Of the more eastern portions of India little was then known. Indeed, so late as the geographer Ptolemy, so erroneous are his ideas of the size and position of even the great island of Ceylon, and of the peninsula of Hindustan, that it is certain he obtained the information he has recorded from the reports of persons of no scientific acquirements. His description of the character of the coasts and of the chief ports are, on the other hand, more accurate than might have been expected, considering that his only source of information was from the lips of unscientific sailors or merchants who had merely visited the places he notices. Thus, in his account of Ceylon, we find a fair description, not only of the sea coast of the island, but of the trade then carried on, and, especially of the nature of the intercourse conducted by the different nations who frequented its excellent harbours. Ptolemy, also, notices the productions for which Ceylon was then celebrated, as rice, honey, ginger, aromatic drugs, pearls, and precious stones, and especially the beryl and the hyacinth. He likewise mentions gold and silver, with a special reference to its elephants and tigers. Indeed, his description of the island resembles in all material points that given by Cosmas Indicopleustes, four centuries later. Both agree in stating that the shores were occupied by foreigners, who held the harbours and the chief seats of commerce, leaving the interior to the aboriginal inhabitants. Ptolemy speaks also of many small islands west of Ceylon—doubtless the Maldives—and of those to the eastward, now called the Sunda Islands, more especially of Jabadia (now Java), which he describes as the richest of them all. Many other islands are also noticed by him which cannot now be identified; it seems also probable that he knew something of the Straits of Sunda, between Java and Sumatra. Indeed, he mentions boats peculiar to the Java sea, as observed also by Pliny, constructed of planks fastened together by trenails instead of iron. Moreover, his account of India beyond the Ganges, and of the various ports and cities of the peninsulas of Malacca and Serica (China), proves at least this, that long before his time these countries were accessible to navigators, and that Ceylon was the common mart for the trade of all the vessels bound thence to the westward. [Sidenote: Ceylon.]