Note 1 — INTRODUCTION.
Reading edition
: VALENTYN, In his great work on the Dutch possessions in India, Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, alludes more than once with regret to the ignorance in which his countrymen were kept as to the interior of Ceylon, concerning which their only information was obtained through fugitives and spies. (Vol. v. ch. ii. p. 35; ch. xv. p. 205.)