv, Marathi cévanem (Beames Com-

parative Gr. I. 352). In the end of a word, of course, as in

other languages this change is frequent.

This word parumaka, strangely enough, in later times has

been assumed as a title by kings. Thus we find: Sarima

parumaka maharaji (see ILI.), (but purumuka said of a

thero in the inscription at Tissamaharamo (see IV.)—Siri

+) In explaining the surds in (api and topi) I have followed Profes-

sor Kern. But perhaps it is more correct to ascribe the hardening to

the influence of s, sh (thus *tusme—*tuspe—tuphe), comparative in

Maharashtri bhappafor bhasman Hemacandra II. 51, bhippa for bhishma

2b. 54, sepha for cleshman, 20. 55.

T{) Zlanago, though in the Mahavamso he is called the son of a sister

of Amandagamani and consequently the grandson of Mahanago, was,

according to an inscription of his on the top of the Dagaba of the Naga-

mahaviharo (which I lately copied), the son of Mahanago (Mahanaka

rajaha pute Alunaka raja). There is internal evidence for the correct-

ness of my identification.

This is the first instance indeed where I can with certainty convict

Mahanamo of inaccuracy. But there are so many genealogical allu-

sions in inscriptions which cannot be identified that I have sadly lost

my faith in the old chronicler,

4 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

Safgboy ma purwmukad (Inscription VI. and often)—rad

purumunanat,) Dative of the Plural maiestatis, Mayila-

gastota inscription and elsewhere.)

2.) Pahkadasa, Gen. in sa = Samskrt sya, Pali-Prakrt

ssa.

3.) bariya = Samskrt bharyé.

4.) Tirakita = Trirakshita.

5.) Jita “daughter” — Samskrt duhitr, Pali dhita,

Bangall phi, Oriya jhia (Beams’ Compar. Gr. I. 192), Comp.

Pali gijjho, Sindhi gijha (Beams II., 21) for Samskrt erdhra.

6.) Citaya Gen. si. fem. = Skt. Citrayah, Pali cittaya

or citraya, Prakrt citt%, cittai.

7.) Lene “cave,” Pali lenam (Comp. Childers Dict. II.

Add. p. 622). The word is in the magadhic Nominative.

A common formula in these cave inscriptions is ; ——-—

lene sagasa dine (i. e., Pali lenam sanghassa dinnam) “the

cave is given to the priesthood.”

8.) cagaca = sanghasya. Genitive for Dative, as in

Pali. (On the formation of the later Simhalese Dative

some remarks will be made later on.)

Li.—InscRIPTION NEAR NETTUKANDA.

Parumaka Welut) putana lene agata anagata

catudiga gagaga.

1) Welw.—This name is stiil very common, though not

among the Simhalese,{t) but among the Tamils. The word

is a vernacular form of Vishnu (Comp. Bang. Or. Vishtam,

Rr (So Be OR El ai see eS SE Ne ios ee se

+) Ihave written w in Simhalese words to guide the pronunciation,

as ® is decidedly more like English w than like v.

+t) Velusumano (both parts of the name are common in cave inscrip-

tions); is also the name of a warrior of king Kaékavanna Tissa, who

performed the astonishing feat of riding in ore day from Auuradha-

pura to Magama (Mahav., Turnour’s Ed, p. 134.)

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 5

éte. Beames I. 80, Pali V etthadipo). We should expect

Welu (with cerebral 1 ©), as the name is written indeed in

later cave inscriptions ; but it is doubtful whether there was

a separate letter for the cerebrall (6) in the most an-

cient Simhalese.

2) Putana Gen. plur. = Skt. putranam. Cerebral n,

though, as a rule, retained in Simhalese, was given up in

the Genitive plur. (later used for the Accusative), and mostly

in the Verbal nouns in na (thus we find karana[w4] at least

regularly in the tenth century, but see rakana later on III.)

3) Agata anagata = agata andgata, I think “those who

have come (for the solemnity of the giving over of the cave)

and those who have not come’ (Comp. Mr. T. W. Rhys

Davids’ remarks in the Indian Antiquary, 1872, p. 140.)

ee es eee

Inscription on a rock at Habarané.

Siddham/ Mujita gamana keriyahi ameta Casayaha puta

Abayaha ati Walamani wawiya katiwawiya dakihi galana

kana atala wawiya keta awitakita eta eta gama saro atali

kotu me Agicalamana wawiya Mula sara ca Pacacaliwa sara

ca do karihi sahasa ca caka catalisa karine (? karihina?) ca

Sarima parumaka maharaji me Agimalamana wawiya

bojiya pati Sene puta Abalayaha ca mahalaka balataka

rakana kanakayaha manumaraka ca samanaya Hamara

tara, 61. kata ka(?) riya dakapatiya kala amana da... rakata

saga salahi hyawaya bojiya pataya karakulawaya Cetagiri

wiharahi Abatalahi silacetahi tumaha akala kota kari

witara Gapacetehi telo huta mala kotu ca jina palisatari-

kama karand karotu Copawaliya Giniya Megaha c[e] tihi

Jaganaka hamananataya parawatahi ... ca ... kakotu ca

bojiya petiya Karakala wawiya dini [hi ?] me cetihi wi[hara? |

bojiya patiya ri... karihi sahasi ca wisiti karihi do pata ca

ametaha ca Wahabayaha putanana (or ta?) ya dutilya] ...

6 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

pucayasa awanaka wasahi majimodini cada puna masi sata

paka diwasa [hi].

eee

1) Mujita = Skt. majjita “inundated.”

2) Gamara = grimanam, Gen. plural or perhaps more

correctly already general Formative of the plural.

3) Keriyaht Loc-si. representing an imaginary form

* karyasmin, ¢@. e¢., karya in the pronominal Locative. I

have met with no Locative prior to the time of Dushta-

gramani when this case already terminated in fi; in the

time of Devanam priya Tishya the termination probably was

still s2, corresponding to the Genitive sa (later fa) and the

identical terminations in the Magadhi inscriptions.

4) Ameta = amatya. I have found ametiyat) in other

inscriptions of the same period.

5) Casayaha Gen., probably an error for Wasabayaha or

Wahabayaha (see below). This inscription is interesting as

(¢) For instance, in an inscription on the Ruwanwaeli Dagaba,

Anuradhapura :—

Ametiya Dolakamatayaha p[uta malhasena malharaja] ametiya Aba-

yaha, 2. e., of Abhaya, son of the minister Dolakamataya (2. e. Drdha-

mata), minister to king Mab4sena.” ‘This Abhaya, as I have already

pointed out in a former report (Sept. 1875), must be Meghavarna

Abhaya, mentioned Mahav. p. 235 H. This important inscription which -

might throw some light on the religious quarrels under the reign of

Mahasena is unfortunately very imperfectly preserved. It appears from

the end that it was written under the reign of King Meghavarna

(Mekawana Aba [ma] harajaha), the son and successor of Mahasena,

according to the Mahivamso (820-330 A.D.) To puzzle us however,

‘this King is not called son of Mahdsena, but son of a Maharaja,” whose

name cannot be deciphered with safety, but may be Siri Naka; now in

an inscription close to the one in question and written in the same

characters we actually find: Sari Naka maharajaha puta [ma]haraja

Mekawana ...... It seems we are driven to the conclusion that Maha-

sena was also called Cri Naga.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. é

showing the gradual transition of the suffix fa into ya, there

being both forms found here.

6) Ati lege ati = Skt.-asti, Pali and Prakrt atthi, modern

Simhalese ; ae¢i and in composition yt.

7) Walamani. If the second part of this name is= Skt.

mani, it should be written with n (Cer.) also in Simhalese ;

but perhaps the whole word is to be explained by Vard-

hamana. A tank, called Vaddhamdna was constructed by

Dhatusena (Mahav. p. 257), which is possibly ours, but

then, I presume, the inscription was purposely written in

an antiquated style (comp. Abhivaddhamanavapi, con-

structed by King Vasabho, Mahav. p. 222. I have also met

with the name Wadamanaka in an ancient cave inscription. )

8) Wawiya Skt. and Pali vépi, modern Simhalese weewa.

9) Kat, — kshatriya.

10) Dakihi “he saw,” an aorist from dak (dakinawé),

Prakrt dekkh, modern vernaculars dekh, but Acoka and

Magadhi dakhadm: (Kern. p, 101) maharashtri, causative

dakkhava (Hemac. IV. 32) from Skt Vdre.

The formation of the Aorist in ancient Simhalese is very

interesting. It was originally a participle combined with

kaht (= akarohit) “he made,” but in some instances the

first part seems to be formed by the simple root (comp.

on the formation of the Aorist in the Gipsy dialects

Miklosich, Ueber die mundarten etc. der Zigeuner Huropa’s

IL 16.) Imust defer the investigation of these gramma-

tical forms until the publication of an article on Simhalese

conjugation ; I here only quote a few aorists from ancient

inscriptions : kdrikahi (= karyam akarohit, the long vowel

probably owing to the influence of the learned, as there are

also other tatsamas in the same inscription, inscription of

(f This form I have found in a cave inscription certainly not subse-

quent to the first century, B.C.

8 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH. )

Gajabahu, 2nd century A.D., Mihintala, Aarihi “he made,”

dinaht “he gave,” likihi “he wrote,” mijitekahi “he con-

quered,” ajikahi t) “he gave over, made occupied,” tubahi

“he established, put up” (sthapay.)

11) Galana “flowing down (of the water) should be

galana (with dental n) from V gal.

12) Kana “embankment,” the modern Simhalese handa

‘hill embankment,” derived from Skt. skhanna “raised,

elevated” V skhand. The form kana is still found in an

inscription of the 10th century.

13) Atala =antare. The correct form is atah (a little

later on), as this accounts best for the later changes of the

word : aetalu and finally aetulu.

14) Keta = kshetra, 15) awitakita = avitarkita.

16) Hta eta (from Skt. etat), modern Simhalese é é.

17) Saro perhaps plural., [ have not met elsewhere with

nouns terminating in o. The word is derived from Skt.

saras. In later inscriptions we find the tank divided into

two parts : wawisara—wéesara and weewe kana—wakanda,

literally “the lake of the tank” and “ the bund of the tank.”

18) Kotu = Skt. krtva, comp. dramatic Mag. kadua

(Hemac. IV. 301.)

19) Me, as still mé, Skt. stem ima —

20) Do. This is the suffix of the Ablative (Skt. tas,

Prakrt do), separated from the noun and used like a, post-

position. Similarly we find later the two syllables lesa of

elesa (idrea, Prakrt erisa) and kelesa kidrca, Prakrt kérisa)

mistaken for a separate word used in connexion with other

words with the signification ‘“like’’t, even in the instru-

mental (ablative) form Jdesim. An analogy even more

(+) The late Professor Childers in his Notes on the Simhalese

language IT., p. 8, derives this word “se” from chay4 and lesa from Pali

lésa “ stratagem” (ibid. 9).

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 9

strrking is afforded by the use the Simhalese make of the affix

se (Skt. cas —- note the true Magadhic e). We have efse

(“into one, together,” etym. = ekacas); then it appears

in adverbs, as suwase “happily” (as it were * sukhacas),

dukse (* duhkhacas) (Comp. in Pali: odhiso, yoniso,

hetuso), in wahanse (see later on) etc., but it was also

severed from the substantive and used in the sense of “ like,

as’ and again an Instrumental (Ablative) seyin was

formed.*) For the Ablative comp. Padanagalida in next

inscription.

21) Karih “he made” see No. 10. 7

22) Sahasa, etc. f I subjoin here all the numbers found

in inscriptions of this period.

A. Cardinals: 2 duna (read duni? doubtful) 3 tawaka,

tint 4 Catari, catirr, catara, 5 paca, 6 caka, 7 sata, 8 ata,

9 nawa, 10 dasa, 12 dolusa, 18 atadasa, 20 wisiti, 40 catalsa,

(sic! with 1 @) 46 caka catalisa, 50 panasa, 1000 sahasa,

sahasaka, sahasi. B. Ordinals ; 2 dutiya, 3 tatiyn.

23) The word following the numbers is not very clear on

the rock ; there seems to be a blank after the first two

syllables, but there is some stroke which is probably the

sign of e, but might also be taken for 1, if we are to suppose

a letter to be missing. Perhaps farina simply was meant

by the inscriber, and the small line in the blank was a letter

that had failed. Karina or karina would be formative of

the plural from ari (Pali karisa, next inscription kiri,

modern kiriya), a measure containing four amuna’s of land,

* The late Professor Childers in his Notes on the Simhalese language

IL., p., 8, derives this word “se” from chaya and lésa from Pali lésa

“stratagem” (zbid. 9.)

+ By an inadvertence I have unfortunately given the figures wrongly

in the translation subjoined in my report ; it ought to be 1046 kari’s

(equal to about 10,460 acres.)

Notse.—The asterisk before the word denotes a figurative word.—E. M.

10 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

(24) Sarima = Srimat (comp. Sarinaka = Crinaga I. 1)

and III. 4 *) :

20) Parumaka, see I. 1.

26) Maharaji. The original Nominative in e was suc-

ceeded by i, as puti, maharaji, but the commonest termina-

tion soon became a.

27) Bojiya is either Gerund or past Participle of the

causative of V bhuj, 2. e., either bhojayitvé or bhojita. The

Gerunds in ya are very generally employed in ancient Sim-

halese and their descendants in the modern language are

still so (for instance kariya — karaya karay — karé

*““ having done,” comp. on the formation of the Gerund in

Sauraseni and Magadht Vararuci and Hemac. [V.—Mag.

kalia Hemac. IV. 301.)

28) Pati. This word must mean “after,” but I do not

know its etymology. We find later on in this inscription

bojiya pataya, bojiya petiya and dakapatiya. The last form

I have met with elsewhere also, and think it must mean

“after having seen.” ‘

29) Sene puta Abalayaha Genitive. This, properly speak-

ing, is a compound “Sena son Abalaya,” a construction

very common in ancient inscriptions.

30) Mahalaka = Skt. mahalla.

31) Balataka = Pali balattho ‘ peon, overseer.”

32) Rakana = rakshana.

33) Manumaraka “ grandson”? = munubura. The first

a should be short. The derivation of this word I have given

in my Report, p. 4.

34) Samanaya should be samanaya (Pali samano.)

30) Kariya, see No. 27.

* If this inscription is to be attributed to Dhatusena (see above

No. 7), this Sena may be identical with the prince of this name mentioned

i the Mahdvamso in the history of Dhatusena.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 11

36) Kala “at the time when,” from Skt. kala.

37) Amana “measure,” now amuna, Pali ammanam.

38) Saga = sangha.

39) Salahi Loc. from sala = Skt. cila “stone” (comp.

sila No. 44.) In the next inscription we have salihi (and so

_ always the locative terminating in—7/:.)

40.) Liyawaya “ having caused to be written,” from liya-

wanawa = likhapay. On the formation of the Gerund see

No. 27.

41) Cetagiri = Caityagiri (Mihintala.) The transforma-

tions of the word caitya in Simhalese are the following

{taken from: inscriptions of different periods) : ceta, ceya,

sey, 8%, s#ya—add the present colloquial form saya.

42.) Wiharahi Loc. Other forms of the word whdra are

wihera, wahira, wihira, and the more modern wehera.

43) Abatalahi at Ambasthala.”’

44) Silacetahi Loc., cilé and caitya.

45) Tumaha Gen. of tuma (= atman.)

46) Akala = akrta. (Yor the genitive with participles

see Childers’ Notes on the Simhalese language I1., 6.)

47) Witara = Skt. vistara. This word is frequently em-

ployed in Simhalese compounds as koccara (contracted from

*“kovitara—c by influence of i— = kim vistdra) “how

much,” ewitara, ete.

48) Cetehi. The old form is cetahi (see 44); again we

find cetihi. Which was the proper form at that time, can-

not be ascertained ; probably all three were correct.

This is a language of transition, in which we find the

phonetic changes floating, not yet settled. It will be ob-

served in the next inscription that 7/2 is the common termi-

nation of the locative. This may be taken as a proof

that the latter is of a more recent date, but not necessarily

so, as the writer may have been more pedantic, besides

allowance is to be made for the difference of dialect. The

12 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

The tendency of the Simhalese language to assimilate one

syllable to the other was labouring at that time, not yet

ruling, still the nerves of the Simhalese were strong enough

to bear different vowels in syllables following or preceding

each other, it was to later periods that those Jingling words,

as munuburu “grandson,” minibiri “ granddaughter,” were

reserved.

49) Tela huta mala kotu ca. Itis meant of course, “and

having made offerings of oil and flowers.” I do not know

what would be more appropriate to suppose the inscriber to

say, tela mala huta or tela huta mala huta ; at any rate, as it

is in the inscription it is wrong.

60) Jina palisatarikama karand karotu. This is a knotty

passage, jina is = jirna “ dilapidated,” but what is palisatari-

kama. etc. ? In King Gajabahu’s inscription at Anuradhapura

we read: jina palisatara kotu which I was at first inclined

to translate “having made obeisance to jina (Buddha)”’

= Pali: Jina patisamtharam katvaé; but we cannot then

account for the cerebral n in jina. Besides, the same or a

similar formula occurs in other inscriptions, for instance at

Kumbukwaewa pansala near Wéwelkaetiya (North-Central |

Province) jina palisatariya. In all these instances the

invocation of jina would seem to come in so uncalled for,

in the midst of other acts of the kings referred to, that it

could not be meant, Again if we are to read jina palisakara

kotu and jina palisakariya respectively, all would be right ;

for this would answer to Pali “ jinna patisimkharam katva,

and jinnam patisamkhariya “ having repaired the dilapidated

(buildings)? comp. Mahay. p. 221 aviése jinne ca patisam-

khari and Childer’s Dictionary. I think, we must stick to

jina and translate, as if we had palisakara and palisakariya

respectively, though the ¢ of palisatara cannot be explained.

Palisatarikama is a verbal noun “repairing” (kama =

karman), the original form of the later nouns in “ima and

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESHK INSCRIPTIONS. 13

uma’’ (as baelima, baeluma “ looking ;” 1n inscriptions of the

10th century ; senim, sitim, see below vi.), karand karotu

is corrupted for karana kotu; perhaps this is to be taken

already in the sense of ‘on account of” as karana kota or

karana-kota-gena in later times.

D1) Jaganaka for * jaganataka = jagannatha, ‘“ Lord of the

world,” i.e, Buddha. From this word jaganaka evidently the

first part of the modern word Ganinnanse (jagana unndnse ,*

a Buddhist priest, is derived though curiously enough, it is

used rather slightingly at present.

02) Hamdnanataya, lege hamananataya (Dative plur.)

@ €. cramandnim arthaya. The Simhalese Dative has coa-

lesced from the Genitive combined with ataya (= Skt.

arthaya) “for the use of—’’; thus we have in Gajabahu’s

inscription at Anurddhapura ; sagaha ataya dine be given

to the priesthood (Pali sanghassatthaya dinnam, with

Unndnsé, as is well-known, is a contraction from unwahansé.

The first part of wahansé, “ wahan” means still, when separately used

“ slippers” (Pali upahana), though it is rather a hgh word. In ancient

inscriptions I have seldom met with wahansé, not at all before the 10th

century, and there it is only applied as a title of honour to kings. It

is well known that “ the slippers” always formed part of the insignia of

royalty (comp. Ramayana II.) In later times this word was applied

also to priests and other individuals of respectability ; it was shortened

to denote the. different degrees of respect to which a person was enti-

tled, tamanwahansé, tamunnansé, tamunnaehé, down to the rather

humble tamusé. One would at first say for instance : “ Lapproach the

slippers of the king” or something to that effect, afterwards the word

would be used for royalty, majesty (comp. in Pali therapado.) The

second part sé still remains unexplained, but this is certainly nothing

else but the affix sé (Skt. cas, see above No. 20), thoughI cannot deter-

mine i what sense exactly it is to be taken here, probably in that of a

local accusative. ~ A recollection of the original application of the word,

I believe, is to be found in the appellation of Buddha: Budu rajainan

wahansé.

14 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

dentals, but athaye in the Magadhi inscriptions of Acoka),

next we find sagahataya, sagahataye, later sagahata ; the

next step would be sag hat and in modern times samghata.

In plural the changes run as follows :—Samananaataya, ha-

mananataya, mahananata, mahanunta.

53) Parawatahi aorist, “ he gave over,” should be pari-

watahi from parivrt caus., Pali with dentals : parivatteti.

o4) Pucayasa, I do not understand.

55) Awanaka = avarnaka? Ihave met with awanake

wasa also in an inscription at Anuradhapura.

56) Wasahi Loc. si, from wasa (== varsha.)

57) Majimodini, later maedindina, now maendina, a

month (March—April.)

58) Cada puna masa sata paka diwasahi = candra pirna

masa saptama paksha diwase. Diwasa was later changed te

dawasa.

LV.— Inscription At TISSAMAHARAMO.

(Date about the beginning of the 4th century, A.D.)

Siddham || budadasa mahida mahasena tawaka, baya Abhaya

maharaja mi apa cudi purumuka Budadasa tari pali maha-

namika Jeta Tisa maharaja apayaha pali Toda gamika kirt

kiniyihi ugu awamidi nawa sahasaka kiri abatarihi Maha-

gama raja mahawahirahi tara pali mahanami Padana galida

dinika paca sahasaka kiri ca mi Padana galida me

warahata (?) pawatara (ri?) na uyuta kotu sapadinaka

catara sahasaka ki (ka ri ce me di acanani nawa sahasaka

kiriyaha ugu wama (?) .. . carita niyamina rajakolihi

bha(? nana mini mewa baka kari (?) di-i ca (?) tara amana

be @) dayit ear) 0°...) baka ca sesikan. 5.4. tawa

na.....-Padana galihi buka sago hamiyana ca[ta|ra paca-

yada uwayutu karawani kotu apa cudi purumukaha dina

hiyamani me ca salihi lyawaya dinamaha.

