i 83 ) 
VOTES OF THANKS. 
The Hon. Mr S C Obeyesekera— said lie had 
much pleasure in moving a lieai ty vote of thanks 
both to Mr Pohath-Kehelp mnala and Mr Paul 
Peiris for their valuable papers. Mr Pohath- 
Eehelpannala niight probably be o])en to the criti- 
cisms made by Mr Goonawai'dana, but neverthe- 
less, they took his will for the deed meanwliile. He 
devoted a great deal of time to the matter and, as 
Mr Ferguson observed, he thouorjit he deserved 
credit for the very full notes which abounded with 
interest. (Hear, hear.) 
Advocate MrE W Pebera— seconded the raotioni 
In doing so be desired to offer a few reinaijis. As 
regards the first paper the remarks made by 
Mudaliyar Goonawardana did not piove that the 
documents were forgeries. In fact he based his 
attacks on the genuineness of the pfrants on two 
points. The first point was that the dates were 
incorrect and he based his argument on a calcula- 
tion from the computation of Sir Alexander 
Cunningham. There were several computations 
among the Sinhalese and he thought in dealing 
with the matter they should have an entirely 
independent computation. But apart from that 
he should very much like to know in vvhat respect 
the Sinhalese characters of the 17ch century 
differed from tliose of the 19th or 20ch centuries, 
Ouly the saunas of the 15th century and 16ih 
century differed very slightly from the sannas of 
the present day. In regard to the second paper 
Mr Peiris would greatly oblige the Society with a 
copy of the original manuscript from which he had 
made that translation. He believed there 
was not a copy in the Museum Library. In 
that connectiou he said there was in Randy 
the original of a letter which accompanied a grant 
sent by the Kins of Siam along with an Embassy 
and that would give them valuable information 
and supplement M.r Pc;iris' paper. In regard to 
what was said about the correctness of the paper 
he should say the information was correct. The 
question asked by Mr Roles would have oeen 
unnecessary if Sir Charles Mandeville had written 
the paper. Of course, he would not have drawn 
the line at the incredible. These Ambassadors, 
however, while describing the ceremonies seem to 
have drawn the line. Human nature was, of 
course, the same all the world over. He had very 
great pleasure in seconding the votes of thanks. 
Mudaliyar Gooxawardana,— in supporting the 
motion, said he would like to say a word of 
explanation. In criticising the genuineness of the 
paper sent in by Mr Pohath Kehelpannala he 
did not mean, in the slightest degree, to cast 
discredit on his work. He knew he 
was a very industrious young man and he, certainly, 
admired the industry with which he had collected 
a large amount of information with regard to the 
history of Oeylon, and all he wanted to say was 
that, in his view, the document did not appear 
genuine because there was a discrepancy in the 
dates. 
The PKESIDENT—thought that this was just re- 
peating what Mr Goonawardana had already said. 
The hour was getting late. 
Mudaliyar Goonawardana— proceeding said 
he would not go further into that point. With re- 
gard to the question raised by one gentlem&n as to 
what wa* the difference between the caligraphy of 
the ITth Century and the present day, he himself 
adraittea there was a little difference between the 
caligraphy of the IGth coubury and the preseux, 
day. If that was -so' why could there not be a 
little dift'ereuce between the caligraphy of the 17th 
century and the present day. 
The President— declared the vote of thanks 
carried. ' 
Mr. J Ferguson— said the pleasant duty had 
■been allotted to him of proposing a cordial vote 
of thanks to their President for his services to 
the Society and at that Icite hour he would be very 
biief in doing so. He regretted that during ilr.cj 
first year of their President, the Society should 
have been so barren o! papers; but, Iriili like, their 
gratitude took the form of a lively anticipation of 
favours to come. The presidential influence, he 
trusted, would mean for them very soon, some 
useful papers from members of the'Scientific Corps 
in the Public "service up and down country. The 
gentlemen for instance, who had been so success- 
fully tiashing their maiden swords as lecturers 
elsewhere, might now come to the aid of this good 
old Society in its Ceylon Branch, and he was 
glad to know that at least oi;e of them had a paper 
on the stocks. Meantime they were fortunate as 
to their President and tendered him hearty thanks. 
( Applause). 
INTERESTING REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 
The PricsideNT — in thanking the members tor 
the vote of thanks, said the fully appreciated the 
force of the Hon Mr Ferguson's remarks. He 
had been able to do very little for them, but 
coming fresh into a new woild as it practically 
was to him there was naturally a good many 
things to do and not nluch time to spare. But he 
did cordially agree with Mr Ferguson on the 
subject of papers. They ought to get many of 
as kind they had not got lately at »ny rate— his 
experience did not go very far back— scientific 
papers. And he hoped one of the earliest papers 
they would have would be one on The Oyster. It 
ought to be written by one who could write it no 
more— he meant Mr Oliver Collett. That was a 
particularly appropriate subject. There was a 
meeting before his time at which the Governor — 
he referred to H.lil. Sir West Ridgeway— took 
the chair and ac which a great deal of useful 
information on the subject of Oysters was 
put forward by Mr Collett. Sir West Ridgeway 
and he himself had been during the week 
at the Pearl Fishery— the first, he thought, held 
in Ceylon lor 11 years. It was, of course, new 
to them and they had been marvellously astounded 
at the manner in which that gigantic 
fishery was worked. There, wheie three weeks 
ago, there were hardly any inhabitants and for 
years no nmre than three or four huts with 
about 20 or 30 inhabitants, had suddenly col- 
lected 23,000 or 24,000 people, all workmg 
hard and bringing in these oysters which were 
divided between Government and the divers in 
a most elaborate sysieui and the speed and 
accuracy of working the whole business was 
most astounding. By a very curious coincidence 
on his way to the Pearl Fisheiy he had received 
a scientific magazine and in that he came across 
a very interesting account of a fishery which was 
held — not where the ores- nt fishery was taking 
place, but opposite Oliilaw. What that writer 
wrote then was just praclically what he (the 
speaker) might have written now if he was to 
sit down and write what he saw last week. \\ hat 
he intended to say was, however this, that the 
system has no doubt grown up during centuries 
