ADAM'S PEAK. 87



island. Two years after this Solian invasion, A. D. 1025,
a large body of Sivaites who fled in terror from Somnaut in
India, where Mahmoud of Ghuzneo had overthrown their
temple, found a refuge in Ceylon ; and this access of numbers
no doubt largely contributed to strengthen the power of the
Hindus in the land. The circumstances of the country
however, in both the next and the succeeding century, were
equally as bad, from a Buddhist point of view; and quite
sufficient to account for the origination and confirmation of
any belief that connected the Samanala peak with the worship
of Sivd. There is no doubt about the fact, that the Sivan-
oli-padam was resorted to by Hindu pilgrims in the early part
of the fourteenth century, and as the pilgrimage was then an
established custom, it may have been in vogue for a century
or two earlier, for all that is known to the contrary. That
observing old traveller Ibn Batutu,* after his arrival at
Futtalam, on the North-west coast, thus describes his re-
ception by " Ayari Shakarti," the principal chief or sub-king
of the district. " He said. Do not be shy ; ask for what you
wish. I answered. My only desire in coming to the island
vfaa to visit the blessed foot of our forefather Adam ; whom
these people call Bdba, while they style Eve'Mdmd. This,
replied he, is easy enough. We will send some one with

you who will conduct you thither He then gave mo

a palanquin which his servants carried upon their shoulders.
* The chapter of Ibn Bntutu's trnvels relating to Ceylon, and con-
taining the account of hia ascent to the top of Adam's Peak will bo
found in Appendix B.
