156 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIV. 



assume as certain. Therefore, the words he has recorded for 

 us are those of the everyday speech of the Kandyan Sinhalese 

 of the 17th century ; and in this lies their chief value. Most 

 of the words are easily identifiable with their modern 

 Sinhalese equivalents, but in some cases it is difficult to tell 

 what Sinhalese word was intended. Many of the forms 

 given by Knox are, as might be expected, vulgarisms ; and 

 a few of the words are now obsolete. 



The vocabulary is written on four leaves of foolscap paper 

 cut into halves, so as to form eight pages. Six of these are 

 closely written upon, the seventh having only two lines of 

 writing, and the eighth being blank. The first page and the 

 top third of the second are in Dr. Hooke's handwriting, the 

 learned scientist having evidently written down each word 

 as Knox spoke it. Having got so far, however, Hooke seems 

 to have handed the sheets to Knox for the latter to continue 

 the list of words ; first, however, writing down for Knox's 

 guidance the system of symbols which he (Hooke) had 

 adopted to represent the Sinhalese vowel sounds. Knox, 

 however, seems to have paid no attention to these, but to 

 have written the words after his own fashion, so that Hooke 

 had to go over his list and make many alterations in the 

 spelling.* (The accents have also been added by Hooke.) 

 Hooke's system of spelling, it will be seen, aims at scientific 

 accuracy ; while Knox's is entirely unscientific. Between 

 the two, however, we get a good idea of the sounds intended 

 to be represented.! It will be noticed that in the Sloane 

 manuscript list there is a certain systematic arrangement of 

 the words ; in the list of words which I have copied from 

 Knox's book the arrangement is naturally not so regular. 

 For purposes of comparison I have numbered the words (or, 



* These alterations I have shown within brackets [ ]. In several cases 

 it is impossible to decipher Knox's original spelling, owing to Hooke's 

 corrections. The ink used by Hooke is much blacker than that with 

 which Knox wrote. 



f I have drawn up tables showing the very varied method in which 

 both Hooke and Knox have, in the manuscript vocabulary, represented 

 the same Sinhalese sound- 



