AN 
A C C O U N T 
OF 
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
CHAPTER I. 
Introduction — History of the Island previous to its being taken 
possession of by the English — The successive conquests of the 
Portuguese, Dutch, and English. 
ON my arrival in Ceylon with his Majesty’s forces, in the year 
1797 3 I was induced by curiosity, and the contradictory and 
romantic accounts I had heard of this island, to make particular 
enquiries with regard to its present state ; and I found an agree- 
able amusement in taking notes of such facts and objects as 
appeared to me remarkable. In the prosecution of my enquiries, 
however, I found that they might be rendered conducive to 
objects of infinitely greater importance than temporary amuse- 
ment. The accounts hitherto published of this island had been 
extremely imperfect; as the watchful jealousy of the Dutch both 
excluded the re sear dies of strangers, and prevented their own 
people from publishing any observations which they might have 
B 
