ome of the Chinese travellers who
resorted to Ceylon have left valuable records as to the state of the
island.

[Sidenote: A.D. 413.]

[Sidenote: A.D. 432.]

It was during the reign of Maha Nama, about the year 413 A.D., that
Ceylon was visited by Fa Hian, and the statements of the _Mahawanso_ are
curiously corroborated by the observations recorded by this Chinese
traveller. He describes accurately the geniality of the climate, whose
uniform temperature rendered the seasons undistinguishable. Winter and
summer, he says, are alike unknown, but perpetual verdure realises the
idea of a perennial spring, and periods for seed time and harvest are
regulated by the taste of the husbandman. This statement has reference
to the multitude of tanks which rendered agriculture independent of the
periodical rains.

[Sidenote: A.D. 459.]

Fa Hian speaks of the lofty monuments which were the memorials of
Buddha, and of the gems and gold which adorned his statues at
Anarajapoora. Amongst the most surprising of these was a figure in what
he calls "blue jasper," inlaid with jewels and other precious materials,
and holding in one hand a pearl of inestimable value.[1] He describes
the Bo-tree in terms which might almost be applied to its actual
condition at the present day, and he states that they had recently
erected a building to contain "the tooth of Buddha," which was exhibited
to the pious in the middle of the third moon with processions and
ceremonies which he minutely details.[2] All this corresponds closely
with the narrative of the _Mahawanso_. The sacred tooth of Buddha,
called at that time _Datha dhatu_, and now the _Dalada_, had been
brought to Ceylon a short time before Fa Hian's arrival in the reign of
Kisti-Sri-Megha-warna, A.D. 311, in charge of a princess of Kalinga, who
concealed it in the folds of her hair. And the _Mahawanso_ with equal
precision describes the procession as conducted by the king and by the
assembled priests, in which the tooth was borne along the streets of
Anarajapoora amidst the veneration of the multitude.[3]

[Footnote 1: It was whilst looking at this statue that FA HIAN
encountered an incident which he has related with touching
simplicity:--"Depuis que FA HIAN avait quitte la _terre de Han_,
plusieurs annees s'etaient ecoulees; les gens avec lesquels il avait des
rapports etaient tous des hommes de contrees etrangeres. Les montagnes,
les rivieres, les herbes, les arbres, tout ce qui avait fra