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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XVIIL 
has remarked, it has come practically to the last note, and the last 
words. The difficulty that I find im thanking you is a cumulative 
one, because I have had the pleasant experience of finding that the 
sadnesss of going away is almost worth undergoing for the sake of the 
kind things said by you of me. I do not think that I ever suspected 
that people did not like me, but I have been surprised and most deeply 
touched at the expressions of kindly feeling that have been uttered. 
On Saturday night His Excellency was good enough to make a 
speech, of which I do not mind confessing I am very proud. Just 
before he spoke he asked me what was the Latin for swollen head. 
I am afraid I was not prepared with the Latin version, although I 
might have suggested osteoporosis. However, I thought it wiser not 
to tell him so, because he might have alluded to the probability of my 
head being swollen. I do not think that is the case with me. While 
deeply thankful for the kind things that have been said about me, I 
feel they are too kind. For instance, what I have done for this 
Society has been very much less than what I wished to do, and very 
much less than what I ought to have done. 
Mr. Harward, I think, said that one of the reasons for wishing to get 
me as President was that I had previously been engaged in the study 
of man and nature in the tropics. That was true enough, but in 
those days — in my early Gruiana days — I had plenty of time for such 
study. When I first entered Grovernment service as a Magistrate in 
the interior of Guiana my work was confined to one day in each month, 
and the remaining twenty-nine days were devoted to " the study of 
nature and man." I am sorry to say that that happy state of things 
did not last long, and many years before I left Guiana my work had 
increased so much that I had very little time left. Since I have been 
in Ceylon I have, except in a most ephemeral way, been able to do 
nothing in " the study of nature and man " here. That, I think, has 
been left very much to my friend Dr. Willey. I think one of the 
great benefits I did to the Society was to get Dr. Willey to come here. 
And I hope he will justify the choice which I made by gradually 
infusing into the proceedings and publications of the Ceylon Branch 
of the Royal Asiatic Society a greater element of natural history. It 
seems to me that this is one of the things which is very greatly needed 
here. I can hardly find words to express my thanks to you, but you 
may be sure that wherever I may be, in Fiji or elsewhere, I shall 
always look back upon Ceylon in general, and this Society in particular, 
with the greatest affection and interest. 
Before I close I should like to say one word about my successor. 
The Presidents of this Society, as you are aware, are elected every 
year. There are two or three months left of my year of office, and 
for that period the Council has exercised its right by electing in my 
place a man who, in certain ways, probably knows more about Ceylon 
and its history than any other man, Mr. John Ferguson. He is, as you 
are aware, away at the present moment. He will be back shortly, and 
if he accepts the appointment, which I sincerely hope he will do, I feel 
sure he will make a most excellent President, and I trust that when 
the election for next year comes on you may succeed in persuading 
hiin to remain in that office. I thank you. Ladies and Gentlemen, 
most sincerely and most deeply for all your kindness to me, and I wish 
you good-bye. 
This concluded the business of the Meeting, 
