No. 50. — 1899.] van bck's kandyan expedition. 77 



with two legs in front, something like an enlarged toy cannon resting 

 on two legs. Even in field guns now in use there was a part called 

 the " hopper." 



7. Mr. Ha R ward asked for information regarding the fate of the 

 unfortunate Mr. Rein, Mr. Stork, and others, who were left in Kandy. 

 The Paper left them in an extremely bad way. 



Mr. Buultjens stated that the Dutch manuscript left it silent.* 



8. Mr. White mentioned the name of a Col. Vanneck, who in • 

 herited an Irish peerage, whom he had met, and compared it to that of 

 Baron Van Eck. Perhaps there may have been some connection. 



The President observed that the Vannecks were settled in England 

 long before the period in question. f 



Mr. Gunaratna stated that the war referred to was versified in 

 the Sinhalese poem called Maha-hatana,% in which it was related that 

 a great many of those stragglers were slain at Sitawaka. 



name of jinjal pieces, or grasshoppers." In the glossary at the end of 

 Cordiner's work we have : " Jinjal. A matchlock, or large musket, which 

 rests upon long legs, hence, also, called a grasshopper." The Sinhalese 

 name appears to have been borrowed from the Tamil ; but the last part is 

 ultimately Turkish top, "cannon." I do not know when kodituvakkn, were 

 first used by the Sinhalese ; but they are frequently referred to by the 

 Dutch writers on Ceylon. 



The late Mr. Wm. Skeen, in his valuable monograph on " Adam's Peak," 

 says (p. 124) that when he visited the Maha Saman Devale at Ratnapura 



in 1869, " inside the hall were six antique-looking gingalls, some 



of which we found to be of but very rough and modern manufacture. 

 They were eighteen inches long, with an inch thickness of metal, and a 

 bore an inch in diameter. Each was firmly fixed upon a three-legged 

 carriage raised about eighteen inches from the ground." Opposite p. 97 

 is a woodcut (from a photograph, apparently), in which three of these 

 curious pieces are shown. Mr. Bell, Archaeological Commissioner, noticed 

 one at Medagoda Dewale, Three Korales, in 1890. — D. W. F. in Ceylon 

 Observer, July 15, 1899.] 



* Mr. Rein died shortly afterwards : as Wolf says cynically, the Com- 

 mandant " went over to Eternity, and left the corpse to its fate." He adds 

 that Rein had been a tailor before he was appointed Commander of Trin- 

 comalee, and very skilful in making clothes for the wives of state officials ; 

 from which fact he draws a moral. Stork was more fortunate ; he sur- 

 vived, and served the Government for many years after. — D. W. F., loc. cit. 



| Vanneck is the family name of Baron Huntingfield, whose ancestor 

 Joshua Vanneck, a wealthy London merchant, was created a baronet in 

 1751. He was, therefore, a contemporary of Baron Van Eck's. — D. W. F., 

 Toe. cit. 



% An error. The MaM-liatana relates to fighting between the Portuguese 

 and Kandyans of a century and more earlier. — B., Hon. Sec. 



