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



fourteen years ago ; the other he does not even mention, because, 

 I presume, he was unable to understand the language (Spanish) 

 in which it was written. In my footnotes to these two Papers 

 I gave much of the information (with a good deal besides) that 

 Mr. Pieris now repeats. 



Mr. Pieris also ignores my translation (in the same volume of 

 the "M.L.R.") of the description of Ceylon in 1613 by Father 

 Manuel Barrados. 



Therefore for Mr. Pieris to say that the period from 1604 to 

 1614 " had not been touched upon by any English writers to 

 date " was not only incorrect but unfair. 



As regards the Paper itself, I believe it gives an accurate 

 summary of the contents of the royal letters referred to ; though 

 it suffers from inadequate annotation. I notice a number of 

 misspellings of names ; but this is doubtless due to the fact that 

 the proof is an uncorrected one. 



In the discussion on the Paper I see that Mr. Pieris is stated 

 to have said that the Sinhalese ' * had their king married to a 

 Portuguese wife, Dona Catharina. ' s I can only suppose Mr. Pieris 

 to have been incorrectly reported, for Dona Catharina had not a 

 drop of Portuguese blood in her veins. 



That the Portuguese language was ever "fashionable" among 

 the Sinhalese I very much doubt. The mixties to whom Mr. Pieris 

 refers doubtless originated the jargon or lingua franca which still 

 survives under the name of Indo- Portuguese, and which would be 

 unintelligible to a native of Portugal. 



Donald Ferguson. 



The Paper was accompanied by a running commentary 

 explanatory of the various references. Mr. Pieris also produced 

 in illustration three low-country copper sannas of the fifteenth- 

 sixteenth centuries, some Portuguese coins, an.d a gold medal 

 conferred by Governor North on Don Philip Samarakon in 1804. 



After concluding the Paper, he continued: "When one 

 realizes the tactics adopted by the Portuguese in their wars 

 with us, and think of the decades those merciless wars lasted, 

 Your Excellency will forgive us if we may be still proud of being 

 Sinhalese." 



5. His Excellency the Governor : I will now invite 

 remarks upon this eloquent Paper, which has been delivered in 

 what I might call a pathetic manner. It is one of the most 

 interesting that I have heard in the Island, and a Paper which I 

 know those present here equally appreciate. 



6. The Rev. Suriyagoda Sumangala Thero spoke of the 

 excessive harshness of the Portuguese, who followed the same evil 

 methods as Mahmud, known in Indian history as the " image 

 breaker," employed, in destroying temples, plundering their 

 immense wealth, burning villages, and oppressing the inhabi- 

 tants. The temple lands were taken for the Crown, the income 

 of which was partly spent for the promotion of Christian faith 



