Ng.

58.-1907.]

Jo-1N GrDnoN r,ornN, F.B,.s,

217

JOAN GIDEON LOTEN, tr'.R.S., the Naturalist Governor ot Ceylon (l7SZ-87), and ihe Ceylonese Artist tle Bevere.
lrv a catalog ue entitlecl Bibliotheca N ierland,o - I nclicct, isstred,

jn 1883 bv the well-knor,r'n bookseller at the lfague, Martinus l{i.jhofi, occurred the following entry (in n'rench, whicjr I
br:r,n-qlate)

:-

Ccylon.-Collection of drawings

2299" Fauna of the Indian Archipelago and of the Island of

in

colours, representing birds,

m*,rmnifers, insects, &c., o{ the Indian Archipelago and Ceylon. [44 fo]io sheets in two portfolios. f. 300. fl'ir,:sc drarvings of a r:eally exlraordinary beauty from living ruriltlals fare ?] by a Sieur de Bevere, who, it would appear, r,vas !n tlie service of Mr. J. G. Lot,en, rvho rvas in the sorvice of tho Oast India Company from 1731 to 1757, successively as Cornmissary at Bantam,* Govornor of Ceylon, &c., and rvho retired later

to Fulham in England. Mr, de Bevere executed his drawings {rorn 1754 to 1781.f
'ihe collection is divided
f,-:rs, 5 sheets
tr,i,

as

follows

; insects, 10

sheets ; fishes,

Birdsn 101 sheets ; mammi&c., 14 sheots ; plarrts,

shoets.f

:r;:;ent in England on the constant look-out for literary and r-:.i'fistic treasures re-lating to the Island, the collection derl'ibcd above rvould norr-form one of the most, valuable exhibits

Hacl the Ceylon Government had {as

it

ought to have) an

i:i tlie Colombo lfuseum. Norv the opportunity is gone, perh::.ps for ever, for in 1885 the collection was bought bv Mr. f,'" J. van llouten, nolv President of the Commission of the {-lolonial Museum at Haarlem, who, at the annual meeting of tiii; council of the Museum in 1905, at rvhich the paintings r\:ere
exhibited, gave some interesting details regarding their history.

* l.t rvas after he had been trventy years in the Netherlancls East lndia Company's service, and had held several important posts, that Loten was sent as Commissioner to the coast of Bantam. i' As 1\[r. van Houten shorvs, they were executed betweon 1754 aud l?57.
,i This division differs from t'hat of Mr. van llouten given
belotv.

I2

Zl8

JourtNAL, R,.A.s. (cryr,oN).

fVor,.

XIX.

ti,r. 58.-1907.1

JOAN GTDEON LorEN, n'.R.s.

219

his address being printed inthe Ind,ische

ilercuur (Amsterdarn)

of 6th June 1905. In the issue of the same periodical of l3th l'Iarch 1906 appeared a communication from IIr. van Houten, in *'hich were given further interesting particulars relating to the drau'ings and the two persons chiefly concerned in their execution. As the majority of these paintings are of Ceylnn fauna, and were drawn in Ceylon by a young Ceylonese under the direction of a Dutch Governor of Ceyion, I thought that rny fellor.r--Ceylonese wcluld be interestecl in their history. I have thelefore translated all that Mr. van Houten has rvritten about thern,x and have added in a third section such additional information as I have been able to glean. Doner,n FnneusoN. Cro,qd,on.

rrhere they had to undergo the disadvantages of the often unlir,rgienic and damp d.r.vellings of the Company,s servants, and these in addition to the great danger of long voyages by sailing
shiP.

As the third and, in my opinion, perhaps the most rernark_ ahle feature, I may mention that the artist was a man of threefeurlths Indian (namely, Ceylonese) blood., rvho had received
ver.y iittle instruction, certainly nono in drawing or painting, and yet, in spite of this pro<luced this work, u'hich-as I hope

presently further

to demonstrate-deserves our

admiration

:in a high degree. Let me now name the artist to you and tell you the

I ]<norx' regarding
:rtiays call an

little that

his person. He was named de Bevere, and v;'as .r,yhat rve should nor,-

Indo or " countty-born," but

r1'as

at that time

Sncrror L
This time it falls to my lot to have the honour to drau- your attention for some minutes to the subject chosen, rvhich is the collection of plates that for themoment adorns this hall, and, according to the intention of our Director, t-ill remain here on exhibition for a period of four rveeks. For some t.wenty years I have myself been the luchy owner of these plates, the possession of rvhich l acquired at a book sale of the firm Nlart. Nijliofi at the Hague. " Lucky " owner, I called myself, and I believe that you u'ill consider the woy<l lucky figlftly chosen *'hen I r:hall have toid you all the facts concerning the plates. In th.e first place, they are already fairly old, having been made betrveon the years 1754 and 17b7, ol just a centurl and a hal{ ago. In the second place, they appear, in spite of this, saving for some brown damp-spots on the paper, especially as regards the perfectly fresh colours, as if they hail been drarvn and coloured only in our present time. And that notr,vithstanding that they were made in the tropical regions, namely, in Ceylon and Java, in the stirring times of the East India Company,
footnotes to the fust two sections a,re by myself, and Mr. van l{outen is in no way responsible for them.-D. F.

reckoned among the " native Christians," according to the note on one of the plates of his employer, J. G. Loten, rvho there calls him " the untaught Christian Cingalese,''x to which he adds the following regarding his origin f :-" His father, rlhom f have knolyn, \\ras a natural son of the nlajor de Bevere (of the most noble and ancient family of de Bevere) by a Cin-

or black Portuguese \rroman ; this son lvas married at lvith a similar brownish \yoman of r,vhom the artist xl-ir,!i a son. In 1755 the father seemed about, 50 or b5,f the mother 50, the son I guessedwas circa 22, was on [soc-? in] thc Surveyor's office somelr.hat instructed in handling comptisses and scales." In a letter .written in l78l Loten also stlys of him : " a youth born of native Ceylonese parents, living rvith me and helping me very much in drawing." From this it appears that, de Bevere was unmaried ; that he atcompanied Loten .when the latter .was transferred to Batavia in 1757; and also that he did not attain to any consiclerable age. In one of the notes, made by Loten later in England on the plates, rve read of oo the late de Bevere." That was about the year 1781. llhis is all that I knou' ai present of the artist.
gatrese

Coiombo

* Ail the

* The words quoted are in English. f The quotation that follows is also in Englisb. t On this, see footnote further on.

22ti

JOURNAL. R,.-{.s. (OEYLON).

Itrror,.

XIX.

N'. 58.-1907.]

roAN: (,lrDEoN LotEN. r'.R.s

22.1

birds, 7 fishes, 3 crustaceans, 3 cephalopod molluscs (so-called " ink-fish "), l0 insects, 13 plants ; there being besides on thl plates of birds also various plants representecl from life. Thereareinaddition, beingin aseparategroup, ten platesthat
are not by de Bevere, but rvere executcd by oilrers and rnostly in later years, u'hich rvere in the coilection as I bouglit it. You see that the pictures of birds torm by far the rnajority. It :r,lso seems to me that these are in the main the most, beauti_ ful in execution.

Lct me norv for some moments direct yonr attention particularly to the artist's rvork, I mean to tlle plates themselves. ifhey are all drawn from life or from nesly-killecl animals. In number 144 paintinqs, thcy clepict :-5 rnarnmals, 103

a single rvord.
Although

P"egarding the execution and thc vaiue of tirese plates, no.w

it

what stifi and, owing to insufficient sliailing, do not entirelv represent the rounding of the ltoclies, they are otherwise deserving only of praise. rret us notice, first.f all, tlie complete firm.ess of thehand,. rhat controlled the d'a*'ing pencil and brush, *.hereby everything appears quite distinctly on the p&roer, and in aclclition the astonrshing precision rvitli forms ancl colours are 'vhich represented. The artist extemporized nothing, but remained truo to nature even to the smallest details, ryere it a bird, a fish, a flolver, or anything else that he ryas delineating. That precision u.as demonstrated t,o me still more clearly r.l.hen last rveek, assisted by Dr. van Oort, in the l{ational } useum r-rf Natural History at Leiden, for the identification of the birds depicted, I compared the plates r,vith tliose in standarcl .rvorl<s of more recent date or the stufied birds in tire collection there. There, rvhere, as is so often the case, various kinds closely allied and much resernbling each other exist, the painted one,s were ahvays recognizable by little peculiarities of the plumage. I may by rvay of explanation refer to ts-o points. iooL, ior example, in the picture of the Ceylonese Lemur, * at the form of
* The Ceylon Loris or Sloth : soo picture in Tennent,s Nat. H,ist. oJ Ceglon 12. Plate xliv. in Brown's New lil,ust, oJ Zool. is of the Lemur, but whence it is copied is not stated.

cannot be ignored tliat certain figures are

some_

t5e vcry sruali hands and feet and tho lociplocally unequal le1gttrr of the fingers and toes. fn the case of the birds, attent'ion sirould be paicl to tlie so-called beard-hairs r,vhich some kinds 6i1rr at the root of the beak, the colours so r.'arying of the iris of the eye and of the eye-circles, the size and form of the r:ptaneous scutellm or excrescences on the legs and toes; in r.6nnection 'ivith lvhich l specially drar'v your attention to the t,grrect representation of the characteristic shin of the foot of the parrots, and, on the other hand, the entirely clifierent one ,rf the d.ucks, also to the difference in the placing of the toes, in l)roportion as we have to dowith sitters or rvith climbers; thc, sarne rvith respect to the 'rl'eb of slvimmers and paddlers. And norv let us observe once again hot- de Bevere knert lrorv to handle the colouring brush. lVhether it be dark slmple tints or fiery and variegated colouls, broad surfaces or fine lines, he knorvs horv to represent everything faithfullv, lrt it 'with bird, insect, or plant,. He shrinks frorn nothing; ri,hether it be that he has to do 'with the finely marbled plurn;lge of an orvl, tlie handsorne feather shades of a gay-coloured barbet, the metallic lustres of other birds' bodies, the eye of i,, peacock's feather, the body of a fish glistening likc nother-of pearl, a satiny butterfly's r-ing, a fine plant-lea'f rvith colourerl l'oins, or the delicate transitions of colour in the corolla of r"
i1ora'er.

And then several of the plates considered in their entirety, ;uch as those of the Little-eared Owl,* the Lit'tle Barbet,f the P;r,radise Flycatchers,f the pair of little Honeysuckers $ on the i;:ee-sfem overgrown with orchid.s, the nest of the Tailor-bird'll rire these not gems of natural life ? I flatter myself to have thus said enough to comrnend thesc plates to your special attention and to that of your artistic
friencls and acquaintances.

x llire Little llorn

rvorks rnentionod later on. ns I am uncert'ain if this plate has boen copicc{ tlescribed under Section III. lj Sec further on regarding this.

i il)he Red-crou'necl Barbet of Brorvn's Neu lllust' oJ Zool. (see i,nfro)f 'Ilhis plate does not appear to have been reprorltrced in any of the
in any of the
u'orks

Ou'l referred to belou'.

222
f

JorrRNAL, n..r..s. (cnvr,ox),

fVor,.

XIX.

N'o.

58.-f 907.]

JoAN GTDEoN LorDN,

of the plates. We rightly praise the m&ker, the skilful artist d.e Bevere, but should be incomplete and even ungrateful if lve clid noi remember with respect the man r.vho cliscovered and caused expression to be given to de Bevere's talent, .who indeed prob" ably took a practical interest in the preparation of the piates. f also venture to think that you-r Jttention .will be rvell bestowed upon some particulars that I can tell you regarding his career and the fu:rther history of the plates. The man who set de Bevere to the r.r,ork and paid him for it was-f have a,lreadv a uhile ago named him several times_ Joan Gideon Loten, during the years l73l to lTbT in the service of the Nethe.rlands East fndia Company, and steadilv climbing up to their most important officesl what r can tell you regarding his personality and his services I ote, first, to his own notes, made upon the back of the plates and in a couple of bundles of papers left by him, u,liich form part of tlie collection; but second,-having had rny attention drawn thcreto by that l'idely-read in documents relating to "*p"rf the colonies, Mr. G. p. Rouffaer at the Hague, whom I trer-eny thankfully mention,-sspecially to the Kronijh uan het Hii_ torisch Genoot.schap te ()trecht, 16th year (1g60), 4th series, part I., *'herein on page 106 and follo.rving appears a detailed report from the hand of the late prof. p. J. Veth on papers teft by Loten. Of the papers themselves, rvhich I should so willingly have consulteil, in the hope of learning further details of the life o{ the testator, all trace has, alas, since been lost. At least I have notyet, in spite of investigations made,
succer.dr-,1 irr finding them again.

have hot'ever u'ith this not yet said. all that is to be told

,!..R.s.

