312 



THE SINGHALESE CHRONICLES. 



[Part III. 



and Kings " of the island. Dr. Davy compiled that 

 portion of his excellent narrative which has reference 

 to the early history of Kandy, chiefly from the recitals 

 of the most intelligent natives, borrowed, as in the case 

 of the informants of Yalentyn, from the perusal of the 

 popular legends ; and he and every other author unac- 

 quainted with the native language, who vnrote on Ceylon 

 previous to 1833, assumed without inquiry the non- 

 existence of historic data.^ 



It was not till about tlie year 1826 that the discovery 

 was made and communicated to Europe, that whilst the 

 history of India was only to be conjectured from myths 

 and elaborated from the dates on copper grants, or 

 fading inscriptions on rocks and columns'^, Ceylon 

 was in possession of continuous written chronicles, 

 rich in authentic facts, and not only presenting a con- 

 nected liistory of the island itself, but also yielding 

 valuable materials for elucidating that of India. At 

 the moment when Prinsep was deciphering the myste- 

 rious Buddhist mscriptions, which are scattered over 

 Hindustan and Western India, and when Csoma de 

 Korros was unroUing the Buddhist records of Thibet, 

 and Hodgson those of j^epaul, a fellow labourer of 

 kindi-ed genius was successfully exploring the Pah manu- 

 scripts of Ceylon, and developing results not less re- 

 markable nor less conducive to the illustration of the 

 early history of Southern Asia. Mr. Turnour, a civil 

 officer of the Ceylon service^, was then administering 



1 Davy's Ceylon, cli. x. p. 293. See 

 also Peecival's Ceylon, p. 4. 



2 Reijstatjd, 3Iemoire sur rinde, p. 3. 



3 George Tuknour was the eldest 

 son of the Hon. George Turnoiu-, 

 son of the first Earl of Winterton ; 

 his mother being Emilie, niece to the 

 Cardinal Due de Beausset. He was 

 born in Ceylon in 1799, and having 

 been educated in England nnder the 

 guardianship of the Right Hon. Sir 

 Thomas Maitlaud, then governor of 

 the island, he entered the Civil Ser- 



vice in 1818, in which he rose to the 

 highest rank. He was distinguished 

 equally by his abilities and his modest 

 display of them. Interpreting in its 

 largest sense the duty enjoined on 

 him, as a public officer, of acqidriug 

 a knowledge of the native languages, 

 he extended his studies, from the 

 vernacular and written Singhalese 

 to Pali, the great root and original 

 of both, known only to the Buddhist 

 priesthood, and imperfectly and even 

 rarely amongst them. No diction- 



