Paulinus Wrote An
Account Of This Expedition, Which, However, Is Not Extant:
Pliny quotes it.
In the reign of Claudius, also, the island of Ceylon became better known,
in consequence of an accident which happened to the freedman of a Roman,
who farmed the customs in the Red Sea.
This man, in the execution of his
duty, was blown off the coast of Arabia, across the ocean to Taprobane, or
Ceylon; here he was hospitably received by the king, and after a residence
of six months was sent back, along with ambassadors, to Claudius. They
informed the emperor that their country was very extensive, populous, and
opulent, abounding in gold, silver, and pearls. It seems probable that the
circumstance of the freedman having been carried to Ceylon by a steady and
regular wind, and this man and the ambassadors having returned by a wind
directly opposite, but as steady and regular, had some influence in the
discovery of the monsoon. As this discovery led necessarily to a direct
communication between Africa and India, and grea'ly enlarged the knowledge
of the Romans respecting the latter country, as well as their commercial
connections with it, it will be proper to notice it in a particular manner.
This important discovery is supposed to have been made in the seventh year
of the reign of Claudius, answering to the forty-seventh of the Christian
era. The following is the account given of it by the author of the Periplus
of the Erythrean Sea, as translated by Dr. Vincent:
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