No. 62. — 1909.] LETTERS OF RAJA SI XII A II. 



259 



LETTERS FROM RAJA SINHA II. TO THE DUTCH. 



o t 



By Donald Ferguson. 



In the introduction to my paper, " Correspondence between 

 Raja Sinha II. and the Dutch," which was printed in the 

 Ceylon Asiatic Society's Journal for 1904, I drew attention to 

 the fact that there must have been in the Colombo Archives a 

 great many more of Raja Sinha's letters, and that of those 

 missing many must have been purloined. One of these, as I 

 showed, Tennent owned to having in his possession when he 

 wrote his Ceylon. I have now discovered two others (one, 

 however, only a copy) ; and I hope (though I am not very 

 sanguine) that others may come to light. 



The two letters that are the subject of this paper form Addi- 

 tional MS. 9,380 in the British Museum Library, and are 

 contained in a portfolio lettered on the back as follows : — 

 " Original Documents relative to Ceylon. — Mus. Brit, ex dono 

 Alex. Johnston, Eq. Aur.— 9,380 Plut." The letters are 

 numbered 1 and 2, and each is indorsed " Presented by Sir 

 Alexr. Johnston, 1833." 



The first letter is a remarkable one, — in fact unique, — 

 consisting of a huge sheet of thick paper, measuring no less 

 than 38 inches in length by 15 inches in breadth, and written 

 on both sides. It is folded twice, and at two of the folds some 

 of the writing has been destroyed ; but otherwise it is in an 

 excellent state of preservation, the paper having been " backed " 

 by the Museum authorities. That it is an original document 

 is proved by the Dutch indorsement, which is in the same 

 handwriting as that of many of the indorsements on the letters 

 translated in my former paper. 



The second letter is, in some respects, even more remarkable. 

 It consists of a sheet of foolscap paper (of a texture not unlike 

 that on which the other letters from Raja Sinha are written), 

 with writing on the first two pages, the other two being blank. 

 The pages containing the writing are enclosed in ornamental 

 borders in red, and at the head and tail of the letter are 

 crowned figures in the attitude of supplication* and other 

 ornaments. It has every appearance of an original document, 



* Of. Baldseus's description of Raja Sinha's letter to Adriaan van der 

 Meiden, as printed in the last paragraph on p. 222 of my former paper. 



