"Sole star of all that place and time;—
And saw him, in his golden prime,
The good Haroun Alraschid."
But Haroun died, A.D. 808, and Sindbad's narrative is so manifestly based on the recitals of Abou-zeyd and Massoudi, that although the author may have lived shortly after, it is scarcely possible that he could have been a contemporary of the great ruler of Bagdad.[1]
1: REINAUD notices the Ketab-ala-jayb, or "Book of Wonders," of MASSOUDI, as one of the works whence the materials of Sindbad's Voyages were drawn. (Introd. ABOULFEDA, vol. i. p. lxxvii.) HOLE published in 1797 A.D. his learned Remarks on the Origin of Sindbad's Voyages, and in that work, as well as in LANGLE'S edition of Sindbad; and in the notes by LANE to his version of the "Arabian Nights' Entertainment," Edrisi, Kazwini, and many other writers are mentioned whose works contain parallel statements. But though Edrisi and Kazwini wrote in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it does not follow that the author of Sindbad lived later than they, as both may have borrowed their illustrations from the same early sources.
One inference is clear, from the story of Sindbad, that whilst the sea-coast of Ceylon was known to the Arabians, the interior had been little explored by them, and was so enveloped in mystery that any tale of its wonders, however improbable, was sure to gain credence. Hence, what Sindbad relates of the shore and its inhabitants is devoid of exaggeration: in his first visit the natives who received him were Malabars, one of whom had learned Arabic, and they were engaged in irrigating their rice lands from a tank. These are incidents which are characteristic of the north-western coast of Ceylon at the present day; and the commerce, for which the island was remarkable in the ninth and tenth centuries is implied by the expression of Sindbad, that on the occasion of his next voyage, when bearing presents and a letter from the Khalif to the King of Serendib, he embarked at Bassora in a ship, and with him "were many merchants."
Of the Arabian authors of the middle ages the one who dwells most largely on Ceylon is EDRISI, born of a family who ruled over Malaga after the fall of the Khalifs of Cordova. He was a protégé of the Sicilian king, Roger the Norman, at whose desire he compiled his Geography, A.D. 1154. But with regard to Ceylon, his pages contain only the oft-repeated details of the height of the holy mountain, the gems found in its ravines, the musk, the perfumes, and odoriferous woods which abound there.[1] He particularises twelve cities, but their names are scarcely identifiable with any now known.[2] The sovereign, who was celebrated for the mildness of his rule, was assisted by a council of sixteen, of whom four were of the national religion, four Christians, four Mussulmans, and four Jews; and one of the chief cares of the government was given to keeping up the historical records of the reigns of their kings, the lives of their prophets, and the sacred books of their law.
1: EDRISI mentions, that at that period the sugar-cane was cultivated in Ceylon.
2: Marnaba, (Manaar?) Aghna Perescouri, (Periatorre?) Aide, Mahouloun, (Putlam?) Hamri, Telmadi, (Talmanaar?) Lendouma, Sedi; Hesli, Beresli and Medouna (Matura?). "Aghna" or "Ana," as Edrisi makes it the residence of the king, must be Anarajapoora.
Ships from China and other distant countries resorted to the island, and hither "came the wines of Irak, and Fars, which are purchased by the king, and sold again to his subjects; for, unlike the princes of India, who encourage debauchery but strictly forbid wine, the King of Serendib recommends wine and prohibits debauchery." The exports of the island he describes as silk, precious stones of every hue, rock-crystal, diamonds, and a profusion of perfumes.[1]