No. 56.— 1905.] 
PROCEEDINGS 
407 
Mr. Ferguson : It is rather remarkable that while so many 
Ceylon coins are found belonging to the period between the eleventh 
and thirteenth centuries so few have been discovered of any earlier 
period. Yet coins were freely mentioned in the Mahdioansa, and must 
have been in use in Ceylon previous to the Christian era. 
Mr. Fernando said one coin had been found attributed to the 
second century before Christ and supposed to be of King Wala- 
gam Bahu. It was an oblong coin, not gold, with a figure of a king 
on one side and an emblem on the other side — the earliest coin so 
far obtained in Ceylon,*"' 
H. E. the Governor : I think some of the Japanese coins were 
oblong in shape. 
4. Mr. Harward next read the following Paper entitled *' Note 
on a Dutch Medal," by F. H. de Vos, Barrister-at-Law : — 
[* Mr. Fernando appears to refer to the oblong copper plaques unearthed 
at Magama by Mr. H. Parker and elsewhere. Their attribution to 
Wattagamini Abaya (Walagam Bahu) is fanciful. The oldest known 
coins found in Ceylon, as well as India, are the irregular " elding s^^ plain, 
and " punch marked." — B., Ud, Seel 