22J

Animated rvith much love and sympathy for naturc, especially the animal world, toten madJseveral exclursions i1 the neighbourhood of Batavia, such as to Tandjong_priok, lanahbang, the island of Onrust, &c. He did not, hot,ever, remain long in Batavia. On l0th J'uly 1733,-Prof. Veth rvrites 1782, rvhich, horvever, cannor be correct,-being already appointed fiscal of Javais nortJi_ eirst coast, and having on 24th August of that year narried Anna Henrietta van Beaumont,* he left on l0th September u'ith his r,vife per ship 'l Huis d,e Vlotter foy gtr,marang, rvhere he arrived on 29th September_tlius after a l9-days'voyage. He oontinued u-ith his business cluties to stuily natural lristory, ancl made inter alia an excursion inland from {itlr to lOth November L740, and appears to have then l.*ken an interest also in the architectural antiquities of Java.f Re-appointed to Bahvia in IT4l, he returned thither per .;)ip Zorgwijfr, and remained there this time until the beginning ti L744, r,r'iren, being nominated as Governor of Macassar, hi i'.nbarked thither with his rvife and a littte daughter on 2nd .iiarch on board the ship Ad,righem, to au:ive at the place mentioned on 24th llarch. On the ,,Journael in ,t edele Com_ pagnieschip Adrighem van Batavia na Makasser,,, kept by the sliipper Herbert Sam, and reail by prof. Veth, Loten madl soulc notes, and says therejn with regard to the said ,, Capteyn ,Herbert Sam " that he $'as ,, I unclerstand from Dorclreclit, lf ;r, good family, but a dissolute and not very polishecl
lllL&r}.t'

From Prof. Veth,s report

borro.w the follou,ing

:_

ship formed part of a squadron of five ships, and put to sea from Texel, 4th January lTB2. In the beginning -of August they arrived safely at tsatavja. __a ilr, van lfouten's
For information regarding.Loten,s parentage and birthpiace
second paper below.
sbe

Joan Gideon Loten left 28th December I731,* in the rank of under merchant, by the ship Beekuliet from Amsterclam. The

in the rvorlrs of tlie Utrecht Society) comprising a dltailed

* Regarding winom see'infra, f It was during his residence at Samarang flrat Loten's three children rl'elc. born, only one of r,vhom surt ived (see under Section II.), , :L fn Decembet 1747 lsee Hooykaas, Repertoriurn op d,e Roloniale Ltueretuur ii. (1990) 104). rs On 17th October 1750, according to Robid6 van cier Aa in tho .jnlra.

i?50 $ handed over the government of Macassar to his successor, L{osenboom, at, the same time leaving Jrim a memoir (printed

Advanced to Councillor Extraordinary of

India,f Loten in

Paper cited

224

JouE,NAL, R.A.s. (Ljoyt,or\).

fVor,.

XIX.

91. 58.-1907.] JoAN crDrroN Lo.rEN,

zou hebben

_F..r.i.s.

'l+ii

report of the state of the Government of Macassar and of u'hat the writer as Governol had accomplished. X'rom the other papers quoted by Prof. Veth in the journal rramed it appears that in 1752 Loten tas nominated as Governor of Ceylon,* and on 30tir Septernber of that year nrrived at Colombo per slip Giesserzburg. Therc he discovered the artistic talent of de Bevere, and got him to prepare the rnajority of the plates exhibited. On llthf August 1755 his u'ife died in Colornbo. Loten occupied the Governorship until Marcir 1757, when rvith the rank of " Councillor Ordinary of Netherland-o fndia "f he returned to Batavia, entertaining the purpose of shortly leaving the service of the Comper,ny and setting out upon the return voyage to the fatlierland. From a paper rvritten at Colombo in l'ebruary 1756, and add.ressed to the Political Council, it appeals that he experienced great difficulties l'ith one of h.is head officials, Lhe upper merchant' and chief zr,dministrator l{octl Anthonie le Beck.$ Prof. Veth also remarhs that Loten's rule in Ceylon r,vas much disturbed by internal commotions, fear of attack from external enemies, and great scarcity of finances.ll Tliere also existed from his hand a " Geprojecteercl Regiement vervattende d' ordres die merr in cas van eenig onverrvagt allarm x In succession to Cerard Joan Vreelant, who died in February

t'

is very circumstancial, r'hilst tlte conclusion to the calm deliberation of the author; tllso a " Rulve tr-.stifies .Qchets der behuizingen binnen 't casteel Coiombo met dier lre'woonderen in de jaren 1756-1759."J' That his departure from Colornbo .was accompanieal by sirecial ceremonies appears from a documenl, printed in the iournal named, entitled " Project van iret Cerimonieel dat, g'crlrserveerd zal dienen te rvorden zo aun de wal ais op de schepen, ten dage van hct vertrek van clerr trVel Edeien Groot .tr"chtbaren Heer Joan Gideon Loten, Raad Ordinair r-an Netler document
clellandsch India en afgaande Ceylon's Gouverneur en Direcieur op den 18" Maart Ao 1757."t tr oten at that time took cle Bevere x'ith him, as appeai's fr"om the plates preparecl by tlie latter in the course of the year 1757 at Batavia, and the paintirrgs containing birds, iilter alia pigeons, kingfishers, and rvoodpeckers, n.hich Loten rrranaged to shoot or catch in the neighbourhood, as lvell as
of lfolucca parrots brought to Batavia.

observeeren,"* of rvhicli Frof. Veth says tirat,

In accordance with his intention Loten returned horne in l?58, a,nd indeed as admiral of the return fleet,, reaching his native soil in June of tirat year (Tijdschr. Ilist. (|en.L860, Fl). 112-11:l). The voyage u'as not entitely free from misiiaps ; during t'he passage, in a mutiny on board, his goods
r-ere plundered, rvheretry among other things he sufierecl great
+

1752, after a gor-emorship of under a year. 'Iire commandour of Jaffrra, Jacob de Jong, acted as Gor.ernor until I-oten's arrival (see C. As. Soc. Jl. xi. 141, lYolf ii. 75, 126). lVolf *-as in (-'eylon during the rrhole of

Loten's governorship, but, being in Jaffna, did not come in contact with hini, and says nothing of his rrle. In the C. As. Soc. Jl. viii. 430-3 (misprinted :336-9) witl be found a letber in Sinhaleso, r'ith translation, written by Loten from Colombo on 4t'h July I7 54, to the Siamese priost Up5,1i, who, rvith other theras,lrad recently arrirred in Ceylon in response to an embassy sent to Siarn by I{ing l(irti Sri RSjasinha (seo C.

ir:, observed

As. Soc. Jl. xviii. 17-44).

rank in October 1754 (see also Ilooykaas, op. ci,t. L02). $ See F,. G. Anthonisz's Report on Dutch Recorrls 50. ll X'or a summary of the events in Ceylon during Loten's governorship,
see t'he Beknopte H'istorie (C. As. Soc. .[1.

f This should be 10th : see second papet i,n'frct. I According to liobidi van der Aa (u. i'.), Loten rvas raised to

tlLis

xi. l4l-5).

ivlth their occupants, in the ycars 1756-1759 [? I 757]." Possiblya copy of i:his interesting document exist's among the Dutch archives in Oolombo" I " Pkm of the ceromonial that shall be observed both on sirore and ,-rrr the ships on the day of the deparfure of the most honourable Mr. 'loan Gideon Loten, Cor:Lncillor Ordinary of Netherlands India, and retiring Governor and Director of Ceylon, on the lSth of }Iarch l?57." {See R. Cl. Anthonisz's Eep. omDutoh Rec. L09.) Loten was succeeded ir1- Schriider or Schreuder (who arrived at Colombo on 27t'h September l 756), a man of very different temperament, under whoso rule broke out a, war with the Sinhalese fhat lasted over six years and cost the Dutch aD enormous sum in addition to much loss of life (seo Ceyl'on Lit.
/ieg. v. 84).

ia case ol any unexpectoiX alarm." t " Rough sketch of the du.elling-houses inside the Colombo

"

Proposed Regulation comprising tho orciers that would have to castle,

[Vor. XIX. inconvenience and the loss of memoranda for a claim that
JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON).

226

\o. 58.-1907.]

ro.{N erDEoN LoraN,

r.R.s.

227

he had upon the East Lrdia Company.

Amsterdam genomen op Woensdag I April !767,,,I it &ppears that he received a refusal. From various notes and papers tliat accompanied the plates in the portfolios it appears that Loten rvas in constant correspondence v-ith students of natural history in the colonies and in Europe, and norv anil then sent specimens to private persons or learned societies in the motherland. He himself on his hometrard voyage brought rvith him i,n,ter al,ia four live crested pigeons,$ but hacl declined an olTer made to him by his cousin,ll Mr. Cornelis llasselaar,fl at Cheribon, of deer and bircls for taking with him on the s&me voyage.
+ Jacob -\loss"l. Gorlcl,nor-Ccn",rl,' Z;t-0,. Perhaps the marriage of Loten's relative Ilasselaar to Mossel,s rlaughter in this year (seo note belorv) inclu ced him to sencl in his claim at this time. f " Extract from the resolution adopted by the meeting of the Seventeen in Amsterdam on Wcdnesday, lst Aprit l?67.,, $ See extract from Edr.ards's Gleanings ol Nat. Hist. further on.

He had, namely, during his governorship of Ceylon, advanced to the Company's chest the sum of 82,000 rixdollars. A letter of demand for the repayment of this sum, sent in to Governor-General Mosselx in l757,t had for the time bein$ the only result that he lvas asked to complete the sum to 100,000 rixdollars I To this he agreed, and got back the adclitional 18,000 rixdollars later through his attorneyinJava. It cost him more trouble and time to get back the large sum of 82,000 rixdollars. tr'rom the transcript printed in the journal mentioned, of a demand presented in Europe, it seems that only in 1763, u.hen he " ryas in n'rance for the improvement of his feeble health," did he receive the money back, but-n'ith a gross deduction of 7.r1, per cent. for the Company and ] per cent. on the intelest, plus 2l per cent. commission. In the said letter of demancl he asks for the decluction back, as l'ell as the interest, at 6 per cent. since 1762. This last, holvever, r,\'as not granted to him. From an " extract uyt cle Resolutie door de vergadering der Heeren l7en binnen

appears from the plate with a representat[n of a sea a'imal 'lrelonging to the jelly-fishes, the so-called ,. Beza,antje ,, (phy_ it being apparently his ou,-n clrarving, dor.e iy Hmsett -rnlia),* rin tlre outward voyage to India inI7B2, orlerhap* o copy of iris orm drarving. Further, I imagine that both the too

IIe was himself not unskilful at painting in colours. This

red coloured rep*esentations of trre atras moth made at Macassar' and thus before he knew dre Bevere, are also from his .rrn hand, rvhilst, from other notes written by him it seerns rlpparent that he himself drerv other plates besides, or at least assisted in them. An active man like Loten naturallJ, rlid not remain quite
quiet after his departure from the Company,s service, although, just norv, he had for some tiine to wrestle .r,r,ith less

ieep"

as 1vo saw

good health"

others, the cover of a packet, !' Notes to serve provisionally for bringing into order t'hat f have successivel5, collected, boiir rn painting from life a'd in ii'riting, in orcler to be able to cc,*lribute some light upon the natural history of East fndia and cspecially of Java, Ce,lebes, and Cevlon,', datecl 2bth December i754, and unclerncath rproted Dcclesiastcs ix. 10. If 'rve turn up this text of the ,, Preacher ,' we find : ,, Whatrroever thy hand findeth to do, do it nith thy might for there ; is no l'ork, nor device, nor knorvledge, nor tisdom, in the grave, rvhither thou goest." From the papers that he lr'as able to examine, prof. Vctir ga,r,v that Loten, among other things, left on 4th November t775, as f imagine, lvith a commission,-f- on boarcl tiie East -[rdia Company's ship Alkemad,e, accompanied by trl,o other iltips, for the Cape of Good Hope, .where he arrivecl on l7th $'ebruary 1776, and on 7th Mar:ch of the follorvJng year set rut on the homes'ard voyage in the slip Dellslm*en, accoTtt_ iranied by three other ships, and on 13tli June anchorecl at
Texel-

His view of life \rre are enablecl to know from, amongst

Or nephew (neel means either). fl Pieter Cornelis Ilasselaar married, at Ratavra, 2rtth April lTdT, as his second wife, Geertmida, lfa,rgaretha, the claughter of Governor-General Mossel. (See notice of him in van der Aa's Bio11. lTclnbtt. cler Neclerl.J

ll

i' The ., Portuguese man-of-s.ar,,, common on the beach at Colombo after storms (see Tennent's Nat. Hist. o.f Ceyton 400). f This surmise is incorrect : Loten r.isitecl the Cape otr private busiuess (seo second paper).

228

JoURNAL, R.A.s. (cEYLoN).

fVoi,.

XIX.

No.
oine

58.-19{}7.]

JoAN GrDnoN LorEN, F.n,.s.

