APPENDIX. xlix 



witb respect to such of them as inhabit the Burmese and Siamese territories, Laos, 

 and Cambodia, from Mr. Fullerton, the Governor of Penang, Captain Low, and 

 tlie different civil and military servants and Christian missionaries who are esta- 

 blislied along the coast of Tenasserim, at Penang, Malacca, and Sincapore. Thibet 

 is, to the people of the Buddha religion in the North, what Ceylon is to those 

 in the South of Asia — the place to which they refer for authentic knowledge relative 

 to that particular modification of the Buddha religion which they profess. The 

 Committee, therefore, look for information, with respect to the doctrines of that form 

 of it which prevails in Thibet and the Nepaul country, from Mr. Gardner, the 

 Political Resident in Nepaul, and Mr. Hodgson, his very able assistant ; and with 

 respect to the doctrines of the same religion which prevail on the island of Ceylon, 

 from the English translations of several Pali, Singalese, and Dutch manuscripts, 

 which were made by order of Sir Alexander Johnston,* while President of his Ma- 

 jesty's Council on Ceylon, from the several civil and military servants and Christian 

 missionaries on that island, and more particularly from the Dutch and native inha- 

 bitants of the country, who, judging from the intellectual activity and local know- 

 ledge which they have invariably displayed in the exercise of those political privileges 

 with which they have been invested by his present Majesty since 1811, are highly 

 qualified, if properly encouraged, for making researches into the history and 

 antiquities of their countr}', and procuring for the Society such information as may 

 be derived from the numerous Pali and Cingalese works,t which are preserved by 



* These consist of: — 



First. The English translations of the answers given in Cingalese by several of the most learned of the 

 Buddha priests and other literary characters on Ceylon, to questions which were officially submitted to 

 them by Sir Alex. Johnston, while president of his Majesty's Council in Ceylon, relative to the 

 history and doctrine of the Buddha religion as professed by the followers of Buddha on that island. 



Secondly. English translations of the Cingalese works called the Mahavansie, the Rajah Valle, and 

 the Rajah Ratnakari, which were reported to Sir Alex. Johnston by the Buddha priests, whom he had 

 officially consulted upon the subject, to be in their opinion the most authentic histories which they 

 possessed of their religion and their country from the earliest times to the beginning of the sixteenth 

 century. 



Thirdly. The English translation of the whole of that volume of Valentyn's history of the Dutch 

 possessions in India which relates to the island of Ceylon. 



Fourthly. English translations of a great many papers written by several Dutch inhabitants of Ceylon 

 in Dutch at dilferent times during the whole of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries relative to 

 the history of the Buddha religion and the people of Ceylon. 



All the translations from the Cingalese and Pali languages into English were either made or revised 

 by the late Rajah Paxie, who was one of the best Sanscrit, Pali, and Cingalese scholars amongst the 

 natives of Ceylon, and held for a great many years the office of Maha-Modliar, or chief of the cinna- 

 mon department on that island. He was the native chief of whom Sir Alex. Johnston has presented an 

 engraving to the .Society. 



f Some of these books relate to the systems of astronomy, astrology, geography, cosmography, and 

 medicine, which prevail among the people of Ceylon, but most of them to the history and doctrine of 



Vol. II. g the 