1) Tawaka “ three’ from trayah, comp. Pali tavatimsa

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 15

33; the form for 3 usually found in this period is tent = trini,

moderu tuna, tun.

2) Bdéya “brother.” This is a genuine instance of a

long vowel in ancient Simhalese ; but this only arose from

contraction, the older form being batiya. The word was

contracted into de.

8) Mi. This particle is simply corroborative, “ the king

himself” or something to that effect. Perhaps the oldest

form was nimi, if we are to read this in the Kirindé inscrip-

tions (see later on) ; then we have ma, mae and again ma.

4) Apa, crude form “our.”

5) Cudi. I have translated “uncle” but hesitatingly ;-

it seems best to derive this word from kshudra, whence it

may mean “little father’ (at present kudappa), comp.

Bangali khuda ‘ unele.”’ |

6) Purumuka, see 11.

7) Tari for tert “a thero.”

8) Pali must mean “reverend” or something to that

effect. Itis possibly derived from pada “foot,” as thera-

_pado in Pali, from the custom of prostration before a

respected person has come to mean “ venerable thero” (see

Childer’s Dict. and comp. note to III. 51. But itis more

likely to Be either nee ‘“‘orey” for “aged” or pandita

‘* learned.”’

* Tt strikes me that these two words must be originallyi dentical and

both connected with pandu, white, &c. I am aware that the corres-

ponding words in the other Indo-Germanic languages, as Latin palleo,

etc., seem to claim an independent origin for palita. But pandu, as it

stands, cannot be the original form. To account for the cerebral, we have

to go back to aform *paru, this would become nasalized *pamru, pamru,

and naturally be changed into *pamdru, pandu. There is indeed a

word panda “ science,” but this looks very much as if invented for the

explanation of pandita. Again the Pali form phalita points to an ori-

ginal r, as otherwise the aspirate could not be accounted for.

16 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

I have met with this interesting word only in this inscrip-

tion. If pad: was a common epithet of a thero, perhaps the

expression palibasa originally meant the “ language of the

thero’s’” and Pdi bhashé may be only a mistaken retrans-

lation into Pali. This of course is a mere hypothesis, but I

cannot rest satisfied with the usual explanation of the word

pau

9) Mahanamka “ reverend’”—maha and naman.

10) Jeta, Skt. jyeshta, Pali jettho.

11) Apayaha, genitive “of us.” The terminations of the

singular came soon to be employed also in the plural.

12) Kiniyihi “he bought,” Aorist from V. kri (see above

III 10). This form answers, as it were, to an original * kri-

nitam akarshit.

18) Ugu most probably means “taxes” here, according

to the whole context, though I do not know how to derive

the word. I formerly tried to identify it with Pali agu =

Skt. 4gas and translated “having renounced sin” ; but this

would be very curious here and still moregso later on where

the word occurs again.

14) Awamidi. This form, as it stands in the inscription

is either incorrect or a secondary abbreviation. We would

expect either awamidihi “he removed” or awamidiya “ hav-

ing removed.” The verb must be Skt. V. muc (now muda-

nawa) with awa, though the whole word both on account of —

the assimilation and for the chauge of c to d, certainly has

a very modern appearance.

15) Abatarih might be taken for an aorist, but I think,

it is a Locative = abhyantare. Nawa sahasaka kirt ebatarihi,

* IT am however aware that the use of the word P&li Mahav. p.

207: “ Pitakattaya palim ca tassa atthakatham ca tam mukhapathena

4nesum pubbe bhikkhi mahamatt”’ speaks against the explanation above

attempted.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE JNSCRIPTIONS. 17

literally “within 9,000 kiriya’s,” 2. e., “as many as 9,000

kiriya’s.”’ :

16) Tara pal mahanam, comp. mahanamika No. 9.

There is no case termination, but it evidently was intended

for the genitive or dative.

17) Padana galida*. This is a genuine ablative, comp.

UI. 20. giriya—gariya—gali—gala I havefound as the sub-

stitutes for Skt. giri in Simhalese inscriptions. The two

former however which appear only in names probably repre-

sent a tatsama. Gali, it seems, was the form which the

Simhalese brought over from India, and this may be older

than Skt. giri (comp. Zend gairi.)

18) Warahata (?) pawatarana (or tarina) Y do not under-

stand.

19) Uyuta read uwayutea = upayukta (comp. uwayutu later

on.)

20) Sapadinaka, Skt. sampradatta Pali sampadinna,

“‘ eiven over,” used as past tense. The suffix ka seems strange

in a form of the verb; it is nevertheless found with partici-

ples more than once, for instance, the last words in an

inscription at Alutgalvihdra (N.-C. P.) are : Tisa teraha kal-

ah ikitaka ‘(this is) written in the time of the thero Tissa’’

—a, very unsatisfactory way of dating inscriptions indeed!

21) Acanani—niyamimi—.... mini karawani are ver-

bal nouns (like karana, etc.), but I am not sure whether

they are to be construed with fotu (krtva) or in this form

have assumed the functions of a tense or mood independently.

_ Acanani, from a verb acana, I do not understand. Miyamine

should be niyamani, for niyamana from Vyam + ni; ara-

wani, as it were, karépanam.

* At present this rock is called Patanangala, about thirty-eight

miles from Hambantota, There are also fragments of an ancient

inscription.

18 ROYAL ASIATIO SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

22) Kiriyaha Genitive, comp. apayaha No. 11.

23) Carita Skt. caritra, Pali caritam, Prakrt cariam, mo-

dern Simh. sirit.

24) Raja kolihi, Loc. kola = Skt. kula.

5) Bhanana “ preaching.”’ The syllable dia is not clear

on the stone ; if the word is correctly read, it is a Pali

tatsama. “

26) Mewa, perhaps me + ewa which I have not found in

Simhalese) or already the modern Plural méwa.

27) Baka probably = bhaga [see 1. 1], perhaps a dialec-

tic form for deka “ two.”

28) Buka, also biku, buki, Simhalese transformations of

Pali bhikkhu.

29) Hamiyana, Gen. plur. of hami (later himi-himiyan)

== Skt. svamin.

30) Catara pacayada uwayutu, etymologically put into

Samskrit® catvari pratyayata upayukta. The ablative is

here used for the instrumental.

31) Salihz, comp. III.39. The terminations of the masculine

are used for all genders (except in the oldest inscriptions.)

32) Dinamaha, “we have given,” preterite derived from

the participle dina.

V.— INSCRIPTION ON A ROCK AT KIRINDE.

I subjoin a corrected copy of this passage which I have

taken subsequently to the publication of my report.

1) Siddham-Aparimite lokehi Budha same nati athane

par[i]mandale be |

2) savanyutopete anutare sathe’* mahaf sarane lakit cake

Budha nimas. |

3) sayambhu.

* Perhaps sathe. fsic! {perhaps aka. § perhaps nimi.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 19

I have given an analysis of this passage in my report.

It remains here only to add a few words regarding its

bearing upon the disputed question of the antiquity of the

Pali lancuage..

I feel bound first of all to state my disagreement with the

views expressed by the late Prof. Childers (Dictionary 11.

Pref. p. 1X.), on the importance of the inscription found on

one of the Bharhut, sculptures discovered by General Cun-

ningham. ‘The inscription is,

Jetavana Anddhapediko kotisanthatena ketaé:

If we compare this with the dialect in Acoka’s inscription

at Girnar on the one side. and with the Cauraseni and

Maharashtri Prakrts on the other hand, I do not see why

either the descendant of the first-named dialect or the

parents of the two latter could not claim ownership just as

well as Pali. On the contrary, if we supply an often omit-

ted Anusvara, Anddhape[m]diko would be excellent Prakrt,

penda being the Prakrt form of Skt. pinda and df the

regular softening down of df in these dialects. Of course

no value need be attached to this, should otherwise the

language be apparent, as similar paleographical irregulari-

ties are of only too frequent occurrence in ancient inscrip-

tions (comp. Burnell, 8. Y. Pal. p. 4). But the two points

Mr. Childers insists upon as conclusive are the coincidence

with a passage of the Vinayapitaka and the use of a hapax

legomenon. If kotisanthérena appears to us now a hapax

legomenon, it need not have been or certainly was not so

originally ; besides the inscription has not the same word,

but otisanthatena.. The similarity of the remaining words

is no matter of surprise. V&ri is the common verb for

“buying, and if the inscription has etd, the Vinaya text

kinitod, this seems quite as natural as if two different per-

sons telling such a-story in Englsh would both use the

20 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

verb, “to buy.” Wecan only derive from the inseription

the very interesting fact that the legend of An&thapindika

was known in the second century B. C., but no proofs for

the antiquity of the Pali language or the present Buddhist

canon.

Prof. FE. Kuhn in an admirable introduction to his contri-

butions to Pali Grammar has conclusively shewn that Pali

(in its present form) is not Magadhi, at the same he has

pointed out traces of another dialect still discernible in the

most ancient poetical writmgs of the sacred Pali literature.

Prof. Weber, on the other hand, in his review of Childers’

Pali Dictionary (Journal of the German Oriental Society,

1876, p. 170—183) very justly refers to the obvious influ-

ence which Samskrt in a secondary way has had on Pali.*)

Although the proofs brought forward by Prof. Kern

(“Over de Jaartelling der Zuidelijke Budhisten, etc.,”

Amsterdam 1873) for the artificiality of Pali have been

thought insufficient, I believe, by the great majority of

European Orientalists, nobody can doubt any longer that

Pali, in common with all the dialects we meet with in Indian

hterature, had lost its vernacular purity, when employed in

writings.

* Prof. Weber’s remarks are also borne out by a reference to the

many poetical words found in Pali which were certainly not mvented

independently in Samskrt and a vernacular, but introduced from the

former into the latter (e. g. abhakaro, osadhiso, sasanko, and many

others.) Another instance is sutti == Skt. gukti. while the vernacular

form (also in Prakrt and Simhalese) is sippz, derived from Tamil gippz

Skt. gukti probably was fabricated, through an artificial etymology, out

of a vernacular form sukki which may have occurred in some Dravidian

dialect. Besides in later P4li writings (for instance the 2nd part of

the Mahawamso) the influence of Samskrit style and language is obser-

vable on every page.—I may here remark (with regard to Childers’

Dict. and Weber’s review) that sammiijeti seems to me derived

from Vrj, vrij.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 21

Iam inclined to look upon the questionable passage in

the Kirindé inscription as being pure Mdgadhi, the language

in which the sacred scriptures were known in Ceylon from

the time of Mahindo to Buddhaghosha, who would have

introduced from India what now is called Pali, and corrected

the texts he found in Ceylon. In point of fact, the ancient

Indian vernaculars resemble each other so closely that he

probably had little more to do than to alter the spelling of

the words and some grammatical terminations. With re-

gard to the latter, forms like bhikkhave bhante leave no

doubt about the original connexion of the Pali language with

a dialect which changed original as, ah into e instead of

the common 0. How long Buddhaghosha’s sacred language

was known in India, we cannot now determine. We areas

little able to prove how far it bore itself the character of an

independent dialect uninfluenced by foreign sources. I will

here only give some additional instances, besides those

pointed out by Kern and Kuhn, of words which appear as

strangers in the Pali language as known at present.

Kern’s examples as far as I adopt them, are assa (p. 15).

atrajo (ibid), garavo (p. 34), maluto, halidda, daliddo (p. 14),

My forms are pal for pari in palibodho, palipanno, etc.,

kappet. with the signification “to cut’ does not seem

indigenous in Pali, while in Maégadhi (caékarf) we have

kappedha “ cut ye” (Mrcchakatika), in Simhalese kapanawa

sunati, etc., for sunoti also seems to be adopted from Ma-

gadhi (dram. Mag. sundmi etc., Mrech.) We find in Pali

some obsolete bye-forms framed on different principles from

those in common use. Now a language may very well

possess different forms developed from one and the same

word and used indiscriminately, particularly if this language

has been arrested in a transitional stage. But if these forms

are rare and just in agreement with the type of another set

of languages, suspicion will appear justified. Such forms

22 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH. ).

are Atumé (a rare form of atta Childers’ Dict.) Simh. tuma

aggini and gini “ fire’—Simh. gini (but Acoka’s Magadhi

agi.) :

Kato. Acoka’s Magadhi kate, dram. M. kade, Simh. kala.

As Simhalese can be proved with tolerable certainty to.

have been originally a dialect of Magadha,* these instances.

may be taken either as additional testimonies. for a Mag-

adhic or for a Simhalese influence.

ViI.—Inscription or Kine Simi-sane-poy (Kassapo V.)-

At Mahakalattaéwa ( Kulatthavép ), 10th Century, AD.

Sirl-sang-boy ma purmuka pasaloswan ne nawaye pura,

dasa wak dawas Pandit rad Dapulu ware me kip par ha

kureli senim is& nawa tur% sengim is& mahale Dapul&

arak samanan ware kuda sala dal siwim isa kolpatri sanga

etalu we ep me tuwdak denamo ek sewe wadaleyin Sen,

‘maha.

Ignan tuman mééniyan nemin nam di kot karana lad

Nal-aram meheni-warhi tuman tubu wat sirit / hise dawas-.

paté mahaweheree mahaboye diy wad& wedi meheni wat

hembu wat satdenak / hat satar pasa wayutu karanu kot

wadala keerana bimhi 4 wi Gitelgamu gamat attani pers.

sheer de rawane ge wadna kot is&é de kamteen no wara,

* I presume the old opinion of a Dravidian origin of the Simhalese.

will find no longer a supporter after the publication of the second part

of the late Mr. Childers’ notes on the Simhalese language—a most admi-

rable paper considering the scantiness of the materials on which the

Professor had to base his investigations.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 23

na kot isi mane-giya piya-giya no wadna kot isé dunu-

mandul melat cri rad kol kemiyan no wadna kot is& weerl-

yan gam gen geri no ganna kot 1sa gel miwun no wadna

kot wadaleyin 4 me kap par ha kureli senim isa me kap par

nawa tur% sengim is& kuda sala dal siwim isa kolpattra

saNga etalu we sep me tuwdk dena

mo ek sewa awud me Gitelgamu gamat attani peerseher

denu ladi. :

1) Ma see IV. 3.

2) purmukd, see I. 1.

3) Pasaloswan “the 15th,” wan (later wanu, modern

weni), I believe, is simply the participle wana “ becoming

being” (= bhavana) from wenawé Skt. bhi “being 15,

making 15,2. e. “the 15th.”*) The oldest ordinals I have

met with are dutiya, tatiya (1st to 4th century A.D.) the

next do not occur before the 9th or 10th century, when wan,

wana had come to be employed.

4) Ne. This word is always used with ordinals to indi-

cate the king’s reign; in more modern literature it is, by

a mistake evidently, changed to nehi. I cannot make out

the real meaning of it, but it must be a separate word.

5) Nawaye Genitive of nawaya. At present this month

(February, March) is called nawam masa (nava + karman

+miasa) ““new month.” It seems strange that February

should be called “the new month,’ the Simhalese year

beginning with dak masa (April, May.) But originally the

Hindu year began with January (comp. Wilson’s Works ed.

Dr. Rost, Vol. II., ‘onthe Religious Festivals, etc.”) Now

in Ceylon the ancient Hindu months, for what reason or at

* A different explanation is given by Childers, Notes IL, 4.

24 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

what time I do not know, have all gone down one step ;

thus wesak masa is May-June, while the Hindu Vaicdkha is

April-May, @sala masa is July-August, while Ashadha is

June-July, (the other names do not correspond in the two

Calendars.) Nawaya (February) therefore must have opened

the year originally, when the appellation seems quite appro-

priate.

6) pura “the light fortnight of the lunar month” from

Skt. piirva is an adjective, “former” pfirva was changed to

pera (comp. puluve in Acoka’s Magadht, purava Sauras,

also Simhalese sira(ma) = sarva.)

Wak, older pak (comp. paka above III.

Danas, an uninflected Locative (comp. later on.)

— Pura dasa wak dawas “ on the 10th day in the light half”’

—this is the usual form in which dates are given.

7) rad = rajan.

8) Pandit rad Déipula ware “in the monastery called

Dapulu king of Pandi.”” Wara is used for “monastery,”

particularly in connexion with meheni (cramani)—meheni-

wara = Pali samani upassayo “nunnery” In Prakrt the

same word is commonly employed for “ house’ (see Weber,

Hala.) It is possibly derived from Vvr (see however Bol-

Jensen, Vikramorvaci, who derives it from dvara.) Ware

is locative = warhi.

9) Kap = kalpa.

10) ha “and” = ca, me kip par hain this kalpa and

in subsequent ones “ unin flected locatives denoting time ;

comp. dawas above No. 6.

11) kurel, farther on written kureli, feminine of kurulu

“bird” (comp. I. 1.)

12) Senimis a verbal noun, contracted from senikama

(see note on Palisatarikama, III.), which in modern Sim-

halese would become senima or senuma. It must be from

verb* senanawa, but this is not known to me, as little as

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 29

the meaning of our form. Verbal nouns like senim are the

following ; seagim, modern hengima “ hiding” from hen-

genawa, and siwim. The last is not explained, but I would,

though with some hesitation, propose to emendate sitim

(¢i would be very nearly the same on the stone as 27), which

is the verbal noun of sitinawa “to stand, to be’ (comp.

Saurasent : citthadi, dram. Mag. cictadi or cistadi — ancient

Simhalese, citati = tishtati.)

13) Zsé used as Preposition or Conjunction, “ for, until,”’

The most probable derivation seems to me from an ancient

Subjunctive of Vas “to be.” There is an old form asati

in several inscriptions belonging to the earlier centuries of

our era which, if I understand them correctly, is used in

exactly the same sense, and from which zsé might easily be

derived, sengim isé then would mean originally ; “there be

hiding” etc. I have found this word isé frequently enough

in inscriptions of this period as far down as the 11th century,

Later it met with a sad fate. The Pandits intent upon

enucleating the Samskrt and Pali originals for Simhalese

words, and at a loss to identify this one, forced it to be

derived from P&li nisséyoa “on account of,” wherewith of

course it had nothing to do whatever. This point being

settled, nisd, it was thought, would be more correct ; accord-

ingly between the 11th and 12th centuries the word isd

altogether had to make its disappearance from the language,

and nisé already rules supreme in the inscriptions of Parak-

ramabahu I. and Niccanka Malla.

14) Nawa ture “of the nine stars or planets,” Genitive.

The plural of inanimates formerly was not distinguished by

a particular suffix, when the meaning was clear from the

context. Where however greater accuracy was required a

_ word war (the modern wal) began to be used in this period,

which is possibly derived from a form *wada, *“weda =

waedi (Skt. vrddhi) “increase, plurality,” comp. wad4,

26 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.) ”

more,”); the a being dropped d of necessity would become

either r or 1), cura = Skt. tard.

15) Mahale. This e can hardly be the ancient saneeadlisy

e of the Nominative: it might be for aya, as é in all modern

words (comp. mahalaka III., which would become mahalaya,

mahale.) The usual form in this period would be mahalu.

The word itself is frequently attached to names of kings to

distinguish the prior from a subsequent one of the same

name; thus Niccanka Malla, in hisinscription at Anurdédha-

pura, speaks of Paraékramabaéhu the Great as ‘‘ Mahalu

Paraékramabahu,” himself having assumed the same name.

16) Arak= araksha.

17) Samanan = cramandndm, Formative of the plural ;

genuine Simhalese is mahana (old hamana, see III. 52),

comp. mehenr below.

18) Kuda = kshudra 19) sald “whirlpool, eddy” =

etlé ?

20) Dal = Bei

21) Kolpatri (comp. kolpattra below), kola in Simhalese

means ‘‘ leaf, as pattra in Samskrt. The Simhalese are fond

ef such double words ; thus ‘ order, command” in modern

Simhalese is andjidwa* 2. ¢., Simhalese ana (ana, or Pali

4n4) combined with the original Samskrt form dd.

22) Aetalu = antare, old atah (see III. 13), modern

aetulu. |

23) Wae Gerund of wenawa = bhitva.

24) Aep “we = api. This curtailed form has disap-

peared again from the modern conversational language.

25) Me tuwdk “so long” from me “this” and tuwdék which

I cannot explain.

26) Denamo “we give” or “we are giving.” This form must

be derived from the verbal noun in—na (dena “ giving.’’)

* Pronounced anagnyawa.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. Pak

Here we have the origin of the modern future in fifii ete.

This was originally a present: karanem (for karanami)*

“Tam doing,” karanamo “we are doing’’—z was doubled

probably by force of the accent, hence karannem (or karan-

nemi)—m being dropped in the first person sing., e affected

the preceding nasal and itself migrated into @; or perhaps

more correctly e not being strong enough to hold against

the two preceding consonants, was changed into yd ; hence

we have in modern Simhalese haranad (pron. karanny4)

which is used as a future “I shall do” and karaftitemu “ we

shall do.”

27) ER sewae. I am doubtful about the explanation of

this, but I suspect it to be the original form of the modern

séka ‘“‘he condescended, was pleased to—, “which is used

with preceding participle (e. g. waddla scka, he was pleased

to declare.”) In the 12th century we have seyekae which

is possibly an inversion of e% sewae ; however, this must still

remain uncertain.

28) Wadédleyin from waddla “ having ordered’’ (past par-

ticiple of wadaranawa, tatsama —- Pali avadhdareti) and

heyin) Skt. hetuna “ because.”

29) Mahd should be maha in genuine Simhalese.

1) Laénan “ writer, secretary.” This is a compound form

of 1% + nan, Lis contracted from leya, ley ( = lekhaka

“ writer’), as Saégiri from Seygiri = Caityagini. Méeeniyan

“‘mother’’ in thesame way is to be divided into m% + niyan,

més being contracted from *maya, *may = mata, as 6%

| (b#nan) from batiya, baya (see IV, 2). Nan, numwan, niyan

are used—the first as a suffix of respect, the two latter

indicating endearment; thus we have rajanan “king,”

* Comp. karanem in the opening verses of the Sidatsafgarawa.

