tank, made by the same king at the same place,
Anarajapoora.--Ib. ch. x. p. 66.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 307.]

The continual recurrence of records of similar constructions amongst the
civil exploits of nearly every succeeding sovereign, together with the
prodigious number formed, alike attests the unimproved condition of
Ceylon, prior to the arrival of the Bengal invaders, and the indolence
or ignorance of the original inhabitants, as contrasted with the energy
and skill of their first conquerors.

[Sidenote: B.C. 307.]

Upwards of two hundred years were spent in initiatory measures for the
organisation of the new state. Colonists from the continent of India
were encouraged by the facilities held out to settlers, and carriage
roads were formed in the vicinity of the towns.[1] Village communities
were duly organised, gardens were planted, flowers and fruit-bearing
trees introduced,[2] and the production of food secured by the
construction of canals,[3] and public works for irrigation. Moreover,
the kings and petty princes attested the interest which they felt in the
promotion of agriculture, by giving personal attention to the formation
of tanks and to the labours of cultivation.[4]

[Footnote 1: _Mahawanso_, ch. xiv. xv. xvi.]

[Footnote 2: _Mahawanso_, ch. xi. p. 60 (367 B.C.), ch. xxxiv. p. 211
(B.C. 20), ch. xxxv. p. 215 (A.D. 20). _Rajaratnacari_, ch. ii. p. 29.
_Rajavali_, p. 185, 227.]

[Footnote 3: _Mahawanso_, ch. xxxiv. p. 210 (B.C. 42), ch. xxxv. p. 221,
222 (A.D. 275), ch. xxxvii. p. 238. _Rajaratnacari_, ch. ii. p. 49, and
_Rajavali_, p. 223, &c.]

[Footnote 4: _Mahawanso_, ch. x. p. 61, xxii. p. 130, xxiv. p. 149.
_Rajavali_, p. 185, 186. The Buddhist kings of Burmah, at the present
day, in imitation of the ancient sovereigns of Ceylon, rest their
highest claims to renown on the number of works for irrigation which
they have either formed or repaired. See _Yule's Narrative of the
British mission, to Ava in 1855_, p. 106.]

[Sidenote: B.C. 307.]

Meantime, the effects of Gotama's early visits had been obliterated, and
the sacred trees which he planted were dead; and although the bulk of
the settlers had come from countries where Buddhism was the dominant
faith, no measures appear to have been taken by the immigrants to revive
or extend it throughout Ceylon. Wijayo was, in all probability, a
Brahman, but so indifferent to his own faith, that his first alliance in
Ceylon was with a demon worshipper.[1]