R keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with th

[Corzo Bessemer]

Les marchands des autres royaumes y venaient commercer, _ils ne
laissaient
pas voir leurs corps_, et montraient
au moyen de pierres precieuses le prix que pouvaient valoir les
merchandises.

Les marchands venaient et
en prenaient une quantite equivalente a leurs marchandises."--_Journ.
Asiat._
t. xxviii. p. 402; xxiv. p. 41. I have
extracts from seven other Chinese works, written between the seventh
and the twelfth centuries, in all of which there occurs the same
account of Ceylon,--that it was formerly supposed to be inhabited by
dragons and demons, and that
when "merchants from all nations come to trade with the, they are
invisible, but leave
their precious wares spread out with an indication of
the value set on them, and the Chinese take
them at the prices stipulated."--_Leang-shoo_, "History of the Leang
Dynasty," A.D. 630, b. liv. p. 13. _Nan-she_, "History of the Southern
Empire," A.D. 650, p. xxxviii. p.
14. _Jung-teen_, "Cyclopaedia of History," A.D. 740, b. cxciii. p. 8.
The _Tae-ping_, a "Digest of History," compiled by Imperial command,
A.D. 983, b. dccxciii. p. 9. _Tsih-foo-yuen-kwei_, the "Great
Depositary of
the National Archives," A.D. 1012,

b. cccclvi. p. 21. _Sin-Jang-shoo_, "New History
of the Tang Dynasty," A.D. 1060, b. cxlvi. part ii. p.
10. _Wan heen-tung-Kwan_, "Antiquarian Researches," A.D. 1319, b.
cccxxxviii. p. 24.] The chain of evidence is rendered

complete by a passage in Pliny, which, although

somewhat obscure (facts relating
to the Seres being confounded with statements regarding Ceylon),
nevertheless serves to

show that the custom in question was then well known to the Singhalese

ambassadors sent to the Emperor Claudius, and was also familiar to the
Greek traders resorting to the island. The
envoys stated, at Rome, that the habit of the people of their country
was, on the arrival of traders
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