( 8 ) 
then employed in the R.E. Dept. Afterwards 
he joined the Ceylon Kifles.] I asked Mr. 
Suckling why he had not put Ills name on the 
title-p!i,<{e of hia book ; and he replied that he 
j^referred not to, as on account of his liaving left 
Ceylon so long before, critics might be prejudiced 
against it. I remarked to him that he seemed to 
have been an omnivorous reader; and he replied that 
he had a gift for languages, and also the faculty 
of extracting the cream fioni books by skimming 
them. I was sorry to learn from iiim that he 
had made nothing "by his book; partly owing to 
the fact that soon after its publication Messrs. 
Ciiapman and Hall gave up business. Mr. Suckling 
added that he tlionglit it would have been better 
if he had conliiied himself to a commentary on 
Teunent's works, instead of writing a full des- 
cription of Ceylon. His l)ook, he admitted, 
contained many errors ; and he showed me a 
copy of it he has in sheets with a very 
large nuuiber of corrections, which would 
make it practically a new work. He 
has nob been able to lind a publisher for this 
revised edition ; and speaks of leaving it to the 
British Museum Library, I mentioned his little 
work " Anti-Darwin " ; and he told me that he 
had printed it himself, liaving a supply of type*. 
He was kind enough to present me with a copy 
of the revised edition. Mr. Suckling is evidently 
a strong anti-Darwinian ; and he showed me a 
number of newspaper cuttings on the subject. 
He was interested in hearing of the changes that 
have taken place in Ceylon since liis lime ; and 
he vigorously denounced " Lipton " and other 
tea dealers as ruining Ceylon tea by their low 
prices. Mr. Suckling seemed gratified by my 
visit, saying that it was a rare thing far him 
to see anyone from Ceylon. D. F. 
Interesting Discoveiies in the 
Fort Ramparts, Colombo. 
A correspondent writes :— " The local papers have 
lately announced that the coolies wlio were ex- 
cavating under the foundation of Mr. Kyle's 
old offices adjoining the Wharf premises have 
discovered human bones, old cannon and shells, 
and a slab of rock upon which is engraved a 
shield with a semi-defaced device upon it, sur- 
mounted by a Maltese cross, with the year lujl 
on the side of the rock. 
" What has been unearthed is a large boulder 
(not a slab of rock) on the face of which the 
shield and cross are engraved. This boulder 
must liave been in its present position when the 
engraving was made on it, and at its foot must 
have been buried some distinguished Portuguese 
Dobleman. During the occupation of the island 
by the Dutch, the ground oo which the boulder 
stands must have iDeen filled up and buildings 
ereited on ic, so that after remaining for over 
two centuries underground, the boulder has again 
seen the light of day. 
" It is not easy to understand liow the year 1501 
came to be engraved on the rock when it is 
borne in mind that tiie Portuguese formed settle- 
ments on the West and South of the island 
-only in the year 1505 ! It may not be generally 
knowu that the first Catholic chapel in Colombo 
was built by the Portuguese De«,r the epot wUere 
the boulder v/aji fouad, aud tliat the »ui - beaten 
shore was used for the bepullure of the dead. 
Tiie first Primate of the Churcli, Joa de Uontarv, 
wa« buried there. 
" Tlie chapel at Galle Buck having become dilapi- 
dated, a new chapel was built ou wliat is now 
known as the Uacquet Court, the ground around 
it being used for the burial of the dea-l. This 
chapel was in course of time dismantled and a 
large and handsome church built on WolfenJaljl 
liill, which was known as— A iijreya de nowa 
noyua de Guadalupe (The Churcli of our Lady 
of (Juadalupe), but when the Dutch Church 
which was standing on the Bite of the present 
Cordon (lardeus was dismantled, the Catholic 
church wjLs move<l to Kotaliena and the present 
Dutch church built on the bite of the Komaa 
Catholic church." 
Mr. De Vos of Galle write*:— On a comi)ari- 
son of sketches of the Portuguese arms and of tlie 
discovered stone, I should say that the stone beara 
the arms of Portugal, is'oi (or 1501) should not 
however be rashly taken for IMl. It may stand 
for I.S.U.I., — Jcsics Salmlor OrieHtnliitm Iiid-i- 
corum or some such religious ui«tto, which the 
Portuguese were so fond of adopting. The matter 
requires further looking into. If the Ktone is 
cleaned and a correct sketch or photograph taken 
of it, perhaps something can be niade of it. I 
hope it will be removed to the Museum. 
The Portugaese Court-of-Arms 
Sir,— In the Sessional Papers, Ceylon, 1891 
(Antiquarian Keseaich, Iv^'galla), tliere is found an 
illustration of a stone ' slab bearing the Royal 
Arms of Portugal, found at Menikkada- 
wara. In my last letter to you, I dccrihed the 
escutcheons as placed cioss icise in the shield on 
the rock in the Colombo Fort. I find that the.se 
charge-s arc not cross, but seUtire ifise, on the 
Kegalle stone, and it may well be (as I made no 
sketch of it) that they are similarly placed in 
the arms on tire Colombo rock. 
Mr. Bell in his report cites Comeons' (Lusiad 
Canto III. 53, 54) description of the arms of 
Portugal. The words of Comeons are as follows : — 
LIII. 
Aqui piuta no bianco escodo usano. 
Que agora esta victoria certifica, 
Ciuco escudos azues esciarecidos 
Eaa signal destes cinco Ksia veiieidos. 
LIV. 
E nestes cinco escudos pinta os triata 
Diuheiros, porqne Daos fora vendido 
Escreveiido a memoria em varia tinta 
Daquelle, de quern foi favorecido : 
Em cada hum dos ciiico cinco pinta : 
Porque assi fica o nuniero cumprido 
Concaado duas vezes o do meio" 
Dos ciuco azues, que em cruz p'ntaado veio. 
I^ow, according to this description of Comeons, 
the escutcheons (azure) were depicted cross-u-ise 
(que cm Ci uz x>intando vcio). It is strange therefore 
that they should be saltire-wise oa the Kegalla 
slab— a herahiic blunder which perhaps some of 
your correspondents will be able to explain. — 
Yours truly, F. De VOS. 
