272 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. XXI. 



9. Mr. de Vos seconded. He thought Mr. Ferguson (he said 

 it without any fear of contradiction) was the highest living autho- 

 rity on the Portuguese history of Ceylon. The Society was very 

 thankful to him for the great research and the indefatigable pains 

 he has always taken to enrich the Journals of the Society with 

 most valuable contributions. He would like to suggest that 

 when the present Paper is printed, there should be printed with 

 it the original Portuguese text of the letters, of which the present 

 Paper was a translation.* 



Mr. Harward said he would like to lay stress on the very 

 valuable Papers which the Society had received from Mr. Dona-ld 

 Ferguson. Among recent contributions being the valuable series 

 of translations, of which the two interesting letters they had had 

 read that night formed a part, the Paper on the discovery of 

 Ceylon by the Portuguese, which formed No. 79 of the Society's 

 Journal, and the translation of the History of Ceylon contained in 

 the works of Barros and do Couto, which formed No. 60 of the 

 Society's Journal. These Papers afforded materials to the 

 student who wished to study history from contemporary 

 documents, and the fullness of the notes and the critical way in 

 which Mr. Ferguson dealt with his materials was extremely useful as 

 a model to local writers on the subject, many of whom, he hoped, 

 would follow and emulate Mr. Ferguson's example. (Applause. ) 



10. The Chairman : After the exceedingly interesting speech 

 of Mr. Pieris, I hesitate to add in any way to the discussion 

 which has taken place. I cannot pretend to have the knowledge 

 or scholarship of the gentlemen who have already spoken ; but I 

 note Mr. de Vos' suggestion that advance copies of the lectures 

 should be circulated to Members. It is one which I most 

 heartily endorse, and which I hope the Council will see its way to 

 adopt in the future. Without some such system as circulated 

 advance copies, it is exceedingly difficult for most of us to grasp in 

 full the value of letters such as those which have been read to us 

 to-night. 



[After a slight pause, the Chairman, continued.] 

 I am told by Mr. Harward that the Committee send out some 

 advance copies, but I am not amongst the happy recipients, 

 therefore my excuse stands. It is exceedingly difficult to pick out 

 even matters of the most prominence in Papers read hastily, 

 although listened to with such attention as we have devoted to the 

 Paper to-night, if they have not been studied with the leisure 

 one would wish. 



On page 9, however, there is a paragraph, which to me seems to 

 be of extraordinary interest : " Your Honour says in your [letter] 

 that the Dutch nation with its armadas has blockaded the ports 

 and bars of the kingdom of Portugal, and that Your Honour, 

 with the force that you have, is going against the city of Goa. 

 May it please God to chastise this Portuguese nation for the many 

 wrongs and tyrannies that they have done to several kings of 



* No transcript available* — Ed Sec 



