No. 54.— 1903.] 
PROCEEDINGS. 
99 
With regard to the argument founded on the Sanskrit characters on 
ancient coins, some one 500 years hence might say with eqnal effect 
that the language talked when Ceylon was governed by the British 
was Latin, because the Latin language appeared on our present coinage. 
Ceylon had been a very rich country, and had been the object of 
rapacity by other nations, and the old libraries were burned and very 
little remained. What does remain is what the Buddhist monks 
translated from Sinhalese into Pali, and now they were turning them 
back from Pali into Sinhalese. (Hear, hear.) 
The President : I hope the last speaker will not halt any longer 
at the point of thinking about telling us something about Sinhalese 
music. I think the difficulty of distinguishing it from Indian music is 
one which he could probably solve, and I hope that he will oblige us 
with a Paper. (Hear, hear.) 
After a brief reply by Mr. de Silva the discussion on this Paper 
closed. 
4. Mr. Harward, in the absence of Mr. F. H. de Yos, read extracts 
from the following Paper : — 