229

In later ;rears Loten set'tled at n'ulhatn

near London.*

There he remained zealously studying zoology and botany, and hacl regular intercourse rvith rnen of science and scientific institut ions in the motherlancl and England. IIe lvrote various notes on or rvith the plates, ol completed earlier-made" not,es. X'or this the English language, of lvhich he 'lvas a thorough master, r'r'as often used, conceivably on account bf the English friends rvho received the plates for inspection or for use. I say for tr,se, because from the accompanying notes it appears that the plates did frequent servicet for those in the u'ell-knorvn rt'ork of Edu'alds's Gleanings of l{atural

Ilistory,\
Zoology.g

a,nd

the sequel to it by Btttwn, Illustrcdions

on

The loan of the plates for the purpose mentioned often horvever caused old Loten much vexatiolr.ll We in our time also knorv s-ell that the loan, especially of books, is even yet accompanied b)' the danger of receiving them back in a ]ess fresh coridition, or sometimes not at .r'll. Norv it did not happen to Loten quite so badly, but he could a,lso talk of injuries, and his displeasure at the state in which he ofteri received the plates back sometimes drel' from him on the back of the plates bitter expressions at thc oxpense of the engraver; for instance,fl on that representing the nest of the Tailorbird:** " The clirty scoundrel 'was not contented rvith ruining * This is hardly accurate, as Loten's lesitlerrce at llulliarn seems to have been confined to the period f759-65 (see trnder Section III.). f As regarcls this statement see Section III. I Gleani,ngs of Notural trIistory, &c. (in Eng,lish and French), by George Edwards, 3 parts, 1758-60-64. This is a continuation of the same author's A Ncttural History oJ Uncontnt'on B'ird,s, &c.,4 parts'

" the short-tailed Pye " 'll " I once found such a trird at Colombo inside the citadel in the garden behind the governirand tf . ...
t

of thesc drawings of tlie same object but ruined them both ;" and somervhat lo.lver : " By no means is this reflexion rin.the late 1\[r. Sidney Parhinson,* lvho kept everything very t.|ea,rr," and finally in the lower corner as a further explanation ierased later, but still legible) : 'o This was the --- bungling ellgraver Mazell."t '' On another plate (also erased, but still legibte) : ,oMacle so dirty by the pityable engraver Mazell ; ', and on plate 4 (Owl)t rhere follor,r.s after a long unbosoming, later made illegible, rertainly also directed at the engraver : " What a difterence of behaviour betu-een the late u.'orthy Mr. Geo. Edv'ards ancl ,iuch a scurrilous, scrubby fellow." That later, hol,vever, the wrath of the olcl man, even though it were just, r,vas calmed, appears not only fronr the erasures just referred to, but from the lvords, placed r-inder the erased portion of the plates, " Forgive and forget.,, The perusal of Loten's notes ofiers the reader moreover in rla,ny respects a peculiar pleasure, both because one obtains ;pontaneously a retrospect to the establishment of the llast fndia Company in the tropics, norv a century and a half ago, ancl also as regards the evidence of accurate observation by the t'riter, and the often valuable details related by him regarding the ideas of the natives touching the depicted animals ancl plants or thefu characteristics and value.$ A couple of examples of this :-Of the Pitta,ealled, by Loten
nrent house after I had resided there quite ayear or longer ; rt leaped to the ground, and let itself be caught with the

1743-,47-50*51. (SeefuriherunderSection 1IL) TheBritishlluseum I.ibrary possesses copies of both t'hese works, presented by the author to the R'er'. I']-ros. Birch, containing Edwards's original paintings. o.{ Zoology, &c. (in Enslish :r'ncl French), by -.$ try'ezu lllustrati,ons Poter Brown. 17?6. (See further under Section III.) ll I think that llr. r'an Ilouten here unrtittingly exaggerates: Loten's complaints seern to har-o been confined to the engraver Mazell, whose ill-treatment of the drawings must have taken place in 1768-9 (seo further on), and not' to have appliod f,o Peter Brown, to whom Loten lent a number of his drarvings for copying somer five or six years later. lf All Loten's annotations that follow are in English. ** Plate viii. in Pennanl's Indian Zoologltl-

.. ..)'

(SeeDi,ot. ot' Nat. Biog.) R,egarding this man see later on. :! Ther Little Horn Owl, doubtless, Ind,. ZooI.

177I.

x The talented young artist who accompanied Banks and Cook in heir voyage round the v'orld in 1768. He died at sea on 26Ur Decembor

forming plate iii. in Pennant's

g It is to be hoped that Mr. van Ifouten will in some futuro paper" publish bhe whole of Loten's annotaiions. ll This name is quoted in English. The bird in question is figured ln plato cxiv. of Edrvards's Gleanings (see under Section III.), 'l] Cf. Legge's Bird,s ol Ceylon E9l.

2:)(,

JouRNAr,. R.A.s. (crrrr,o\).

l\ror,. XIX.

l(o. 58.-1907.] JoAN crDEoN LorEN,

x,.R,.s.

2Bi

Speaking of the depicted Bee-eater (Merops), he states to have learnt from the natives of llacassar that these birds

dig holes in front of their rrests in the clayey banks of the rivers, r,vhich, as one nol knols, is quite correct, since t'he Bee-eaters agree in this ri'ith many Kingfishers. Of the variety of Copsychus (birds allied to the Thrushes, rvhich are very rvallike and courageous) depicted on other plates, it is also
related that in Ceylon it' regularly follou's and chases the cro'rvs u'ith loud cry, and is therefore 'vl'ell called " king of crolvs."* Some statements evoke from us, so many years after they
were .qet dorvn, an involuntary smile.

And there are also moro valuable remarks ! For a very long time the paintings, or more correctly copie.q of i,hem, certainly borrowed from the works of Edrvard.s ancl lJros'n, continued to do service for illustrated works. As a 'raluable proof of this rnay, inter alia, serve the little work putrlished in 186I in this country by our fellow-countryman the late Prof. P. I{arting, t}re Bouwkunst aan Dieren (reprint of a paper in the periodical Albumd,er Natuur),lvhere at page 266 a wood engraving representing the nest of the Tailor-bird is plainly a copy, though it be a rough one, of do Bevere's
plate here present.

Such, for example, on the painting of the dark-coloured l{olucca, Lori Parrot (Batavia, 1757), that " it' .i,r'histled entire hymns and the morning song 'uit mijnes Herten gronde' in the su'eetest musical manner."t. In connection t'ith the painting of the Inclian Golden Thrush at llacassar, describing the lovely " r,vater-like mellor.v v,liistle " of t'his bird, so r-,.ritten because the rvriter states. tliere that he is reminded by the noise of the rvell-knorvn old rvater-t'histle, he adds thereto in 1779 that he hail heard frorn Dan. Mackay f tliat because of its rvhistle the Gelderland peasants call tlie Golden Thrush " Hansken r.an Trurelen." To the plate representing a pigeon fallen clead on a hot, day at Batavia in 1757$ is appended the simple note that he received tlie bird " from mejufirourv Verklohken, Caat,je Rotgers's daughter, afterr'vards fthe note is apparently lrcitten later in Europe] married more than once, now I believe widorv of Governor-General Riemsdijk."li ,'] x 'Ihe name quoted is in llngiish. The bird known in Ce5'l6tr o* tnu

In tlre

llird,s of Ceylon, mention

in his day Loten had had prepared by a, I have not been able to ascertain if that lefers to duplicates of the plates in my possession or some others, as also if and r,r'here these plates still exist. A letter
paintings rvhich

handsome work of Captain Legge, A Hi,story ol the is also made in an introduction of

" native artist."*

written by me some years ago to Mr. Legge came back as undeliverable, and inquiries made subsequently through the lirm of Martinus Nijhofi of the London publisher led to no result.f
x Mr. .,'an l{outen gives theso words in English, but thev do not occw in the introduction to Legge's work. After mentioning George ilcl'rvards's Nat. Hist. of Uncommon Bdrd,s (Lhe date of publication of rrhich is given as 1743), but not saying a word about Eds'ards's later nrrk (which, horvever, is occasionalll,- referred to in the body of the lrook, sometimes incorroctl5'), Lcggo says:-" During the latter half of l,ile oighteenth centtuy Gideon Loten lvas norrrinated Governor of Ceylon. iry the Dutch [szc], and, happemng to be a great lover of birds, collected ,rrrd employed peoplc to procwe specirnens of species 'which attracted lris notice ; an<l from his labours we first loarn something of tlie peutliar jrirds of tho Island. I{e had drawings prepared of many species, which lro lent, 6o an Enqlish naturalist [sic] named Peter Bror'r'n.. who published in London, in 1776, a quarto work styled ' Illustrations of Zool.rgy.'. .. . . '[he artist who delineated these species was Mr. Khuleeiooddeon fsic !?]. Some of the drawings are fairly accurate; but others are grotesque and trnnatural, showing the poor state of perfection to which the illustratiou of books had up to that time been brought." In view of the fact 'ihat Edwards's beautifully illustrated *-orks had preceded Bror*'n's far inforior production, the deduction in the last sentence is absurd; ancl as to tho illustrator of Brown's work, it rvas Brolvn hirnself (see further on). Whence Logge got his '. Mr. Khuleelooddeen" I cannot imagine" t Captain Legge resides (if still living) at Elolrart, ll'asmania.
36-07

" IGng cror,v " is the Drongo (Buchctnl1a), ry}iich has the habit described by Loten. The Magpie-rohin (Copsgoltzrs), though a pugnacious bird,. cloes not, I think, chaso crows (cf. Legge'sBzrclso.t Ceyl,on 388 aud 435). f The quotation is in English. f Probably Daniel, son of -l0neas Macliay, ancl -founder of tire Dutch

farnily of Mackay : he dietl in 1745 (see r-al der Aa's Netl. Biog.Il/clnbk.). $ This forms plate I'ii. in Pennant's Inclictn, Zaolog.u, lr.here fhe fact of the bird's having fallel dead fron the lLr:at is stated, v'ith some details (from f,oten's notes) regarding the eficct of the great heat in Java on the animals there, ll Jeremias van Riemsdijk, Gor.elnor-G.cnera1 28th Deceml:rer 1775 to 3rd October 1777, rvhen he died. Theodora Rotgers was his third wi{e (see van der Aa's Bi,o11. IVttnbh.\.

oD.)

JOURNAL, R,A.S. (CEYLON).

[Vor,.

XIX.

o.

58.-1907.]

.to.4t\ (JrDEoN Lo,tEN. rr.R.s.

hope that what I have been able to tell you has awakened indled increased your legitimate interest in and appreor ciation of the exhibitecl rvorks. I think I may for to-day leave this portion of our subject u'ith aimost the same rvords

rvith rvhich I ended a more cursory discussion of the plates at a meeting of the Ned. Ornith. Vereeniging : Assuredl;r jt

rnust be acknow'ledged that both the artist " by the gift of God" de Bevere, as lvell as Loten, rvho got him to paint the plates, added his notes to them, and brought them under the notice of men of science, have gained for themselves a peculiar merit in connection u'ith the study of natural history in the tropical regions."

acquitted only in 1708. To this had undoubtedly porver,fullv lontributed his valiant bearing, of rvhich Valentyn hjmseif n'as a rvitness, at the storming and capture of the fortress of l3angil, in lvhich, in spite of the lack of stormi'g ladders, he rvas the first on the r,vall, I,vas ilrrown dor.vn from it by the b"lou' of a pike, which luckily glanced off on his sv.ord_knot, thereupon succeeded in getting upon the .w,all once more and ptra,nt,ed the standard on it, r,vhereby the hono'r of the capt're
lr'as due to him.

SscrroN II. Thinking that some readers of my address at the annual rneeting of the Council of the Museum in 1905, printed in the trnd'ische Mercuur of 6th June 1905, may possibly take sufficient interest therein as to *'ish to know something more regarding tlie tu'o naturalists mentioned and their work, I give belorv sorne additional particulars with which further investigation has supplied me, and u'hich on various points supplement rvhat rt'as then said at Flaarlem' Regarding the artist de Bevere himself I have not succeedecl in finding anything additional, though, on the other hand, something regarding his Dutch grandfather, the Major de Bevere mentioned by Loten ; namely, we find entered in A' J' van der Aa's Biogt'apltischlAoorclen'boelc, Sth edition of 1854' vol. ii., pb.2, on p. 488 : " Willem llendrik de Beveren, captain in the service of the E" I. Company," and, on the authority of 3r. Valentyn's Oud' en Nieuzu Oost-Incliij, vol' iv', pt' 1, pp. 162 and 168-200,* mention made of his military services i" fZOO, during the rvar in Java against Soeropat'i, in which, led on bv his " indomitable coul:aqe," he ventured" too far into the enemy's territory and sufiered a defeat, in consequence of which he was summoned before the court-martial and
,rle{ective and sometimes incorrect. see the figures

Valentyn further relates that in f70g cte Bevere, still .lvith to Ceylon, and there took part 'in an expedition against the emperor of Candi,* but there_ a,fter again had unpleasantnesses rvith the Company, rvhich Valentyn hopes to recount later. I have ho.w,ever sought in vain in this rvriter's great rvork. in the part that treats of the affairs of Ceylon and describes the periodical events in that lsland only to 1707,t for anything further regarding de Beverer. There is no doubt, horvever, that he rvas the major of r.horrl tr"ofen makes mention as the grandfather of our artist. That 't,he latter rvas named de Bevere, is probably in consequence of the often careless spelling of those days; but the clifference lnixy also be intentional on account of the illegitimate origin.f Perhaps tire paper.s left l'ry Loten and perused bv prof. F. J. Vcth might have furnished some further light, both as recards the de Beveres and as regards the testator himself and iris family. It is therefore doubly unfortunate that they tvele rire,sumably considered by one or other of their possessor$ a.c
t,he rank of captain, n.as sent

',f no value and destroyed. When Prof. Veth consulted therir they belonged to Mr. J. A. l,ii'othe, rvho, as I am told by llr. S. r\fuller, ].2., the nationai i, r't'tiil-ist at Utrecht. on several occasions presentecl the manuF(rlipt{..rh&t he possesscd to the lJtrecht archives, the Acac,lernr,
'r .il, 'l'his is ir:rcorrect, as rvill be seen by thequotation I give under Sec. Iheexpcditionwas t,o, anl not ooctinst, tho .,emperor of Cancli.,' 'i l\lr. van Tfouten has been rnisled by the date erroneously contimred 31 lhe '!op of the later pages of Valentyl's history. As a matter of fact, 't,ltr: a,fftrirs of Ceylon are chronicled (in a r-ery aar-*a"y manner, it is
f

* These figures are talien from Valentyn's index, which is very in the footnotos

t',rtr:) rlorvn
rlri.:s

I illlro formet explanation is the

llrlth forrns.

to

1724 on

p, 360.

rnore prol_rable

: Valentyn

hirnself

turther on.

234

JOURNAL. R.A.s. (CEYLON).

fVor. X{X.

No.

58.-1907.] roaN erDtxoN

LorEN, F.R.s.

