I will not state here my opinion as to the manner in which people ought to be ruled or as to their behaviour, nor in what way the Company is to expect the largest number of elephants and the greatest profits from the Wanni; because I would then not only have to write too many sheets of paper in doing so, but the subject would be of little use to enlarge upon and only tend to confuse Your Honours in your actions. I could merely advise you to follow the old instructions of being kind and considerate. Meanwhile, however, Your Honours are well aware of my principal views with regard to the Wannias, as expressed in our conjoined letter to Batavia of August 12, 1695, which letter might serve for your guidance; while you might also read the letters exchanged between Colombo and Jaffnapatam during the years 1674 to 1679, as also the resolutions passed with regard to the Wannias during the same period. From the perusal of these documents you will perceive whether or not my opinion of these people is unfounded. Should you require more information with regard to the Wannias and the Majoraals, you will find it in the Journal kept by Commandeur Laurens Pyl, at present Councillor of India, on his visit to that large forest in 1675 during the months of August to December, and in another Journal written by me in July, 1692, when I accompanied the late Commandeur Floris Blom also on a visit to the Wanni. These Wannias, by birth subjects of the Company and by descent no more than ordinary caste Bellales, have in the course of time become very conceited, and imagine that the title of Wannia is one invested with awe and so important that, although they have received it from the Company, they do not need to respect the Company or those placed in authority here; and they seem to be in doubt whether they ought to show their due obedience by appearing before its officers. It was on this account that His Excellency van Mydregt gave special orders in his reply of November 29, 1690, that one of the Wannias should always stay at the Castle, each taking his turn for three months. Why this order has not been carried out I do not know. Moreover, it appears that Don Philip and his son, the young Don Gaspar, Master of the Hunt in Ponneryn, together with his brother-in-law Don Gaspar Ilengenarene Mudaliyar, has gone to Colombo instead of presenting himself here at the Castle, as I had summoned them to do, as may be seen in the ola of January 14, 1696, and in the resolutions of Council of the 16th of the same month. I do not know how they obtained audience, but they were received with even greater honour than they ever received from the Governors or Commandeurs here. This was the first time they ever went to Colombo. Still less am I able to say what transpired between them and the Government of Colombo, because when I was there I was not admitted to the meetings of the Political Council, and was only an eye-witness of the outward show. I do not also know for what