The Political Council consists at present of the following members:—

With a view to enable His Excellency the Governor and the Council to alter or amplify this Memoir in compliance with the orders from Their Excellencies at Batavia, cited at the commencement of this document, I have purposely written on half of the pages only, so that final instructions might be added, as mine are only provisional. In case Your Honours should require any of the documents cited which are not kept here at the Secretariate, they may be applied for from His Excellency the Governor and the Council of Colombo. Wishing Your Honours God’s blessing, and all prosperity in the administration of this extensive Commandement,

I remain, Sirs,
Yours faithfully,
H. Zwaardecroon.

Jaffnapatam, January 1, 1697.


[1] That of Laurens Pyl.

[2] These figures at the end of paragraphs refer to the marginal remarks by way of reply made by the Governor Gerrit de Heer in the original MS. of the Memoir, and which for convenience have been placed at the end of this volume. See p. [96].

[3] Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede of Drakestein, Lord of Mydrecht, High Commissioner to Bengal, Coromandel, Ceylon, &c., from 1684–1691. For a fuller account of him, see Report on the Dutch Records, p. 39.