No. 36.-1888.] 



CAPTAIN JOAO RIBEIKO. 



299 



I have thus endeavoured to show briefly how badly 

 Ribeiro has been treated by a careless and dishonest copyist 

 and a not very faithful translator. A rough calculation 

 shows that B. has omitted a good deal more than one- 

 fourth of the original ; and the editors of L,A. are therefore 

 quite justified in saying that "we have not yet, at least, 

 a translation of the work of Joao Ribeiro." Several years 

 ago I began a translation into English of the Lisbon 

 Academy's edition, but from want of leisure did not proceed 

 very far ; and it is as well that this was the case, for it 

 seems that a somewhat fuller and more grammatical text of 

 Ribeiro's work than that published by the Lisbon Academy 

 of Sciences is in existence. Shortly before I returned to 

 Ceylon from England in 1887, 1 wrote to the Secretary of the 

 Academy of Sciences at Lisbon, to ask him if he could put 

 me in the way of obtaining any information regarding 

 Ribeiro and his work, and I received a short letter in reply, 

 accompanied by a pamphlet, the title of which (translated) 

 is as follows : — " Short Comparison of a Printed Work issued 

 by the Royal Academy of Sciences, with a Manuscript of his 

 Excellency the Visconde da Esperanca on the History of the 

 Island of Ceylon, by A. F. Barata." This pamphlet was 

 published in Evora in 1886, and the following is a translation 

 of it :— 



r. 



"In the valuable library of the Visconde da Esperanca 

 there is an important manuscript entitled Historia da Ilhrt 

 de Ceilao expendida e dedicada d Magestade do Senhor Beij 

 Dom Pedro segundo, nosso Senhor, pello capitao Joao 

 Ribeiro. Fielmente copiada do seu original por hum corioso. 

 Lisboa Anno de 1732. It is a folio of 327 leaves. 



" This copy was made by a careful and conscientious 

 individual, who has written in an ante-prologue : — ' In the 

 choice library of Jose Freire Monterroy Mascarenhas there 

 was a quarto book written and signed by Joao Ribeiro, 

 which may be looked upon as the original of this author ; 

 and as such it was considered by its owner. On account 

 of its rarity I have transcribed this copy, and in my opinion 

 it is of equal trustworthiness, and in order that it may 

 be so held by bibliophiles I have attached to it this 

 statement.' 



-49—89 g 



