44 



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



to which the Portuguese had given the name of Nossa 

 Senhora dos Milagres, after a miraculous image of the Virgin, 

 the church of which still exists" (5 C.L.R. 114). 



Mr. Donald Ferguson writes : " There were many churches 

 dedicated to Our Lady of Miracles, including one near 

 Colombo, now Milagiriya" (5 C.L.R. 114). 



" The fort of Jaffna, which was dedicated to Nossa Senhora 

 dos Milagres (Our Lady of Miracles), stood on the shores of 

 the great shallow lagoon that stretches between Jaffna and 

 the sea" (2 C.L.R. 348). 



Baldseus (Ceylon), p. 65, writing about the defeat of the 

 Portuguese at Panadure (17th October, 1655), says "that the 

 Dutch pursued them as far as the Church Nossa Senhora 

 dos Milagres." 



Wolfs, in his Reizen (Dutch ed. 1796, p. 65), says : " On the 

 Sunday afternoon I arrived in Jaffnapatnam, opposite the 

 chief town Nossa Senhora dos Milagres." 



26 — Matara. 



Inscription on a stone discovered by Mr. J. P. Lewis, 

 G.C.S., in Matara, in the garden opposite to Clergy House : — 



OPGEBOUWT 

 DOOR DEN OPPER. 

 DISSAVE 

 G. I. V. 



A° 1747 



Translation. — Built by Opperkoopman and Dissave G. I. V. 

 in the year 1747. 



Remarks. — The letters G. I. V. stand for Gerard Joan 

 Vreland (see Plate 24, L.Z., Colombo). The gateway of the, 

 garden next to that in which this stone was discovered has 

 a stone with the name " Vreede " (peace) cut on it. 



