Chemical Arts.—A rude knowledge of chemical manipulation was required for the extraction of camphor[1] and the preparation of numerous articles specified amongst the productions of the island, aromatic oils[2], perfumes[3], and vegetable dyes.
1: Rajaratnacari, p. 133. Dr. ROYLE doubts whether camphor was known to the Hindus at this early period, but "camphor oil" is repeatedly mentioned in the Singhalese chronicles amongst the articles provided for the temples.—ROYLE'S Essay on Hindoo Medicine, p. 140; Rajaculi, p. 190.
2: Mahawanso, ch. xxv. p. 157.
3: B.C. 161. Mahawanso, ch. xxx. p. 180.
Sugar.—Sugar was obtained not only from the Palmyra and Kittool palms[1], but also from the cane; which, besides being a native of India, was also indigenous in Ceylon.[2] A "sugar mill" for expressing its juice existed in the first century before Christ in the district of the "Seven Corles,"[3] where fifteen hundred years afterwards a Dutch governor of the island made an attempt to restore the cultivation of sugar.
1: "Palm sugar," as distinguished from "cane sugar," is spoken of in the Mahawanso in the second century B.C. ch. xxvii. p. 163.
2: "Cane sugar" is referred to in the Mahawanso B.C. 161, ch. xxvii. p. 162, ch. xxxi. p. 192.
3: A.D. 77. Mahawanso, ch. xxxiv. p. 208.
Mineral Paints.—Mineral preparations were made with success. Red lead, orpiment, and vermilions are mentioned as pigments; but as it is doubtful whether Ceylon produces quicksilver, the latter was probably imported from. China[1] or India, where the method of preparing it has long been known.
1: See ante, [Vol. I. Part I. ch. i. p. 29. n.] Both quicksilver and vermilion are mentioned in the Rajaratnacari, p. 51, as being in use in the year 20 B.C. Vermilion is also spoken of B.C. 307 in the Mahawanso, ch. xxvii. p. 162, c. The two passages in which vermilion is spoken of in the Old Testament, Jerem. xxii. 14, and Ezek. xxiii. 14, both refer to the painting of walls and woodwork, a purpose to which it would be scarcely suitable, were not the article alluded to the opaque bisulphuret of mercury; and the same remark applies to the vermilion used by the Singhalese. The bright red obtained from the insect coccus (the vermiculus, whence the original term "vermilion" is said to be derived) would be too transparent to be so applied.