T,ibrary, and other public institutions. After his death some family papers were also presented to the national archives, but the papers in question were-so Mr. Muller assured rne-with neither one nor the other, and Mr. Grothe's soqr, 1Ir. Grothe van Schellach at Utrecht, did not know the docuruents. Even less has been the result of an inquiry, instituted by rne, of the late Prof. P. J. Veth's son, Dr. K. J. Veth, and further by Mr. L. D. Petit, Conservator at the Academy Library at, Leiden, in which are some of the papers left by Prof, Veth, and of Prof. de Goeije, who arranged the literary remains of the said scholar, but had not met with the required
document,s among them, Regarding Joan Gideon Loten, on tlie other hand, I can, in the way of supplement, no'w relate considerably more, thanks bo the help of Messrs. G. P. Roufiaer and P" A. M. Boele van Hensbroek, as well as the gentlemen alread"y named, Mr. S" Muller, tr'2., and especially Mr. Grot'he van Schellach, who was able to dralv therefor from family papers. In the first place, I can by this means refer to the short biography, to be found on page 651 of vol xi. of A. J. van der La' s B io gr afi s ch W oor d, enb o elc (Haarlem, I 865 ),'where, however, Loten's services as Governor of Macassar * are alone extolled, and in particular mention is made of a fine map in 19 sheets of Celebes, r'vhich he caused to be prepared by his bookkeeper

fTtrecht was Lotenls earlier place of residence.* X.rom my 1rapers I can also adcl to this that, as appears from a letter rtrated Colombo,2Tth January 17b6, treating of a consignment of natural curiosities, there then lived in Utrecht also a 6lother, Arnoud Loten, rvho also became burgomaster of this f,orvn, and died only in 1801, and in the female line was an

family.f On the authority of Prof. Veth, van der Aa also adopt-s erroneously the year 1732 as that in which Loten was appointed fiscal at Samarang (" before his arrival at Batavia," says the relater) and on 24th August of the same was married. The information that both here forgot is to be found in the epitaph of Mrs. Loten, nlte van Beaumont, in the old Dutch rlhurch inside the fort f at Colombo, to be found on plato 25 in
a,ncestor of the present Grothe
be.,ing

the work cited by van der Aa himself , Lap,id,arium Zeylanicum, a Collection of Monumental Insui,ptions ot' the Dutclt Churches and, Churchyard,s of Ceylon, by L. Ludovici, Colombo, 1877.$ We there read that she was born on 13th November tr716 at the Cape of Good llope, married 24th August 1733, and died l0th August (not I lth August, as Prof. Veth stated) t755. Van der Aa surmises that Mrs. Loten rvas a ciaughter of the

independent fiscal Cornelis van Reaumont, r.vho died at the

Cape

of

Good Hope

in

L724.ll According

to the same

Jean Michel Aubert.t In the secondplace, one finds some details intheBi,id,ragen
uq,n het Koninkliilc

Instituut oan Taal-, Lanil- en Volkenkund,e uan Ned,.-IndiA 4fh series, vol. v. (1881), from the hand of P. J. B. C. Robid6 van der Aa, in his paper " The Great Bantam Rising in the Middle of Last Century," rvhere the irnportant r:6le filled in 1752 bv Loten, at that time counciilor extraordinary, as commissar;. sent to the Bantam court, is described, and a report from his hand printed ; whilst, in an appendix (pp. a9-53) the writer relates one thing and another

'r Bnt not his l-rirthplace i see in!r&. -i See fu'ther regarclingl Arnoud Loten under Sec. III. According t'o 'lralentyn (i. 290), a " Josef Lothen, indepenclent fiscal," commanded

iho returrr fleet from Java to Ifolland in l72l; and in t'ho additional list of subscri.bers to Valentyn's 6;reat work (given at the end of vol. v. pt,. 2) appears " Joseph Loten, lord of Rnnnicl< ancl Vechten, Witfevrolrwen ancl Abstede, as also canon to the chapter of tho cathedral at' Utreclrt," who evidently was a relative of Joan Gideon's. f Wolvendaal clmrch is outs'id'e I'he Colombo'fort.

further regarding Loten's career. " l74l-50 (sea sLr,pra). t This map is mentioned by R,obid6 van der Aa (ri,. l,.), who says tha6
is

it

in the Bodel-Nyenlmis collection"

As. Soc" Jl. xv. 235, xvii' 18. l3eaumont, uucler -merchatt an<l il i s'p ensl er at t)olombo, nppointed indeperndent fiscal at the Cape of Good Hope 1712, ancl arrived there l7l3 (Yal. Beschr. u. Bat. iv. 383); held otrtce I7l2-24, rvlren lre clied (Ici. Beschr. t:. d. Ko,ap d. G. H. 41). See also C. As. Soc. Jl. xvii. 16, rvhere van Reatmont's rvife's narne is given as Deliana Blesius, ancl she is said (? erroneously) to have died in Colombo on the sarne clay as her daughter, Loten's wife. 1 {She js aiso confused with her sister, Johanna Gystierta.)

See also C.

l l(ornelis van

J36

JOUnNAI,, F,.A.S. (CEYT,ON).

[Vor. XIX"

No.

58.-1907.]

JoAN GTDEoN rrornN, n.R.s.

irrtormant, Loten made his later vovage to the Cape* wholly ir.s a private individual, and also becau,qe an inheritance had fallen to his then deceased r.r.ife.t

justified.

With respect to tlie later clisputo of Loten,s with the Eagt India Company regarding the derluctions made in the repayrnent of the loan of 100,000 rixdollars, van der Aa, ,, after il, careful perusal of the request,,' judges unfavourably of Loten's complaint and demand, antl even says further that " Loten's actions and monetary concerns cannot perhaps in any respect stand the test of careful investigation.,' For our part, hotvever, in like manner, after a careful perusal of the documents, .lve, as in truth prof. Veth, do not regard Loten's demand as in any sense unreasonable, and consequently van der Aa's suspicion of his rectitucle is not

and the left half divided into quarters, the uppermost displayi ng a rarnpant black lion on a golden ( ? field and underneath a ) golden ship on a blue field-the arms of the van Beaumonts. Some clays before the death of Mrs. Loten there died in very early youth the only grandchild, also mentioned on the

namely, a scutcheon divided into tu,o halves longitudinally, in rvhich in the right half on a golden field a green thistlebranch forming two shoots llotenf-the arms of the Lotens ;

said tombstone, as Albert Anthonie Cornelis van der Brug-

ghen. We

see

R,eturning now to Loten himself, I can, thanks to Mr. Grothe's communications, coruect, and at the same tirne to a large extent supplement, Robid6 van der Aa's statements. He was boln l6th May l7l0 at Scadeshoeve, in the parish of Maartensdyk, and had as parents Jean Karel Loten, secrebary of the Lekdijk Benedendams and stew-arcl of the convent of Marie Magdalena at, Wijk-bij-Duursted.e, and Arnoudina \{aria Aerssen van Juchem" The Lotens rvele of n'Iemish origin. In 146l an ancestor appears as burgomaster of Aardenburg. 1\{r. Grothe also informs me that Loten, r,vhile residing in England, was married a second time, on 4th Jul;r 1765, at, Ranstead in Surre;r, namely, to Letitia Cotes, daughter of Digby Cotes and Elizabeth Bannister, who survived her husband and died 1lth June 1810.{ In the plate given in the work mentioned, of the tornbstone of l{rs. Loten, appears also a representation of her arms,$
1775*6 (see supra). -f- Loten had then been ten years rnarried to an English v-ife (see below). I R,egarding this second marriage see under, iiection III, S Cf. C. As. Soc. Ji. xv. 285 atd 22g. Owing to the jenorance of the

lrirtlr is unknown to me,f rvas married 19th July 17i2, at I3atavia, to Dirk Willern van der Brugghen, born at Bergen op Zoom, 4th February I7I7, upper merchant and chief at

rvas also staying in Colombo, perhaps also her husband,* regarding rvhose identity van der Aa hazarded a guess, which seems to have been incorrect,; since Mr. Grothe van Schellach rvrote to me concerning tliis rvife as follorvs :-o' Armandina f I)eliana Cornelia lthe daughter of Loten], the date of rvhose

from this that at that time Loten's only child

Soerabaia, lvhence he returned home in 1758.$ He died at Utrecht, 7th October 1770, she at Batavia, 15th May 1756. 'fhey had trvo children."ll Besides the above-named daught,er', .ivho r,vas his second cluld, Loten had by Anna Henriette van Beaumont tlvo other cirildren ; the eldest lr-as a daughter, born t6th October 1734, and soon died, on 30th April 1735 ; the third, :r, son, died an

liour after birth.

is more liko a lion rampant ; rvhile in plato 25 the lion, which in plate lli is correctly shown as passant, (not passant guardant-.. leopard6 " --as Mr. de Voshas it), is assuming a rampant attitucle, The forrn rf the ship also differs considerably in the two plates. x There is no proof of this. Mrs, van der Brugghon maSz have been otr a visiN to her parents r,vifhout her husband. ivas the namo of Loten's mother. { As Loten's first child.was born l6th October 1734 we may, I think, safelyplace the birth of this seconddaughter inthe latter partof 1735. 'lhis would make her bareiy 1? years old at tire time of her marri:lgea'ltout the sarne age at which her mother married Loten.
S

* Ilr

f This is evidently a misprint or misreading fot Arnoud.ina, which

la,piclaries

relrr+serrted

plate l{i' the lion in tho crest, which Mr'. de vos describos as issu:rntn

or of tho artist, the van Beatm,,na o"-*,r"-u very faultily in the plates l6and 2d of Lapi,d,. Zeyt. For instance, in

h the sarne ship as Lot,en probably. ll R,egarding theso chilsren see at encl of Ssction lII.

238

JOTiRNAL, R.A.S. (CEYT,ON).

fVor,.

XIX.
r:,rrd

5il. 1{}07.|

.toAN GTDEoN

LorrN,

rf.x,.s.

2.39

In later years * Loten returned from England to the father-, land, fixed his abode at Scadeshoevo-*at least in the summer -and died, as appe&rs from the rcsister of cleaths consulted by Mr. S. lfuller, in the burgess ranl<, on 25th Februarv l7gg, :r,t Utrecht, " at the Drift near the Wittevrou\r,enbrug." fn conclusion, something furthsr, regarcling the history pf rny collection of plates.
Robid6 van der Aa Jrad suggesteil IZ90 as the proba,ble year to tke Kunst- en .Letterbocle of l7g}, p. 34 (should be vol. ii., p" 34)" On consulting that work, one reads therc uncler.the short reports:of Loten's death, referring

rrils carriccl out,, and t.hc said ooppet box r.vith the said drawir.rgs sketches, ancl va,rions adttitional prints in sepia ancl *"r,"".1 l*rglish prints of natural objects, were otrtainea by the sccretar.y. ;rrrrl lairl on the table for inspectior-r, .rvhich was carriecL out, ancl I,irc infoltnaut thanked for his corrununication it was also r.e; -rrlvr:rl t, tha'k in trre fi:ie.dricst mahner the said Mr. J. t(.1 i* r,iinrlro of the society f.r' his t'o*ble'in this matter. as 'h. also t,o offe' ' ' 1,ir}'l lrc e-11yon*p.i irruru,t,ctJ tlrr.rcirr wit,lr t,lranks, as is fair.

" Haarlem. List of presents to the Dutch society of Sciences since 2Sth llay |139 to 2lst May 1790" For the room of natural curiosities. A collection of about 130 very fine drauings of mostly East Indian and rare birds, as also of some fourfooted beasts, fish, crabs, sea-polyps, insects, and. plants, by legacy of the late l{r. Joan Gideon Loten, in his lifetime former councillor of l{ether:lands fndia and Governor of
Ceylon." plates,

ii,$certained."

i{casion the coppel box "r,vith plates r.vas doubtless also given il\i'ay, to rvhom ol to rvhat institution is no lonser to bc
'l'his letter as rvell as the extract quoted from the old. K,unst.

" Of this collection is no*, to be founcl either in the 'othing library or in the archives. I imaginc that the copper box t'gether rvith its contents was in the collection of 'atural i;'riosities that the Society at that time possessed, but bhat ;r,as removed in 1866 (see Memorial of the lb0th an'ive_xsarv ,rf the Dutch Society of Sciences, 1g02, p. 2g). On that

,:n, LetterborJe .fits

I)r. J. IJosscha at }Iaadeni, secrctary of the l)utch society of Sciences. u'hereupon I receivetl the follorving reply :-

At once surrnising that this report referuccl to mv orvn I applied through the medium of Dr:. Greshofi to prof.
Here is x'hat riiy investigations have yielcleci"

t,hat at this rnoment f can entcrtain not a sh&dolv of a cloubt tha,t it is the legacy of Mr. Loten to the Dutch Society" Onlv l,!re vicissitudes of the plates between the vear 1g66, lvhen lhe, liociety nrentionec'l had its ,, great dispcrsal,,, and the tirne r.-hich

in so rvonderfully rl-ell with my collectiori.

"
is

In

the

minutes of the meeting of directors of 4th August the follolving

recorded

:--

arnong his ruovables, on applicatiorr for thc saicl legacy, in exchange for a proper receipt irr discharge of the inforrrrant as exccu1,o'- of the decea,sed's estate,-- that on the same clate, the secre-

of Sciences his collection of clrau,.ings and sket,ches madc in. East, India, as thcse shall antl are to be founcl. in a hrge coppcr box f

Ther president a,lso corrrmunicatcd ilrat Mr. J. T(o1 hacl in{or'red the secletilry *'dci: clatc Utrocht, lgth J.ly last, .bhat the late l{r. Joan Giclcon Loten, in his lifetirne former councillor of Nethell.ands India and Governor- of Ceylon, by a coclicil dateil l3th October l778 had ongaged to have transferreilto this Dutch society

*iren the firm of Niihofi got them into their possession? by my orders they bought for me on t3th n'cbr:uary !,985, rernains as yet a bit of unrecordecl histor.y. Mr. Boele , ur }lensbroek rvrote to me : " Thcy belonged. to mc, a,nd

'rrmed part of :r, large lot of books, &c., that f had tal<en over ririnr the late art dealer A. G. de Visser. Whence the latter llrr,ctr the drarvings can no longer be traced.,, Of the (jopper ;rerx spoken of ihere i-* at present even less of nny tlace to be
r

lis'-,overed.
',f

tarv hal'ing beel retllestccl altl qlalifiecl t[ercfor, i,his tra'sfer

x Apparently aborLt 1783 (see rrnder Ser:tion III.), 'i See nt enrl of Section I I I. regar,cline this legac5,.

