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XXX. An Account of an Inscription found near Trincomake, in the Island 

 of Ceylon. By Sir Alexander Johnston, Knt. V.P.R.A.S. 



To the Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society. 



Sir : I have the honour to send you, for the Royal Asiatic Society, the 

 fac-simile which was made in 1806 by my direction, of the inscription on a 

 flat stone near the road leading from the town and fort of Trincomalee to the 

 large tank or artificial lake of Kandelle, in the province of Trincomalee, on 

 the north-eastern side of the island of Ceylon. The public object which I 

 had in view in forming the collection of inscriptions of which the accom- 

 panying is one of the most remarkable, the great celebrity of the Hindu 

 temple at Trincomalee in ancient times, and the equal celebrity of the mag- 

 nificent harbour at the same place in modern times, render the illustration 

 of every document relative to that place an object not only of literary curio- 

 sity, but of national importance. 



The late Sir Thomas Maitland, when governor of the island of Ceylon, in 

 consequence of my representing to him that the surest way of restoring that 

 island to its ancient state of cultivation and population would be, to establish 

 by act of parliament some permanent system for its government, founded 

 upon a thorough knowledge of the history and feelings of the people, and 

 really applicable to the local capabilities and present situation of the country, 

 resolved, in council, to send me officially to England, for the purpose of lay- 

 ing before his Majesty's Ministers, in my official capacity of Chief Justice 

 and President of His Majesty's Council on Ceylon, such a system of govern- 

 ment for that island as in my opinion was calculated to attain the objects 

 which I have mentioned ; and, that I might be enabled to affijrd his Majes- 

 tjr's Ministers such recent information as they might require upon the occa- 

 sion, previously sent me, in 1806, on a circuit completely round the island, 

 with the fullest powers to collect the most authentic and detailed information 

 relative to the ancient and modern history of the country ; the origin of all 

 the different classes of inhabitants, their laws, their castes, their religion, 

 their language, their agriculture, their manufactures, and their commerce. 



Vol. I. 4 A* 



