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



would no longer listen to any word of a treaty, inasmuch as being 

 able, with all the men that he had, to hold the field, he obliged the 

 Hollanders to remain shut up in their fortresses, & on the other 

 hand if he had entered into a treaty with them, he would have been 

 forced to give up to them the territories that we possessed in that 

 country ; so that on both sides they found themselves engaged in a 

 continual warfare, & at much expense, the Hollanders being able to 

 gather only a little Cinnamon that grows around their fortresses, 

 to which the King does not have access so easily." 



The Chairman said they were very grateful to Mr. 

 Ferguson for the care with which he had prepared his very 

 interesting translation. It was a very graphic description of 

 a very terrible siege, and while they were living in such 

 peace and quietness now it was awful to think of the horrors 

 which had been enacted in and around Colombo — horrors 

 to find a parallel for which they must go back to the siege of 

 Jerusalem. Mr. Ferguson had not read some portions of his 

 Paper, but when the whole was printed the Members would 

 be able to see what useful historical information it contained. 

 It would be a very valuable addition to the foundation of a 

 complete history of the period. 



6. At the Chairman's suggestion the reading of Mr. J. P. 

 Lewis's Paper on "Buddhist Ruins near Vavuniya" was 

 postponed, time not permitting of its being read at this 

 Meeting. 



7. A vote of thanks to His Lordship the Bishop for pre- 

 siding was moved by Mr. Roles, seconded by Mr. A. M. 

 Ferguson, and agreed to unanimously. 



His Lordship in responding said that it was the intention 

 of a gentleman present to propose a vote of thanks to 

 Mr. Ferguson for his Paper, but as that vote of thanks had 

 been overlooked, whilst a vote had been passed to the chair, 

 he must ask the Meeting to take it that a vote of thanks had 

 been recorded to Mr. Ferguson for his Paper. 



8. His Lordship also stated that it had been the intention 

 of the Secretary to make special mention of a Si?ihalese 

 Grammar by Abraham Mendis Gunasekara, Mudaliyar, 

 received by the Society and laid on the table. The Grammar 

 had been just completed and issued from the press. Apart 

 from the real value of the book itself, it did great credit to 

 the Ceylon Government Press that such a work should have 

 been turned out in so neat and artistic a style. 



The Meeting then terminated. 



