No. 43.— 1892.] PROCEEDINGS. 



255 



Sir William Jones, as quoted by De Alwis, on the same 

 page, says 



We come back to the Indian islands, and hasten to those which lie 

 to the south-east of Silan or Taprobane, for Silan itself, as we know 

 from the language, letters, religion, and old monuments of its various 

 inhabitants, was peopled by the Hindu race, and formerly, perhaps, 

 extended much further to the west and south, so as to include Lanca 

 or the equinoctial point of the Indian astronomers. 



Beyond these facts (which to our mind are incontrovertible) 

 we may well ask, what affinity is there between a Sinhalese 

 man and a Tamil ? Their manners, customs, and languages 

 differ diametrically. We think the same eminent writer has 

 proved conclusively that the Sinhalese language is directly 

 derived from Pali, and has no affinity to Tamil or even to 

 Sanskrit. These are deductions from well established facts. 

 But the Sinhalese can boast of better evidence. Their national 

 history, dating from several centuries before the birth of 

 Christ, does not even allude to anything like a Tamil origin. 



We think our ground is indisputable that the Sinhalese 

 are direct descendants of the Aryan race, or, in the words of 

 Sir William Jones, of the Hindu race. 



When reading a Sinhalese paper only a few days 

 ago we came across a letter written by a learned friend 

 pointing out the striking resemblance, even at the present 

 day, between the manners, customs, and dress of the people of 

 Central India and the Sinhalese, and vehemently deploring 

 our mad attempt, in modern times, to exchange these for 

 foreign manners, customs, and dress. 



We are certain that our friends in the Southern Province 

 will agree with us that dru is not a common name for those 

 streams to which the writer draws attention to show our 

 Tamil origin. 



It is a misconception on the part of the writer to suppose 

 that a certain Buddhist image in Anuradhapura, to which he 

 refers, shows a thread sculptured on it. It is nothing but 

 the edge of the robe. We have verified this fact through a 

 friend since we saw the Paper in question. 



5. Mr. C. E. H. COREA then addressed the Meeting.* 



6. Before Mr. Corea had completed his speech, the 

 President remarked that if there were others who wished 

 to speak, it might perhaps be desirable to adjourn the 

 discussion. 



* Mr. Corea's remarks will be found on page 260, in the account of the 

 adjourned discussion on Mr. Nell's Paper. As Mr. Corea there recapitu- 

 lated what he said at this Meeting, it is unnecessary to insert his remarks 

 here. 



