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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIX. 



Kotte kaldle data meda gan kisille* rang in the king's ears at night 

 in his sleep, and the following morning, haunted by the words, he 

 inquired their import from his sages and counsellors. The words 

 properly broken up contained the injunction, ** Enough your 

 love for Kotte: remove the tooth-relic to the middle country 

 quickly." A few days after, the announcement of the arrival of 

 the Portuguese proved the accuracy of the prophecy ! 



Mr. F. Lewis proposed a cordial vote of thanks to Mr. Donald 

 Ferguson for his very able and interesting Paper. 



Mr. T. P. Attygalle seconded. 



The President, after putting the vote, which was carried by 

 acclamation, expressed surprise that Mr. Pieris and other Sinhalese 

 gentlemen present did not give them any information from 

 Sinhalese annals. It was astonishing that the question at issue 

 could not be settled by a reference to Sinhalese chronicles as to 

 when the strange white men from the West were first seen in 

 Ceylon. He certainly thought it strange that the Portuguese 

 should have been so close to Ceylon as Calicut, Cochin, and even 

 Quilon from 1498 onwards, and yet never have broken through 

 the Moorish fleets and got to Ceylon for eight years. It would 

 be very interesting to hear what Mr. Donald Ferguson had to say 

 on the full discussion when he was able to read it. (See below.) 



Mr. Arunachalam next proposed a vote of thanks to the 

 President. In regard to the President's observation re the 

 delay of eight years, at that time Arabs were the masters of the 

 Eastern seas and the Portuguese perhaps were in fear of them. 

 In regard to Sinhalese evidence, Mr. Donald Ferguson had quoted 

 the Rdjdvaliya. He had also quoted a Tamil chronicle. 



The President said his point was that the Sinhalese gentlemen 

 who had taken part in the discussion had not brought any Sinha- 

 lese evidence in support of what they said. 



This concluded the Meeting. 



Reply to the Discussion by Mr. Donald Ferguson. 



Several of the speakers referred to the inscribed boulder dis- 

 covered in 1898 near the Colombo Breakwater. 



Mr. Arunachalam complained that in my Paper I had made no 

 reference to the date on this rock. But that the four characters 

 form a date is just what I want proved : I am extremely doubtful 

 on the point. In any case, I cannot believe that the last character 

 ever was a 6, as Mr. C. M. Fernando surmised, t 



f I am at a disadvantage in being unable to examine the rock in situ, 

 and in having to depend on a photograph of only a portion of the 

 boulder. — D. F. 