And hele also for the moment my knorvleclgc <if the rnatter ,.rps. l{eanrvhile I shall be jnclebted for ail further reference-. ,t information that anyone can send me regarding the prin'igral liersons here brr.rught on the stage, or tlieir. adventures irrd omployments.

'l'lie Hague, l'ebrunrv Ig06.

v. H.

241t

CURNAL, P,.A.S. (0EYLON).

[Vor. XIX.

\ro.
ii,re

58.-1907.]

JoAN GrDroN LornN. F.R.s.

211

SecrroN
So far

II

l.

van Houten. To supplement the details given a,bove regarding de Bevere and Loten a,nd the paintings. I. irere adil u'hat furthel informalion I have been able to collect. First, as to the artist arrd his family.
X'rom Mr. tr'. I{. de Vos of Galle I learn that Willem Hen'drik de Bevere of Oosterwijk came out to East India as an ensign in 1688 by the slip China. Where he servcd during t'he first ferv years, and r,vhen he r,r'as promoted, I do not linorv,* but in 1696 he was in Amboina u'itli the rank of licutenzrnt,f rvhich position he held until 1702, u,'hen he became captainlieutenant.-f In this capacity he commanded an expedition against certain runalvays in f705.$ At the end of this vear, or in 1706, as captain he left Amboina for Java to take part in

lfr.

given.* on llth

the expedition against Soe.rapati, arriving by tlie ship Sclooradyk at Japara on 23rd July ;ll and on lStli August rve read of him as being plesent at a reception by the Depati of Soerabajar to y.hich he had brought the old prince of l{arlura.fl Under rtrate 20th August, Captain de Bevere is referred to as commanding a brigade;x* and under 23rd August rve read that this brigade consisted of 723 men.tt On 4th September, Valentyn says, he accompanied Captain de Bevere to tile quarters of Captain van der Horst, .u'ho had invited his brother officers and other guests to an entertainment, details of l.'hich

I Very li.kely those years were spent in Batavia, for rvhich place Valentyn's lists of ensigns and lieutenants arc very defective (see Be"-chr. aa,n Bataaia 117,416). A relative, Gerard de Bevere, occupied positions of importanee in Batavia at this time, being a councillor exttaordinary of India, 1687-90 (Yal. Beschr. uan Bat. 372), advocate fiscal 1688 io May 1690 (ibid. 379), and president of aldermen 1688 to ISth Mtr,y 1690 (ibid. 391). I have found no other references to
him.

to the emperor of Candi, was again at loggerheads, as we shall fully under the affairs of Cevlon. When Valentyn came to clescribe the aflairs of Ceylon he seems to have forgotten his promise, or to have charrged his nrind ; for he does not evr:n mcntiorr dt, llcr,,ere, nor does he *ay anvthing regarding the expedition rvhich hatl such an unirleasant result for the ca,ptai'" ll,hat tlie latter left Java, for Ceylon tolvards tlie end of 1708 seems probable, thouqh Valentvn does not give tlie date ; :rnd it is possible that he went jn {)ne of the ships that sailed from Ba,ta,via in October conveving
see rrrore

not long aftenvards sent as captain t,o Ceylon, where he remained some years, but in the end, having come back from an expedition

lJevere's name often appearing,f especially in conncction rvith his unfortunate defeat ancl hjs ,subsequent courageous behaviour at the capture of Bangel on 16th October 1bo1l ot ivhich events have lieen referrecl to by l{r,. yan Houten above). !'rom Valentyn's statemr:nts if rvould appear that ile Bevere,s conduct in attempting to justify his behaviour in connection ryith the former affair: l,as not very straightforwarcl.$ Hovevel, he seems to have succeeded ultimately in clearing him_ self, for, in detailing thr eveirts fhab tooh place in Jav:i in 1708, \ralentyn ll says :In the rneanwhile the trial of the affair of d_e Bever:e at Batavia was finished, he, in consequence of his clcfence, acquitted, antl

rvith thc brigade of Bintang, de Bevere, and van der Horst, set ollt against, the enemy, accompanried by Valentyn,f u,ho in t,ire follorving pages gives rninute details of the expedition, de

septerrrber conrrnander Govart Knol,

r704.
S
1,,,

I Ya,l- Ambon. Zaalcen (vii.) 44 and 25!). I Id. 44, i5, and 27, where he appoars in the list of chief officials tor

While in Ceylon Captain cle llevere r.:ls in conirnancl of the 'iiiitia in colombo.x* rt rvas at this time that (as rne'tioned llv Mr. van Houten above) he formed the liaisorr. tlie fruit r.rf

to Ceylon as a sta1,e prisoner the Pangerang Depati Anom, rvith iris three sons, nineteen rvives, and suite of fifty-two ilren.{Tl

Id. 261 and (r-ii.) 27, where, in the list for 1705. .. left " is appended lris rrarrre. ll Yal. Bc,schr. uan Groot Jaua I55. Valentyn accornpanied this expedition as assistant, chaplain. +* Ibid. 162. !T rbid. 158, t5e tf lbid. 163

* Ibicl. 169. f lbid. t70. $ See 172, 174, r78,

$ See 181, 192, 193,

129,
197.

lSt.

182, lS6, tSZ.

ll Loc. ci,t. 200.

u Val. Zoc. cit.20:.. x* So lfr. F. FI. rle Vos infonns

ine, rvithout giving his au+"hority.

242

,rotJR\rAL. R..{.i. (r'E\ LO\).

r.r'as

fVor,.

XIX.

)tro.

58.-1907.]

,JoAN GrDE()\ r,orEN. r"F..s

which

aarrre of Captain

the father o{ Loten's artist protegee.* What the Willem Hendrik de Bevere's son 1vas, we are

not told by Loten. Nh'. de Vos, however, tells me of a o' I)avid Willemsz de Bevere. of Batavia. an alssistant O. I. C., who rnarried (2) in Colombo- lSth J:i,nuary 1736, Elizabeth Andriesen of Trincomalee,"t and rvho, l{r'" de Vos thinks, lvas a spn of Captain der Revere's. If this a,ctuzrlly be the father of the

! )utrageous conduct. i'or Ratavia in l7l4

artist, the latter may havt-- lreen a trliild by the first wife,f whose na,me Mr" de Vos does not give. With respect to thc mvst,erious afiair lrhich jnvolved the hot-he:rded captain in fulther trouble, I think that the follorving extract from t,he lleknoytte Historie aan, de Voornaam,ste Geheurtenisse.n op Ceil,on$ rira,y afforcl some light :In ther beginning of tire vear 1714 an ambassador rvho liad gone
up 'lvith the usual yearlv presents, and had been received verv
tiriendlily at the court, rvas indiscreet and foolhardy enough, on letiring t'hence, to have recoltrse. oontrary to a1l imagination, to unheard of grossnesses arrcl conducb sharneful to our nationo in {jonsequence of which theLe uras tire greatest uneasiness in Colcm-

llouten above, it l-ould u1rp",r, that tliough brought up respectably and as a Christiuii tt i, child, o' rrit,aining adolescence and ma,nhood, displaYcd no rlncorlmon ,lualities to call for: special mention, edse Loten u,ould. ..urelv [ave said something of

thc perrnanent appointment of captain of the c&stle^ ,r. post rvhich lie held until l7lg. when hc Jiecl.$ That captain de Bevere reft behind him i. ccyl.' his rnistress and child seems certain ; and. iudging bv Loten,s ryolds
;,(-',reived

an.V case hc seetns to have lef t Ce.ylon 1715, for in the latter year, accotdinll ro valentyn,t he rvas one of the captains at ilie kotterdar" g.rl, in Batavia, as rvell &s captain of tlic castle and najor fol a irhile. In 1717, accord,iltg to the sarne authority,ll

In

or

deBcverr:

,luotecl by Mr. van

them.

i,a,lented son \4'e shall probably never i,oten has told us.lj

Regarding this rnan ancl his le,rrn rnore than rvhab

bo : nevertheless not the slightest, hat n came to him or to his srrite, at, whicir one could not, hclp being sur-prised. C)n t'his account, in order: to prevent t,he fionsequences of such illbred and impropet belia,r'iour, it, rvas t,houghi; rvell at, once to send an ola t,o the court and therein to offer: apologies, rvith a promise that the anrbassador's conduct should be rigorously punished, rvith which the court 'bhen appearecl to bc satis{ied, since in 1,his and the following year l7l5 mat'ters continued in peace. 'Jlaking all things into consideration, I thirrk there can be hardl5' any doribt that the amlras-qaclor here spciken of was Captain de Bevere,ll and that the " loggerheads " (strubbelinge?e) spoken of bv Vaientvn q'ere the consequence of his

Let us nor'v tur'to Loteri irimself. A.s the crvents o{ his iife l'ecorded by Mr. v.n Ho*terr i* his t'.r, papers are set dou-n i' ;l somel'r'hat h:r,phazard tranner, it, tnay bc ars rve]l to tabulate
Nhem

iollows:--

liere according to chronoiogical sequence. They are

16

as

t.'iIU

l7i]2 4 Ja:r ,, .{rrg, j ;3;i I0 JuIy

NIay

Loten born at,

Sr,racleshoeve.

L.
1-.

-qails as

L. arrivos at Batavia.

rtniltr nrerchant for l,.ast Indies.

.,

24

Aug.

29 Sept. i'i;:i.1 16 Oct"

., .,

" #ru'Jjl,i.;

appointecl fisoal, Ja,r,a's nor.tlr coast, Tratavia to A,rna T{eni:ierr

Sarnarang.

10 Scpr.

L" Ieates Batavia Ior

L. arrives at Sanraratg. .1,.'s eldest, chiltl bonr,

" Major "

de Bevere's son about,50 or 55." Rut, trs Captain tle Bevere clid not a,rrir-e in Cervlon until the cncl of 1708. his son could not possibly ha,ve been morc tharr 45 or.lti in i755. t llr. de Yos a,dcls the narnes of soveral descendanis of this couple" } Wl-rat Loten says, hc'.i1,-evcr (.u. s.), soerns to clisprove this. oS See also Cl. .{s. Soc" J}. xi. t16, rvlrere, lrorvevcr, tJre translation is ra,ther {i'ee. An exa,tuin:rtion tif the Drrtch lecolrls in Oolornbo would probably sottle the questiori.
,o seenrecl

* Loien, as quotecl bv illr. r'rrn .Flouten

:rbcir-e. savs that,

in

1755

"! tr'or he had noi tht' oxcrrse tirat j*stifiecl ilre berravior* of a* 'r'hich ''rlrilier ar'bas5nd61-a solclier t, boot-rrer-LricrLs 'a' Rrstr,rr'elt in. 1''7[ ("eo C. -4,s. Soc. Jt. xi" 3iI-?6, Iinox llast *]cl. ltili.

'r

Besclt.r. ,oqn

Bever:e ik:o-* noi.,tlppetu. tlr {lat.e boel punisheti. ra:leL to have becn pro'iotccl, rreed.,rot s.rpi:iso *s: cornpare il._. ]',rt i'il!i) ol C)\.crschie nnd Thvssen in 1645 (see C, -\s. ilcic. Jl, xviij. Igg anrl

r Ibid. 41.1. li lbid. ?hat de t.

146).

Bat. 4lb,

1iil)
._

,i [r-nless, incleccl, it, tro frorii il'tlch a,rch.ives in Colornbo.

t]re \\:llr,,.encia,rJ r.ltLrrclL re.or,ds:r*d thc

')44

",.ruR\AL. R.-{.s.
3(l

{clEY-t,oN).

[Voi,. XIX.

rJo. 5E.-- t.9()7..]

.,o-r\

(+rDEoj\: r,o.rEN. ]r..n.s.

2-t5

I735
r 741

April

I-.'s eldest chilcl dies.

I740 6*10 Nov"

L. rnakes excut'siotr inland, l-. returns to Ratavia.

L. leaves Batavia for Macassar: as Govetnor. I-. arrives at, lfat:assar as Governor. N.
1. 1,. leavcs Macassar lirt 1,. serrt as cottrtuissar-y

::r.ii,rch
'i'

ir,lcis, u'hich are the disa,ppointingly mengre result of tlic re" r harre mrr"cle in,rl1 the sourccs ilrnt seemecl lik*l't.
ic"ld

infornration.*

1741 ? Mar' ,, 24 Mar. 11747 Dec.l

1,. appointecl councillor extraordinary of Batavia' to Rat,avia'

iirgi' Frolla'd in June of tliatvear. rre*asilreni'ilreprime.

As u,e htr,vc see', T,oten lcft the llast fr,rr good

i'

ITbg, arriv-

r.750

li7 Oct.l 17"o2 [Mar.] April t ,, ,. 19 Julv

L. r'etLrrns to Batavia.l T,.'s tJ-auglrtcl rnarlied at Rai,avia to Ditk Willerl van der T3rugghc'n. L, leavcs Bat,avia frrr Ceylon as Govetnol'.
1.,. :r,l''-ives

1754

,,

ltO Sept.

at Colornbo.

24 Mar.

I-.'s grandson born at, Colornbo'

tr-.

1,, 1?55 30 July ". I0 Aug. I ?56 l5 May 175'i 18 Mar.

r 758

Oct.l

appointccl councillor otclinary of India'

L.'s grandson dies at Colornbo.

1,.'s u'ife dies ab Colombo"

rieri&in.i trn that yea,r \tas pubtishecl thc seconcl part of Flcirr-ards's GlecLnings of Natura,l History, ancl in the list of ;;'lbscribers to thc .w.ork, prefixed to tliis part, appear..s the li:r,nre of, " John tlideon Loten, Esq."
'l'lie Roval Fiociety, in recognition of thc sclvices thu,t Loten trilc:l rendered to the cause of science, this same year (1760) r,irnfcrterl upon him the honour of their fellor,r-ship. His cer:tiiicirlc,$ a copv of r,r-hich I owe to the courtesv of lfr" ,Robt.

rirs.t Hc rvas therefo'e able to devote his rvirore tinre to tris ravourite study of natural history, and to carr.y on cor.re''Fo*clence on the subject rvith various Europear natur:r,list,s. tr-\ihrrt his immediate movcments u'ere, after his arriva,l in !{riiland, I cannot say; but that he x,as in England in l760 is

i;i trife. '*'a's possessed of co'siderable means, and had no fanrilr,

Juttt:
I 763 r 765

1774
775 r77G
1

4 July 7 Oct. 4 Nov.

17 l'eb. 7 llar. tr3 June 13 Oct.

