124 CEYLOX BRANCH— -ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY* 



in 1750 P. De Melho a Tamul preacher, ordained in Bata- 

 via, was at its head. But as no further mention is made of 

 this school, it must have blended with the other Seminary. 



Jaffna also had its Seminary in 1709, first under a Dutch 

 master, and afterwards under a Rector, but not in such an 

 improved state as the one already described. In 1723 its 

 operations were discontinued, and its six scholars trans- 

 ferred to the Colombo Seminary. 



Manuscripts) Translations and Printed Books. 

 Up to the year 1736 the supply of School-materials was 

 ¥ery scanty. The children had in fact few or no lesson books. 

 The masters were furnished with a set of Catechisms, Pray- 

 ers &c. as also with one or two Gospels in manuscript, 

 which remained the property of the school, and out of which 

 they gave oral instruction, the scholars repeating after the 

 master until the lesson became familiar. Of course he was 

 expected to explain the meaning as he proceeded. Even 

 these manuscripts were not invariably on paper ; for instance, 

 in 1723 the visitors found at the Chunampitty Malabar 

 School the Gospel of Matthew written on leaves (olas) which^ 

 having become old, the Master requested might be tran- 

 scribed on paper. Stationary also was either not at all, or 

 very sparingly dealt out, for in the Galle district the chil- 

 dren are said to have practised writing by describing the 

 characters on a board or table strewed with fine sand. Per- 

 haps the Cinghalese mode of writing with a style on olas 

 was the general practice. In 1710 a series of 5 Catechisms 

 were in use, 1. on Scripture history; 2. Infant's Catechism; 

 3. on the principal doctrines of Christianity ; 4. and 5. for 

 more advanced, The three last mentioned were translations 

 from the Dutch. In 1722 a collection of prayers, the form 

 of administration of the Sacraments, and five sermons trans- 

 lated into Cinghalese were sent to remain in circulation 

 among and for the use of the Cotta, Bollewalane, Coiele- 

 watte, Calane, Mahapittigam, Minuangodde, Welligam- 

 pitty, Wolfendahl, Milagre and Morotto Schools. A collec- 

 tion of translated prayers in Tamul was given to the Chu- 

 nampitty and Slave Island schools. This year a number of 

 Portuguese Testaments, copies of the Heidelberg Catechism^ 

 and the Liturgy printed in Amsterdam, received from Java 

 and lying in the Government stores, were offered to the 

 Clergy for gratuitous distribution. In 1725 the Ten Com- 

 mandments and the Lord's Prayer were translated into Cin- 

 ghalese in foot -measure for singing. In 1724 the Heidel- 

 berg Catechism was translated into Cinghalese by the Rev. 