28 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

piyanan “father,” banan “elder brother’* malanuwan

“younger brother,” putanuwan “son” (méagniyan “mother”

déniyan ‘‘ daughter.” The cerebral is constant in inscrip-

tions. The derivation of these suffixes presents great

difficulties. They are all three in the plural (x originally

termination of the Genitive, then for the Accusative, is also

often used for the Nominative), and as regards nan, I for-

merly thought, it might be taken as a double plural, the

cerebral n perhaps arising from the frequent application

with some words in which, from phonetic reasons, n of the

Genitive plural, had to become n, but that is not satisfac-

tory. Nuwan and niyan evidently are intended to express

the masculine and the feminine gender respectively by the

terminations u andi; but what then is nu?

2) LTuman = atman *‘own, his, ete.”

3) Naeminf is an instrumental from nama, nam “ name”

= Skt. namna, Pali Prakrt némena.

4) Dilege di “having given,” Skt. dattva, Pali detva—

the Simhalese is curtailed from an old form in ya (see above.)

5) Kot from krtvi—kotu, kot, kotae, kota “ having

made’’—is here, as often, used as a sort of conjunction :

“after” (Comp. III. 18.)

6) Karana lad, past participle of the passive, from kara-

nawa, etym. Karanam labdha “which has been made.”

7) Nal is a woman’s name I have also met with in the

second part of the Mahavamso, (ch. 50.)

8) Aram = arama.

9) Meheniwarhi, see A 8.

10) Tubunat, tubu = sthapita, Pali thapita, wat (Skt.

vastu?) ‘An affix implying possession” (Clough Dict.),

* Baenan should not be confounded with baena “nephew = bhagi-

neya.

+ Naemin in the Report is an error of the press.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 29

“faving.” Later on we find it as a particle: wat—wat

* either—or.”’

11) Swrit/he Locative of sirit (see LV. 23.)

12) Se “as, according to” (see the derivation III. 20.)

13) Dawaspata “daily.” In an inscription of the 9th

century I found *hawurudu hawurudu patd, whence I am

inclined to conclude that patd is contracted from pawaté

“having continued” (Gerund of pawatinawa, v. neu. Vvrt)

and translate: ‘‘ year year continued” 7.¢. “yearly.” Later

the Substantive denoting the time was put only once, as

still commonly dawaspata “ daily,” awurudupata “yearly.”

14) Mahaweherae is Locative or Genitive, the termina-

tions of which two cases in neuters early began to coincide,

curtailed either from hu (Gen.) or hi (Loc.)—the locative,

in this period as will be observed, has still retained the older

termination besides, but the genitive only with animates.—-

Mahawehera here is the mahavihara at Anuradhapura.

15) Mahaboyae, the same form of mahaboya, 7. e. maha-

bodhi “ the great Bodhi-tree” at Anuradhapura, now called

“(Jaya) Sri mahabédhin wahansé.”’

16) Diy, “ water,” from udaka, daka. Thisis the ancient

word for “ water” which in modern times had to yield its

place to watura (but diya is still used in literature and in

some compounds.) I take the opportunity here of giving

the interesting history of watura. This is derived from Skt.

watula (or an older form vatura) “ windy, inflated,” This

first was used as a substantive for “rain cloud,” as

proved by its Hindi equivalent dddala (see Beames, Compar.

Gr. II. 145); then it came to mean ‘a shower of rain” or

any violent flood, which is its signification in ancient and

still in literary Simhalese (see Namavaliya 82, where it is

given as a synonyme for ogha); at last, in very modern

times, it acquired the signification of “water” in general,

instead of diya.

30 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

17) Wada waedi. Both these words are derived from

Vvrdh ; wadd isGerund of wadanawa “ to increase” v. neu.,

used adverbially in the sense of “more ;” maedt is = Skt.

virddhi.

18) Haembu according to the whole context seems to

mean “novice,” but I have not met with this word else-

where, nor do I know its derivation.

19) Sat denak/hat “to seven persons” (saptan + jana.)

This is what is called in modern Simhalese Grammar the

indefinite declension, but it does not, properly speaking,

deserve this appellation.

Ancient Simhalese, as will have been noticed in the

earliest inscriptions published, was very fond of the suffix

ka. In later times this was gradually supplanted by ya,

but before this process was accomplished, when still in a

transitional state, the want was felt of a suffix for dvigu

compounds, Accordingly ka was pressed into the service,

and the final a being dropped, the suffix appeared as ak.

Sat+dena combined becomes satdenak seven persons, a

simple dvigu compound. So we find ran sat halandak

“seven kalandas of gold’ etc. In modern times this was

changed (but not always) to halandahatak “ seven kalandas,

but the old form remained the sole in use for compounds

with dena. In the same manner we find af used in other

compounds, as me-dleyak “the drawer of this,” or more

correctly “whosoever makes this drawing, engraving”’ etc.

There was however a word kenek™ “any, anybody,” plural

kenekun, used with animates to express indefinition, which

left to the noun combined with it its last portion eh, ER and

* Mr. Childers (Notes II. 12) explained keneh through ekdenek,

which was perfectly justifiable from an exclusive Simhalese point of

view, but it is an interesting fact that we find the same word in the

Asiatic Gipsies in the form kdnek, kanék “a noun” (see Paspati, Les

Tchingianes) from which the Simhalese form cannot be separated.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 3]

ak soon were confounded and finally, the origin of both being

forgotten, ek came to be used for animates, ak exclusively

for inanimates. In the inscriptions of the 12th century and

even in present literature (which imitates older models) we

_ find often enough ef applied to inanimates and af to ani-

mates, so that it is clear there was a confusion for some

time. Hk as well as ak in the present language have

functions, definition and composition. Thus we have dalu

dennek (for “dedenek) two dogs,” minihek “a man’—

amuna dolohak or dolos amunak “ twelve amunas” and galak

‘‘a, stone.”

20) Satarpasawayutu may be divided either | satarpasa+

wayutu or satarpasawa + yutu; in the former case we have

to translate catuhpratyayopayukta, in the latter catuhpra-

tyayayukta. I have preferred the former way, as I have

never found pasawa in inscriptions, but only pasa and

pasaya ; wayutu then is = uwayutu (IV. 19.)

21) Kot is here used as a preposition “on account of”

(Comp. B. 5.)

22) Waddla kaerana “ which is allotted.” Wadéla past

participle or gerund of wadéranawa (see A. 28.) Kuaerana

is passive “which is being made” from kriyate or better

*karyati (the modern Passive is kerenawa.)

23) Bimhi, Loc. of bim, bima = bhtimi.

24) & seems a sort of preposition, but I am doubtful

about it.

25) Wa participle = bhita, from wenawa,

26) Gitelgamu = ghrtatailagrama “butterham.”

27) Attdni is difficult. The first part is perhaps ada

( = adya) “to-day,” and the whole may mean “from this

day forth,” but this is merely conjectural.

28) Paeraehaer = parihara. It is difficult to determine —

the exact meaning of this word in Pali and in ancient Simha-

lese. Mr. Childers translates “attention, honor.” (Cetiyam

32 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

tattha karesi pariharam adasi ca “he built a tomb there

and ordained that it should receive honours.”) From a

number of passages collected in the 2nd part of the Maha-

vainso as well as from the testimony of the Simhalese

inscriptions I have come to the conclusion, that parihara

(paerachaer) in this connexion rather means “a privilege”

or “a privileged piece of land.”’ I find also in Samskrt the

word parihéra is used with the signification of “a piece of

land free from taxation” (see M, Williams’ Skt. Dictionary.)

29) The words derawanaege I do not understand.

30) Wadné kot isé--warand kot isd, etc., isd see above

A. 13, wadné warané etc., are derived from the verbal

nouns in xa, I do not know exactly how, and mean: in

order that they may enter’’ etc., or “‘in order to enter” etc.,

kot is here only corroborative and might be omitted without

altering the sense, as it is indeed in other inscriptions where

we find the same formula. Wadné from wadinawé “to

enter” Skt. Vvraj.

31) De kamtaen “two karmasthanas.”

32) Nowarand must mean “ that they shall not obstruct,”

but I do not understand the purport of the whole clause.

1.) Mang giya — marga + gata — “traveller.”

2) piya giya seems patra + gata ‘he who goes carrying

the alms bowl,” but it would be strange if priests were

forbidden to enter.

3) Dunumandul is a very common word in these inscrip-

tions, and always seems to mean “priests.” I think, the

modern word tunmadulla, the robe of a priest which covers,

ornaments three parts of the body” is corrupted from it ;

but Iam doubtful. Mandul is mandala ; dunw commonly

= dhanus ‘ bow.”

4) Meldt dative, I believe, from meld “assembly,” a

tatsama.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. oe

6) Rad kol kaemiyan, Pali radjakulakammikanam, “the

workmen or officers of the royal family.”’ Kol see IV. 24.

6) Waeriyan, plural of waeriya ‘‘ enemy” = vairin.

7) Gamgen, literally “ having taken the village” (gen =

gena Gerund of gannawa), 2. e., “from the village.” At

present this way of forming the ablative is confined to

animates, inanimates having adopted the old instrumental

instead.

8) Geri, plural ef geriyé “bullock,” comp. Hindi guru,

Gipsy gurtv, guri (Paspati Les Tchingianés.) It is distin-

guished from gona “ bullock” in an inscription of the 10th

or 11th century ; but Iam unacquainted with the difference.

9) Ganné from gannawa ‘to take” (for gananawa, Pali

ganha, Skt. grhna.)

10) Gael, gaela “cart” from Skt. gantri, comp. Hindi

gadi, Mar. gadi, Sindhi gadi, Pashto gadai.

11) Minun, plural of miwaé = mahisha “ buffalo” (comp.

IV. 8f.) At present “buffalo” is miharakd, 2. e., miwa +

haraka ‘‘ ox,” older saraka, derived, by inversion of syllables,

either from Skt. cakvara, cakkara, cikvara, cikkara “a

bull, an ox” or from cdikata “a draught-ox.”

12) Waddleyin see above A. 28. 13) see above B. 24.

13) Me hap ete., see above A. 9-10 and ff.

1) Awud, at present acwit “ having come,” past participle

of enawa ‘to come,” seems derived from Vvrt.

2) Denuladi “has been given” = Pali dinam aladdhi

“ received giving.”

34 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

VII.—ExtTRacts FROM INSCRIPTIONS Or Kina ABHA

SALAMEWAN DapuLu (Dapputo V.) 10TH CENTURY.

—At Hlawaena Pansala.

Sri Siribara kaet kula kot Okéwas rad parapuren bat Lak

diw poloyon parapuren himi wi Abhd Sinsahgbo maha-

rad/hu tuma& sat laenet nawawan hawuruduyehi Pandi rat

paehaerae jaya kirtti lad rnpun dan wi mal masulutae mahat

ekénna siri bhoga kala maharad/hu daru Abhé Salamewan

Dapulu maharad/hu tumé, sat laengd dasawan hawurudu-

yehi

B.—At Actawiragollaewa.

seovseeee Ok Al was rad pajrapure[n bat La |k

fli cece seotaniiticsl hijmi wi Abha [Siri sang |bo

maha[rad/h ju tuma sat l[aengi] nawawan hawu[ru|duyehi

Pandi rat [p]aehere deye lad ma[ha]rad/hu daru Abh&

Salamewan maha[ra|d/hu tum& sat lae[Mgi} dasawan

hawuruduyehi.

1) Sirtbara = cri + bbhara “fraught with glory.”

2) Kaet = kshatriya. 3) kot “ pinnacle,” comp. perhaps

kunta.

4) Okawas 7. e., Pali Okkakavamsa, Skt. Ikshvakuvamsa.

5) Parapuren instrumental—Ablative from parapura =

Skt. parampara.

6) Bat “descended” = bhrashta old Participle from

basinaw4, bahinaw4 ‘to descend,” Skt. Vbhrame¢.

7) Lak diw poloyon = Lankadvipaprthivyam. I know

no analogy to the form poloyon, if it is not instrumental for

poloyen — however it is always used in a locative sense.

8) Himi = svamin, old hami, see IV.29. 9) wz = bhita,

see above.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. oo

10) Maharadjhu, Genitive in hu form sya-ssa-sa-ha.

11) Tumé Nom. sing. of tuman = d4tman. Maharad/hu

tuma is honorific. Later literature mistook such forms and

derived ¢wmdé from uttama; as the Genitive sing. is here

preceding, it is clear that it is not to be taken so.

12). Sat laenga = Pali chattam langhetva “after having

raised the umbrella.’”’ In Simhalese the 1 of Vlangh is

changed to n: naginawa “ to mount, to ascend,” naegenawa

(older naeNgenawa) “to rise” (for instance: naegena ira

“the rising sun, the east,” opp. basna ira “the west from

Vbhrame + strya.) As I have found the old 7 only in

this phrase which corresponds to the one used in Pali

and once in the same inscription the verb with in

another connexion, I believe laeNgti to be a corrupted

tatsama.

13) Hawuruduyehi, Loc. of hawurudu “ year” modern

Nom. sing. awurudda, pron. aurudda) ; hawurudu is derived

from Skt. samvatsara through *sawacara, “sawajara, *sawa-

dura, *sawudura, *sawuruda (c not uncommonly migrates

into d in Simhalese.)

14) Rat “kingdom, country” — raéshtra. 15) Paehae-

rae Gerund of a verb paharanawa, tatsama = prahr. The

second inscription erroneously yields paehere.

16) Jaya, in the second inscription transformed to deye.

17) Lad, Participle “who ebtained” — labdha, Comp.

VI. B. 6

18) Rupun, plural of rupu = Skt. rpu, probably tatsama

(the Simhalese pronounce r like ru.)

19) Dan = dina. 20) Mal “flowers.” Mala “flower”

from Skt. mala.

21) Masulutae mahat ekénna 1 cannot explain.

22) Kala, Participle: “who made” = krta.

- 23) Daru, “son” = daraka.

24) Dasawan “10th,” Comp. VI. A. 3.

36 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

VII.—Exrract From INSCRIPTION OF THE AEPA MIHINDA

AT MAYILAGASTOTA (END OF THE 10TH CENTURY.)

x) F Okawas parapuren bat rad purumu-

wanat ag me[he|su[n] wi Lak diw poloyon parapuren

himi siti (?) Gon biso raedna kus/hi upan Abha Salamewan

maharad/hu urehi da kaeta ue jla kot wiyat daham niyae

gat (?) aépa Mihindahu wasin

1) Purumuwanat, Dative of the plural, see I. 1.

2) Ag Mehesun, plural honorific, agra + mahishi (Pali

mahesi. )

3) Siti, Past Participle of sitinaw& “to stand, to be,’’

Sauraseni cittha, Mae. cista or cicta, Skt. stha, tishta,

4) Biso raedna “anointed Queen,” abhisheka + rajnit,

later diso or disawa alone is used in this sense. The oldest

form for raedna I have met with is rajint (second century

AD)

D) Kus/hi, Locative. Kusa = kukshi. 6) Upan = ut-

panna.

_ 7) Urehi dé = urasi jata, corresponding to aurasa.

8) Wiyat = vyakta. 9) Daham for dharma,

19) Niyae gat “he who has comprehended” (?.) niyae

Locative. Miyae “wisdom, judgement, understanding, intel-

lect (Clough) (= naya?). Gat, Past Participle of gannawa -

(= grhita.)

11) Aépa evidently contracted from adhipati, but trans-

lated mechanically into Pali by the barbaric form Adipado

(Simhalese aé = Adi, pa = pada.

12) Mihindéhu wasin “by Mihinda” = Mahendrasya

vacena. The modern form is wisiz, which most probably

is here also to be emendated.

’ NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 37

IX.—Extract FroM INSCRIPTION OF THE SAME As KiNG

Sirt Sang poy ABanay (Maurnpo III.) at AmpastHana,

MIHINTALA (BEGINNING OF THE 11TH CENTURY.)

Siribar kaeta kula kot Ok&was raj parapuren bat kaeta

usab Abahay Salamewan mabaraj/hat eme kulen samajaéy

dew Gon bisew raejna kusae ipaedae aép& mahayé sir

windae piliwelae sey raj wae tuma sirin Lak diw pahaya-

min sitae Siri sang boy Abahay maharaj/hu tuma sat

jlaengd soloswana hawuruduyehi wap sand pun mas/hi dasa

pak dawas Seygiri weher/hi ist’ Abahay giri weher/hi isd

wasana maha bik sang himiyan mahasenwé karay tum4

baé wat himiyan Seygiri weher/hi pere tubd sirit nija

Abahay girt weher/hi sirit nija ruswa genae me weherat me

sirit tubu wawati nisiyan ha sasaendae me weherae wasana

maha bik sang himiyanat isi kaemiyanat isa dasnat is4

katae yutu isé labanu diyae yutu se isé wiwarunen ekse kot

me sirit tabana ladi.

eee Sy

1) Usab = vrshabha. 2) Maharaj/hat. In the preced-

ing inscriptions we have rad for rajan. I have already

remarked in my report that King Mahindo was fond of old

forms.

3) Lme, seems e (etat) + ma corroborative particle.

4) Samajaéy, barbaric transformation of samjata.

5) Dew = devi. 6 Bisew raejna = biso raedna wee 4,

7) Kusae Locative = kus/hi (see VIII. 5.) °

8) Ipaedae “ having been born,” Gerund of upadinawa,

(utpad. )

9) Mahayé possibly = mahatta “ greatness.”

10) Windae Gerund of windinawa4, tatsama.

“11) Piliwelae Loc. or. Gen. of piliwela = Pali patipati

(see Childers’ Notes II. 15.)

12) Sey. This seems a mistaken form for se (see III.

38 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

20. and also in this inscription) formed on the false analogy

of seyin. If the old word really had been sey, we would

probably have *sq@é in later times.

13) Wae Gerund of wenawa, = bhatva or rather *bha-

via.

14) Sirin, instrumental sing. of siri.

15) Pahayamin “irradiating,” Part. Present for prabé-

hyamana.

16) Sitae Gerund sitinawa (see above.)

17) Soloswana 16th. Solos = shodaca. Wana see above

Von.

18) Wap sand pun mas/hi etc., wap masa is September—

October, “the sowing month.” Sand pun = candra +

pirna. Dasa pak dawas, see VI. A. 6.

19) Sey git = Caityagiri,2. e. Mihintala; the younger

form is Saégiri.

20) Isdé see VI. A. 18. 21) Abahay giri = Abhayagiri

at Anuradhapura. |

22) Wasana “dwelline”—wasanawa.

23) Maha bik sang himiyan = maha + bhikshu + gy4mi

(comp. IV. 29.)

24) Mahasenwd (maha + sené + Simh. wa) “as a

great host,” comp. ekwa “ together.”

25) Karay Gerand, for kariya, karaya (comp. III. 27.).

- This is an antiquated form ; at the time when this inscrip-

tion was written, these Gerunds already terminated in 4

(kara, etc.)

26) Baé “ elder brother” see VI. 31.

27) Wat in this connexion I do not understand.

28) Pere, adv. “formerly,” originally a Locative of pera

== purva.

29) Tubu Past Participle of tabanawa = sthapay “ estab-

lished, which he established” (see on the clauses which in

Simhalese replace relative sentences. Childers’ Notes II. 6.)

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 39

30) Nija, I cannot explain.

31) Ruswa genae “being pleased,” ruswa is Gerund of

ruswanawa caus. rusanawa “to please’ (Vrui) and genae

Gerund of gannawa. Gannawd is used as an auxiliary to

form a sort of reflexivum, thus we have bala “ having seen,”

(balanawa = Prakrt pulva, pulaa, Skt. pralok), balé genae

“ having seen for one’s self, having examined.” There is often

no rea! difference from the simple verb; but at least in the

present language the Simhalese prefer to employ the auxili-

ary wherever a direct reference to the subject may be implied.

32) Tubuwa watt “in order to establish” (?)—tubuwa

Supine (= sthapitum) + wati which must remain unex-

plained.

33) Misiyan hé sasaenda is gerund of a tatsama verb =

Pali samsandati (Vsyand) “to run together, to associate’’

(In my report I erroneously took it to be the causative

samsandeti), Nis (Pali nissito = nicrita) here simply means,

“connected with, concerned in,” in modern times “ fit,

suitable” and I would translate now the whole clause: “ in

concurrence with those concerned in the matter.”

34) Kaemiyanat, dative, see VI. C. 5.

35) Dasnat, dative plural of dasa “slave” = casa, (the

modern form would be dasunta.)

36) Katae yutu “itis proper to do”’—diyae yutu “it is

proper to give. Katae and diyae (as also tubuwa No. 82)

are supines derived from the Skt. infinitive in tum—kartum,

dattum, (Pali detum.) They are used in connexion with

yutu (yukta), haeki (cékya) and similar words.

37) Se “ concerning.”

38) Wiwarunen, instrumental of wiwaruna “ comment”

== Pali vivarana.

39) Hkse kot “having made like one,” “having put

together’’ (ekse see III. 20.)

49) Tabana ladi, comp. denu ladi (VI. D. 2.)

40 ‘ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

X.—(Galpota I. Report p. 2.)

— Udagal mundun pat hiruhu sé saturandura

duruléa bahujanayé — muwa — piyum dubudu kotae anat

raja sirin Cakra devendraya sé somigunen pun sandahu sé

dhiratayen Meruwa sé gaemburubaewin sagaraya sé kshan-

tigunen maha polowa sé lowaessan pinin upan kaprukah sé

waedae sitae.

1) Udégal mundun pat hiruhu = Udayagirimirdhénam

praptastiryasya. 2) Sé see above.

3) Saturanduru catru + andhakara.

4) Duruld Gerund of durulanawa, denominative from

duru (dtra) “ far.” |

5) Munwa* piyum = mukha padma (piyum through

paduma)

6) Pubudu = prabuddha. 7) Anat=ananta. 8 Some

= saumya.