[,.'s claughter dies at Baiavia. L. lcaves Ceylon for Batavia. L. lcaves lJatavia for f{ollarrcl. 1,"'s son-in-larr lea'l"es Batavia fo.r Holland. 1,, arrives in l{ollancl. .1,. visit's Iranoo for: health. 1,. marriecl at llanstead to Lctit'ia Cotes.

177'.l
r

L.'s son-in-lav" dies at Utreclrt. L. leavcs for Cape of Good HoPe. L" arrives at Cape of Good HoPe' L. leaves Cape of Good Hope for Holland.
L. aruives at'I'exel" 1,. beclueat.hs painbings, &c', to Dutch Society of Sciencos' Haatlerrl. T,. dies at Llt'redit.
T,.'s r.r"irlorv rlitrs.

" "l'he eorrcspondcnrc trnd monoirs ol sorne of thc nren of srience lr' livccl in t]rc latter lrrr,l{ of ihe eightecnt}r r,cntur,.1. ruay possibl.y rlrrrill SOme fireltion o{ Loterr. i I{is tu.o grarrd.l.}ildron accr:r:npaniccl their father. i li-hu,t he v.as in Englancl in 175! seerits ovident ftorn tlre {:r,ct t}rat ., lie o1l Edl-:rrds's pla,tcs, painlccl {rorn spccirrrcns beliutrine to T,oterr"
.,

.r'r

,1atectr

in th:rt !o:rr

(sce

further on).
1!1.

77S

178f) 25 tr'eh" 1810 I I .lrurc

that l\Ir. vrn Houten gil'es no irr{ormation regardin[! Loten's history from t]re tirne of his birtir until his cXeparture for tlre llast fnclies in his tn'enty-seconcl yea,r ; and I am unable to t'hrou' any }ight on tiiis period of his life' Nor ca'rr r adil to thc cletails furnishecl b5' Mr' van Houten {'oncerring Loten's eareer in t}re East, beyond those I have given in foot'notes to his i,rvo papers" As regalcls the third ancl longest portiolr of his li{e,I r:a'n supply a few additjonal
r.r'ill have becn nobicecl

It

' rrrarirln in the .llritish ]{uscum (h 1772 principal libi:lrir:lrr, iri l?62 ; i'ci.gn secret'ary,andinlT6Sprincipalset:retaryof fheiloyal Sorietr,). : ,.,r':ir l{night rvtls the first prr'ncipa) librarian of thc Britis}i }[usernrr, 'i,,nr its fixndtr,tion in 1756 rrntil his death in i772" (Soer Dict. o/ tVat. liir',i. lcgtr,rcling tr,il {our rnerr.) ,Iean Njcolzrs S6bastien Alla,mrrnd, a
.ir'.r:s-s. 'v&s

r',rriairt. anclGeorgo Edr'vards. The last of thoservas the autlrrr.ol tlre ,r,,r,!ig 3h,....1t rnentioned and rnore fully dealt rvith bclou," 'l'he Rer.. l-i,!rlrr:1s llirch rvas secrelr:lry of the Roval Society, 1752.-8ir. JI:r,ttlierr, Lrrt..t. !l fellcirv-corrntrvnran of, Loten's, rvas at this tinre ari rrncler,-

,'Ii

is,si..rnr:d

bv Professor,\1lamand,

Maty. Th. Birr,!r,

{,ioryjrr

'i, r'iety

r:i., o1'Franeker in Friesland. I{e

iri

1l,r',r'oring ,rrecFers -Alla,nranda.

plofessor ofi phiiosopliy :rnd natural liisi:ory at',he tnivcrrv:rs elocted tr, fellou'of thc R,oval l?46. IIis ntr"ure is pcrpetrrated in that of the gonrrs of

. rifterr bv irinr.

Eviderrtly thc above ceriifieate

rvir,s

(See fnr.tlrer regruding ]riur

in

Norr,o,

Bioo. (il.n.. ii.\

246

JOUR,NAL,

Ii.A.s. (CEYLON ).

[Vor,. XXX.
a,S

i{o.58.-1907.]

JoAN c+rDrroN LornN, r.R,.s.

247

llarrison, Assistant Secretary of the

follorvs

.R,oyal Society,* runs

:-

Monsieur Joan Gideon Lot'en, a-cien Gouverneur de Ceylon, est un homme si distingu6 par sa naissance, par les emplois donb iI a 6t6 revetu, par son m6rite et ses belles connoysances dans. dif6rentes parties de Ia Philosophie, qu' il ne peut que faire hopneur i, toute Soci6t6 Literaire qui Ie reconnoitra pour un de ces rnembres. J' ose dire en particulier que sa profonde estime pour la Soci t6.R61'6,lls de Londres et pour les excellens ouvrages de ceux qui la compose le rend bien digne d'6tre aggr6g6 i, cet lllus-

tre

Corps.

Transl,ation.

Mr. Joan Gideon Lol,en, former Governor of Ceylon, is a ntan so' distinguished by his birth, by the offices wit'h which he has been
invested, byhis meritand hisfine attairunent,s indifferent branches of Philosophy, that he cannot but, confer honour upon any literary society that shall recognize him as one of its mernbersI may say in particulat that his profound esteem for the Royal Society of London and for the excellent, works of those that, compose it, render hirn very worthy of being added to that, illustrious
body.

had f.aken a house in Nerv Burlingtorr Street, in the heart of London, as a permanent residence. That this was the case is evident from the follorving notice of the death of Loten,s rvidorv fortv-five years laterg (Gent. Mag.lxxx. (lgl0) 672\ :_
June I l In New Burlington-street, tlie wid.orv of John Gideon Loten, esq. formerly Governor of Ceylon, and grand_riaughter tro William Lord Digby.

lesidence, apparentlv, of his bride,s widor.ved mother) to Let_ f ir:e Cotes,f lr.hose father, the R,ev. Dr. Digby Cotes.ll rras corrnected u.ith the peerage; and further, that Loten

for 1765 (vol. xxx. p. 3a6j :_ 'Julv 4. John Gideon Loten of Nerv Burlington-str. U*q;_1,6 Miss Coates, neice [sic] to the counfess of Northington. ilaking the above lr,ith n,hat l\{r. van Houten tells us, it scenrs that Lot,en rvas married at Banstead in Surrey (ihe
Magazine

rrrr,turalized,* learning to use the English language like his tongue, and marrying an Itrngliih wife. llhis last fact 'rother .\{r. rran Houten has mentioned above ancl it is recorded in ; t,lre follon'ing notice, rvhich I copy from the
Gentleman,s

On 27th November Loten was balloted for and e-lected, and on llth December was admitted as a Fellow of ihe Royal

d.rnestic life

ifhat this marriage u'as childless is certain; but of Loten,s r kno*' alr'ost nothing. A somervhat cursory

Societv.f

at this time that Loten took up his residence at l-ulham, as referred to by l\{r. van llouten above ; though rvhen that resiclence began, and how long it continued, I have not been able to cliscover.f lrr any case, it is certain

It

rvas doubtless

that he spent a numbef, of years in England,$ bpcoming almost

recorcls of the Royal Society, but has found no further roforence to Loten. f Loten's name appears for the fust time in the " l-ist of the Royatr Society " ior 1761, and (it should be noted) not amorrg the "persons of other nations," but as " John Gideon Loten, Esq." confains no reference to l,oten. $ In 1763, as Mr. van Ilouten rnentions, he visited France for tho herrefit, of his lrealttrr.

,.,r::Jnt

other than his lovo of science that led hirn to resiile in England. Tho .elaiions of the English and Dutch in the East u'ere at this periocl s()rrre\vhat strained (seo Willson's Led,ger and Suoril ii. 140_3) and ; [,oten's pro-]Jng]ish iikings co'ld hardly have tended to increase the a,iTection of tl're N. E. I. Co. towards him. Letitia, as Mr. van Houten I'ras it. Lettico v'as a Digby famiiy

* Notico ho'lr'. in the authorities I quoie, his name is alrvays gi.r,on in il'glish form, I cannoi help thinking that Loten hacl somJ reason

* l{r. I{arrison has also made a search anong t}re

f Mr. C. J. Feret's elaborate work, Fulham

ONd,

and Netu (1900),

:f ln the notice of his death, llth Jamrary 174t5, in lhe Gent, Mag. xv. he is thus doscribed:-,,R,ev. Dr Digby Coates, rector of Coleshill, -1\'rurvickshire, prebendary of Litchfield, and principal of Xlagdaten E.all, Oxford." For further particulars regarding }iim, others of the llotes (or Coates) family, their connection with tho Digby family, and Coleslrill, see Foster's Aturnni, Ononienses, Early Serios i. 832, iater $sries i. 301 : (1ent. Mag. lxiii. (f?98) 289-4: Dngdale's Antiquities of

ii!,

\\:;rndcksh:lro ( lTBg), 1006-20. $ And just over a hur:dred years after Loten,s birth, so(.roud l{r's. Loten v'a,s born, I Jiave not discovoled-

\Then tho 36-07

248

.lol n\.\t,. H..\.s. (( l:\ l.()\).

lVor.. X1X.

)io. i8.--1907.1
r.i,-,a,r,

JoAN (iurror- r,o:url... r.n,.s

J4t)

perusal of Loten's lengthy rvill* and tliat r-rf his n'icklu- at Somelset House has {urnis}ied utc rvith s,rrtte interesting cle-

tails

his I find, among narncd Sity, a nat'ive householctr a fa,ithful llernale frei'd slal'e of Celebes. It t,ould tlppear, judging frotn the dates of the various codicils, that Loten's lcsidence in .England continued until about 1?81 or 1782,5 and tliat a,fter that date he settled dorvn in or neal Utrecht, lvhere, as Mr. van Hout'en lias stated, his brother Arnoucl t'as burlomaster,ll anil his tr'o grand-

it

rvoulil tlilorv a good deal o{ lig}rt upon Loten's family }ristory.

ancl u'ere

the fonner" tlocunient

col-riecl

and printedf

and rvhel'e. in :rll plobn,bilit.1,, shc *,as.brLr.n, ifhat, l,itten $'&s possessed of c',siderable proper,ty. i' Hcllla'cl as * cll as in ltrngland, is amply pr.oved by the nrany and yaiua,ble
ir.rluests* devised
,,,

otlier particulars, lhat Loteu had in

by him in his u-il} and its

half-cloze*

childrentf probablv
Holland

visitecl UtrecJrt at some period rve knou- from her will.* x After her husband's cleath, at, any rate, \vc may be sure tliat she once more took up her: abode iri Nerv Burlington Street, rvhete, as rve have seen, she died. Her body t'as doubtless buried, as in her u'ill she desircs it to be, in the chancel of the church at Coleshill , of thich her father liad for so manY years been

livecl. That Mrs. Loten also lernoved to is probable, though I liave no proof of it; but tliat she

to Loten's collection of paintings. I have saicl thc second part of Edlr,ards's Gleanittgs of l{cttural, ltfi,story, in u'hich Loten's nalne &ppeal,s a,s a subscriber,, rvas yLrblishcd jn 1760. The third and last par.i rvas issuecl in i764; atrd in the list of subscr.ibers ri.e {incl ,,John Gjdeorr l,otcn, IXstl ; n'.R.S, 2 lJoohs." But an examina,tion of the r,olume shorl-s us that Lotcn hnd done more than subscribe to iitc rvork; for at page 229,f in chap. cvi.. rvliich clescriLres 1rl:i,l,o 316. "'I'he Clreat Blacl< Cocheitoo,":j. w.e read :* 'lhis figure rvas la,kcn frorlt i-1, rlrarviug\ d,rrre frorn thclife, o1 ils natural size, by t]:re ortler: of John Gideorr [,ot,ern, Itrsq; Iate
(

u'iicils. l!"or.v as ;ilrtrye tlrat

iorrer:nor in the lsiand of Coylon, and clt,lrer L)ut.ch settlerncnt.s in

lire lJast
orlrious
rno

1o ar:knou'lcdge bhe
lJowor to assist rne

Indies. I shall takc this earliest opportunity gratcfully liigh obligations I orve to this rrrorlhy and I Gentleman, as ht: hath cont,ributed every tliirig in liis

\\iith the r-aliorts codicils, il, covcrs some l6 folio pnges. The wiil itself is dated in 1767, the r:odicils bear various dates dorrn to a,lmost ihe -veal oil l.oten's death. thc later one'q bcilrg transl:rtions fi'otrt the
x
DrLt'oh.

in the r:ompletion of this lvork, by furnishing with many new and curious rratural specirnens in high preserr-r.i,tion, as well as curious drawings after nature. IIe has also

'f lln{oltrLn.ately, thc notes L had ma,cle u-ele .irltpt-irLndecl by a soulless official on the gloturd that, tlrey $'el'e " !'01-e11ue ": hence I ha,ve to lel.y orr rly rnell]ojlY j: l\Irs. Loten's l'ill c'artrrot l:e cnpioil. a,s it {a1lsr'r,ithin the plesclibed
inc.idenb of Loien's later rvork qgrotecl abor.e, Mr. van Tilouten has ornittccl to ntcntion" namely, that in I 7?5 Loteri u'as in colrcspondence rvith the noted hydrog*rapher James Dalryrlple regarding a map of Cclebcs (dor.r}:tless the ono in l9 shects by Jcan }Iichel Aubert spoken of abovo). ll This fact is also mentioned in Lotcn's t'iil, from t'hir:h, moreovor, lvo letarn thnt, AlnotLd had a son and a cltr.ughter", t'hcforn:er boing ir namesalie oI Lotel's ,li These, a son. rntl a daughto'r' of Dirk l\iiliern van der l3rugghen,

period. $ Comptrle

$'(retly obligerl the curious Jl of these kingdorns, by presenting to tlil British Museurn a very large, curious, and valuable coilection rtf' n1i*ilrot Drawings, in ivater-colours, of the raos1, curious Anirrrals, lregetables, &c" the productions oi Inclia ; togetirer witir ti:;ln-v specirnens of thc nal,ural productions, rvell preserr"ed ; all
rtirich have becn helps to rne.

l-lratl"orstcr

sil,)rs. itr tltr: erttact clttotod belotr'. Orro r.e:rrs. recorded by Ilobiciir r':rn der An in tho

I Arnong t'hese are some Ceylon " cruios," A valuable r:ollection ,ri shells made by him nlrs. Loten bequeathed. to his nepher.r. or grandson
.Irn not sure which). Loten also hacl a number of valurlble books, wlrich he left by his will to olre or other of these. As regards his natural hir;torv paintings, see furthor on.

