362 
JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XVIII, 
in Four Korales the legends on the bell of the Jaffna 
Fort, now in St. Michael's, Polwatta,t and on that still in the 
Dutch church at Jaffna ;J and the coats of arms on the 
cannon in the Museum, constitute all that we have in the 
way of Portuguese records in the Island. 
It is to be regretted, considering how long the Portuguese 
were in possession of the sea coast — some 150 years — and what 
traces they have left in the language, the nomenclature, and 
people of the Island, that these are so few. If, however, as is 
stated by some of their own historians, the Dutch broke up 
the tombstones of their predecessors to use them for buildings 
and ammunition,§ and such few remains of them as are 
found are used for culverts and feeding or drinking troughs 
for pigs and horses, or other base uses, it is not to be wondered 
at. But it seems a pity that when they are found they 
cannot be not merely " made a note of," but preserved in some 
safe place. The stone referred to in the following extract 
from the Colombo Observer of 11th November, 1836, has 
disappeared completely, and when it was inquired for in the 
Ceylon Observer fifty years later nothing was heard of it : — 1| 
As the men employed by the Engineering Department 
were engaged in some repairs at the Battenberg Bastion a 
few days since, and were clearing away some accumulated 
rubbish and remains of old buildings, they discovered at 
about two feet below the surface a large flat stone on which 
is the annexed Portuguese inscription, exactly 300 years old. 
This monumental stone was found to cover a small vault 
in which are some mouldering human bones." 
* Sessional Papers, Ceylon, 1897 : Antiquarian Research, Kegalla, p. '6\. 
t R.A.S. (C.B.) Journal, vol. XVII., p. 43, shows that this bell belonged to 
the Jaffna Fort, which was dedicated to " Nossa Senhora dos Milagres" (" Our 
Lady of Miracles"). The translation furnished by a church official with a 
Portuguese name, to the clergy of St. Michael's, made the dedication to 
Our Lady of a thousand acres, of Jaffnapatam !" 
X I examined the bell which was in the belfry of the Dutch church, and 
found on it the inscription, " N.S. dos Milagres de Jaffnapatao," with the 
date 1648. This bell now hangs on a stand in the vestry. 
§ Saar's Account of Ceylon, R.A.S. (C.B.) Journal, vol. II., p. 312. 
II July 27, 1886. 
