Note 1 — CHAP. IV.

: See ante, Vol. I. Part I. ch. i. p. 29. n. Both quicksilver and vermilion are mentioned in the Rajaratnacari, p. 51, as being in use in the year 20 B.C. Vermilion is also spoken of B.C. 307 in the Mahawanso, ch. xxvii. p. 162, c. The two passages in which vermilion is spoken of in the Old Testament, Jerem. xxii. 14, and Ezek. xxiii. 14, both refer to the painting of walls and woodwork, a purpose to which it would be scarcely suitable, were not the article alluded to the opaque bisulphuret of mercury; and the same remark applies to the vermilion used by the Singhalese. The bright red obtained from the insect coccus (the vermiculus, whence the original term "vermilion" is said to be derived) would be too transparent to be so applied.