9) Gaemburu baewin = gambhirabhavena. The modern

* The modern form for muwa (mukha) is muna. There was an

obvious reason for altering the simple word muwa “ mouth,” as there ig

another word muwd in Simhalese signifying a “deer,” Skt. mrga.

Mana is possibly contracted from muwan, plural of muwa. In htera-

ture, it is true, we find the word muhuna which looks as if derived from

muha, the Prakrt form of Skt. mukha, But this is certainly a later

invention of the pandits who delight in the use of old words and from

the frequent occurrence of modern long vowels contracted from two

short ones which had an h between them (e.g linu “ onion” from

Juhunu = lacuna) concluded that mina had undergone the same

process. 7 |

The following may serve as an analogy for the change of muwa to

mina. Walahké ‘a bear” has been very well explained by Mr.

Childers (Notes IT. 14) as wal ‘“‘ wield” (== vana) + asa (= P4li accho.)

Yet it seems strange that “a bear” should be called expressly “a wild

bear.’ Now the Simhalese formerly had an other word asa ‘ horse”

= acva); thus to distinguish “a bear” from ‘a horse” they were

compelled to call the former a wal-asa.

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 41

form for gaemburu is jaemburu, a solitary instance of the

change of g to j in Simhalese.

10) Polowa = prthiwi, comp. poloyon VIL, 7.

11) Lo waessan, loka + vasin. On the doubling of con-

sonants in plural—See Childers’ Notes, I.

12) Pinimn = punyena.

13) Kaprukak sé “like a kalpa tree,” kalpa + vrksha.

The common word for “ tree” in Simhalese is gaha (= gac-

cha.)

14) Waedae sitae “being pleased to be” (in a certain

condition), waedae gerund of wadanawa, “ to increase” which

is joined to a verb when a king or other person of great im-

portance is the subject. Sitae see IX., 16.

XI.—From NiccankKa Matua’s INsoriprion AT

Ranxor Dacasa (Report p. 13.)

Ran Tisaé Minihoru Gangatala Padi aetulu wi tun raja-

yehi no ek maha waé taenae acesha praninta abhaya. df.

1) Ran Tisaé, ete. waé taenae. Waé is contracted

from waew used in composition for waewa “tank,” (comp.

waékanda “the embankment of a tank.) The names for

the different tanks are thus to be joined : Ran waewa (not

identified )—Tisaéwa (contracted from Tissawaewa, a tank at

Anuradhapura, constructed by Devanam piya Tisso) ——

Minihoruwaewa. We should expect Miniheru’, but all four

pillars agree in thus writing the word and on the fifth copy

(on the stone seat at Kiriwehera) the reading is not clear—

Ganigatalawa, Pali Gangatatavapi, constructed, according to

the Mahavamso, chap. 42, by Agrabodhi II. (623-633), at

present usually called by its Tamil name Kandale: — Padi-

waenwa, at present Padiwila in the North-Central Province.

2) Aetulu, see III., 13 and VI., A 22

42 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

3) Tun,‘ three,” old Simhalese tini = trini (Comp. IV. 1)

4) Rajayeht Loc. As regards the singular see above ;

trajaya is the common form for réjya in Niccanka Malla’s

inscriptions.

5) No ek “not one,” “many,” corresponding to Skt.

aneka.

6) Taenae Loc. of tana = sthina. 7) Di see VI., B 4.

XII.—From Gaupota III. (Report p. 13.)

Kalinga vamcayata himi Lak diwae Buddha cdsanayata

pratipaksha abauddha Coda Pandyadi rajun no pihitiwiyae

yuttéyae.

1) Pihitimiyae Supine of pihituwanawa “ to fix, to estab-

hish”’ (comp. IX., 36.)

2) Yuttéyae—yutté for yutayi (= yuktam asti) + yi

{ = iti.)

XIii.—Insoription oF Laavisasineu Krr.

(Beginning of the 13th century.)

Srimat Ok4was raja parapuren 4 Abhé Salamewan LilA-

vati svamingé agramatya wh Lag-wijayasingu Kit senewiyan

tunwan né Anuradhapurehi patan bhtimiye taman kaerae

wt ruwanpdyehi waedae hun sangu. |

Ruwanta siwupasayen wana paésu pinisae tamanta bat

ginuwa yaewin ydlakhé mehi mae caityayata yalak ha pili-

mageta ydlak ha bhaimidana kotae hirasanda pamana wae

pidd pdsayen pirinaemti me labhaya antaraya kalawan.

NOTES ON ANCTENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 43:

Windina narak&di duk daen hé matu matu wand nuwanaceti-

yan lobhadveshba ména duru kotae labha antaraya no kotae

hnuwanaettan (7?) kala anumowanu maenaewi.

1) 4 “ having come” (= 4y4ta), participle of enawa.

2) Swdamingé. The modern Genitive for animates with

the honorific plural, svamin.

3) Senewiyan, plural honorific of senewi = sendpati.

4) Tunwanné, see VI., A 3 and 4.

D) Anurddhapurehi patan bhamiye, Anurddhapure +

prasthana + bhimydm “on ground (beginning) from Anu-

radhapura,” bhamiye is the modern Locative.

6) Laman, older tuman (see VI., B 2.)

¢) Kaeraenwt, Past Participle of karawanawa “to cause

to make.”

8) Ruwanpéyehi, Locative, rowan (= ratna) + paya

(= prasada.)

9) Waedae hun, waedae (see X., 14.) hun = ganna or

better sinna from Vsad, sida, Simhalese hinnawa, innawa.

10) Sanguruwanta, Dative plural of saga “ a (single)

priest.”” The Nominative would be sabguruw6, as rajjuruw6

“kings.”

1) Siwu pasayen wana, ‘‘ being 2. e., that it may be, serve »

for the four pratyaya’s.” Instr. for Dative, siww or sim

(pron. siu) “four” in compounds. This is only a corruption

of Pali catu°, found in inscriptions since the 12th century ;

in genuine Simhalese also in compounds the 7 is retained,

is catari paceni ‘‘of the four pratyayas” (Inscription 2nd

century A. D.), satar pasa VI, B20. The only exception

is with some numbers, as swwisi 24, supaneas 54, (now

44 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

wisihatara, panas/ hatara). Pasaya = Pali paccayo (Comp.

VL, B 20.) |

2) Padsu, also written pahasu, = Pali phasu.

3) Pinisae “ for, on account of.’’ The origin of this word

is not known to me.

4) Bat “boiled rice” = bhakta.

D) Ginuwa yaewin. I do not understand. Yaewin is

however perhaps derived from yava “‘ barley.”

6) Yala, a measure. 7) mehr “here,” originally Loca-

tive of me “this.”

8) Mae see 1V., 3. 9) Ha either from saha or from ca,

Cama:

10) Pidu ptjita, Past Participle of pudanawa.

11) Pdsayen, ablative pasa. The meaning I cannot make

out. :

12) Pirinaemé = parinamita, Past Participle.

13) Lébhaya antardya kalawun. Antardya kalawun is to

be taken as one verb on which an accusative depends. If

the first two words were to form a compound, we would

have labha-antardya, as below C. Kalawun plural of kala

“having done’ = krta. |

1) Winding “ finding,” “ which they find.” We should

expect windina (Comp. [X., 10.)

2) Nardkadi “hell.” The simple word naraka has come

to be used as an adjective in the sense of “‘bad” in Sim-

halese. The use of Substantives for Adjectives is a very

interesting chapter in Simhalese Grammar, which however

T cannot here detail.

3) Duk = dubkha.

4) Daen = idainim (Pali dani) or adhuna.

5) Matu Matu “in fature, in future,” “ for all future.”

Matu, I believe, is mastake, as it were “ahead.” In

Pali this word has acquired an opposite meaning, as ite

NOTES ON ANCIENT SIMHALESE INSCRIPTIONS. 45

catasahassakappamatthake “from this time a hundred thou-

sand kalpas ago’’ (see Childers’ Dictionary.)

6) Nuwanaetiyan, plural of nuwanaeti “wise” from

nuwana + aeti (asti), a method of forming adjectives

frequently employed in modern Simhalese. Nuwana is a

corrupted tatsama either from Skt. jnana (pron, gnydéna)

or Pali fanam (pron. nydnam.)

7) Nuwanaettan is not clear on the stone and probably

wrong.

8) Anumowanu, verbal noun corrupted tatsama from Pali

anumodati—* approving” or “ benediction.” (My transla-

tion in the Report “ share (the merit)”’ is incorrect.

9) Maenaeni, etymologically mana dpam asti “ it is right,”

“‘they may be pleased.”

P. GOLDSCHMIDT.

Potana, January, 1877.

46 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

ON THE PREPARATION AND MOUNTING OF

INSECTS FOR THE BINOCULAR MICROSCOPE.

BY 8S. CREEN, Esa.

(Read at General Meeting, November 2, 1874.)

WHEN objects possessing a certain amount of thickness

are examined under the binocular microscope, it is observed

that they stand out in much bolder relief than when viewed

under the minocular microscope. This stereoscopic effect

is produced by a prism placed immediately over the object-

glass “ by which the two eyes applied to the two eye-pieces

respectively, receive through the two halves of the objective

two magnified images of the object under examination, differ-

ing from each other in perspective projection, as if the object

actually enlarged to the dimensions of its image had been

viewed by both eyes at once at a moderate distance.’’*

The received method of mounting insects for microscopical

examination, and that was in vogue long before the intro-

duction of the binocular, is first to immerse them in Liquor

Potassa, in which they should remain for two or three days

according to the amount of muscle and intestine that has to

be dissolved within the skin of the insect, the cuticle itself

being insoluble in potash. The insect is then removed from

the Potassa and carefully washed in distilled water with a

camel’s hair pencil, to remove any dirt that may adhere to it.

This being done, it is floated on toa slip of glass three inches

by one (the standard size for glass slips for mounting objects

for the microscope), and wings, legs, &c., arranged with the

brush, according to the skill of the operator. Another slip

of glass of the same dimensions is then laid over the insect,

* Carpenter's Microscope and its Revelations.

PREPARATION AND MOUNTING OF INSECTS: 47

even with the under glass, and both pressed gently together

until the dissolved tissues of the insect are squeezed out,

leaving nothing but an empty and wrinkled skin. The two

glasses should then be separated under water, and the skin

of the insect washed, to free it from any potash that may still

- be clinging to it. After this has been done, it is floated on

to one of the glass slips and re-adjusted if necessary. It is

then covered with the other slip, and the two are secured

from falling apart by a piece of thread wound round them,

when the whole is lowered gently into a wide mouth bottle,

about four inches long, and nearly full of spirits of turpen-

tine, which soon reaches the skin between the glass slips, by

capillary attraction. After remaining in turpentine for a

few days, the object is ready for mounting in Canada balsam.

The objection to the method just described is, that the

insect is squeezed out of its natural shape, and that nothing

remains of it but its empty skin full of folds, the result of

the pressure it has undergone. As a specimen of natural

history, it is worse than useless, for no idea of its original

shape and beauty can be formed. On becoming the possessor

of a binocular microscope some six years ago, I at once saw

that some change in the old method of mounting was needed,

for under the new instrument these flattened objects appeared

in no bolder relief than when viewed with the minocular

microscope ; but the difficulty that then presented itself to

me, was, how insects could be mounted in their natural form,

and yet be rendered sufficiently transparent for microscopical

examination. I experienced numerous failures and disap-

pointments, until at last tolerable success rewarded my

patience. I can now mount insects in their natural form,

from the size of a grain of sand to that of a small bluebottle,

my mode of preparation being as follows :—

Capture your insects alive, and then drop them from the

net into strong spirits of wine. They will quickly die, very

48 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH:)

often with outspread wings and legs. Allow them to remain

in the spirits for a fortnight or so, according to their size;

until you think all watery matter has been extracted from

their bodies by the action of the spirit. Then transfer them

to spirits of turpentine, there to remain until they become ~

tolerably transparent. Minute insects will turn so in a few

days after immersion, but large ones take a much longer

time. As soon as this transparency shews itself the insect

is fit for mounting in Canada balsam. If it is of the size of

the common house fly, a cell should be used, which can be

a ring of glass* cut from a glass tube and cemented on to

the glass slip described at the commencement of this paper.

Put your fly into this cell, and drop upon it sufficient balsam

to fill the cell to overflowing ; then take a circle of thin glass

of the diameter of the cell, and shut in the fly. The super-

fluous balsam will be pressed out at the sides of the cell, and

can be removed after it has been allowed to harden a little.

It is advisable to have an excess of balsam in the cell before

closing it, as it prevents the possibility of air vacancies,

which produce unsightly bubbles. Still with all precaution

taken, a few small bubbles may be present on the closing of

the cell, but these will disappear in course of time. Small

insects are more easily dealt with, for they may be laid upon

a plain slip of glass, a small globule of Canada balsam placed

over them, and then covered with a thin glass, square or

round, which must be let very gently down, as any undue

pressure might crush the object. I sometimes use a very

shallow cell of home manufacture, punched out of thin

sheet lead, which answers very well. After the balsam has

been put to the object, the slides should be kept in a flat

position for some months until the balsam becomes tough,

* Such cells are procurable at all London opticians who sell materials

for mounting. ©

PREPARATION AND MOUNTING GF INSECTS, 49

but this need not prevent their being used for so long a time.

They are fit for microscopical investigation a few days after

they have been mounted, and only ordinary care 1s necessary

for the prevention of accidents, such as the displacement of

the thin glass cover over the object, or injury to the object

itself by pressure. My method of mounting objects has

found favour with the Quekett Microscopical Club of London,

which ranks next in importance to the Royal Microscopical

Society. 146 of my slides, mounted in 1869 and the follow-

ing year, were lately presented to the Club (in January last)

by my friend Mr. Curties, and they formed the subject of a

paper by Mr. Curties and Mr. Inghen, and read by the

latter gentleman on the 23rd January at a meeting of the

Club. This paper was entitled “ On Insect mounting in hot

climates,” and an abstract of it was given in the April num-

ber of the Club’s Journal, which is now before me. _ It

commences thus :—

“The object of this paper was to bring under the notice of

the Club a collection of 146 slides of insects and parts of

insects mounted by Mr. Staniforth Green, of Colombo,

Ceylon, and presented to the Club by Mr. Curties, with

especial reference to the methods employed in mounting

them, by which the objects were preserved in a natural and

very beautiful manner. Reference was made to the usual

methods of mounting insects, in which much was often

sacrificed to the production of showy and attractive prepara-

tions, while there was sometimes great distortion of parts

and alteration of structure. The methods employed by Mr.

Green were then described. It appeared that he had for the

most part given up soaking the preparation in potash, and

those that had been so treated were the least successful

in the collection. Most of the specimens were admirably

suited for examination under the binocular, and shewed to

great advantage with baraboloid illumination. Many of the

50) ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

preparations polarized well, owing to the fact that the mus-

cles were left entire and not injured by soaking in potash.

The absence both of air-bubbles and milkiness—even under

the searching illumination of the paraboloid—shewed how

successful were the methods employed, and the preservation

of soft parts, as in spiders and aphides, was remarkable.”

In the conversation that ensued after the reading of the

paper, ‘ Mr. Loy stated that having looked over the collec-

tion he could speak favourably of the results attained. He

had paid more attention to the smaller insects than to the

larger ones, and many of them appeared to have been simply

dropped into the balsam without preparation. Instead of

finding them at all cloudy they were quite clear, and there

were very few air-bubbles. The muscles of the thorax and

lees were shewn beautifully, and in some of them the small

intestines and hepatic vessels could be clearly traced. He

thought that if they could succeed in doing in England

what had been done in the tropics, 1t would be worth much

trouble. <A few of the parasites had been soaked in potash,

but the results were not so satisfactory. Mr. McIntire said

that some time ago Mr. Curties shewed him a number of

these slides, and he was very much struck by many of them.

They seemed to throw much light upon some subjects of

interest to him. As to mounting insects in balsam at once,

it was a plan that he was very much in favour of; they

should be killed in spirits and then transferred at once to

soft balsam. <A little dirt would sometimes get in, but this

was less detrimental than some of the effects of mounting

in the usual way.”’

I have given the foregoing rather lenghty extracts from

the Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club, merely to

shew that competent judges of insect mounting approve of

my method ; which may induce others to follow it.

Colpetty, 12th September, 1874.

NOTES ON NEOPHRON PUENOPTERUS (SAVIGNY.) o1

NOTES ON NEOPHRON PUENOPTERUS

(SAVIGNY) FROM NUWARA ELIYA.

BY ALEXANDER WHYTE, Esa,

(Read at General Meeting, November, 2, 1874.)

NN. Puenopterus (Sav.) &. White Scavenger Vulture—

Genera! colour dirty pale brown. Plumage, apparently in

transition stage, from that of young to adult—much jaded,

and commencing moult. The outer edge of the secondaries

tawny, giving a mottled appearance to the upper parts.

Length, 23 inches; extent, 4 feet 7 inches ; wing 17}

inches ; third quill longest ; tail 84 inches, wedge-shaped,

with webs of feathers much worn.

Upper and anterior part of the head naked, as also one

part of the neck and throat—these regions, however, being

sparingly covered with acuminate or hair-like feathers.

Naked part of the head extending well back, and with only

blotches of yellow, on a ground colour of pale greyish, with

a faint tint of flesh colour.

Bill.—Two and-a-half inches from gape, slender, straight

and slightly elevated in front of the cere. Upper mandible

with a prominent, strongly hooked, horny tip.

Cere.—Pale grey with yellow markings or blotches,

extending half the length of the bill. Nostrils longitudinal.

Legs and feet.—Pale cenerious yellow ; tarsus, three

inches ; middle toe, three ; toes much united at base by

membrane ; claws, strong, but slightly hooked and blunt.

Trides.—Pale brown, approaching to yellow.

This interesting specimen—the first of this species, if nct

the only one of the vulture family recorded from Ceylon—

was shot near to the Rest-house on the Nuwara Eliya Plains

on the 13th of March last, by Mr. . H. Grinlinton, and the

D2 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.) -

above description and measurements were noted down while

the bird was yet in flesh. It was mounted by a A. Whyte

and Co., Kandy, and I believe it will be exhibited at the

Society’s next Meeting.

Though common throughout many parts of India, it is

difficult to account for the appearance of this stray Neophron

at our mountain sanitarlum. The weather at the time was

rough and stormy, and it is just possible that it found the

N. E. monsoon too much for it, and was thus driven south.

It is not probable that a bird of such keen instinct and vision

should have missed his way, or have mistaken our mountain

ranges for some of its favorite haunts in Southern India ;

and yet, it is a matter of surprise, that a bird of prey,

possessing such powers of flight, should not more frequently

visit our shores.

This specimen differs considerably in plumage and mea-

surements from the description of the species given by

Terdon ; but the most striking difference is to be found in

the naked portion of the head extending further back than

is apparently noted by him, or figured in any of the works

to which I have access. It would be exceedingly interest-

ing if the subject of these notes was to turn out a new species,

or even variety, seeing there have hitherto been described

only two species of this aberrant or sub-family of vultures,

the other being Cathartes monachus, Tem., from Africa.

We think, however, it can only be looked on as a small form

of Puenopterus, with the bald space on the head extending

further back than is usually the case.

This type of vulture is considered by some naturalists to

connect the Raptores, and Natatores, by the similar form

and shape of the bill, to that of the Frigate Pelicans, as

also in the long and pointed wings. . Swainson hints at the

probability of Neophron being the grollatorial genus of the

vultures.

NOTES ON NEOPHRON PUENOPTERUS (SAVIGNY.) 03

This bird has a wide geographical range, and is common

throughout the north of Africa, the west of Asia, and even

the south of Europe. It is an exceedingly foul feeder, and

is preserved in Egypt asa valuable scavenger, and where

it is known as “ Pharaoh’s Chicken.” ‘Terdon says it walks —

and runs with facility, and breeds on rocky cliffs, large

buildings, mosques, &c. It forms a nest of sticks and rub-

bish, often lined with rags. It lays generally two eggs—

sometimes white, with afew rusty brown spots—at other

times so thickly covered with these as tu appear quite red, -

with a few liver brown blotches.

Kandy, 26th September, 1874.

54 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

ON THE CLIMATE OF DIMBULA.

SiruaTED as Dimbula is, almost immediately: under the

main mountain chain of Ceylon, it will be well to briefly

consider the meteorology of the Island before proceeding: to:

discuss the observations taken at Langdale and Carlabeck

during the past eight years. As these two estates adjoin,

are at the same elevation, and trial has proved that there

"was no difference of importance between similar observations

taken on the two places, these are now carried on solely at

Carlabeck, as the more convenient station.

Ceylon, from its insular position is more exposed to the

full effects of both monsoons than the adjoining Indian

coasts. Yet even here the effect of position on the rainfali

is very noticeable. Those stations more directly facing the

north-east monsoon which blows from the dry high lands

of Asia across the comparatively small Bay of Bengal can-

not compare in rainfall with those exposed to the south-

west monsoon after its passage over the broad Indian Ocean.

On the other hand their mean temperature is higher, and

there is more variation between the highest and lowest

readings.

The influence of the mountain range is very marked. It

is a common thing for a visitor to Nuwara Eliya during

the wet season (the south-west monsoon) to find that in

the short distance between that place and Hakgalla, he

escapes from the almost incessant rain, and from Hakgalla

can see before him the plains of Uva parched up for want

of it. In Dimbula also the same thing constantly occurs in

the north-east monsoon when we see the tops of the range

dividing us from Uva covered with heavy clouds driven up

thence by the north-east wind, yet not a drop of rain will

NOTES ON THE CLIMATE OF DIMBULA: 495)

fall on the Dimbula side while it is falling heavily in Ha-

putale and the Wilson’s Bungalow district.

