( 143 ) 
t gently made my pr^ence known, to 
prevent too close an acquaintance, and he 
shuffled olfata fairly quick walk, apparently 
not much disturbed. This seems olten the 
case when you do not want to shoot au 
animal, they seem to exhibit little fear, but 
when fairly creepinpf up to them and mean- 
ing business they often appear most wary, 
watchful, and suspicious, galloping or trotting 
off" a mile or so, and keeping on moving at a 
fairly fast walk for several miles before they 
settle down to feed or rest again. ' Can a 
crow smell powdei?..?" .,Jt , seems so.— The 
Graphic. . 
THE REGIMENT DE MEURON AND THE 
ACQUISITION OF OEYLON. 
Lieutenant Colonel A Sprot, Commanding 
the Carabineers, writes to us as follows :— 
In your leading article of the 21st instant 
you allude to the services of the " Regiment 
de Meuron" under the British Crow^i- The 
following particulars as to the transfer of 
this Regiment of ISwiss mercenaries from 
the Dutch to the British Service may be 
interesting to some of your readers. At the 
time of the French Revolutiorf, my great 
grandfather, Mr Hugh Cleghorn, of Stravithie, 
Fife, Scotland, was travelling on the Con- 
tinent, and at Neuchatel he made the ac- 
quaintance of the Count de JVIeuron, Colonel 
of the above Regiment.'who had come Home 
from Ceylon for the purpose of raising re- 
cruits. His brother had remained in Ceylon 
to command the Regiment in his absence. 
The Regiment was at that time in the 
Dutch Service, but Mr Cleghorn ascertained 
from the Count that the men's pay was in 
arrear, and that they were dissatisfied. The 
French had just invaded Holland, and had 
overturned the existing Government and 
had proclaimed a Batavian Republic, and 
this also was distasteful to the Count and 
his men. Mr Cleghorn put himself into 
communication with Mr Dundas, Secretary 
for the Colonies ia Pitt's Government, and 
he received from him a Commission autho- 
rising him to act in the matter, and a letter 
for the Governor of Madras. 
Accompanied by the Count de Meuron, he 
proceeded across Europe, thence across the 
Isthmus of Suez on camels— the overland 
route had not been opened at that time — 
thence down the Red Sea in a pilgrim boat, 
and finished the voyage in an Arab barque 
to Bombay, whence the pair proceeded by 
land to Madras. Lord Hobart was at that 
time Governor, and he sent on the travellers 
to Ceylon along with an expedition which 
was being fitted out for that island. By 
adopting the route indicated the news of the 
change of Government in Holland was 
brought to Madras long before any instruc- 
tions could reach the Dutch Governor of 
Ceylon by the Cape route. In the sequel the 
Count de Meuron placed himself in communi- 
cation with his brother ; and the Regiment, 
refusing to fight for the Dutch Republic, 
transferred its services to the King of Great 
Britain and Ireland. In consequence of these 
transactions the island of Ceylon fell into 
the hands of the BritishJJ with hardly any 
bloodshed, Mr Cleghorn was rewarded for 
his services, and returned to end his days 
at Stravithie in Fife. His two sons both 
served in Madras. One of them. Colonel 
Cleghorn, of the Madras Engineers, served 
with " the Regiment de Meuron " at the siege 
of Seringapatam and many other engagements. 
The other son was for some time Secretary 
to Government at Madras, and succeeded his 
father as Laird of Stravithie. The only son 
of the last mentioned, Lr Hugh Cleghorn, 
Avas well known in Madras and in India as 
one of the fotmders of the Indian Forest 
Conservancy. He also became Laird of Stra- 
vithie and died there. 
The above particulars are given from 
memory, but I think are correct. The year 
of the rather remarkable joutney above re- 
ferred to was, I think 1796. We have at 
Home at Stravithie a very interesting journal 
in manuscript by my great grand-father of 
his voyage and of the whole transactions 
leading up to the acquisition of Ceylon. 
—Madtaa Mail. 
•o(> ;.r- « • 
THE DUTCH OCCUPATION OF CEYLON. 
Croydon, Dec. 23. 
Sir, — The details given in your recent 
issue under the above heading, of the 
photographs in the Colombo Museum of 
paintintrs of places in Ceylon in Dutch 
times are interesting. Had I known of the 
originals when I was fit Amsterdam a few 
years ago I should have asked to see them. 
The writer of the notice in your columns 
seems to have confused the Governor's re 
sidence in the Fort with the Dissawe's, 
which was at Hulftsdorp. He is also very 
wide of the mark as to the meaning of 
"' the Bear." The Dutch word heer (not hear) 
means pier or jetty ; and the Colombo jetty 
has been from Portuguese times in pretty 
much the same place as it now is, that is, 
in the most sheltered part of the bay. Withoft 
seeing the pictures themselves I can give 
no opinion regarding the points raised by 
the writer of the description. — Yours truly. 
DONALD FERGUSON. 
LEGAL REMINISCENCES. 
Kayts, Dee. 1.5th. 
Dear Sir,— In 1884, when Sir W. Gregory paid 
a visit to Ceylon, he was entertained by Sir H. 
Dias to a dinner at the latter's residence. Lord 
Ronald Gower was one of the guests, In his 
speech on that occasion Sir William said that 
having seen Mr Dias riding one day, he thought 
that one who could ride a horse so well could 
ride equally well on the B nch and he thus ofiered 
to him a seat on the Supreme Court Bench. 
In the North, Sir \V. rppointed Mr Advocate 
Wyman Cathiravalu pillaia to the Kayts' magis 
tracy, Lord Stanruore confirming him in that 
office. Sir K, Morgan and Sir Coomaraswamy 
were knighted during the administration of Sir 
VV. Gregory and Sir Samuel Grenier during that 
of Lord Stanmore. The ideals of these two pre- 
eminent Governors were far loftier and nobler 
than that of the best flattered Governor of 
Ceylon.— Yours truly, 
M. TISAINAYAGAM. 
