No. 49.— 1898.] DUTCH MONUMENTAL remains. 



215 



Ceylon, although Mr. Bell, the Archaeological Commissioner, 

 came across a slab in the Beligal Korale bearing the royal 

 arms of Portugal.* The five escutcheons on the shield are 

 placed saltire, but not cross-wise. A similar coat of arms 

 has been recently discovered engraved on a rock in the 

 Colombo Fort, with what looks like the date 1501 A.D. 

 But the Dutch period compensates for any disappointment 

 one may feel at the dearth of Portuguese coats of arms 

 in Ceylon. The old Dutch churches and graveyards are 

 rich in tombstones containing arms engraved thereon with 

 varying degrees of merit. 



The late Mr. Leopold Ludovici, in the year 1877, published 

 his Lapidarium Zeylanicum, being a collection of the monu- 

 mental inscriptions on the Dutch churches of Ceylon. The 

 tombstones in the Dutch cemeteries are not included in this 

 collection. In this Paper only the Dutch epitaphs in that 

 work, and those not included therein which have been 

 discovered scattered about the Island, are translated and 

 discussed, and two coats of arms over two English epitaphs 

 are noticed (Rabinel and Mylius).f Besides the verbal inac- 

 curacies in the Lapidarium Zeylanicum, the copyist has 

 committed the mistake of using lines for purposes of 

 shading, which are apt to be mistaken for indications of 

 the tinctures. The charges also, in some instances, have 

 not been correctly reproduced. 



I have blazoned the arms in French, the language of 

 heraldry. It will be out of place here to discuss the 

 differences between English and Dutch heraldry. The 

 curious reader is referred to J. B. Rietstap's Handboek der 

 Wapenkunde and L. Philip. C. van den Bergh's Grondtrekken 

 der Nederlandsche Zegel-en Wapenkunde for information 

 on the subject. I have supplied the tinctures from Rietstap's 

 Armorial General. As regards the coats of arms which are 

 not contained in this work, I have not filled in the colours 



* Sessional Papers, Ceylon, 1891 : Antiquarian Research, K^galla, p. 31. 

 f " Lapidarium Zeylanicum," Plates 64 and 75. 