As in all mountainous countries the heaviest rain falls

at the foot of the loftier or more isolated hills. Padu-

polla, the exact locality of which I am ignorant of, is

credited with the greatest fall of any station in the Island,

it having an average of 250 inches. Ratnapura with 146

inches can only equal places such as Sitawaka at the foot,

Sea Fell, the highest hill in England, and cannot compare

with the Khasia Hills in Assam, where some 609 inches of

rain fall during the year, 500 of which fell during the

seven months of the south-west monsoon. In this neigh-

bourhood Dr. Hooker measured 90 inches in three days.

In a tropical country like this there is no budding or

fall of the leaf to mark the seasons, but there are some few

signs in the arrival and departure of birds and the blossom-

ing of certain plants. Of the first the arrival of snipe, fly

catchers, and wag tails are well known signs that the north-

east has set in, and many others can be found in the Notes

on Ceylon birds contributed by Capt. Legge in our Journal

for 1874. Of the latter coffee is, to those resident in the

hills, the most noteworthy; in Dimbulla it blossoms at

intervals from January to May. Other instances are peaches,

nillu, rhododendrens. In Colombo you are probably fami-

_ liar with others, with which I, with my shght knowledge of

the low country, am not acquainted. Health too varies much

with the season. Contrary to what might be expected, the

rainy season in the hillsis far more healthy, both for natives

and Europeans than the dry. New arrivals suffer much at

first from exposure to the rain and wind, but old coolies do

not experience this, and the new comers soon recover,

excepting such as were utterly unfit to leave their home,

and for the rest of the rainy season all as a rule enjoy good

health. . But in the north-east monsoon, the great variation

56. ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

of temperature, when as not unfrequently happens there is

a difference of 90° between the temperature in the open at

6 A.M., and noon (once this year it was 98°), tells on both

Europeans and Natives, and serious disease of all kinds is

rife. Jam assured that the barometrical observations taken

by the Surveyor-General’s staff and others have been found

of great practical use at times in enabling timely warning of

cyclones to be sent to Madras and Calcutta, but as such ob-

servations require not only an expensive instrument, but

more accuracy in observation than they would be likely to

receive when I am away, I have never taken these. The

observations on which the subjcined table is based, have

however all been taken with standard instruments, and as

readings of thermometers and rain-gauges are simple com-

pared with those of the barometer, I have been able to train

others to take them with accuracy.

The meteorological year in Dimbula may be considered to

commence with the burst of the south-west monsoon, which,

in my experience, I have, with one exception, always noted

to take place between 27th May and 2nd June. The one

exception was I believe in 1874, when it broke about the

middle of May, but I cannot be certain of either the day or

year, as the detailed observations have been sent to Eng-

land. After the burst steady, but not very heavy, rain

generally continues for two months with occasional inter-

mission. In 1872 the rains began on 2nd June, and never

ceased for a quarter-of-an-hour together during the day-

time, nor, I believe, during the night, till the 17th July.

Seasons, however, sometimes occur during which the intervals

of fine weather are so prolonged that the lately planted

clearings suffer much. During August and the first half of

September, though rain falls on about three days out of

four, the showers are not so heavy, and a considerable portion

of the day is usually fine. Towards the end of September

NOTES ON THE CLIMATE OF DIMBULA. 57

heavy and continuous rain again falls from the north-east,

and continues till the middle of November, after which

showery weather may be expected till the end of December.

January is @ very uncertain month, but as a rule heavy

showers fall about the middle of the month. After these

have ceased little rain can be expected till the burst of the

“ little south-west” towards the end of April, and after this

a month of, on the whole, fine weather brings us back to our

starting point.

The amount of cloud and humidity of the air may be

expected to vary directly as the rainfall, and the close cor-

_ respondence between the three comes out very markedly in

the subjoined diagrams, which I have added to the observa-

tions as making them more easily understood. As will be

seen at a glance, all three correspond almost exactly in

their rise and fall, corresponding with the increase or

decrease of the readings.

There seems no regularity in the connection between the

season and the temperature. If we take the mean between

the highest. and lowest temperatures as our mean tempera-

ture we find that it increases with the northward progress

of the sun from January till April, May being stationary

at the same point as April. Thence to the end of the year

it seems to be independent of the sun, and to vary enversely

as the rainfall, in direct opposition to the earlier portion of

the year in which it yaried directly at it.

As arule, the higher the temperature during the day the

lower it is at night, owing to radiation. March, April, and

May are however exceptions to this, probably from the

nearly verticle position of the sun in the case of March and

April, and in April again and May from increase of cloud

affecting the minimum, while there is little difference in the

maximum temperature.

The readings of the exposed thermometer give a very

58 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

similar diagram to the corresponding readings in tke shade,

but of course at a considerable distance above for maximum,

and below for minimum readings. This distance, as will be

seen, varies inversely as the rainfall. In understanding the

diagrams the rise or fall of the line is more to be considered

than its length, as in the case of the thermometer the

exposed ones naturally vary more from their mean than

those in shade. In the rainfall diagram the verticle dis-

tances from the base line A. B. to the various points,

multiplied by 124 give in inches the actual quantity that,

fell in any month.

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NOTE ON MOUNTAIN PATANAS OR GRASS LANDS, 59

NOTE ON THE SUPPOSED CAUSE OF THE

EXISTENCE OF MOUNTAIN PATANAS OR GRASS

LANDS OF THE MOUNTAIN ZONE OF CEYLON.

‘Tue existence of patanas in the midst of forests in Ceylon

has never been satisfactorily explained, and the writer does

not attempt to explain the occurrence of the numberless

small patches of grass-land that are so frequently met with,

apparently without any sufficient cause, amoug the forests

of the Kandyan Province. He wishes merely to direct

attention to a fact which does not appear to have been

noticed, and which in this particular instance ¢s a sufficient

cause for the existence of at least one considerable tract of

patana. In travelling from Pundalu-oya to Ramboda

there may be seen on the Tavalamtenna side of the valley

along blackish band of rock broken up into very prominent

buttresses near Wavendon, but still distinctly traceable as

one formation. This band, which the writer estimated at

700 te 1,000 feet in thickness—though it may be much

more—slopes down from the upper portion of Helboda

estate towards Ramboda where it forms the lower half

of the second fall, and where also it disappears under the

gneiss in the immediate neighbourhood of the church. It

may also be noticed that there is a remarkable absence of

forest growth of any kind from the topmost part of this

band down almost to the river—whilst immediately above

most luxuriant forest has until recently prevailed. The

connection between the two facts is evident. The rock is so

poor in fertilizing matter that its debris cannot support a

forest vegetation, and the debris of other rock has not to

any extent been spread over its surface. On examining the

rock in question, it is found to be a semi-crystallized

60 “ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

quartzite destitute of felspar or mica or any of the other

constituents of gneiss. When it is understood that this

quartzite forms only one stratum in a distinct series of

metamorphosed rocks—of which crystalline limestone is

another ; the former having been sandstone and the latter

ordinary limestone and before metamorphic action took

place, and that this series extends in all probability over

nearly the whole Island, 2. e., whenever the gneiss is found,

it will appear extremely likely, especially when the dis-

turbed state of this gneiss formation is taken into account,

that the same band of rock will reappear—as indeed the

writer has been irformed that it does in Ouvah—and thus

be the cause of other patanas. If the above fact with regard

to Ouvah be correct, for the writer has never been able to

verify it himself, it would appear not unlikely that this

great Mountain Plain may be shewn to be chiefly composed

of the debris of this quartzite— which owing to the deficiency

of rainfall caused by the protection of the Saffracam moun-

tains has never been washed way. The writer however does

not wish to do more in this case than hazard a conjecture.

January, 1876. R. ABBAY.

JOURNAL

OF THE

CEYLON BRANCH

OF THE

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY,

TSS. :

PATE O,

“'The design of the Society is to institute and promote enquiries into

the History, Religion, Literature, Arts, and Social Condition of the

present and former inhabitants of the Island, with its Geology, Miner-

alogy, its Climate and Meteorology, its Botany and Zoology.”

Price to Members, 1 rupee; to Non-Members, 2 rupees;

Copies are supplied to Booksellers at home at 5s.

** Communications intended for publication in the Journal

must be forwarded to the Secretary at least a fortnight

before the assembly of the General Meeting at

which they are to ve submitted.

Messrs. TRUBNER & Co., 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON.

| | AGENTS:

| Measrs. THACKER, SPINCK & Co., St. ANDREW’S LIBRARY, CALCUTTA.

| 5

WILLIAM HENRY HERBERT, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, COLOMBO, CEYLON.

1881.

JOURNAL

OF THE

CEYLON BRANCH

OF THE

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY,

Loo.

PART IL.

EDITED BY

THE HONORARY SECRETARY.

—

COLOMBO:

WILLIAM HENRY HERBERT, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, CEYLON.

1881.

ee Cen aaa

WM Seta aaa

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

GRAMINE®, OR GRASSES INDIGENOUS TO OR GROWING IN

CEYLON (continued from Journal for 1880, p.90) . 1

TRANSLATION OF TWO JATAKAS BAS)

On THE SUPPOSED ORIGIN OF TamMANA Nuwara, TAmBa-

PANNI, AND TAPROBANE : . 30

Tre Rocks anp MINERALS OF CEYLON } STN

seb Were

fee iebeg)

a Vatican a

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.

CEYLON BRANCH.

GRAMINEA OR GRASS&82H

INDIGENOUS TO, OR GROWING IN CEYLON,

As given in the Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylania, pp. 356 to 376

and Addenda. with notes on them, especially those

useful as fodder plants or otherwise,

By W. Fereusoyn, F.L.S.

Read at the General Meeting, Asiatic Society, September 11th, 1879.

[Continued from Journal, Ceylon Branch, Royal Asiatic Society

for 1880, p. 99. ]

138. ImPERATA ARUNDINACEA, Cyrill. I. cylindrica, Beauv.

Lagurus cylindricus, Linn. is the large European form of

this plant; Sir W. Munro, Lin. Jl. 6, p. 48. This has a

large number of Botanical names and has been described by

several authors. It is the famous J/ook of the Sinhalese,

the Lalang of Java, Weri of Amboina, Alang-alang of the

Malays, and is well known as a great pest in some places.

It is common in Ceylon from the sea-coast up to several

thousand feet elevation, and in consequence of the great depth

to which its underground stems extend, is most difficult to

eradicate once it gets into a coffee estate or other cultivated

ground. On some of the cocoanut estates beyond Negombo,

2 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

it was got rid of by penning cattle over it. It is used for

thatch in Ceylon. “It is a native of moist stiff ground,

and particularly common in Bengal, where the fields are

white with its tall silvery spikes when in flower after the

first rains in April and May. Cattle are not fond of it,

particularly when old. It is used in the marriage ceremonies

of the Telingas. In Bengal it is much used as thatch.”—

Rox. Fl. Ind. I., pp. 234—235. It is a native of Southern

Kurope, Northern Africa, Senegal, all India, and Chili.

139, SaccHarnuM sronraNeuM, Linn. 8S. Advyptiacum,

Willd. S. semidecumbens, and §. canaliculatum, Rox. FI.

Ind. I., pp. 236 and 246. This is a very common grass in

gardens and in fences in Colombo and elsewhere in Ceylon,

and remarkable for its tall eulms, and long silvery white

panicles of flowers. I have never seen it truly wild in the

Island. ‘The leaves of this grass make good mats for

various purposes, and are also used for thatching houses.

The immense quantity of long, bright, silver-coloured wool

which surrounds the base of the flowers gives this species a most

conspicuous and gaudy appearance. On the banks of the

Irrawaddy, this tall grass is very abundant, and forms a

striking object in the landscape. Buaffaloes are fed on it.’’

‘Rox. It is said to be the principal fodder for elephants in

British Burmah, Slym's Elephant, p. 14. This is the grass

well-known as the Kans of North-Western India. In his

Notes on the Flora of Banda, Mr. Edgeworth says, it is found

everywhere, and is “the curse of the country.”—Lin. Jl. 9,

p. 320. From an article on the Department of Agriculture

and Commerce in the Pvoneer of 23rd September, 1880, I

make the following extract respecting this grass :—

* Kans grass is a coarse grass with very deep interwoven roots

which infest south Jumna distriets, in which, like ref in the north

of the Jumna districts, it has from time to time laid waste hundreds

# +

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CHYLON. 3

of square miles. In that quarter of the province agricultural labour is,

owing to the absence of irrigrtion and the precarious cutturn of pro-

duce, far below the normal level in the south Jumna districts, and is

unable in consequence to compete with the ravages of the hans weed,

which requires nothing somuch as hard manual labour to remove it.’’

140. SaccHaARUM ARUNDINACEUM, f?efz. §. daeemonum

Konig. This is the Rambuk of the Sinhalese, and is quite

common, and I feel confident indigenous to Ceylon, on the

banks of streams and rivers from the coast up to the Kandyan

country, and much cultivated as a fence-plant in Colombo.

From this grass, I feel confident, that Rambukkana and Ram-

bukenny have been derived. It is the Pey-Karambu, or

Devil’s sugar-cane of the Tamils, and hence Konig’s 8.

demonum. Ihave measured a culm of this grass in flower

in Colombo some years ago, which was 203 feet in height.

Some of the juice of this plant, and bits of the bark of Hal-

gaha, are put into the toddy intended for jaggery. “ With

this very lofty grass the natives make roofs for their houses,

rafts for crossing rivers, railings for their enclosures, and biers

to carry dead bodies.” Ainshe.

141. Saccuanum orricinanum, Linn. Of the sugar-cane

several varieties are cultivated in Ceylon, and large quantities

are grown in the clayey fields near Colombo, and brought into

town to be cut up into small bits which are chewed and

sucked by the natives. Experiments made in several parts of

the Island to cultivate this cane for sugar manufacture have

proved failures, except the one at Baddegama near Galle

where the Messrs. Winter and Bowman manufacture sugar

which supplies the shipping at Galle to a certain extent.

142. SaccHarum, Sp. Elephant Sugar Cane. I give this

on the authority of a list sent to me by Mr. Morris of foreign

grasses introduced to Ceylon. [I learn from Dr. Trimen that

this should have been included in 141.]

4 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

143. Prrovis LATIFOLIA, Aiton. Anthoxanthum indicum,

Linn. Saccharum spicatum, Linn. Agrostis spicaeformis, Linn.

This grass was collected in Ceylon by Paul Hermann in 1660

to 1667, and was described by Linneus in Fl. Zeylanica, No. 25,

and I examined his specimen in the British Museum in 1857.

itis in p. 29 of volume I. (by an error marked 5). It is acom-

mon grass at Colombo in sandy soil, and is remarkable for its

long bottle-brush-like panicle of metallic coloured flowers.

Cattle scarcely touch it. Hermann gave the Sinhalese name

kawulu to it, whilst Moon, in his Cat. Ceylon Plants, gives

heen-pini-baru, and ela-balal-tana for it, but I never heard

it called by any of them. It is a native of India, Japan,

Teneriffe, and the Cape of Good Hope.

144. Zoysta puncENS, Willd. Agrostis matrella, Linn,

Matrella juncea, Pers. This is a very common seaside plant,

and grows in the sand along the coast, and with Remirea

pedunculata, Cyperus arenarius, and other plants helps much

to bind the sand along the coast. It is a tiny plant with

pungent leaves, and needle-like spikes of flowers, but it creeps

underground to a great extent.

145. Sporozouus inpicus, R. Br. Agrostis indica, Linn.

This is a common grass in the Kandyan country, whilst on the.

coast the next one is very common.

146. SporoBoLus DIANDER, Beauv. Agrostis diandra, Retz.

Rox. Fl. Ind. I, p. 317. This is a very common grass about

Colombo and elsewhere in the Western Province. Both

species are remarkable for their delicate feathery panicles.

Cattle do not seem to like either of them. :

147. Acrostis Royueana, Trin. Calamagrostis Hookeri-

ana, and C. Roylei, Steud. This is a delicate grass found by

me at Nuwara Eliya and at the Agras-—a good deal like small

plants of Arundinella nervosa.

148. PoLYPoGON MONSPELIENSIS, Desf. P. zeylanicus, N.

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CEYLON. 9)

ab Hs. Said to be rare in the Uva district and possibly

introduced, En. p. 370.

149. ARISTIDA ADSCENSIONIS, Linn. A. gigantea, L. fil.

A. cerulescens, Desf, A. canariensis, Willd. A setaceus,

Moon, Cat. Ceylon plants, p. 9, not of others? Aut-tuttiri,

Sinhalese, Cheetaria species, Beauv., and others. I follow

Mr. Ball in his Spicilegium Flore Maroccane in Linn. Jl.

vol. 16 p. 712, in his nomenclature of this grass. This is a

very common and very abundant tall grass in Ceylon, with very

large panicles of flowers with long awns, and as already stated

is most troublesome to those who have to walk through it.

Brooms are made of its long wiry culms. Cattle never touch

it. Itis a most troublesome weed on roadsides in Colombo. It

is found in Morocco, Northern Africa, in the Canary and Cape

de Verde Islands, Arabia Petreea, Brazil, in Southern Spain,

Sicily; and Linneus remarks that this is one of the four plants

which constitute the flora of the island of Ascension, the others

being Sherardia fruticosa, Euphorbia origanoides, and Portu-

laca.

150. ARISTIDA DEPRESSA, Ievtz. A. vulgaris, Trin, This

grass was found at Trincomalee by the late Rev. Mr. Glenie.

Rox. Fl. Ind. 1, p 351, says that, like A. Hystrix, it is per-

fectly useless.

3 151. Puracmitis Roxpureun, Ath. P.nepalensis, N. ab

Es. Arundo Karka, Rox. FI, Ind. 1, p. 347. Panicum arbo-

rescens, Moon’s Catalogue, p 8. not of Lin. Nala-gas, Sinhalese,

literally trumpet or reed plant. This a very common and

remarkable grass, with culms from 10 to 12 feet in height

crowned with large open panicles of brown inflorescence. It

affects the moutlis of rivers and is generally mixed with the

mangroves, but is equally common on the banks of canals,

streams and fields, and can be easily recognised at the mouth

of the Kelani river, on the Island and elsewhere, close to

6 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.) .

Kalutara, and along the railway line as far as Polgahawela.

I measured a creeping stem of this grass growing in the

Bolgoda lake, which was 73 feet in length, The large panicles

when dry forman ornament in vases for the drawing-room, &e.

“Pipes are made of the culms, particularly those used by the

people who carry about the dancing snakes. The common

Durma mats of Bengal are made of the stalks split open.

Vessels from the port of Calcutta are generally dunnaged with

them.—’’Rox. Is this distinct from the P. communis of Hurope

which has a very wide range?

“From ithe hollow reeds he fashioned

Flutes so musical and mellow,

That the brook, the Sebowisha,

Ceased to murmur in the woodland,

That the wood-birds ceased from singing,

And the squirrel, Adjidaumo,

Ceased his clatter in the oak-tree,

And the rabbit, the Wabasso,

Sat upright to look and listen.”—Longfellow’s Hiawatha.

152, ARuNbDo poNnAX, Linn. or European reed, a native of

the south of Huropeand Northern Africa. Has been introduced

to Ceylon and is used for basket making, but it dees not seem

to flower here. [have seen plants of this growing at Coruna

in Spain, with culins more than an inch in diameter. A small

variegated grass, now commonly cultivated in Ceylon (the

gardener’s garter ?) supposed to be a variety of this species, is

doubtless the variegated form of Phalaris arundinacea.

153. AmpuHipoxnax Heyneus, N.ab Fs. This grass is given

as found in the Central and Southern Provinces up to an

elevation of 4,000 feet.

154. AMPHIDONAX OBTUSIFLORA, Thw. En. p. 370. C. P.

8,470. Found by Dr. Thwaites at Ratnapura. I have seen

no specimen of this grass. |

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CEYLON.) Z

155. Cynxopon Dacryton, Fers. Thisis the famous Hur-

yalee of the Deccan, and the Araugam-pilluof the Tamils in

Southern India and Ceylon. It is the grass supposed to be the

best fodder of the indigenous ones, and is invariably selected

by the grass women who may be seen al! over Colombo scrap-

ing the whole plant from the roadsides and swards, to the very

great injury of both, as it is one of the best grasses for binding

the roadsides, and for forming swards. It is quite common

everywhere in Ceylon, from the sea-coast up to the plains of

Nuwara Eliya. It is the Panicum Dactylon, Linn., Agrostis

linearis, Retz. and has been described under about a dozen

other names. It seems to be common over a great part of the

world. It is found in Wnegland, and other parts of Europe,

India, China, Thibet, Australia, South and Central America,

and the Cape of Good Hope, and said to have been introdueed

into Farz and Khuzistan, by the British Expedition of 1856-7.

according to Birdwood p. 126. Col. Otley has written fully on

the cultivation of this grass as a fodder for cavalry, in the

Madras Literary Journal, but some trials made by me near

Colombo did not bear out the Colonel’s recommendation. It is

the Durva, Sans. Doorba, Dooblx, Beng. Doob, Ganer,

‘Hind, and Gherika. Tel. ‘‘It is the Agrostis of the Greeks

according to Fraas. Its flowers in their perfect state are among

the loveliest objects in the vegetable world, and appear, through

a lens, like minute rubies and emeralds in constant motion from

the least breath of air. Itis the sweetest and most nutritious

pasture for cattle ; and its usefulness added to its beauty,

induced the Hindus, in their earliest ages, to believe that it

was the mansion of a benevolent nymph. Even the veda

celebrates it, as in the following text of the A’?hdrvana:

‘* May Durva, which rose from the water of life, which has a

hundred roots and a hundred stems, efface a hundred of my

sins, and prolong my existence on earth for a hundred years !”

8 ROYAL ASIATIO SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

It is sacred also to Ganesha. Durva and Doorba must not

be confounded with Darbha, a synonym of the celebrated

Cusha grass. Sir W, Jones, and others ex. Birdwood, Bombay

Products, p. 128. :

156. Cynopvon Nrrsu, Thw. En. p. 371. C. virgatns»

N.ab Hs. This grass was found at Trincomalee by the late

Rev. 8. O. Glenie. It has long panicles and quite unlike the

above.

