2: [Greek: "Leitourgiat,">[ literally liturgy; which meant originally the pomp and ceremonial of worship as well as the form of prayer.
"The natives and their kings are of different races.[1] The temples are numerous, and in one in particular, situated on an eminence[2], is the great hyacinth, as large as a pine-cone, the colour of fire, and flashing from a distance, especially when catching the beams of the sun—a matchless sight.
1: [Greek: Allophuloi].]
2: Probably that at Mihintala, the sacred hill near Anarajapoora.
"As its position is central, the island is the resort of ships from all parts of India, Persia, and Ethiopia, and, in like manner, many are despatched from it. From the inner[1] countries; I mean China, and other emporiums, it receives silk[2], aloes, cloves, clove-wood, chandana[3], and whatever else they produce. These it again transmits to the outer ports[4],—I mean to Male[5], whence the pepper comes; to Calliana[6], where there is brass and sesamine-wood, and materials for dress (for it is also a place of great trade), and to Sindon[7], where they get musk, castor, and androstachum[8], to Persia, the Homeritic coasts[9], and Adule. Receiving in return the exports of those emporiums, Taprobane exchanges them in the inner ports (to the east of Cape Comorin) sending her own produce along with them to each.
1: [Greek: "tôn endoterôn,">[ the countries inside (that is to the east) of Cape Comorin, as distinguished from the outer ports ([Greek: ta exôtera]) mentioned below, which lie west of it.
2: [Greek: "metaxin.">[ Of this foreign word, applied by the mediæval Greeks to silk in general, as well as to raw silk, PROCOPIUS says:—[Greek: "Ahutê de estin hê metaxa, ex hês eiothasi tên esthêta ergazesthai, hên palai men Hellênes mêdikên, tanun de sêrikên onomazousi.">[—PROCOP. Persic. I. Metaxa, or anciently mataxa, "thread," "yarn," seems to be Latine rather than Greek. The metaxarius was a "yarn-broker;" and the word having got possession of the market, was extended to the woven stuff. The modern Greeks call silk [Greek: metaxa.]
3: [Greek: "tzandana,">[ probably "sandalwood;" sometimes called agallochum.
4: [Greek: "ta exôtera,">[ those lying west of Cape Comorin.