IN SOXJTHEEN INDIA. 
179 
bably read Ndgappattanam (Negapatam), but this would 
hardly help us to decide to what power to assign it. The 
French, as far as we know, never held Negapatam, though 
on the other hand history proves that in 1693 the Dutch 
were masters of both places, and held them till the signing 
of the Treaty of Ryswick.'^ It may be that during this 
period the coin I now figure was struck, though it must be 
confessed that its appearance and state of preservation go 
far to contradict this theory. The other coin to which I 
allude (No. 49) bears on one side the word |4 (Sri) "holy" 
and on the reverse -siiiueofl (Kampani, Tam.) and may not 
improbably be one of the wretched little pieces which dis- 
graced the English mints in India at the commencement of 
this or latter part of the last century. 
Before passing on to speak of the issues struck at different 
times by the English in India, we must glance hurriedly at 
those of the Dutch, whose power at one time was very con- 
siderable in the southern portions of the Peninsula. 
The chief operations of their East India Company were 
of course carried out in the island of Ceylon, but the number 
of their coins still found in the adjacent portions of the 
main-land plainly enough prove how considerable were their 
dealings with it, while the inscriptions on some show that 
they were actually struck here. From the time of their first 
appearance in Indian waters, the chief aim and object of the 
Dutch appears to have been to become masters of Ceylon. 
At the very commencement of the seventeenth century, 
partly by alliances with the Sinhalese, partly by the constant 
warfare that they waged with the Portugviese who had 
already taken and fortified the capital Colombo, they left no 
means untried to gain their end. It was not, however, till 
the middle of that century, when a Sinhalese anny com- 
pletely routed the Portuguese forces, that they obtained a 
firm foot-hold in the island. 
12 Coiif. " Revue Beige de Numismatique," annee 1887. 