157. Cynopon eractiiis, V. ab Es. Leptovhloa uniflora,

Hochst, Said to be cominon in the hotter parts of the

Island.

158. Lrprocatoa cHInensts, V. ab Es. UL. tenerrima, R.

and §. Poa chinensis, Burm. Rox. Fl. Ind. 1, p. 332. Found

by me on the shore of the Colombo lake evidently from intro-

duced seed. Roxburgh says it is a large beautiful species,

growing on the borders of water-courses, and places where

there is much moisture.

159. Leprocanoa FILIFORMIs, R. and S. The habitat

of this grass is given as Colombo on my authority. It

is a slender grass with a long delicate panicle; found

by me in abundance in the garden behind the Govern-

ment offices, but it has disappeared from this place for some

years past. |

160. Luprocuioa arasica, Ath, En. 1 p. 271. Dinebra

segyptiaca, Jacq. I found this in great abundance in the

Guinea grass close to the Colombo Kachcheri, several years

ago, but evidently from seed thrown out in the debris from the

bazaars. Dalzell in Bombay Flora. p, 297, says it is common

in Sindh, where it is called Drub, and it is a favourite food of

buffaloes. It is a native of Algypt, Senegambia, Arabia, and

India.

161. Hievsine pica, Gert. Cynosurus indicus, Linn.

Wal-mal-kurakkan, Sinhalese. Burm. Thea. Zeyl. t. 47. fig. 1.

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CEYLON. 9

This is one of the most common roadside grasses in Ceylon,

and can be easily recognized by its 8 to 6 digitate terminal

spikes, with a single one always some distance below the

oshers. It is so coarse that cattle scarcely ever touch it. It

is a most troublesome weed on roadsides, and will spring up

from its roots after being cut down several times.

162. Exuustne Coracana, Gert. Rox. Fl. Ind. 1. p. 342.

H. stricta, Rox. |. c. p. 343? Cynosurus coracanus, Linn.

Kurakkan, Sinhalese. Hermann, Mus. Zeyl. p. 58. Linn. FI.

Zeyl. No. 458, p. 208. Knox’s Ceylon, p. 22; Kayvaru and

Kelwaracu, Tamil. Natchne, Ragee, Hind. Raget, of Madras.

I can find no explanation of the meaning of the specific name

adopted by Linneus and Geertner, but can scarcely doubt that

it is derived from the Sinhalese Kurakkan, under which it

has been known to and cultivated by the natives time out of

mind. There is no record of its having been found in a wild

state. This is cultivated extensively by the Sinhalese from

the coast up to several thousand feet in the Kandyan country,

especially in the chenas, a word having the same meaning as the

Kumari inthe Madras Presidency. ‘ This is the most prolific

of cultivated grasses, forming the chief diet of the poorer

classes in some parts of India, as Mysore, North Circars, slopes

of the Ghauts, &c. It is considered by the natives to be the

most nourishing and invigorating of cheap food. On analysis,

Raggi has been found to contain, on an average 6:53 per cent.

of nitrogenous matter, whereas rice contains 7-40, aud wheat

13°42, In this respect Raggi stands last among the cereals of

India. But Dr. Forbes Watson thinks that the want of nitrogen

is more than compensated by the mineral constituents of Rage.

It is rich in iron required for the blood corpuscles, and in potassa,

Jime, and phosphoric acid, essential to various tissues of the

body. On the whole, Raggi thus stands high in food value.”

See a very full account of this grain in the supplement to the

id ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

Ceylon Observer of 19th July, 1879, extracted from the Madras

Atheneum. For one variety of H. stricta, Rox. gives the increase

egual to 120-fold, and for another 500-fold, whilst on two tufts,

the produce of one seed, 50 culms grew, and no less than 8,100-

fold was carefully calculated to be the produce of this plant.

Five varieties of kurakkan are cultivated by the Sinhalese.

163. DacryLocrentum axeypriacum, Willd. Cynosurus

egyptius, Linn. Chloris mucronata, Mich. Hleusine s¢yptiaca,

Pers, &c. Putu-tana, Sinhalese. This is a common grass and

easily recognised by its peculiar three-to-five-spiked stiff inflores-

cence. The culms creep and root at their joints, flowering parts

erect. Cattle eat the young plants.

164, CHLoRIs BARBATA, Sw. Andropogon barbatum, Linn.

Mayura-tana, Sinhalese. This is a very common grass about

Colombo, andis remarkable from its long awned spikes, which

come out in dense tufts of 12 to 20 on the tops of the culms,

and are seen moving about with the least wind. Cattle eat it

till it flowers, and then it is seldom touched.

165. CuLoris pecora, NV. ab Hs. CO. meccana, Hochst.

Said to be found in the hot drier parts of the Island. I have

not seen a specimen of this grass.

166. CuHtioris pieitata, Steud. Melica digitata, Rox. Fl.

Ind. 1. p. 326, Gymnopogon digitatus, N.ab. Es. MSS. I only

know this grass from a dried specimen of it. Roxburgh describes

it with culms four to five feet high, spikes terminal, expanding,

very long, mostly five-fold. A large beautiful species.

167. Dicumraria Wieutt, V. ad Hs., Steud. Syn. Gram.

p. 145. Gymnopogon rigidus, Thw. En. Pl. p. 372, C. P. 914.

This is a coarse erect grass, from two to three feet in height,

found in abundance in the Government Experimental Gardens

at Henaratgoda. Ido not think cattle touch it when in flower

at least. |

168. AveENA ASPERA, Munro, Described by . Thwaites

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CEYLON, 11

En. p. 872. C. P. 916. I found this fine tall oat-like grass

near Baker’s Farm in Nuwara Eliya in April, 1879.

169. HWriacuye triszeta, V. ad Hs., Steud. Syn. Gram.

p- 237. Megalachne zeylanica, Thw. En. p. 372. C. P. 3,247.

Alropsis triseta, Nees. Aristida biflora, Moon, Cat.p.9? Pini-

tuttiri, Sinhalese. This grass is very abundant in the Cinnamon

Gardens, Colombo, and is always in flower. It is a miserable,

wiry, withered-looking grass and grows in dense tufts. No

animal willtouch it; it is a wretched, worthless weed.

170. Uratmpis rusca, Steud. Tridens indicus, N. ab Es.

MSS. This rare grass was found by the late Dr. Gardner at

Blephant Pass in the Northern Province. Specimens of it

were sent by me to the Peradeniya Herbarium in December,

1863, collected near Colombo, I think.

171. PomMmMzrREULLA corNuUcOPIA, Linn. fil. Rox, Cor.

ime 2. No. 131. Bl. Ted. 1..p. 331.. Moon: Cat. ‘p.. 7.

Referring to this No., Dr. Trimen has kindly added the

following note :—‘‘I suspect an error on Moon’s part. There

is a small grass from ‘Jaffna? Moon’ in the herbarium here

(OC. P. 3,250), which may be the plant meant, but it is not

Pommereulla.”” This accounts for the fact that C. P. 3,250 is

not given for any plant in Enumeratio.

172. Poa annua, Linn. This is one of the most common

of English grasses. Dr. Thwaites gives it as common on road-

sides at Nuwara Eliya, but thinks it is possibly an introduced

plant. It is so very plentiful in various parts of Dimbula, and

especially on the banks of streams not near cultivation, that it

looks very like a native plant, but its immense power of spread-

ing in England is well known, and it may after all be an

escape from packets of English seeds.

173. HEracrostis spirarta, W.and A. KE. secunda, N. ab

Es. Poa, bifaria, Vah]. Rox, Fl. Ind. 1. p. 331. A tall grass

with long narrow terminal spikes having sessile, alternate,

12 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

bifarious spikelets, and very distinct from all the other species

of this large genus.

174. Eragrostis un1oLompEs, R.and S. EK. amabilis, W.

and A. Poa unioloides, Retz. Uniola indica, Spreng. ‘This

is a very abundant plant and is found from two or three inches

to upwards of one foot in height, with two kinds of panicles,

one jorm having narrow compact ones, and the other large

open spreading ones, with beautiful Briza-like flowers of a

whitish purple tinge, but sometimes are white. When erow~

ing on the banks of streams or close to water, it is a very hand-

Some grass. Graham, Cat. Bombay plants, p. 236, calls it

“the most elegant of allthe grasses.” For the utter confusion

in respect to the Poa amabilis, and P. tenella of Linneus, see

Sir W. Munro’s notes.

175. ERAGRosTIS PomoIDES, Beauv. C. P. 3,944. Poa era

grostis, Linn.? Kth. Hnum. 1. p. 332. I know this grass

only from the single specimen I have seen of the ahove C. P.

No., found by the Rey. 8. O. Glenie at Trincomalee.

176. Eracrostis Browne, V.ad Hs. Poa polymorpha,

R. Br. P. Brownei, Kth. P. glaucoides, Moon Cat. p. 9. Hia

kooru-tana, Sinhalese. This 1s a very common grass from the

sea coast up to Nuwara Eliya, and affects the dry sand of the

cinnamon gardens as well as the sides of water and streams,

and is often found growing in sheets of water. It can easily be

recognised from all the other species of the genus by its glaucous

metallic hue. It is a tall, stiff, wiry grass, and I do not believe

cattle ever touch it. I feel confident that it is Moon’s Poa

glaucoides, with the native name, both applicable to this grass.

177. HraGrostis ZEYLANICA, V.ab Hs. Poa reclinata, Moon

Cat. p. 9. Mal-cetora-tana, Sinhalese. Dr. Thwaites suggests

that this is only a variety of the last one, but the habits of the

two are so different that I do not think they are forms of one

species, This is always found spreading close to the ground,

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CEYLON. 15

with long straggling branches, and thin interrupted panicles

with often large spikelets. 1t is common in Colombo, and I

have found it in the patanas at Kattaboola in Kotmale, but it

is rare compared with B. Brownei, and has none of its peculiar

glaucous hue. Dr. Trimen states that Moon’s name for this

is Poa cynosuroides, Moon Cat.

178. Hracrostis orimntauis, 7riz. Dr. Thwaites gives

Central Province, not uncommon, for this plant, and asks if it

is not a variety of E. Brownei, but I have not found it except

in Colombo where it is most common in the Cinnamon Gardens,

but generally in very dry sandy soil, and often with EH. Brownei.

This one has a compact panicle and has not the glaucous hue

of the other, and there is a small delicate variety of it. Itisa

good deal like EH, Browneiin some respects,

179. Hracrostis prnosa, Beauv. Poa pilosa, Linn. P.

verticillata, Cav. P. egyptiaca, Willd. P. elegantula, Kth. P.

elegans, Rox.? ‘This is a very abundant plant from the sea

coast up to Dimbula, where it and Paspalum filiculme are the

most common weeds on some of the coffeeestates. It isa thin

delicate grass, and is generally found in great patches.

180. Hracrostis Mecastacuya, Zink. Poa megastachya,

Koel. Briza eragrostis, Linn. This is a fine plant with large

open panicles of white spikelets and the most like one of the

Brizas. Found from the coast up to the Kandyan country.

181. ERaGrostis panicuLata, Steud. KH. nigra, N.ab Es,

Poa paniculata, Rox. Fl. Ind 1. p. 340. Found by Dr.

Thwaites in Dumbaraand Maturata districts Ido not recollect

where my specimens were collected. Itis a tall handsome

grass with a much divided ample panicle.

182. ERaGrostis nutans, Stexd. Poa nutans, Retz. Rox. 1.

ce. 330. Poa Koenigii, Kth. P. interrupta, Keen. Nox.1.c. This

is a tall grass from 3 to 5 feet high, with beautiful feathery-

drooping panicles of purple-coloured flowers, and grows in large

14 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

quantities in rich clayey soil on the banks of streams and rivers,

It is a very conspicuous grass on the island in the Kalu-ganga,

‘where the railway crosses it at Kalutara, in company with

Phragmites Roxburghu.

183. Eracrostis pLumosa, Link. Poa plumosa, Retz. Kth.

Enum. 1 p. 338,cum syn. P. viscosa, Kth. I. c. p. 336. An P.

ciliaris, Linn.? C. P. 70, 926, 927, (928). Hab. Very common

in the warmer parts of the island, and an extremely variable

plant. The above is copied verbatim from the En. Pl. Zeyl. p.

373. Several forms of this delicate grass are well known to

me, and they are abundant all over the maritime parts of the

island, but I feel that 1 cannot do better than refer to Sir W.

Munro’s remarks on the identification of the grasses of Linneus’

Herbarium in Lin. Soc. Jl. 6 p. 43 on Poa amabilis, Linn.

and P.tenella. Thespecimen collected by Hermann in Ceylon

in 1660-7, and described by Linneus in the Flora Zeylanica No.

46, was examined by me in the British Museum in 1857.

184. C@LACHNE PULCHELLA, &. Br. Isachne simpliciuscula,

W. and A. This is a small grass very common in marshy

places, and especially in paddy fields in the Western and

Central Provinces. 7

185. Ca@LACHNE PERPUSILLA, Tw. Isachne perpusilla, Arn.

Very common in similar places with the former. They are

both too small to be of much use as fodder,:

186. AXLUROPUS LAGOPODIOIDES, Trin. Dactylis lagopo-

dioides, Linn. Burm. FI. Ind. t. 12. fig. 2. Given as com-

mon on sandy ground near the sea. Specimens sent by

E. Wytealingam from Mullaittivu. :

: Dactylis glomerata, Linn. is said to occur at Nuwara Eliya,

but has no doubt been introduced. JI found Anthoxanthum

odoratum, L. also in the Nuwara Eliya plain in 1879.

187. LoPHATHERUM cGRacILE, Brongn. L. Lehmanni, N. ab

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CEYLON, 15

Hs. This is a tall broad-leaved grass, with panicles from one

to two feet long, having long narrow divisions and spicules.

It is quite common in the edges of jungle near Colombo, and

elsewhere in the Western Province.

188. HLYTROPHORUs ARTICULATUS, Beauv. Dactylis spicata,

Willd. Thisisa very common plant in rice fields and looks a

good deal like one of the Setarias at a distance.

189. Tripocgon zeyLanicus, V.aé Hs. Foundin the more

elevated parts of the Central Province. I have seen only a

dried specimen of this piant.

190. CrnrorHeca Lapracea, Desv. Cenchrus lappaceus,

Linn. Melica diandra, Rox. Fl. Ind. 1, p. 827. Poa malaba-

rica, Burm. Fl. Ind. t. 11. fig, 2. but not of Linneus, which is

Panicum nodosum. ‘There are several other synonyms given

for this plant in Kunth, Hn. 1, p. 366. This isa very abundant

grass in the same places as Lophatherum gracile. Itisanative

of a great part of Asia, of some of the South Sea Islands, and

of Australia. Plants of it growing near Colombo have their

flower-spikes often metamorphosed into leaves.

191. BracHypopium syLvaticum, Lt. and S. B. Nepalense,

N.ab Es. Found in the more elevated parts of the Island.

“Tn woods, hedges, and thickets throughout Europe and

Central and Russian Asia, except the extreme north; com-

mon in England and Ireland; more scarce in the Scotch

Highlands.” Bentham’s Handbook of the British Flora, p.

987,

192. SrreprocGyne crinitTA, Beauv. Found in the Matale

district by the late Dr. Gardner. I have seen only a dried

specimen of it. Dr. Trimen states that it is found in the

forest at the Henaratgoda gardens.

For a more complete list of the following bamboos,

indigenous and introduced, than I possessed, I am indebted to

Mr. Morris.

16 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

193. ARUNDINARIA DEBILIS, Thw. Hn. p. 375. C. P. ?.

Munro in Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. 16. p. 24. Beddome’s Forrester’s

Manual of Botany, p. 230. This is a well known plant at Nuwara

Eliya where its foliage is used as a fodder for horses. ‘The

length of the glumes at once distinguishes this from A. distans,

which in some respects it approaches.’’ Munuro, l.c. The

culms of this species are much elongated.

194. ARUNDINARIA FLORIBUNDA, Thw.1. c. OC. P. 2,624.

Munro, |. c. p. 20. Beddome, 1. c. An erect shrubby reed,

with culms from two to five feet high. It is given as found

at Maturata, but specimens found by me on the Wattakelle

hill many years ago are very much like this one, and I think

they are the same.

“This appreaches very closely indeed to A. Wightiana,

and has the-same habit of growth. It is most easily distin-

guished by the generally adpressed branches of the panicle,

and the much longer, almost silkily pubescent spicule, con-

taining generally six to eight flowers.” Munro. I. c.

195. ARUNDINARIA WALKERIANA, Munro, |. c.p.21. Bed-

dome, l. c. Ceylon, Mrs. Walker No. 96, 1,304, J. Watson, 215,

Adam’s Peak, Pedrotalagalla, C. P. 3,860. A. Wightiana,

Thwaites, En. p. 444. not N. ab Es.

“The thickened cartilaginous margins of the leaves dis-_

tinguish this from all the species previously deseribed.”—Munro.

196. ARUNDINARIA DENSIFOLIA, Munro,] c.32,C. P. 3,956.

Horton Plains and Pedrotalagalla, Thwaites. Watson No, 25.

J found this small stiff plant growing in a swamp close to the

residence of the Assistant Government Agent in Nuwara Ate

in April, 1879, but not in flower.

197. BamBusa vuLearis, Wendl. Collect. Pl. i. 26, %t.

xlvii bad (1810). 3B. Thouarsii, Kth. Thw. Enum, p. 375, C.

P. 3,252. B. surinamensis, Rupr. B. Sieberi, Griseb. B.

arundinacea, Moon’s Cat. Ceylon Pl. p. 26, and of others, but

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CEYLON. 1?

not of Retz. B. auriculata, Kurz. Nastus Thouarsii, and N.

viviparus, Rasp. Arundo. Linn. in Hort. Cliff 25, and Flora

Zeylanica No.47. General Munro’s Monograph, Lin. Soc.’s Tr.

vol. 26, pp. 106-108. Una-lee, or Una-gas of the Sinhalese.

The Kaha-una-lee is the yellow-stemmed variety, and the Nil-

una-lee is the green-stemmed variety. Both varieties are

very common in most parts of Ceylon, and especially on the

banks of the principal rivers up to 2,000 feet. It is greatly

cultivated as a useful and ornamental! plant, and is well known

to the natives and Huropeans as our most common bamboo.

“The geographical distribution of the bamboo is very

interesting. One species only, under the several names of

Bambusa vulgaris, B. Thouarsu, B. surinamensis, and Bb.

Sieberi, is found in both Hemispheres ; and Lam in considerable

doubt as to which it is anative of. I have seen it collected by

Wallich in Silhet, by Hooker in Chittagong, but marked by

both as cultivated ; from Ceylon, apparently wild; from

Mauritius, I think, cultivated; abundantly from the West

Indies, naturalized ; and, cultivated, from several parts of South

America, This is the only thoroughly cosmopolitan species,

and is to be seen in great perfection near the centre staircase

inthe Palm-house at Kew.’”—General Munro’s Monograph,

p. 7. “The numerous specimens which I have seen of this

plant have enabled me to ascertain that the large number of

synonyms quoted above all belong to one species, which, indeed,

considering its wide range, appears to vary less than many

other species. The most remarkable varieties occur in plants

cultivated in the. gardens of Europe, two of which (one from

the garden at Paris, and one from that at Gottingen) are

figured under the name B. Thouarsii by Kunth. in plates 73

and 74 of his magnificent work on the Graminex. The native

country of this species is still doubtful : it is certainly natura-

lized in many places ; but there is no reliable information as to

€

i8 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

its being actually indigenous anywhere, either in the east or in

the west. Itis, when in flower, readily distinguished from all

other species, it being the only one with oblong compressed

spicule, the lower palee of which are not considerably enlarged ,

at the base, combined with a long slender style divided into

stigmas at the extreme end, and stamens free at their base.”

—Munrol.c. p.108,. This bamboo in Ceylon takes the place of

the large B. arundinacea in India, and is universally used for

scaffoldings, fences, and constructing temporary huts. Large

quantities of its stems are brought down the Ceylon rivers as

rafts, on which to float firewood and timber. This bamboo is

so constantly thinned out that it very seldom flowers in Ceylon.

198. Bampusa spinosa, Pox. Hort. Beng. 25. (1814)

F], Ind. ii., p. 198. Munro. 1. c. pp. 104-5. Arundo indica

arborea, Burman, Theas. Zeyl. 35. B. arundinacea, Thw. En.

Pl. Zeyl. 373. C. P. 3,820. Moon’s Cat. 26., not of Retz. This

is the Katu-una-lee, or thorny bamboo of the Sinhalese. I

have seen it several times in flower near Gampola, at Lady

Horton’s Walk, Kandy, and other parts of Ceylon. It does

not seem to be such a common one as B. vulgaris.

“Culms not so hollow as in B. arundinacea, Retz, densely

cespitose 30 to 50 feet high or even more ; spines at the joints

and very generally present throughout the whole plant, triple,

the middle one the largest and often compound, all more or less

re-curved very strong and sharp, sometimes one or two absent.”

“This species is found on the mountains on the north-

eastern side of our Presidency and also in Ceylon, but I have ~

not seen it in our western forests ; itis best distinguished from

B. arundinacea in having a paler coloured, more striated panicle,

smaller and more coriaceous spicule, and fewer flowers, gene-

rally smaller leaves which are often hairy on the outside, and

with the petioles sometimes much swoollen at the base,” —Bed-

dome Flora Syl. Anal. Gen., 131-2.

