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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. IX. 



and had their children baptized. Ribeyro's editor, Le 

 Grand, speaks of the habit of betel chewing among the 

 natives, Portuguese and Dutch ; he thinks it a wholesome 

 practice, which purifies the breath, strengthens the gums, and 

 cleanses the bowels. The Sinhalese at that time attributed 

 their long and healthy lives to its use, and Ribeyro confirms 

 it by saying that men and women were seen in Ceylon who 

 had not lost a single tooth. We unfortunately know that the 

 practice of betel chewing presents another side ; it produces 

 " betel-chewers' cancer." 



Dutch Period. 



The Leper Asylum at Hendala is perhaps the only monu- 

 ment of the medical history of Ceylon during the Dutch 

 period which is left to us. There is no authentic record of its 

 foundation beyond an inscription on a stone, " Anno 1708," 

 and a monogram scarcely decipherable, indicative perhaps of 

 date of building and of the original owner of the property 

 on which the institution stands. It is generally believed, 

 on traditional authority, that it owes its origin to a philan- 

 thropic Dutch -lady, daughter of a Dutch Governor, who 

 was herself a leper, and at her death left the property to 

 Government, in trust for the pauper lepers of the Colony. 



In a memorandum made by Governor Van Imhoff in 1740, 

 he commends this institution to the care of his successor. 

 Although frequent search has been made among the archives 

 of the Government Record Office for documents or informa- 

 tion relating to the transfer, nothing has come to light to 

 show how the Government became possessed of a property 

 sixteen acres in extent, occupying one of the most beautiful 

 sites in the neighbourhood of Colombo, at the mouth of the 

 Kelani river, admirably adapted from its situation, isolation, 

 and distance from town for the segregation and treatment of 

 lepers. This hospital was certainly the first in the Colony 

 founded by private benevolence, and supplemented only of 

 recent years by the foundation of other charitable institu- 



