308 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



America. In Ceylon the people have not yet realized that it is best 

 for one's children and for the community to preserve and jiass on in 

 Ijerpetuity valuable material possessions of educational or historical 

 N^alue. Collections or articles of educative interest M'hich have 

 been brought together for their beauty, their history, or their 

 illumination of life and customs can best be preserved in a Museum. 

 Not to go very far back, one has only to ask what has become of 

 the valuable and interesting things possessed by one's great-grand- 

 parents. Antique furniture, utensils, and other property, old books 

 and prints of Ceylon, in the possession of famihes or collected by 

 enthusiasts, get dispersed sooner or later, and nobody benefits by 

 them. Many art treasures of Ceylon find a place in Museums abroad , 

 or form private collections in Europe, and many are daily being 

 removed from, the Island. These articles possess stronger interest 

 and value when shown in Ceylon, and form part of the records of the 

 Island. It is the duty of one whose life has been centred in the 

 collecting of anything, and to which he has given his time, his 

 strength, and his means, to take steps to ensure such collections not 

 being dispersed, and this can only be done by preserving them in 

 a public institution like a Museum, where they will be seen by 

 posterity and be available for inspection , study , and reference . Many 

 articles which are now considered trifles will be of great value here- 

 after, as illustrating the mode of life or history of those that passed 

 away. Customs change with rapidity, and this is especially so in 

 Ceylon, and if old articles are not kept together all evidence of 

 customs disappear, and are difficult to understand without actual 

 illustrations. 



In the Colombo Museum there is an enlarged picture of the grand 

 audience granted by Governor Falk in 1772 to the Ambassadors 

 from the Kandyan Court, taken from the original in the Rijks 

 Museum at Amsterdam. In the picture the Maha MudaHyar is 

 seen carrying a hat hke an Admiral's, which several put down to 

 the imagination of the artist, but such a hat, called a jagalat 

 to'ppiya,is to be seen in the Colombo Museum. This hat Avas fortu- 

 nately presented many years ago by the family of Rajapakse, Chief 

 MudaUyar of the Mahabadda, 1701 a.d., to the Museum. It must 

 be a source of pride to that family to see the hat suitably labelled 

 and preserved, and forming part of the historical collections of the 

 Island. If this hat had not come to the Museum, doubtless it would 

 have been lost or destroyed ere this ; at all events it would never 

 have been kept in the present excellent state of preservation. 



Articles kept in a Museum, besides being of value to one's children 

 and the public, prevent loss, breaking up of collections, and ensures 

 the continuance of association of the name of the original owner or 

 collector with the article or articles. Private collection! in Ceylon, 

 however carefully preserved, for several reasons get dissipated by 

 the heirs of the person who owned or gathered them, the chief reason 



