CEYLON BRANCH— ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 7$ 



A. D. 1624 but it was completed only in A. D. 1632. £i 

 A. D. 1627, whilst the Portuguese were embroiled with the 

 Singhalese, a Raja of Malabar is stated by Baldeus to have 

 attempted to recover Jaffna from the Portuguese, but to have 

 been completely routed and put to flight by Philip D'Olivera, 

 who then commanded the garrison, 



During the possession of Jaffna by the Portuguese, which em- 

 braced only a period of forty years, they seem to have devoted 

 much attention to the propagation of the C hristian religion amongst 

 the natives, and with this view divided the district into thirty- 

 two parishes, building in each a substantial Church and par- 

 sonage house, and providing with priests and catechise. They also 

 supported a College and a Monastry in the town, of which the 

 former belonged to the Jesuits and the latter to the Domini- 

 cans and each of these establishments contained upwards of 20 

 or 25 ecclesiactics. Their exertions in this respect was attended with 

 much success, and it is more than probable that had they not been 

 interrupted by the Dutch, who became masters of Jaffna in A. D. 

 1658, they would have completely obliterated every trace of 

 heathenism in the country. " The Dutch, " Major Forbes ob- 

 " serves, " having dispossessed the Portuguese of all the terri- 

 " tory they held in Ceylon, attempted to supersede the Roman 

 " Catholic religion by the Protestant, and took an effectual way 

 " of making hypocrites under the pretence of improving that 

 " system of Christianity which has been already introduced. 

 " The Dutch declared that, to enable a native to hold office, it 

 " was necessary he should profess the reformed faith. In con- 

 " sequence of this rule, those who aspired to office apostatised, 

 "while those who had nothing to gain by a change remained 

 " steadfast in their religion. " * 



* Forbes' Eleven Years in Ceylon, vol. i. p ; 63., 2d edition. 



