hough Buddhists
claim that it is the original of all tongues. This is an assumption
easily disproved by Egyptian inscriptions dating back over six
thousand years. The island, under its Sanskrit name of Lanka, is also
the subject of a mythical poem of the Hindus, and its conquest by Rama
is the theme of the Ramayana, doubtless one of the most ancient epics
in existence. The Mahawanso, though the oldest, is by no means the
only Singhalese chronicle of a historic character. It was designed by
a priest named Mahanamo, who compiled the early portion, commencing
five centuries and more before Christ, and bringing it down to the
year 301 of our era. After this it was continued by able successors,
who carried on the original plan of the beginner to the period when
the English took forcible possession of Ceylon. There are several
comprehensive manuscripts devoted to native history, written upon
talipot palm-leaf, carefully preserved in the museum at Colombo.

Besides these important records there is abundant evidence of a
tangible character to show that there once existed upon this island a
great and powerful empire in a condition of advanced civilization.
The gigantic remains of palaces and temples tell us this. There are
also evidences of a system of irrigation which was remarkably perfect
in conception and consummation, though it must have been achieved by
the simplest means, that is, by the aid of no mechanical facilities
such as we possess. This system covered the face of the country, north
and south, like a network. Immense lakes were formed by damming the
natural outlets of the mountain streams at the mouth of extensive
valleys, and that was all that was artificial about them. Nature had
prepared the way; still, the amount of labor involved in the practical
application of the principle was enormous. The remains of these great
reservoirs thus created are objects of admiration to our modern
engineers, not only for the boldness and magnificence of their
construction, but also for the beneficence of their purpose. The
marvelous ruins of these reservoirs are the proudest and most
significant monuments which remain of the former greatness of this
country. No constructions for a similar purpose found in any part of
the world have ever surpassed them. So long as they were in repair and
fully operative, the people of Ceylon had no occasion to go abroad for
rice upon which to subsist. The grand supply of water for the
distributing