XXIV 



INTRODUCTION. 



nection with the government of Ceylon. I found 

 abundant details as to the capture of the maritime 

 provinces from the Dutch in 1795, in the narrative of 

 Captain PERCIVAL *, an officer who had served in the 

 expedition ; and the efforts to organise the first system 

 of administration are amply described by CoRDiNER 2 , 

 Chaplain to the Forces ; by Lord VALENTIA 3 , who was 

 then travelling in the East ; and by ANTHONY BERTO- 

 LACCI 4 , who acted as auditor-general to the first go- 

 vernor, Mr. North, afterwards Earl of Guildford. The 

 story of the capture of Kandy in 1815 has been related 

 by an anonymous eye-witness under the pseudonyme 

 of PHILALETHES 5 , and by MARSHALL in his Historical 

 Sketch of the conquest. 6 An admirable description of 

 the interior, as it presented itself some forty years ago, 

 was furnished by Dr. DAVY 7 , a brother of the eminent 

 philosopher, who was employed on the medical staff in 

 Ceylon, from 1816 till 1820. 



Here the series of writers is broken, just at the 

 commencement of a period the most important and 

 interesting in the history of the island. The mountain 

 zone, which for centuries had been mysteriously hidden 

 from the Portuguese and Dutch 8 , was suddenly opened 

 to British enterprise in 1815. The lofty region, from 



1 An Account of the Island of 

 Ceylon, g-c., by Capt. R. PERCIVAL. 

 4to. London, 1805. 



2 A Description of Ceylon, Sfc., by 

 the Rev. JAMES CORDINER, A.M. 

 2 vols. 4to. London, 1807. 



3 Voyages and Travels to India, 

 Ceylon, and the Red Sea, by Lord 

 Viscount VALENTIA. 3 vols. 4to 

 London, 1809. 



* A View of the Agricultural, Com- 

 mercial, and Financial Interests of 

 Ceylon, r., by A. BERTOLACCI. Esq 

 London, 1817. 



* A History of Ceylon from the 



earliest Period to the Year MDCCCXV, 

 by PHILALETHES, A.M. 4to. Lond. 

 1817. The author is believed to have 

 been the Rev. G. Bisset. 



6 HENRY MARSHALL, F.R.S.E., &c. 

 went to Ceylon as assistant sur- 

 geon of the 89th regiment, in 1805, 

 and from 1816 till 1821 was the 

 senior medical officer of the Kan- 

 dyan provinces. 



7 An Account of the Interior of 

 Ceylon, fyc., by JOHN DAVY, M.D. 

 4to. London, 1821. 



8 VALENTYN, in his great work on 

 the Dutch possessions in India, Owl 