SO PT ey ae

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CEYLON. 19

“ Thwaites mertions that the seed of this species is eaten

m Ceylon; and it was probably this species which is referred

to in page 4 as having flowered so providentially in India .in

1866. The magistrate states: “It was the wild thorny kind

only which had flowered.”—Munro 1. c. 105. It was more

likely to have been the B. arundinacea which was referred to,

as itis also spiny. ‘* This beautiful, middling-sized, very ele-

gant species I have only found in the vicinity of Calcutta,

where now and then some of the oldest are found to blossom

about the beginning of the rains in June. Like the other

species, this is employed for various useful purposes ; and as

it grows to a pretty large size, and with a smaller cavity than

any of the others, it is strong and well adapted for a variety

of uses.”’— Roxburgh |. ¢.

199. Bampusa NANA, Roxb, Hort. Beng. 25. (1814) Fl.

Ind. ii, 199. Munro.,!. c. 89. Moon Cat. 29. C. P. 4,022.

B. glauca, Loddige, &c., B. floribunda Zoll. B. czesia, Sieb. et

Zucc, B. glaucescens, Sieb. B. sterilis, Kurz. Arundinaria glau-

cescens, Pal. de Bearvu, and several other synonyms. See Pani-

cum ovalifolium, for note on Panicum arborescens, &c. This

is the dwarf or Chinese bamboo now naturalized in Ceylon. It

grows in dense entangled tufts, and is a very handsome plant..

It is supposed that the Chinese umbrella handles are made

from the culms of this bamboo.

“Whilst these pages were passing through the press, I

received some flowering specimens. of this plant from Mr,

Thwaites, which have enabled me to ascertain that the opinions

which I have long entertained, as stated above at p. 22 regard-

ing the identity of B. nana and Arundinaria glaucescens, are cor-

rect.” * * “Thwaites says in a note attached to the specimen :

‘ Flowers usually imperfect ; I can see no ripe seeds forming.’

“Tt is very closely allied to B. tulda..— Munro |. c. 90-1. ‘It

is the Keu-fa of the Chinese. It makes most beautiful close

20 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

fences. The popular belief, that bamboos often take fire by

the violence of their friction during these hot, dry months,

when what is called the land wind prevails, is supported by the

Sanscrit stanza, quoted by Sir William Jones (see As. Res.

vol. 4, p. 254), of which the following is a copy :— Delight of

the world, beloved Chandana, stay no longer in this forest

which is overspread with rigid pernicious Vansas, whose hearts

are unsound; who, being themselves confounded in the scorching

stream of flames, kindled by their mutual attrition, will

consume not their own families merely, but this whole world.”

— Roxb.

200. TrrnosTacHyUM ATTENUATUM, Munro. 1, c. 148.

‘Beddome Fl. Syl. Anal. Gen. 234. Bambusa attenuata,

Thwaites En. Pl. 375, C. P. 3,255. This is a very abundant

bamboo in the Central Province, from 4,000 to 6,000 feet

elevation, Itis from 15 to 25 feet high, and from half to one

inch in diameter, unarmed. It is extensively used for making

baskets and other purposes on the higher estates in Dimbula.

Found in flower and fruit in the jungle near Upper Abbotsford

in May 1879, andin January and February, 1880.

201. OxyTENANTHERA THwaITEsil, Munro. 1.¢. 129. Bed- :

dome Fl. Syl, t. 322. Anal. Gen. 232. Dendrocalamus:

monadelphus, Thw. En. 376. C. P. 3,859. Bambusa stricta,.

htoxb. Cor. Pl. t. 80, as far as the plate is concerned, but not.

the description.

‘This ig a very straggling, unarmed, subscandent, weak

reed with culms from 10 to 20 feet long, hollow, and 1 to 14

inch in diameter, ‘very common on the Anamallays, 3,500 to ~

6,000 feet elevation, called Watte ; the hill-men use the leaves

for thatching ; it is also found in many other localities in and

Se Pr a Oe ee ae

on the outskirts of moist woods along the Western Ghauts, and — 5

is very common in the central parts of Ceylon at the same

elevations.” — Beddome 1. c.

NOTES ON GRASESS GROWING IN CEYLON. Pit

“ Roxburgh’s drawing in the ‘ Plants of the Coast of Coro-

mandel’ was undoubtedly taken from a plant of this species ;

but the description, with which the drawing does not agree,

was probably written at a later date, and is very nearly in the

same words as those used in the‘ Flora Indica,’ u. 193, for

the real Dendrocaiamus strictus. I have been unwilling to

change Thwaites’s specific name for this plant; but as the

whole genus have monadelphous stamens, it was no longer a

distinctive one, and I have therefore named it after the

excellent Botanist who first described the plant correctly.” —

Munro. 1. c. 130. I found this bamboo in abundant flower

many years ago in the jungle above Maussakelle, in the

Kelebokka district. This and the Male Bamboo havea great

resemblance to each other when in flower.

202. BEESHA STRIDULA, Munro, |.c.145. Ochlandra stri-

dula, Thwaites |. c. 376, C. P. 241. Bambusa stridula, Moon,

Cat. 26 (1824.)

This is one of the most abundant and most useful plants

in very large tracts of the Western and Southern Provinces of

Ceylon, from the coast up toa considerable elevation. It is

the well-known Bata-lee of the Sinhalese, and any one having

occasion to walk through jungles of it will soon understand the

meaning of Moon’s specific name; the prostrate culms on

which travellers or elephants tread, split with a peculiar

“ crackling” sound, and it is most difficult to get through it~

without thus warning game of the hunter’s approach. Its

culms are from 6 to 18 feet high, and are used very extensively

for making fences, &c., split up for tats, and for the roofs

of temporary huts, the leaves being used extensively for thatch-

ing the same. Vast jungles of this small bamboo extend

from Colombo in the direction of Hanwella, Avisawella, and

Ratnapura, and inland from Kalutara. It is now in flower, —

March, 1880.

a2 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

203. Untona Mucronata, Linn. Sp. Plant. 104. Triti-

cum repens, Thwaites En. p. 376, C. P. 924, but not of Linneus.

In a letter from the late Gen. Sir William Munro, he told me.

that the above C. P. No. was not Triticum repens L. The

specimens of this grass were found by the late Dr. Gardner in

the north of the Island.

Tue following introduced Bamboos, and other grasses, are:

given from a list sent to me by Mr. D. Morris and from

his Catalogue of Plants growing in the Royal Botanical

Gardens, Peradeniya, pp. 38-9.

204. BampBusa BLUMEANA, R. and S. Dawson’s prickly

bamboo. Native of Java, Munro, Mon. 101.

205. BamBusA ARUNDINACEA, Retz. This is called the

Calcutta bamboo in Mr, Morris’s list. “The largest and most

important of our bamboos is found throughout the Madras

Presidency, and grows to 80 feet high, with its culms up to six

or even eight inches in diameter. Itisa most valuable product,

and yields a very considerable revenue to the Forest Depart-

ment, being in universal use for building purposes, timber

rafts, scaffoldings, fencing, trellis-work, furniture, fishing-

rods, ladders, mats, baskets, window-blinds, and many other

purposes ; and when it seeds the bamboo-rice (as the natives.

call the seed) feeds thousands of poor people; the leaves are

good fodder, and the young shoots are made into preserves and

pickles, and are the most favourite food of elephants. This

species is absent from Ceylon, where its place is taken by B.

vulgaris.” — Beddome’s Foresters’ Manual, p. 229. Flora Sylva-

tica, t. 3821.

“The hard, polished, yellowish, smooth, spinous branches

of the panicle, best distinguished this from B. orientalis. f

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CEYLON. 223

presume that this is the species referred to at p. 4, as having

in 1864 furnished, during one of its periodical flowerings,

food to upwards of 50,000 persons in Canara.’”’—Munro, Mon.

p. 104. This bamboo is weli known to die down when it

flowers. Its seeds are in size and appearance very like grains

‘of oats. I have several plants of this bamboo growing in the

Circular Walk, Colombo, from seed introduced by Mr. A. M.

Ferguson from Southern India. He also freely distributed

seed to various parts of the interior, where it seems to grow

well.

206. BAMBUSA ORIENTALIS, ees. Sub-solid bamboo.

Found at Quilon and on the Nilgiris.

207. BampusaA Rumpurana, Kurz. lLarge-leaved bam-

boo, Jaya. I have seen no description of this bamboo.

208. DenpRrocaLAMus strictus, Nees. Bambusa stricta,

Rox. Fl. Ind. 2, 193. ‘This is the male bamboo, with nearly

solid stems, and much in use for spear-shafts, building pur-

poses, and many other uses ; it is very general throughout the

Madras Presidency on the dry slopes of the mountains up to

3,000 feet elevation, and is common in Bombay, Bengal, and

Burmah, but absent from Ceylon (except ina cultivated state),

and it extends to Singapore and Java. It flowers frequently,

I believe every year, and does not die down after flowering.” —

Bedd. |. c. p. 235, Fl. Syl. t. 325. The plants in the Circular

Walk, raised from seed received from Mr. Robert Dawson, as

those of the “male bamboo” grow in yery dense entangled

masses, with spreading, somewhat drooping, graceful branches,

which are decidedly thorny, and otherwise do not agree with the

description given. by Beddome—viz., “Culms unarmed, ar-

boreous up to 40-50 feet high.”

209. DENDROCALAMUS GIGANTEUS, Wunro, Mon. p. 150.

Giant bamboo. Native of Pulo Penang and Tenasserim. A

few plants of this bamboo grow in Colombo and elsewhere in

24 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

Ceylon, but those in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya

on the banks of the river are truly gigantic. The culms are

Said to grow to 12 inches in diameter, and are used for buckets,

flower-pots, &e.

_ 210. Gicanrocuioa aspera, Kurz. Java building bam-

boo. I have seen no description of this bamboo. The following

note by Sir W. Munro on G., atter, Kurz., Mon. p. 125, may

refer to this one:—“ Kurz. in his notes, identified this species

with B. aspera and B. Bitung, Roem. and Sch., but the latter

is described as having much longer, and the former much

more glabrous leaves.”

211. Brexsua Runepit, Kunth. Rheede Hort. Mal. V. 119,

_ t. 60 :—Rata-bata gaha, Sinhalese. Cochin thatching bamboo.

Native of Malabar and Cochin, Ihave only seen the plants of

this small bamboo which are growing in the Peradeniya Gardens.

212. BresHa TRavANcorica, Bedd. Mon. p. 234. ‘ This

magnificent species is most abundant on the South Travancore

and South Tinnivelly mountains, 3,000—5,500 feet elevation,

where it covers many miles of the mountains, often to the

entire exclusion of all other vegetation; in open mountain

tracts it generally only grows to 6-8 feet in height, but most

close and impenetrable, elephants even not attempting to get

through it; inside sholas and their outskirts it grows to 1d

feet high, and is much more straggling. Itis called Irul by

all the natives, and by Europeans the Elephant grass, Bedd. 1,

ce. Fl. Syl. t. 824, This evidently takes the same place in

Travancore and Tinnivelly that our bata-lee does in Ceylon.

213. Panicum acARiFeRuM, Trin.|.c.t.87. Thysanolena

acarifera, Arn. and Nees. Melica latifolia, Rox. Fl. Ind. ], °

328, Agrostis maxima, Rox. 1. c. 317. Rata-go-tana, Sin-

halese, Moon Cat. 8. Introduced from Bengal before 1824.

I have never seen this elegant and gigantic grass grown any-

where in Ceylon except in the Peradeniya Gardens.

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CEYLON. ~ a0

214. AwpROSCEPIA GIGANTEA, Brong. Anthistiria gigan-

tea, Cay. Said to be a native of Luzon, Amboina, and Java.

it was grown some years ago at the Model Farm, Colombo,

and grew to a height of 7 to 8 feet, but it has disappeared

from this place, and though cultivated in a few places in Ceylon

as a fodder grass, it does not seem to answer well compared to

the Guinea and Mauritius grasses.

215. Hucuitmna (Reana) LuxuRIANS, called Téosinte.

This is a newly introduced fodder grass and grows readily and

to a great height, but dies down as soon as it seeds, and I fear

is not an economical fodder grass for Ceylon.

216. GyNERIUM ARGENTEUM, Nees. Pampas grass. This

grass was introduced some years ago to Ceylon, but I fear it

has not succeeded as a fodder for cattle.

217. SorGaumM vuLGARE, Pers. Holcus Sorghum, Linn.

Andropogon Sorghum. Brot. Indian millet, Karal-iringu,

Sinhalese. Sorghum saccharatum, Per. Idal-iringu, Sin-

halese, and several other varieties of Sorghum have been

cultivated in Ceylon for many years, and grow to a height of

10 to 20 feet. In various parts of India it is considered one

of the best fodder plants, but in Ceylon I am not aware that

the culms are used as such. It has the following Indian

names :—Cholom, Tamil ; Jowar, Hind.; Janoo, Tel.; and the

Durra of Africa. From the Supplement to Ceylon Observer

of 19th July, 1879, I take the following extract : — |

“ Cholam or big millet, Holeus Surgham, is the principal food

grain in Nellore, Bellary and Kurnool. The proportion of dry culti-

vation devoted to it is one-half in these districts, and one-third in

Cuddapah, Coimbatore and Madura; but it is very little used in

Chingleput, North Arcot, and Salem.

“It is also largely cultivated in other parts of Asia as well as in

Europe, Africa, and America. ‘There are several varieties of cholam

differing in size and incolour, Like raggiit is said to produce about

26 ‘ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

ene-hundred-fold ; and the straw is considered to increase the yield

of milech cows, Cholam contains 9°38 per cent. of nitrogenous matter;

that is about the average in the series including this grain with

wheat, rice, raggi, and cambu. It 1s prepared like raggi into kul

Ralli ov bread ; and it is also cooked like rice, but the grains are not

detached. The whole mass forms a cake, which is eaten with curries

or other spiced preparations.”

The following is from the Dictionary of Hygiene and

Public Health, by A. Wynter Blyth and Professor Tardieu,

p. 178.

‘‘Dhurra, Dhoora, or Sorgho Grass (sorghum). Although

commonly called Indian millet, it belongs to a different tribe of

grasses from the true millets. Like rice, it is largely cultivated in

India, Algeria, the interior of Africa, and Egypt. The seeds here

are mostly used for feeding birds, but in India they are ground small

and made into cakes. This bread is said to have been issued to the

Knelish troops in the last Chinese Expedition, It 1s described by

Johnston as being equal in nutritive value to the average of our

English wheats, but Letheby says that dhura is little more nutritious

than rice, for it contains on an average about 9 per cent. of nitroge-

nous matier, with 74 of starch, sugar, 2°6 fat, and 2°3 of mineral

matter.

218. Zea Mays, Innn. Muwa-iringy, Sm. Mukka-

Cholam, Tam. Indian Corn. Native of South America, and

now cultivated as extensively as the Sorghum over various parts

of the globe,

Indian Corn from Dictionary of Hygiene, and Public

Health, by A. Wynter Blyth and Professor Tardieu, pp. 310-11.

‘‘Indian corn is largely eaten all over the world, but more

especially in tropical countries.

“The ration for a Kafir servant is 3 pints of Indian-corn meal per

day, and on this scanty allowance—for he gets little else—he

manages-to keep in good health. Indian corn has since 1846—the

potato-famine year— been largely used in Ireland, It is stirred into

NOTES ON GRASSES GROWING IN CEYLON. at

boiling water or boiling milk, and formed into.a sort of hasty pudding

er thick porridge, and thus eaten.

“Throughout Mexico it forms the staple food, aud is cooked by

baking into cakes.

“TIndian-corn, being deficient in gluten, does not make good bread.

Its flavour is harsh and peculiar. A weak solution of caustic potash

removes this unpleasantness; but it also deprives it of much of its

nitrogenous matter, and so renders it less nutritious than before. ‘This

is the foun tation of the process for preparing the articles extensively

sold under the names of Oswego, Maizena, and Corn-fiour.

‘*As amere adjuvant, or auxiliary, prepared Indian-corn may

be of value, but mothers and nurses should be earnestly cautioned

against injudiciously giving it to infants.

The following poetical account of the origin of Indian-

corn, from Longfellow’s Hiawatha, reminds me of the origin

of the Palmyrah Palm, as recorded in a Tamil poem called the

Tala Vilasam, where itis stated that after Bramah created man

Vishnu asked why he did not provide food for him. On this

Bramah trembled like a drop of water on the top of a lotus.

leaf, put his finger on his chin, and created the “ Calpa tree,”

which supplied all the wants of man; and hence the origin of

the Palmyra Palm!

From Mianctha, pp. 373-6.

“Till at length a small green feather

From the earth shot slowly upward,

Then another and another,

And before the summer ended

Stood the maize in all its beauty,

With its shining robes about it,

And its long, soft, yellow tresses !

And in rapture Hiawatha

Cried aloud, ‘It is Mondamin !

Yes; the friend of man, Mondamin !

28 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

Then he.calied to old Nokomis

And lagoo, the great boaster,.

Showed them where the maize was growing,

Told them of his wondrous vision,

Of his wrestling and his triumph,

Of this new gift to the nations,

Which should be their food for ever.”

TRANSLATION OF TWO JA’TAKAS.

By Louis pe Zoysa, Maha Mudaliyar.

I wave the pleasure to lay before the Society translations

of two Jatakas, or anterior births of Buddha.

The first of these is entitled “ Nakkhatta Jadtakam”’

(star-birth), and exposes the folly of believing in astrology.

The second is entitled “ Nama-siddhi Jatakam’’ (name-luck-

birth’, and has reference to a belief in the luck or ill-luck of

aname. This superstition is still prevalent to some extent

amongst the Sinhalese, who not unfrequently consult the

astrologer in bestowing names on their children. This story

is a curious commentary on Burn’s well-known lines, “ What’s

ina name,” etc.; and it will be seen that some of the expressions

in the Jataka, are almost identical with those of the Poet.

The stories require no explanatory comments, and will

speak for themselves. I may however state here that every

Jataka consists of two parts, first the Vattamdana (or the pre-

sent story) ; and secondly, the Aféta (or the past story). The

former details the circumstances under which the latter was

related by Buddha. I have not thought it necessary to give a

full translation of ‘‘the present story,” as it is in these

instances almost identical with the “ past story” or the Jataka.

| LeDEeZ.

NAKKHATTA JATAKAM.

When Buddha resided at Jetavana monastery, he spoke

the following verse respecting an A’jivako who prevented a

oO ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIWTY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

marriage taking place on the plea that the aspect of the stars,

on the day fixed for the wedding, was unpropitious :—

“ Nakkhattam patimanentam

Attho balam upaccaga,

Attho atthassa nakkhattam,

Kim karissanti taraka.”’

*‘The business of the fool who observed the (astrological position of

the) stars, has failed; business (@. e., doing the business well), is the

star for business ; what can the stars (in the sky) do?”

The story related by Buddha in illustration of the above

verse, is as follows :—

“In times past, when (King) Brahmadatta reigned at Baranast,

the inhabitants of the city betrothed a daughter of the inhabitants

of the country, and having fixed a day for the celebration of the

nuptials, consulted an Ajivako,* a friend of the family, (saying,) “ Sir,

we have to celebrate an auspicious ceremony this day: is the (astrolo-

gical) position of the stars propitious ? ”

The A’jivako thought (within himself), “These people having,

of their own will, first fixed a day, now consult me!” Being

provoked (at this), and thinking (within himself), “TI will pre- .

vent their marriage,”’ said, that the position of the stars on that

day was bad, and that if they celebrated the nuptials on that

day a great calamity would happen to them! The inhabi-

tants of the city, believing him, did not go (to conduct the

bride).

The people of the country not seeing them come, and

(saying amongst themselves)—“‘These people, having fixed

to-day for the nuptials, have not come! Of what use are they

to us?”—gave their daughter in marriage to another. The

citizens returning next day, demanded the bride. The country-

Bree ma

* A Hindu ascetic or mendicant.

TRANSLATION OF TWO JATAKAS. 31

people replied, “‘You householders of the city are shameless

people. Having appointed a day (for the nuptials) you have

failed to conduct the bride! On account of your not coming,

we have bestowed our daughter on another.” The citizens

said, “ We did not come, asthe A’jivako, whom we consulted,

pronounced the position of the stars to be inauspicious,” and

with clamour said, “Give us the bride!” “In consequence

of your not coming,” said the country people, “ we have given

our daughter to others. How can we bring her now who

has already been given to others!” Thus, when the two

parties were quarrelling amongst themselves, an inhabitant of

the city, a wise man, happened to come there on account of

business, and having heard the citizens say, ‘ We consulted

the astrologer, and having found the Nakkhatta to be unlucky,

we did not come,” remarked, “Of what use are the stars (in

the conduct of human affairs}? Is not your failine to obtain

the bride the result (in this instance) of your observing the

stars?” and repeated the following verse -—

“The business of the fool who observed the stars has failed; the

business itself is its best star. What can the stars in the sky do!”

N AMA-SIDDHI-d ATAKAM.

When Buddha resided at the Jetavana monastery, he

spoke the following verse respecting a monk who believed in

the luck or ill-luck of a name :—

“ Jivakam ca matam disva,

Dhanapalim ca duggatam,

Panthakam ca vane milham,

Papako punar agama.”

“Having seen the Jivako (the living one) die, Dhanapali (wealth-

preserver) in poverty, Panthako (traveller) lose his way, Papako

returned back,’

32 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIHTY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

The following is the story related by Buddha inillustration

of theabove edthd: —“ In times past, the Bodhi-satto,* being born

as DisApamokkhacariyo,t at the city of Takkasild,t taught the

vedas to five hundred pupils, one of whom bore the name of

Péapako, (sinner, unfortunate one.) Being addressed, ‘ Come

Papaka!” ‘Go Papaka!”’; he thought, “ My name is an unlucky

one: I must obtain another name.” Having approached the

roaster, the pupil said, ‘‘ Master! My nameisan unlucky one;”

confer on me another name!’ The master replied: “ Son! Go,

and having roamed about the country, come back with a name

that pleases thee, and on thy return I will confer on thee

another name, rejecting thy present one.” The youth replying

“ Sadhu!” (be it so !), departed, taking with him the necessaries

ofatraveller. Going from village to village, he arrivedat a city.

