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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XVIII. 
gentleman, and not by Mr. Haughton. I was as certain that 
he was wrong, and wrote to Mr. Haughton, who corroborated 
my story. Mr. Denham then had the trough removed, when 
it turned out to be part of a tombstone of a peculiar shape. 
I annex a sketch of it (Plate No. 7) which Mr. Denham has 
been good enough to furnish. The stone is a small one,^"" 
and this portion is evidently only the canopy or superstruc- 
ture of a tomb of some height. 
The inscription was at first something of a puzzle. " PR. 
NR.," of course, stands for " Pater noster." As regards the 
rest of the inscription, I have had the benefit of Professor 
Gracias' opinion. He says that " pola"t is ^ way of writing 
'^por a," and that the inscription should read, pater 
noster for the soul of Dona," &c. With regard to the name 
of the lady, it appears to be Dona Maria de Lacerda, this 
latter being a well-known Portuguese surname. The in- 
scription goes on, "iMolher de P de Melo de Sapaio F^D A^," 
and then ends abruptly. In my opinion the rest of the inscrip- 
tion was on another stone which supported this canopy -like 
stone, and this stone has disappeared. The last line overlaps 
from the sloping to the vertical surface, as shown in the 
sketch, and was evidently continued down below on the 
other stone. ''P D" is, according to Professor Gracias, a 
contraction for " Filha D," and the inscription here ends 
with the letters A^, probably a contraction for Antonio. 
The inscription would therefore read, " A pater noster for 
the soul of Dona Maria Lacerda, wife of loao de Mello Sam- 
pay o, daughter of " Unfortunately the name of the 
lady's father and the date are missing, but the name of the 
Portuguese gentleman that is preserved is very interesting. 
* For dimensions see sketch. 
t Or " pela." Another suggestion was that pola = resting-place, in which 
case the inscription would read " The resting place of the soul of " 
This reminds one of the;story in the preface to the " History of Gril Bias," 
of the two students who found a tombstone with the inscription, " A qui 
esta encerrada el alma del licenciado Pedro Grarcias" ["Here is interred 
the soul of the licentiate Pedro G-arcias "], and how the mystery was solved 
by the discovery of a purse underneath the stone containing 100 ducats 1 
