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



the Rdmdyana. It seemed to him impossible to travel from 

 the north of India to the south without everywhere finding 

 the invasion there spoken of confirmed by story and sculp- 

 ture, and for his part he believed the epic of the Rdmdyana 

 to have as substantial a basis in history as the stories of ancient 

 Egypt and ancient Greece. 



He agreed with the Sinhalese gentleman who spoke so 

 thoughtfully and intelligently in his correction of Mr. Rama- 

 nathan. The Pandiyan rulers always claimed to b f e of the 

 Lunar, if not the Solar race, and therefore to be Aryan in 

 origin. 



But he was afraid he was wandering somewhat from 

 the purpose for which he rose. Whatever differences of 

 opinion might exist on the subjects discussed, there could be 

 no difference of opinion as to their obligations to Mr. Wall 

 for the Paper he had read, and he begged to move a cordial 

 vote of thanks to that gentleman for the very interesting and 

 valuable Paper he had given the Society. 



Mr. C. M. Fernando said he had pleasure in seconding 

 the motion. Mr. Wall's Paper had not only been carefully 

 listened to, but had provoked considerable discussion, and 

 whatever the opinions of those present might be in regard 

 to the subject discussed by Mr .Wall, they, whether Europeans, 

 Sinhalese, or Dravidians, were all thankful to him for his 

 very interesting Paper. 



His Excellency the Governor, in congratulating 

 Mr. Wall on the unanimous vote of thanks awarded to him for 

 his Paper, said that he had derived much instruction from the 

 amusing and interesting discussion carried on that night. His 

 Excellency was of opinion that Mr. Wall terminated his Paper 

 in a particularly judicious manner, in that he had left his 

 audience at the threshold of a very interesting and important 

 subject, the history of the great irrigation works, and they 

 looked forward to his Fourth Paper, which he proposed to 

 read to the Society, with the greatest interest and expectation. 

 He was happy to think that it was not a part of his duty to 

 decide the merits of the very interesting question about 

 which there was such divergence of opinion, but he must 

 repeat the fact that he was greatly interested in listening to 

 Mr. Wall's able Paper. 



Mr. Philip Freudenberg thanked His Excellency, in the 

 name of the Society, for his presence, and said that, as the 

 Society depended for its success upon the attitude assumed 

 towards it by the ruler of the Colony, he hoped that His 

 Excellency would continue to take an interest in it and 

 would preside at future Meetings. 



Mr. Wall seconded the compliment, and the proceedings 

 terminated. 