(l

'i' The pagination is continued lrom the previous pn'rts, this part

lrcr^rinning
:1.

are loferred to by Loten in his rvill. The clauglrtel mtrrliod (if my llomory is t:orlect) ;r lh. \\rilrnersdot'f, frour l.hom she trftoltlards
seip:rlatec{.

This plato is dated l5t1i Ociobor 176l' (Tho plates, it rvill be Llo.rl, are arlangecl scientilically, not chroriologicaily.) I See ndrt-r,t is stated below in the descripbiou oi plal;o 338" : T'his rvord hns hele one of its obsolete nreil,rrings-stuclious, diligont,
,!1 0{i.i(1,.

rvith p.

221"

\\-hi(.ll she leavos lahrable lings to tu'o ltrrlies rlJro rrerc liincl hol in a,*clious illness tlrat shc bacl tr.lron. irr [:tlcr-'ht.

** In

tcr

! llllrtrt is, ctinn,:i"seurs^

r .)

250

JOTTRNAL,

Ii.A.S, (CI]YLOI* ).

[Vor,.
i)21

XIX. "
The

\,' .jt{.--1907.1 ,ro.\\ cn)1,.():\ "

-r'he Hoopoe,"*

t.(),r't.;\. t.,H.{

251

Green Pye of the Isle of Ceylon,"* \'61 1'sa,d ;This bird rvas b'-otrght,, ivi1,h rnarr.l otherso {r'oru thc East, Indies, by' John Gideon Lolen, Estl; F.lt,.S. late Governol of Coylon, fts. rvho p'-esonlc,d therrn t,o llie Bli.lish J{nsentn, r'rrliere they nop
rr:rna,in.

Agairr, on pp. 237-8, chap. cxi., clescrilling pltr,te

On pp. 282-3, chap. cxxxv., is a descripiion of plate S4b,

in lvhich rve read :-

(,',,.)'lon

ii,

tailed Pye,"t

An p. 244, chap. cxiv., ilesclibing it is st,irtecl :--

p1a,te 1324,

" lllhe

Shbrt-

'LLro bird holc ligured anc[ ilcscribecl lva-" blrlugltt, bY Corrernor l,oten {t:orn t]te Islttnd o1. Oo1'Ion,.ttc1 i5 6}e-:pcisitccl in t.lre Rritish

(iovernor of the Island of Ceylon. Again, on pp. 285-7 , chap. cxxxvii., plate 34'l , " The Reclhreastcd Ch'cen Creeper," &c.,f is described, and we are told
la,tc i hr

in l,hc East, Intlics. I have seen a vcly exact clrawing o{ to size, shape, and colour, done frorn the iife in the East l.rrilies bv the procurement of John Gidcon Loten, .Esq ; F.ll .S.
as

lt

is an lnsect-cater, and is found (perhaps in v'inter only) in

.l{useurri.

t-'

On pp. 245-b, c,liii,p. cxr-.. dcscribing plate 1325. " 'I'he Crested

lrig. L lras brought frorlr the Capo of Good Hopr-. by Govcrnor

Long-ta,iled Pyc,"l. \\'e afe told :*This eurious bircl r.vas Ll'oughb flotn i,ho lsiantI c,f Co;'lorr b;r rny rl.ort'hy.frientl John Cideon Lot,eu, Esq; arrcl is norv preserved in
t,he

British l{user-rrn. Yet again, on pp, 217*8, chap. cxrri., in tl'hich i.. descr:ibed plate 326, " The Blue.Iay fronr tlte East Indies,"$ it is said :Tlier subjecrt irtlrn rvhich f ch'arv llry figuro I'as br"ouglrt lrorn Ce1'1er. by Jolrn Gideon Loton^ Escl I and is rrorv prcselved in tho Ilritish Museu'.rr. Tiren, on pp, 269-70. cirtr,p. cxxviii., dcscribing plate 338, " The Great Crol'ned Inclian Pigeon,"]l Edl-ards sa,ys :.This l3ircl, and bhat figrLred Pla. 316, are all that have been ligured frorl clrarvings in t'hese last fift'y platos of rny rvork : but, as they \rere nerv to me, anrl the testirnon;, oi their aut'irerrlicity rnost undoubted, I rvas glad of an opportunity to engtave them,
The original is one of t'hose that, Governor Lotcn before-mentioned to be drarvn fronr. the life in India, and is uorv depositod, rvith many others brought frorn thencen in the British Musourn' IIr. Loten.brouglrt' several of thern aliva {rorn .tnclia,'ll and presenl,ed them to the lat'e Princess Iioyal of Great lfrit'ain, Dol'ager Priucess of Orange, &c.
caused October I759. f I'late clnted 6th October I759. Cf. Lotou's Lernarlis ot this bircl, rlrrobed by Mr'. vnn }lorrtcn in his first paper. ]: Piate datec{ 4th .\prit 1760. It, bears a loference to Iinox's Historical Rel.ation. p. 27, and in. tlio lottr;lpress the passago is rluoted Ir'('rn l(nux's \tuIli. $ Plate datccl J0tli Soptember' [7i-r9, Piate <latecl Sth Or:bober l.7G[. fi See the stlttorlout in i\{r'. r-an IIoLrtorr'-q frrst pa,pcr',
clatecl

l.ltcn, and i-q nou' lodged in the Britisli l'Iusenrn. lninally, on llp. 299-300, chap. clxiv.. rlescriiiirrg plrrte 3511, '"'l'he Little Sparrou', ilnd the \V:r,x-bi1J."f it is statecl :-. 'i'lrr, Wax-bi1l lrra,s brou.glit, f lonr tlre lIast Inrlit s b1' .Iohn (.litlerorr
I"r,rr"n, Ilscl

F"l{.S.

i h:rve quoted tirese extracts for lrvo rea,srlns. In the lilsl p1ace. thw pror.e that )'[r. r'an Ilouten'-q assetticin, tirir,t, Loten's plat,es " did frequent ser:vice for lhose in tlie
rr',ll-linon.n u.ork of lld*'arcls, Gleaninrls ol l{aturol H'istory," is incorrect ; since Edwards liinrself states distinclly that hc use* only two o[ Loten's (really de Bevere's) drarvings for lri,i liook, the other six plates being drau'n from specimens in .[,rirrn's collection. But I have made these quotations chiefly
tr: ,rilal. attention to lhe statement, in tlie first extract, lvhich i" r';'pea,ted in brieler form in nlo$t of the other passages, to tlie r iit'r:t that Loten liad presented to the British Museum$ " a vt r']- iarge, curious, and valuable collection of original Dran'itr*s. in $'ate,r-colours, o{ the rnost aurious Animals, Vegetables,

lir', the productions of Inclia; together ri'ith niany specillri.'ns of the natural productions, $-ell presel'ved"" I have
It!;rde irrqu'r'es
n,r;,.l

x This pLate is

lst

in various departments o{ tlio Eritisir J\{useum, searched corltenpora,ry rec,ords, printed and ntanuscript,
lst
Septernber

"

.Plrio cll,teil

1759. lt is not copiod fi'om

a Ceylon

:;tr.r.i rnoLr.

' l'lrrte cla.tocl 29th December 1760. I Plate dated 27th April 1761, r I'lrb fJi'itish l.l.irserutr lrad boort oltln(xi ')lrl.\, ;i frw (r' !;.".!lr irr \lr)tirr1.;rr0 Hrtul-

villitt".; lri:f,rt'r'

I
252
.r0tIil,NAl ,. tt,.,\.s. ((itil\]l,0N
)

[Vor. XIX.

No. 5li.--19()7. | ,t().\N (ll l)Flo\ t,o'trtl-\. r'.n.s

On p. :t2 llrou rr sT)cir,lis of " rttY \\'olthv Pa,tlrln .lolur (liclcon Loten, I)sq.; " and flonl liis statements tliroughout the u'orli $'e find thab in all 20 plates * are copies rnade flom Loten's (de Bevere's) drarvings, the majority being representations of
Oeylon birds"f Seven years a{ter thc appearance of Bro*'n's book there rvas published, in 1781, at Halle in Gerrnany, a folio volume by thc

in tlre libraries there, but can find nc tt'itce, not'oven t' mention, of any such collection.* I cannot, but'think, therefore, that Edwards rvas uncler some misappreLension regarding the collection, t'hich may have been placed by the orvner in the British Museum on loan temporarily. In any case, $'e shall find that many of Loten's drarvings rvere utilizecl for t'orks Iater than Edrvards's; and from the tletails given by NIr. van Houten it seems absolutely certajn birat the c<ilection of paintings of rvhich lie is the fortunate po$sessor is the very srrrno a$ thaf refelled to bv Eclrr'artls. Ildrvards died in l77l]; and in 1?7{i appeatcd a n'olk intcnded, evidently, as r srippleu.rent to his tl'o books, but verY inferior to theti in the execrution of tlie platers.t llllris rvas tlie lYeLu lllu,strntions of Zoc,logq. by Pcter Br:ou'n,j lho itr his
preface savs

eminent naturalist and traveller, Johann Reinhold Torster, bearing tiie title Intlisch,e Zoologie, a,nd containing fifteen coloured plates, u,ith detailed descriptions in Gernlan and [,atln, of birds, &c.] From the preface I translate the follorv-

:*

Several plates are co1.riccl frtlm t'[rc elegant..Drar,'ings, generously comrnunicated to rne by Ciitleon Loten Esq; and originally finished under his own inspection frorn living subjects, during hi3 residence in the Islands of Java and Ceylon, of the lat'ter of which he has been G-overnor lor a considerable tirne'

ing passages :-I r. Gideon Loten, li'ho loved t,o investigate n.ature, occupied himself much therein, and with much assiduily also learnt, the art of depicting objects o{ nature; when he was appointed by t'ho Dutch East India Company Governor of the isiand. of Ceylon he founcl in tl'ris islancl a large field for invest,igating 1,he secrets ol
nat'ure, and he applied hirnself thereto u'ith great zeal and extra-

orclinarv diligence, as often as his itrcurnbeni public

irermittccl hinr.

To this is appended the follorving footnote :-_ A. Certificate in N[r Loten's owli hancl-rn'rit'ing, declaring the Tllates faithful copies of his valuable l)rawings, is in the hands of Mr Benjarriin White, Fleei-street, for the Inspection of such Pe-L'scrns who should iike to be convi.nced oI their Au-thenticity.

dr:awing ; natur:alists unknolvn Ceylon animals. A{ter a laudably condtloted :r,drninistration he r'eturnecl to Eulope, arlcl brouglrt rvith hirn also a,ll 1,he beaut,iful 1:rictrlres o{ anjrnals. T{e afterwardg marrierl a

d.nties He instructed -qever:al slaves$ hirrrsell in the art of and caused. to be paint,ed by l,hcm various .nerv and tr:

t Nor has a soarch instituted at the r\atural History lluseum at South Kensington proverl allv more successful, as Dr. llowdler Sharpe l<incliy infonns rne. t Inhis preface Brou'n speaks of his " feeble efiorts;" but this may he mor:k modesty. Compare Legee's disparaging rernarks qrtoteci in the footnote at the end of Mr. r'an Houten's firsf, paper. f Fennant, it lnis Lite,raru LiJe (25), savs:-" Il this }'car [1776] Peter Brown, a Dane by birth, an.d a' r'ery neat linner, prrblislted his
drawings to
Lre

being Oeylon unless oth.errvise statecl) :-Br:orT'n Haq'k, Spotted Cultrt:ui, Reclr'rJrvnecl Barbet, Oli'e-colou'i:d \Va.blcr, Yell.lr'-c1eei;ed Barbet'' (Jr:ylon lSlaok-cap, .Javan Partriclgc' Purple Pigeon (Jar-a), Pornpadore I'igeon, Yellou,-faced Pigcon,Yellorv-cror'vned'Ihrusjr (Ceylon and Java)'

x Sorne of these are datecl I 774 and i 775' | l['he birds copied frorn Loton's clra$'in's are as follot's (ail

engraven, beir-rg of bilds painted in Inclia,. I patronized Brown, ck'ew up the grt'a,test pa,lt of t'lie descliptionfor him" but hacl not tbe least concern in tLe preface." (llfhe nreaning of the iast clause is, that, Pennant, is spoken of iri llattorin.g ternis in ihe ploface.) In iris Catal,o11u,e ol XIlt Worhs ilTBii) Perrnanl gives tlte salrle facts irr hriefep

illustrations of natural hisl,ory in lalge quarto' with L. piates. At irl.y tecommondation, lfr. Loten 1ent, to hinl the greatcst pari of the

Yeiiow-ventecl Fl"v-ca,tcher (Java), Il'ect-vented \Valbler', Yellowbreastetl Fly-catcher, Creon Warbler, Pinl<-coloruecl \\rarbler, Green \trragtail, Rail (two plates). One Ceylon brrd, tho Great Ceylonese n,riu.l O-1, is not saiJ to be copiecl frorn a plate of Loten's ; bui, as the i:rtter's narne is mentionetl in connection with it, 1lte rnay infer that it also is t,aken from a painting in Loten's colletrtion'

i0tlrt,

f A seconcl edition rvrs issuo,l in 1795, contain.ing some adclit'ional rnattor. but tlio platcs and destrriptions being iclent'ical. de $ This is probably a misapproliension, As far as lve know' only pe}son employed by Loten in the erocution of hie Ilcvere $,as the paintings, an<l her ll'as certa,in.ly not a o'sia've''' (Ocimpare' ho'lvever' Penuant's s[ateu]ont quoled iI1 the frt<itlotr: ]rclotr'')

254

Jouri,NAL, R.A.s.

