NO. 50.— 1899.] ANTIQUARIAN DISCOVERY. 



23 



As regards the date engraved on the rock, it seems to me clear 

 enough to be 1561, not 1501.* 



It is evident that the cross and the date are of another workmanship, 

 and if examined seem to have been made with other rougher tools. 

 They were probably added after the burial of the body whose bones 

 were found on the spot, and which were not those of any Portuguese 

 grandee, as they would have given him a more decent sepulchre. The 

 place, on or about the above stated date, was the common Catholic 

 burial ground of Colombo. 



I have carefully examined the stone to see if there be not some 

 traces of the inscription of Gonzalo G-onzalves mentioned by Barros. 

 I could see nothing on the stone, which is broken, or rather split ; but 

 afterwards examining the photograph of the stone through a 

 magnifying glass (as obliterated inscriptions on stone appear often 

 more clearly on photographs), I believe there can be seen at the left 

 side of the splitting the trace of five letters, of which two only (N.S.) 

 are legible and complete. The thing should be examined on the spot. 



In any case the discovery would lose all its historical importance 

 if removed from the spot ; and if its removal should prove an unavoid- 

 able necessity, the stone should at least be placed in the nearest 

 vicinity of its original site. 



I have, &c, 



Ladislaus Michael, 

 Archbishop of Thebes and Delegate Apostolic. 



Extract referred to. 



O Capitao Mor mandou abrir em uma rocha defronfce da Bahia 



as quinas de Portugal memoria q. posto che gasta do tempo no nossa 

 sempre alii permanecio. 



Fernao de Queiroz 

 Conquista de Ceylao 

 Livro 2, Capitulo 1. 



* His Excellency the Delegate Apostolic, in a previous letter dated 

 November 15, 1898, before he inspected the stone, states : " The carving of 

 the Royal coat of arms on a rock was considered by the ancient Portuguese 

 navigators as a very solemn act, something like hoisting the national flag, 

 and there was no reason whatever to carve it in the year 1561, which was 

 rather a dull and uneventful one in the history of the Portuguese in 

 Ceylon." — G. A. J. 



