8 CEYLON BRANCH— ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



" tained. The number of Church Members in the Colombo 

 " Congregation is 79. The word of God is preached in Dutch 

 " twice on the Sabbath-day, in the forenoon prayers are read 

 " by a schoolmaster, and religious instruction given by means 

 " of catechism questions to the Tamils in their own language, 

 " in the afternoon God's word is read in Portuguese by another 

 s< master, which also takes place every Thursday afternoon. 

 " The Lord's Supper is administered quarterly. Every even* 

 66 ing Prayers are offered up at the Governor's residence ; and 

 " every morning and evening in the Hospital. The schools are 

 (i visited twice or thrice a year by a minister. At Negombo 

 " the Sacrament is administered quarterly. The Rev. H. Bon- 

 " gaert officiates at Galle ; and the Rev. D. Baldeus at Jaffna 9 

 " whither also the Rev, D. Doncker has returned, after accom- 

 " panying for the space of five months the great Naval expe- 

 " dition along the Malabar Coast under the command of Ad- 

 " miral RycklofF Van Goens. At the request of the two named 

 si brethren, who say that their duties are very heavy, having 

 u to attend to nearly a hundred thousand baptized Christians the 

 " Rev. D. Abreyl was sent from Manaar to their assistance, 

 " and in his place was appointed in October 1661 Mr. Caletus. 

 " The Rev. G. Van Holcken arrived at Colombo from Bata- 

 "via in January 166!, but both he and Rev. L. Bongaert died 

 " at Galle. D. Fereira who officiated for a year at Tutuco- 

 " reen, is, we understand stationed at Caulaugh one of the con- 

 " quered places on the Malabar Coast, as also D. Doncker at 

 4< Cranganoor, which town is likewise taken." In another letter from 

 Galle to Jaffna dated May 1662 the clergy say. " The 

 " state of our Church is thank God, reasonable, the work in 

 " the town is accompanied with much edification, but as to 

 ** that among the native people, it holds on indeed its course 

 " but with many knocks and thumps. The schools are flourish* 

 " ing in the accession of numbers but we want men to deal 

 ** with tLem in their own language. With but the intervention 



