No. 61.— 1908. j 



PROCEEDINGS. 



113 



in maritime districts. The Sinhalese Buddhists were looked upon 

 as disloyal subjects, and they were therefore not given any employ- 

 ment or rank under the Government, while the native Christians 

 were treated with special partiality and favour. This act of 

 injustice not only induced the Sinhalese Buddhists to embrace 

 Christianity, but also multiplied in great measure the number of 

 nominal Christians with selfish motives. 



7. The Hon. Mr. A. Kanagasabai, speaking of the title 

 "Dom" conferred in the times of the Portuguese Government in 

 the northern part of Ceylon, said that he could not at the present 

 time say that the persons to whom it was granted were all real 

 noblemen of note, or whether some were not made noblemen by 

 the Portuguese themselves by the title being given to them. He 

 might say that it was not noblemen only who got the title, but 

 others who were raised to the rank of noblemen on account of 

 services rendered by them to the Portuguese Government. That 

 was a point which would require further study before they could 

 endorse the opinion of Mr. Pieris. The destruction of temples 

 during the time of the Portuguese was great. One of the oldest 

 Hindu temples in Ceylon in the north was destroyed by the Portu- 

 guese, who razed the building to the ground. The temple was 

 commemorated in Hindu lyrics about 1,500 years ago. The 

 speaker instanced the destruction of other temples in the north, 

 at Nellur, at Keeri-malai, &c, all of which had now been restored. 

 Happily the Portuguese Government was short-lived, and the 

 prohibition of religious services and persecution referred to in 

 the Paper had now ceased. 



8. Mr. C. W. HoRSFALL said he need not say how eager they 

 had all been to listen to Mr. Pieris's Paper , but there was one point 

 he also would like to refer to, and that was the reference to the use 

 of the word "Don." He thought that the word "Don," as they 

 knew it now and often saw it affixed to designations of people 

 in Ceylon, was the equivalent of the Portuguese term " Dom," 

 and he was under the impression that the term, at all events 

 nowadays, was simply the equivalent of the term " Mr." 

 Of course, he would not question the accuracy of Mr. Pieris's 

 statement in regard to its application to royal personages in the 

 time referred to, but he would ask Mr. Pieris if he meant that it 

 was exclusively devoted to those of high rank. The present use 

 of the term must have altered, He instanced the use of the term 

 "Monsieur " by the French, in its former application only to 

 brothers of the royal family. Did Mr. Pieris make any distinction 

 between the term " Don " as used now and the term as used 

 then ? 



Mr. P. E. Moegappa wished to know the reason why the 

 Portuguese language and religion did not cease to exist, while 

 the Dutch language had ceased to exist long ago. The Portuguese 

 had many songs, and their music still existed. They heard it 

 at festivities. As regarded their religion, the Portuguese were 

 devoted to it. The Goanese priests in Ceylon had so fostered 