There, a certain man, whose name was Jivako (lit., the lhving

one) had died. The youth seeing the corpse being carried for

cremation by his relatives, enquired of them what the name of

the deceased was. Being told that it was Jivako, he remarked,

“ Does, divako dier” They replied: ““Thou art a tools the

Jivako (living one) dies, and so does the A-jivako (the

unliving one.) Aname is nothing but a mere sign. Having:

heard their remarks, he became (somewhat) indifferent to a

name, and entered the city. A mistress was flogging her slave

woman with a cord, making her sit before the door, who was

unable to pay her dues, and whose name was Dhanapéli,

(lit., wealth-preserver). Hntering the inner, street, the youth

* A being dcstined to attain Buddhaship. his term is applied to

Buddha in his various states of existence previous to attaining Buddha.

hood,

{ The principal of a college or university.

* The city of Takks:il4 in Punjaub, It was a renowned university

town.

TRANSLATION OF TWO JATAKAS, 33

enquired, “ Why is this?” (The people) replied, ‘‘ Because she

is unable to pay her dues.”

He enquired what her name was, and being told her name

was Dhanapdl (wealth-preserver), he further enquired, “ Do

persons who bear such names as Dhanapdliyo ever become

so poor as to be unable to pay their dues?” The people

remarked that “‘ Dhanapaliyo ( wealth-preservers) and A-dhana-

paliyo (who do not preserve wealth) become poor, and that a

name was nothing but an arbitrary (meaningless) designation.”

He then became still more indifferent to a name, and

departing from the city entered the road, and, meeting a man

who had lost his way, enquired of him, why he was running

about? He replied he had lost his way. The youth again

enquiring what his name was, he said it was Panthako (traveller).

“ Do Panthaka lose their way ?” asked he. “The Panthaka

lose their way as well as the A-panthakd (those who do not

travel.) A name is nothing but an arbitrary designation.

Thou seemest to be a fool” was the reply.

The youth, then, becoming quite indifferent to a name,

went back to the Bodhisatto. On his enquiring, “ Son! Have

you returned having pleased yourself with a name?” the pupil

replied: ‘ Master, the Jivaka (the living ones) die, and so do

the Ajéoakd (lit., those who do not live); Dhanapaliyo become

poor, and so do the Adhanapdliyo ; the Panthaké lose their way,

as wellas the Apanthaka. A name is nothing but an arbitrary

designation. There is no virtue (or efficacy) in a name ( Néimena-

siddhi n’atthi). There is virtue (or efficacy) in Kamma only!”

The Bodhisatto, combining what was seen and done by the

youth, spoke the following verse :—[ This verse is identical with

that spoken by Buddha at the beginning of this Jataka. |

ON THE SUPPOSED ORIGIN OF

TAMANA NUWARA, WHERE WIJAYO LANDED

IN CEYLON, B.C. 543, AND HENCE

TAPROBANE, AS THE CLASSICAL NAME

FOR CEYLON.

By Wm. Frereuson, F.L.S.

Tue late accomplished Major-General Forbes, in his

** Kleven Years in Ceylon,” 1840, 1, pp. 10 —11, and note, was

no doubt the first authority who correctly indicated that the

district of Tamana, or Tamana Nuwara, was properly derived

from the now well-known Tamana tree, bearing that name

both in Sinhalese and Tamil, and that Tambapanni, Tambana,

and ultimately Taprobane, originated from the name of the

place where Wijayo and his followers landed in Ceylon 2,423

years ago. |

Sir Emerson Tennent (1., p. 18, note), referring to this

derivation by Forbes, states that the tree was not then (1859)

known, but it had been described and figured by Dr. Thwaites

in Hooker’s Kew Journal of Botany for 1854, p. 299, t. 10 B.,

as Mischodon Zeylanicus, Thw., a new genus of Euphorbiacee ;

and is well represented by Cul. Beddome in his Flora Sylvatica,

tab. 290; and in my “ List of Ceylon Timber Trees,” published

in Ferguson’s Directory for 1863, p. 248, I allude to this tree

as follows: ‘‘ Avery handsome tree, having excellent timber,

and widely spread in the Island, found at Hantane near Kandy,

Uma-oya, Lower Badulla road, within ten miles of Colombo,

and abundant from Puttalam to Anuradhapura, northwards

and eastwards.”

36 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

Not doubting but this is the Tamana tree referred to by

Forbes, it will be found to be a historical tree only second in

importance to the famous Bo-tree of Anuradhapura, whose con-

tinuous history Sir Emerson Tennent has traced for upwards of

2,000 years.

The Tamana tree when in young foliage is more remark-

able for its brilliant red color than even the Ironwocd (Mesua),

Cinnamon, and other red-leaved plants of Ceylon, and is a very

beautiful object with its long young leaves drooping from

the ends of the branches.

I append a list of authorities on the subject of the origin

and derivation of Tamana Nuwara, Tambapanni, Taprobane ;

and references to the Tamana tree.

List of references to Authors who have written on the deriva-

tion of the different names supposed to be the origin of

Taprobane as the classical name for Ceylon.

Turner in Mahawanso, appendix p. Ix., lxi., Index and

Glossary, p. 25, Text pp. 47, 50, and 53.

Emerson Tennent’s History of Ceylon, I., p.8, 17, 18 and

note, 330, 368, 525, and notes, &c. |

Upham’s Mahawanso, 1, p. 70.

Thwaites’ En. Pl. Zeyl., 428 and 275.

Pridham’s Ceylon, 1. p. 2.

Skeen’s Adam’s Peak, p. 82.

Lassen De Taprobane, &c., p. 8.

Forbes’ Eleven Years in Ceylon, 1, pp. 10—11.

Cassie Chetty’s Gazetteer, pp. 30, 60, 195, 208.

Beddome’s Flora Sylvatica, Pl. 290.

Brodie in Journal R. A. 8. (Ceylon Branch) for 1853-8.

Ditto on the District of Nuwarakalawiya, 1. c. 1856-8,

p. 171 1 code.

SUPPOSED ORIGIN OF TAMANA NUWARA. Si

Cassie Chetty’s Journal R. A. 8. for 1841, vol. VI., p. 242.

As. Re. London Edition, vol. 7, pp. 49 and note, 51.

Balfour’s 2nd Supplement to Cyclopedia of India, p. 215.

Journal R.A.S8. of Gt. Britain and Ireland, vol. 18, p. 350.

Cassie Chetty, 6. p. 242.

Burnouf on Ceylon, pp. 19 to 50.

Priaulx O. D. B., Journal R. A. 8., Gt. Britain and Ireland,

vol. 18, pp. 345 and 302, l,c. v. 19. p. 274 ; vol. 20, p. 269.

THE ROCKS AND MINERALS OF CEYLON.

By A. C. Drxoy, B.Sc. (Honors) London.

TuE science of Geology divides itself naturally into three

departments :

(a )—The study of rocks, or Petrology.

(6.)—The study of the minerals of which rocks are

composed, or Mineralogy.

(c.)—The study of the remains of animal and vegetable

life contained in the rocks, or Palaeontology.

To the one who makes this last division his object of

research there is but a poor field before him in Ceylon, save in

the north of the Island; but for the one interested in rocks and

their component minerals, there is plenty of scope for research.

Geological time is divisible into three great periods separated

by great breaks in time, but this caunot really be the case, for, as

nations have sprung up and passed away gradually, so also have

formations. These have always been and will be continuous.

Although in England we have great gaps separating one forma-

tion from another, yet we have beds of passage in several parts

of the world, which bridge over these gaps and so form a

connecting link.

The three great epochs of geological time are the Palaeo-

zoic or old life period, the Mesozoic or middle life, and the

Cainozoic or recent life.

Each of these has numerous divisions. The bulk of this

Island consists of ancient sedimentary beds ; whether deposited

40 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

in sea or lake, we are unable to say, for the metamorphism

which these beds have undergone (due to internal heat, pressure,

time and various other causes) has obliterated all traces of fossil

remains. Over this gneiss around Colombo and in many other

parts of the island, we have the well-known Jaterite or cabook,

so largely used for building purposes. This formation has

given rise to much discussion. Itis essentially a derivative

from the gneiss ; and, beyond doubt, in many cases im situ, as is

evident in several cuttings which have been made, a notable one,

which I visited some time ago, occurring in a cutting made while

searching for plumbago between Polgahawela and Ambepussa.

In many ravines in the hill districts of the Island, especially in

Dimbula and Dikoya, we have an iron conglomerate at present

in course of formation, composed of the debris of surrounding

rocks, firmly held together by ferruginous matter, which rock,

when subjected to decay, would furnish a formation exactly akin

to our laterite. I have dealt with this subject (Laterite) at

greater length in a paper to the Royal Academy of Sciences,

Sweden.

In the north of the Island we have a formation of the

Mesozoic, or secondary period, viz., the Cretaceous. These beds

are no doubt cotemporaneous with the Pondicherry beds, which

have yielded numerous fossils, by which their age has been

determined. I have no doubt that many fossils might be

gathered in our Northern Province by those interested in

Paleontology. Once, it is recorded, this Society possessed in

its Museum a fossil phalange from this district, but. it has

been lost. .

Of recent formations, we have on the sea coast between

Negombo and Mount Lavinia, and for some distance beyond

these places, a recent breccia formed of particles of disinte.

grated rock, more or less compact. At Talpitiya it occurs at a

considerable distance from shore (300 yards), and at a depth of

= fa a” a * ep : :

SOC ae ene eee ih ERA, Oe eae

ROCKS AND MINERALS OF CEYLON. 4]

twenty-five feet. Numerous minute shells and fragments of

shells occur inthis. At Pamunugama, on the way to Negombo,

the sandstone varies much. In some cases it is black-banded,

with particles of magnetic iron ; in others the particles of iron

are evenly distributed throughout the mass. The nature of the

cement which binds these particles together is carbonate of lime.

Calcareous Tufa, still in the course of formation, is a

deposit from the hot-water springs of Bintenna, the water of

which is highly charged with carbonate of lime, which is

deposited as the water cools. It is known as Pennagal by the

Sinhalese, and is burnt and used by them along with their betel.

The foregoing formations are indicated on the accompany-

ing rough geological sketch map.

I will now consider more particularly the gzeiss, which is

our most extensive formation. It varies much in texture, color,

composition, hardness, &c.

Its composition is the same as granite, only the degree of

metamorphism has not been so great as to entitle it fully to

that name.

Tt is composed of quartz—felspar (both orthoclase and

oligoclase)—muscovite and biotite (micas), hornblende,

chlorite, and numerous accidental minerals in varying pro-

portions. :

In some localities we find a rock composed of only one of

these, as in the case of hornblende rock ; at other times only

felspar, but generally the foregoing components are mingled

together in varying proportions, giving a large number of

different kinds of rock. )

Orthoclase forms the main mass, The two felspars are

easily distinguished on a weathered surface, The orthoclase is

glossy and somewhat pearly in lustre, and has a translucent

aspect, while the oligoclase is dull and cpaque.

In the gneiss we meet with various deds as limestone,

42 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

dolomite, magnetite, quartz, hornblende, tremolite, mica, epidote.

Some of these occur, also, as vers in the gneiss.

In the veins we have the minerals, actinolite, tremolite,

jade, taic, muscovite, biotite, epidote, schorl, and many others

of minor importance.

Actinolite is found in the Kotagala district. Good speci-

mens of crystalline tale are obtainable from Mahara quarry

and neighbourhood.

The gneiss in some cases almost passes into syenite.

Where the felspar is flesh colored, this rock much resembles

Peterhead granite. Porphyritic gneiss occurs on the hill

ranges not far from Henaratgoda.

At Balangoda we meet with a crude jasper, and not far

from the same locality a large mass of graphic granite in which

the quartz is distributed in bands, and when viewed endwise

much resembles an inscription.

When subject to action of water the felspar of the gneiss

soon decomposes, and so a large number of decomposed forms

are very abundant. As the Island is gradually uprising it is

evident that the less elevated portions have been under the

influence of water for a longer period, and, consequently, the

cuttings through such are less difficulé than similar ones in

the more elevated portions. Another peculiarity of the gneiss

is the occurrence of garnets in large quantity.

Doiomite beds. Ag far as I have been able to trace during

the time at my disposal, I find that these beds run through the

gneiss 1n a somewhat parallel direction, striking generally N.W.

by N. to N., and having various angles of dip. from 10° to 40°

I have indicated their position on the map. The first is

one which outcrops afew miles this side of Balangoda, and runs

N.N.W., occurring again at Hunuwala.

The second runs through Dolosbage and Maskeliya: pro-

bably the bed oceurring at Bilhul-oya is continuous with this.

ROCKS AND MINERALS OF CEYLON. 43

The third outcrops under the Great Western on the Great

Western estate, and is continuous to the N.N.W. with the

Wattegoda and Medakumbura dolomites, and probably also

with the beds at Gampola and Kurunegala. A subsidiary bed —

or it may be an outlier of this—occurs near the Pussellawa

rest-house.

The fourth bed outcrops largely at Wilson’s Bungalow,

Glen Devon, Dumbara, and Matale.

The fifth occurs in the Badulladistrict. As in the gneiss

we have a great many varieties, soalsoin the dolomites. They

all contain carbonate of magnesia, which varies from 1 to over

40 per cent.

These limestones are very valuable for estate DEL ese: ag

well as for building stone and building lime.

In colour they vary much, dependent on the numerous

accidental minerals that occur along with them. Thus the

specimens from Wilson’s Bungalow are very dark : they contain

pyrites, phlogopite, chlorite, epidote, &c.

A dolomite occurring at Wariapola on the Matale railway

contains a large amount of blue spinel. Some of the crystals

of these dolomites have large facets, others small and of a

granular texture. Many contain white translucent siliceous

grains not easily distinguished.

A beautiful example of limestone of a somewhat peculiar

tinge, due tothe metal chromium, occurs beyond Balangoda, and

often contains fine specimens of crystalline biotite—a magnesian

imica. This limestone shews a very peculiar and character-

stic weathered surface. |

Plumbago is found in several localities, as at Kurunegala,

Kegalla and Nambapana. In the Balangoda district we have

the metal Molybdenium, so useful in chemical researches ; and

black oxide of Manganese from Ratnapura and neighbourhood.

7 Various forms of iron occur in the gneiss, thus iron pyrites.

44 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

‘Magnetite, a very highly magnetic iron ore, is found in the

Pussellawa district with a peculiar cleavage and fracture.

Botryoidal limonite, an oxide of iron found under the cinnamon

sand near Negombo. Haematite occurs in other parts of the

island.

Traces of gold and platinum I have met with in the Ram-

boda and Kurunegala districts. Extensive beds of quartz

occur in the Pussellawa district, which is not much unlike the

reef-bearing quartz of the Wynaad.

In some localities the felspar of the gneiss is much decom-

posed and forms large masses of kaolin (hirimeti of the

Sinhalese), occurring largely in the Nuwara Eliya and Maturata

districts. This is capable of being made into a very fair

porcelain. |

Large masses of Al/uvium occur on the Nuwara Eliya plain,

and shew us the remains of the surrounding hills, deposited no

doubt in a former lake.

Inthe alluvium of many of our river basins, notably at

Ratnapura, we have numerous minerals—the gems for which

this town is so noted. I will briefly notice some which I have

gathered there.

First, I will deal with the Corundum or Sapphire family, :

which crystallizes in the hexagonal system. Ifa stone of this

family lacks transparency and is dull, we call it corundum: itis

useful as a powder (emery) for cutting other stones. If of a

rich blue color it is called sapphire; of white, white sapphire ;

red, ruby; purple, the oriental amethyst ; of yellow, the oriental

topaz ; of green, the oriental emerald.

Some of the sapphires are partly blue and partly while

The Sinhalese can, by heating these in a certain manner, distri-

bute the color evenly, or by greater heat can discharge the color

and so pass them off as white sapphires. The specific gravity

of such, however, is diminished. Many other stones, as the

ROCKS AND MINERALS OF CEYLON. 45

zircon, are treated in a similar manner. A good test fora

sapphire is, that in a dark room or closet, with the light of a

match or candle, it should appear equally rich in color as in

ordinary light. Sapphires are lamellar in structure, and so, on

being cut of a convex form, we have the appearance of a six-

rayed star.

Spinel. Another mineral abundant in Ceylon crystallizes

in the cubic system generally in octohedrons or rhombic dode-

cahedrons. In color this mineral varies much ; red, however,

is very common, and it is sometimes soldas ruby. The specific

gravity of spinel is about 3°5, while ruby is 4 and garnet 3°8.

Green spinel is occasionally met with at Ratnapura and in

the Kandy district.

Garnet, of various kinds, is found in Ceylon both in the

metamorphic rock as well as in the alluvium. This is usually

of a red color, and crystallizes in the cubic system.

Cinnamon stone (essouite) is a kind of garnet found

largely at Matara.

Zircon crystallizes in the tetragonal system, and is found

of many colours. Several varieties are disregarded by the

Sinhalese ; others are used, notably the white zircon, otherwise

known as the Matara diamond. Quartz is often cut and sold

-as Matara diamond. |

Chrysobery! belongs to the rhombic system of crystals, and

when cut encabochon furnishes the trne cat’s-eye.

Tourmaline (S| Toramalli) crystallizes in the hexagonal

system, generally in prisms with dissimilar ends. In color it

varies much ; thus, we have black, green, brown, yellow, &c.

The Peridot of Ceylon is yellow tourmaline. The natural

crystals shew a fine striation on their long sides.

Moonstone or adularia is a felspar with a pearly appear-

ance. Quartz and selenite are often sold under the same name.

Rock Crystal crystallizing in the same system as the

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

sapphire, and is very abundant at Ratnapura, Balangoda and

many other localities.

SPECIMENS EXHIBITED, ILLUSTRATING THE PAPER READ.

oe Ina Fw bd

Gneiss—with large flesh-colored crystal of felspar. Balan-

goda.

Gneiss—with molybedenium from Petiagalla. a

Gneiss—with iron garnets. Kotagalla.

Gneiss—with ordinary garnet. Madola, Sabaragamuwa.

Gneiss—with quartz crystal, epidote, &e. Mahara,

Lpidote and black mica. Ythanside, Dimbula.

Gneiss from under gem-pits. - Ratnapura.

Gneiss with epidote. Ramboda.

Hornblende pebble. Madola.

Graphic granite. Balangoda.

Crude jasper. Balangoda.

Gneiss—decomposed. Abbotsford, Dimbula.

Gneiss — decomposed ,with epidote, chlorite, &c. Balangoda.

Quartz—with plumbago. Diatura, Kurunegala.

Hornblende (crystalline.) Matale ey

Mica——pebble. Dimbula,

Mica--from cabook. Welikada, Colombo.

Mica---much decomposed. Ratnapura.

Iron conglomerate. From ravines, Dimbula.

Iron ore. Dimbula.

Decomposed gneiss from a slip on Matala railway, shewing

the nature of “ slickensides.”

Magnetite. Harmony estate, Pussellawa.

Cabook. Colombo.

Limonite (botryoidal). Negombo.

Dolomite, with large crystal of mica, Nonpareil, Bilhul-

oya.

Dolomite, with epidote, &c. Aluwihara, Matale.

a a ea

ROCKS AND MINERALS OF CEYLON. 47

Dolomite, with pyrites and other crystals. Kurunegala.

Dolomite, with garnets, epidote, mica. Wilson’s Bungalow.

Dolomite, with blue spinel, iron, mica. Wariapola, Matale.

Dolomite, very compact. . Wilson’s Bungalow.

Dolomite, with black weathered surface. Wattegoda,

Dimbula.

Dolomite, large yellow free crystals. Kurunegala.

Dolomite with curious weathered surface and containing

mica, iron, plumbago, quartz, &c. Balangoda.

Dolomite, very impure, abounding in quartz and shewing a

peculiar weathering. Great Western, Dimbula.

Kaolin, red, impure. Maturata.

Kaolin, white, very pure. Nuwara Eliya.

Manganese (black oxide). Ratnapura.

Tron, pyrites. Mahara.

Felspar, decomposing. Nuwara Bliya.

Labradorite. Mahara Quarry.

Rock erystal, smoky. Nuwara Eliya.

Rock crystal, white pebble. Ratnapura.

Sandstone with numerous shells. Talpitiya.

Sandstone with magnetic iron inbands. Pamunugama.

Sandstone with iron evenly distributed. Pamunagama.

Sandstone, very dark. Pamunugama.

Limestone from Jaffna (Cretaceous. )

Quartz (vein). Balangoda.

Gneiss with silvery mica, green, blue, and red sapphire.

Badulla.

Tale, crystalline. Mahara quarry.

Gneiss with garnets. Top of Adam’s Peak.

Calcareous Tufa. Bintenna,

Clay from-gem-pits.

Calcite. Matale.

Felspar, crystal. Ythanside,

Sapphire crystals. Ratnapura.

Sapphire (star).

48 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.)

58 Sapphire, white.

59 Sapphire, yellow.

60 Sapphire, parti-coloured.

61 Corundum.

62 Ruby.

63 Amethyst, crystal.

64 Amethyst, cut.

65 Spinel. Ratnapura.

¢6 Spinel. Wattegama.

67 Zircon.

68 Zircon (cut). Matara diamond.

69 Chrysoberyl.

70 Chrysoberyl (cat’s-eye.)

71 Alexandrite.

72 Garnets.

73 Cinnamon stone.

74 Cinnamon stone (eut.)

75 Tourmaline, crystal.

76 Peridot of Ceylon.

77 Moonstone.

78 Moonstone, cut.

79 Quartz crystals,

80 Actinolite.

81 Iron pyrites. Gem-pits.

82 Steatite. Nuwara Eliya.

83 Zircon (white). Ythanside, Dimbula.

84 Gems. Pelawatta.

85 Gem sand.

86 Black crystal. Deduru-oya, Kurunegala.

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