But the loss is not utterly irreparable; duplicates of the Dutch correspondence during their possession of Ceylon are carefully preserved at Amsterdam; and within the last few years the Trustees of the British Museum purchased from the library of the late Lord Stuart de Rothesay the Diplomatic Correspondence and Papers of SEBASTIAO JOZE CARVALHO E MELLO (Portuguese Ambassador at London and Vienna, and subsequently known as the Marquis de Pombal), from 1738 to 1747, including sixty volumes relating to the history of the Portuguese possessions in India and Brazil during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.  Amongst the latter are forty volumes of despatches relative to India entitled Colleccam Authentica de todas as Leys, Regimentos, Alvaras e mais ordens que se expediram para a India, desde o establecimento destas conquistas; Ordenada por proviram de 28 de Marco de 1754.[1] These contain the despatches to and from the successive Captains-General and Governors of Ceylon, so that, in part at least, the replacement of the records lost in the colony may be effected by transcription.

[Footnote 1:  MSS.  Brit Mus.  No. 20,861 to 20,900.]

Meanwhile in their absence I had no other resource than the narratives of the Dutch and Portuguese historians, chiefly VALENTYN, DE BARROS, and DE COUTO, who have preserved in two languages the least familiar in Europe, chronicles of their respective governments, which, so far as I am aware, have never been republished in any translation.

The present volumes contain no detailed notice of the Buddhist faith as it exists in Ceylon, of the Brahmanical rites, or of the other religious superstitions of the island.  These I have already described in my history of Christianity in Ceylon.[1] The materials for that work were originally designed to form a portion of the present one; but having expanded to too great dimensions to be made merely subsidiary, I formed them into a separate treatise.  Along with them I have incorporated facts illustrative of the national character of the Singhalese under the conjoint influences of their ancestral superstitions and the partial enlightenment of education and gospel truth.

[Footnote 1:  Christianity in Ceylon:  its Introduction and Progress under the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British and American Missions; with an Historical Sketch of the Brahmanical and Buddhist Superstitons by Sir JAMES EMERSON TENNENT.  London, Murray, 1850.]

Respecting the Physical Geography and Natural History of the colony, I found an equal want of reliable information; and every work that even touched on the subject was pervaded by the misapprehension which I have collected evidence to correct; that Ceylon is but a fragment of the great Indian continent dissevered by some local convulsion; and that the zoology and botany of the island are identical with those of the mainland.[1]

[Footnote 1:  It may seem presumptuous in me to question the accuracy of Dr. DAVY’S opinion on this point (see his Account of the Interior of Ceylon, &c., ch. iii. p. 78), but the grounds on which I venture to do so are stated, Vol.  I. pp. 7, 27, 160, 178, 208, &c.]