On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c22.16

v2.c22.16

It is interesting to notice that the writer of this account of *Sêng-ka-lo* or Simhala seems to regard the district as a country on the mainland. He represents it as "bordering on a corner of the sea" (*Kuo-p'in-hai-yü* 國 濱 海 隅), and all his description of the country seems to indicate that he regarded it as a part of the continent. At the end of *Chuan* X, however, Sêng-ka-lo is said to be 3000 *li* by sea from Malakuṭa, and in the legends given in the present *chuan* about the country it is styled the "Island of Precious substances", a name derived from Buddhist books.