INTRODUCTION. XXXIX 



clumsy compromise by inducing the Kandyan king to 

 make an admission of regret. 



I am aware that there are passages in the following 

 pages containing statements that occur more than once 

 in the course of the work. But I found that in dealing 

 with so many distinct subjects the same fact became 

 sometimes an indispensable illustration of more than 

 one topic; and hence repetition was unavoidable even 

 at the risk of tautology. 



I have also to apologise for variances in the spelling 

 of proper names, both of places and individuals, occurring 

 in different passages. In extenuation of this, I can 

 only plead the difficulty of preserving uniformity in 

 matters dependent upon mere sound, and unsettled by 

 any recognised standard of orthography. 



I have endeavoured in every instance to append re- 

 ferences to other authors, in support of statements 

 which I have drawn from previous writers ; an arrange- 

 ment rendered essential by the numerous instances in 

 which errors, that nothing short of the original autho- 

 rities can suffice to expose, have been reproduced and 

 repeated by successive writers on Ceylon. 



To whatever extent the preparation of this work may 

 have fallen short of its conception, and whatever its 

 demerits in execution and style, I am not without hope 

 that it will still exhibit evidence that by perseverance 

 and research I have laboured to render it worthy of the 

 subject. 



JAMES EMERSON TENNENT. 



LONDON : 

 July 13th, 1859. 



