[Under this heading, in future, we mean to give a four page " Supplement " with our Tropical 
Agriculturist, from time to time as there is matter of sufficient value, so to be preserved.] 
0CT0S]E:R, 189S. 
Prof. W. Geig-er on the 
Etymology of Ceylon. 
Pkof. \yi!helm Geiger, of Erlangen, lias issued 
another of his e .s.ays on the dialects of Ceylon, 
namely " Etyniolop;ie des Singhalesischen." In thi.s 
Prof. Geiger shows the connection of some 1,700 
Sinhalese vocables with Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, 
and other Indian dialects. Scholarw will doubtless 
dispute some of the etymologies here given ; but 
the largest number are indisputably correct, and 
prove beyond doubt that Sinhalese must be re- 
garded as an Aryan dialect. Dr. Geiger's further 
essays on Sinhalese, &c., will be looked for eagerly 
by scholars in Ceylon especially. D. F. 
Javanese Exiles to Ceylon in 
the 18th Century. 
Sir, — In the lives of the Governors-General of 
tlie Dutch Indies, we find a reference to one 
Pangoran Depati Anoni, Prince of Java, who 
was' captured by the Dutch in 1708. The .re- 
ference is as follows : 
"After the Prince had remained about a 
month at Batavia, the Government resolved to 
send him to Ceylon. Panto Gale (Galle) was 
selected as his residence and he had a body 
guard of one Ensign, one Sergeant and 2-1 
soldiers together with a jnonthly allowance of 
2.50 rixdollars, besides rice aiul other necessaries 
for the support of himself, three sons, 19 
wives and 52 people forming his suite. At 
this place this unlucky Prince ended his days " 
About the year 17-lS according to the same 
work, a Prince of Bantam by name Pangerang 
Gusty was banished to Ceylon. 
Is there no record or tradition among the 
Mohamedans of Ceylon about these Princes. — 
Yours truly, GALLIC US 
[And what about their descendante '.'—Ed.] 
» 
Palk's Bay and Straits. 
Dkar Sir,— In a review ol Vol. 25 of the 
Archa'ologicul Survey of India which recently 
appeared in your columns, reference is made to 
a scatement contained in it that Palk's Strain 
''commemorates the name of a Dutch Governor," 
and it is suggested that Governor Valck may 
perhaps be meant. 
This volume has for its compiler Mr. Alexander 
Rea, Superintendent of the Arcboeological Survey, 
Madras. 
A prophet, verily, has no honour in his own 
country ; but it is rather curious to find an otii- 
cial of the Maclras Government whose special 
business is antiquarian and historical investiga- 
tions, apparently unaware that there was a Gov- 
ernor of Madras named Robert Palk, whose ad- 
ministration lasted from 1763 to 1767, and that 
the Strait and Bay are called after him (see 
"Names and their Histories" by Isaac Taylor). 
X. 
No. II. 
Bangalore, June 9. 
Sir, — In an issue of your journal, published 
after the middle of last month, there appears a 
letter by "X," commenting on a statement in 
Mr. Rea's "Monumental Remains of the Dutch 
E.I, Corapany in Madras," that Palk'a Bay or 
Strait commemorates tlie name^ of a Dutch Gov- 
ernor. On referring to Mr. Rea's authority for 
the quotation (Madras Manual of the adminis- 
tration, Vol. 1, p. 2, 18S5), I clearly read, that 
" the name of the Palk's Strait commemorates 
a Dutcli Governor," Now, as tliis work — Oy Dr. 
Maclean, a late member ot the Madras "Civil 
Service — was described by another former and 
learned Governor, — not necessarily Dutch — Sir M. 
E. Grant Dufi", ns a monumental one, highly 
creditable to its author, besides being an official 
publication ; and, as moreover, the quoted state- 
ment has not hitherto — so far as I know — been 
contradicted, even by " X," during the seventeen 
years that have elapsed since it has been pub- 
lished, there seems some reasons for its repeti- 
tion. Who is this authority, that he and his 
statements should be eclipsed by that quoted by 
" X ? " and why lias " X " delaye«l to take action 
all these years? It m.iy be, that ns stated in 
p, 648, vol. Ill, of the same Manual, published 
in 1893— Palk's Bay wan " named by the Dutch 
after Governor Palk," but the error, a clerical 
one, no doubt, apparently rests with the quoteil 
authoritj'. Let, not, however, tiiose tceble at- 
tempts ta detract from the fame of the immortal 