(cEyLoN).

[Vol. XIX,

No. 58.-190?.'] Jo..rN clDDoN lornN,

John Gideon Loten, Esq

tr,,R.s.

255

British lacly, ancl was wont

whole years in Engiand. Baronet Joseph Banks, tho presen.t presidcnt of tire Royal Society of Sciences in London,x sawthese pictures rvith Mr. Loten, and with the permission of the owner caused several of thern t,o bo copied. Soon afterwards hor,vever he resolved, by the advrlcc of his friend Mr. Thomas Pennant, with the concllrrrence of Mt, Loben, to have a selection of tlrese pictures r,vell cngraved in copper at their own joint, experrse. This lvas a singularly fortunate occutrence, for when IIr. Loten subsecluently sent, 1,hese paintings by ship to Holland, the ship rvas r.weckecl, and all the paintings

to

trive rnan-_v rnonths and indeed

were

lost,.

Fifteen copperplates liad already been engraved, and twelvo

of tliem described by Mr. Pennant, from Mr. Loten's written notes. when Mr. Banks in the year l 768 left for the South seas, and began rvith Captain Cook the voyage round the .r,v"orld. Orring to nrv prsence in England f rvas comrnissioned t,o translate Mr. Pennarit's descriptions into French, which riommission I und.ertook

cdition very liighly impr:ovecl, and translatecl into Latin

German...,.

; a governbr in Ceylon; ancl mvself. Twelvo only were engraved and published : soon a{t,er lvhich bhe undertaking appeared so arduous that, the tlesign was given over, It, would be injustice t,o IIr. Loten not to say that the etchings are taken from his fine collection of drawings made in lnclia : for: iie alleviated thc cares of life rvith th., delicio.s purs'its of tho study of nature. I prevalecl [sic] on nrv t.wo friencls t,o unite rvith *re i' presenting the lcarned John Iicinholcl Forstcr lvith the plates. I also bestowed on him tlree othels ongraven at rny own expense, before tlie r,vork rvas dropp6d. These r.vere ne\rer llublished in England ; but u"hen Dr. Forst,er left oul island, irc 1,ook the r,l'holc u'-itir liim, arrd in l?Sl printecl, at,Halle, in Saxony, an
n,nd

rtith much

first trvelvc copporplates. After I'Ir. Balhs hacl rcturned from his long vovage, hc with Messrs. Loten anc{ pclnant presented me, for the tr:oubie T had had over the translation, with tlie on'nershilr
o{ the coppelplates. t,ogetJter. r.r.ith the descriptions of them.

readiness ancl great care. Only as NIr. Pennant lrustecl an illiterate unknown Frencli teacher more than me, the tr'rench, w'hich rvae fuii of errors, rras pr.intecl in f{ngland to the

nol F<u'stel. st:ites the f:r<rt. the tlie fifteen plates* above spoken of $,as Jleter )Iazeli:t ancl it $'as in the execr_rtiorr of tliese that this man ltla,ved sncll prank-q l-ith tlie origin:rl rlmu:ings ler-rt bv T,oten
engraver of
He also sia)rs:,-(; I l-as indrrcecl tii preft;l ihn,t fzoologr,l of India from rny acclrraintancc n-ith John Cideon [,oten, t_,sc1. who had lons boen a tro\/ernor in rnolc than one of the Dutch islantls in the Inclian ocean, and rvith tr, laudable zeal had ernployed seyeral rnost accurate artists jn tlciineating, on tire spot. thc birds :rncl other subjects of natrrral his, tor"v. He of{cr.ed to rne the tse of thorn jn a rnanncr that shorved l.ris libera,l trn:n." ('lhen follorv details sirniltlr to thosc given abor-e.) Pcnn:r,nt riglrtl;' cralls tire firsi editiorr a .,fragrncnt.', sinco it h:rs no titio-ptlge or proface, and enris abrupbly at, p. 14. * lfhey are as follou.s :.-i. The Long tailed Scluirrel ; ii. T3lach and Write X'alcon; iii. lfhe Little Horn Orvl ; ir-. Tl-re Red lYoocl-pecker : r'. 'llre Faciated (iourorrcou ; r'i. illhe recl-headed Cnckoo ; r'ii. 'Jlhe bkichoapped Pigeon; viii. 'I'ho illa,ilor: Bird; ir. The red-tailed ![,-ater-]Ien; :r. Tlie v']ritc-headed Ibis; xi. Thc black-backed Goose; xii. l]he blackbellieri Anhinga

Tliough neither Pentrant

'fhe staternents macle b.]' Tot*t"r in the above exNr:act ar.e largelv borne ou1, bv Pennant,, who. in the " advertisernent ',Jprefixed tcr the seconcl cclition (1790) of ltrs Inrlian Zooloo,11,
saYs

:*

This q"ork, ur,r'atlL,r fragruerrt,, q.as begun in thc I'ear iT6g.1: The descriptive part, fell to my s.har:e : the expense of the plates rvas divid.ed bertrreen. lllr. Ranks, rrorv Sir Joseph l3anks, Bai'onet, ;
Barrlis tlrr,s r,hosotl trs president, of {ho fiol'atr Societl, in lT7g. and rvas crezrted a baronet in I781. t Dated lst l'[tr,rc]r. I791 , shorving that the wor.li .was pnblished later than the iitle-pa.so (ar e1)gr.avecl one bv l{:r,zeil) sttrtes. ,llhis is confirnred lry s.hat Pennant hinrself says in his .Li,t. Lr).fe yt.4{1. :L lt nr.st ha'e bcen in the early part of l TtiS ls.e trbrster's statelrer)t tu,prrt). InlisUa,talo(Ju.eo.f fuI'qltlorks (li9{;) Perrnant sa\.$: (! hr 1761. my India,n, Zoology in folio appeared." (Then |ollou. scme of the dertails gir"efl above.i ?hc tlatt'here given is, lrorver:cr,, aln (tlxrious rt,uor.
since. in

I xiii. Spottecl-billed Ducli, The iliger Shar.k, and The ; xv. Flanrmeous Flyratcher. All ol theso :rre frorl Ceylon spccimens, except iv. and vii. -f' Br.yan's Dict. ol Painters cLnil, Enqrcmers (norv ecl. by G. C. \\-illiarns, t90-t) iii. ij0l) savs:-," -\Iazell, I?cter, an .Eriglislr ujgra\rer rvho flotrrishcd in tlre ser:rinrl palt of tlie l8lh centur'\. and u'olliecl for Pc-.rurant,
Clel'lon \Vrassc ; xir'" I)onble-spurred Partridee
:rnti Ro.i'doil. ancl u,ll tlre enqlavings in Clorclinei.'s 'Ruirrs andRoma,ntic ' (1792), ale b.y hirl." Pcnnant in his oi hi.s British 7'oology (1761;, says of the lrlates hr thrrt I'oili: ,,'l-hey rvete all ensrayen by iIr. Pe,ter }fazel, now living, r:f u'ltose sirill aud integrify.[ hacl alivtr-v. ,rr'c&sjon tci spea,k woll""

Prospccts in Nolth fJritain ['itera,rtl Lile l:]), speaking

lis ltit.

Li.ir: (9.-10) Pelrrairt tli-stinc1l1,.rsrJ;sns

!lie worli io

i?6,9.

2r,tG

r0t1nN.\r,. tt.A.s. ((rrtYLoN).

[-Vot. ,XIX.

No.

irti.

I 907.

Jo.\N

(:t r

r)

noN r,orrN.

to call for'lli the latter's lvratiiful ctmments cluoted by IIr. yan Houten in ]ris first paper.* But ryhat are \ye to think of l'orster.'s a$seltion, tha,t " u-lten llr. Loten subsequently sent these paintings by ship to Holland, the ship u'as n.recked ancl atl the paintingst ere lost " I cannot explain it; but that Lot,en's collection of naturaJ history paintings rvas nol lost, at sea or on land. is demonstrated by the facts mentioned by I{r. van I{outen, that, by a codicil to his rvjll , clatcd l3th October 17?8, lie bequeathetl the rvJiole collection to tttc l)ut<;h Society of Sciences at Haar lem, and that after lris decease in 1789 this body took possession of thenr. f have read the clauso in the codicil in question. arl(l therc can be no rloubt in the rnatter. Tiie paintings are there stated to bc in " a flat copper box," tr-hicli the testator requests to be pl:r,cecl insiclc a l'ooden casc for the better preservation of the valuable contents. The action of the Haar:lern Societv of Sciences in pat'ting r.ith such a valuable gift is strange. but is not n'ithout paralleJ in the history of other public institutions. lts loss, hon-ever. ]ras becn l{r:. van Houten's gain, and lie js to be congratulatecl on hi-u acquisition, rvhich he evidentlv appreciates ; nltile a, debt clf gratiduilc is due to him for collecting and publishing the interesting facts connected r-ith these paintings set forth in his two
:rs
?

Bevere, r'as born in Batavia, .lvhence he appears to have como cver to Ceylon some time previous to 2nd March l72l. On that date he married, ai Colombo, for the first time, Christina de Kelcq, natural daughter of Willem de Keicq (or Kelk), master sailmaker, b.\r one Anna Coere, tvho, to judge from hel narne. mtrst have becn of Portuguese descent. 'Ihe only issue of this marriase l'as lhe a,rtist Pieter de Bevere. who was baptized at Colornbo orr the 20th September 1722, n,ith the l1.rlles pit:ter

First, as regards the artist culty in identifying him as Peter cle Bevere, son o{ l)a,viil Willemsz de Bel'ere, an ossi.stunt in tlie Civil Service of the Dutch East India Cornpany. The father, David Willemsz de

r,.li,.s" 2oi de Bevere, I lra,ve hatl no diffi-

Comelis. ltavid Wiliernsz de Bevere aftelrvarcls rnatlo a second trtarria,ge, b.t' ri'hicli lre le{t, scl,eral otlier c|iftfu'e1. 'llhe record of Pietel de Bevere,s appointnrents in the
Cornpany's service is a,s follou.s :* 1743, appo.inted Assistant Land Surve.vor. cxr 10 guilders pel rnonth. 1748. advanccd to 16 guilders. 1754. advanced to 24 guilders. 1757, advanced to iiO griilders.

'PaPers'

D.

F,.

llemorandum bv N{r. R,. G. AwruoNrsz, Cey}on Ci overnn:rent Archivist. As a considerable portion of the paper relates to the per:sonal ]rand here tlic infomration that has bcen :-'r.lTordcd bv it. I have thus. I bclieve, cleared a\r-ay one or tso doubtful points u,hich l{r" Felguson confesses to Jre unable to furt}rer ehicidate,
:lnd to have corru,ted sonre trifline trncl oar,dolritb'lc.
erlor'.q.

histrtr:v of tu.o men r',-lro rret'e closclv a,ssociated rvith Ce.ylon, f have been at some pains to supplernent frorn materials at

'i'I'his is pt.or.cd b.1' thc faat that tlic

T'Iouteu oft:ulr.r1r tire rlran,ings of the
Orr'1,

rourar'lrs rltroted

ilailor

by -\h. van

whicli form p1al,o* r'iii, r'rt<l iii, in

llir,c'l arrtl tho ([,ittL-. Hort ?) Foritrilut'i: Intl.iara Zeriloey.

AII these promotions rvere in the usual order except the last, in 'n'hich he obtains the status and tlie salary corresponding to that of a, Boekhoud,er in the Civil Service before the expiration of his former bond, an indication, very probably, of the patronage lie rvas under. It *'as in tliis l:r,st vear tliat he is said to have accompanied Governor Loten to Batavia. I arn sorry I have failecl to get any further trace of him in the r.ecords; hut sufficient presumptive evidence of iris return to CJeylon is, I think, afforded by an old book ll'hich came into rny possession accidentally some fifteen vears ago. It c;outainsr studies in figure drarving from designs b;r tiie old Dutch artist Abraharn Bloemart, and appears to have at one time been the property of Pietcrr dc Bevere ; because. insctibed in ink, in a neat, and e.legant handnriting, on severa.l pages of tlie book. occur the worcls: " Va,rr Pieter de Rer.tre. Ratavia <1eri l0 Maart 1758,"8 There is also a, later cndorsenlent, ; " Den

* 'i

lJelorigs

l:ii Pir:t'r'r:le.llever'e, L{airivitL, lilill }l.ilrelr !7i:}8,"

,lOUB,NT\T,.

R.,\.S. ((:EYLON).

[Vor,,

XIX.

No. 58.-1907.-l

JoAN c:+rDlroN

LorrN,

F.R.s.

Eersten April 1799 gekogt door J. C. Holiebeek."x lllliis Hollebeek, it is knou'n, r,vas a resident at Galle about a hundred years ago. The presence of the book in Ceylon seems to me to be primri lacie proof of the fact that tire artist had returned here and had brought the book rvith him; although, f admit, tliere is also room for otlier theories more retnote,. as, for instance, of its having come here with his ef{ects after his <leath. The evidence afforded by this book is, hor.vever, not merely confined to tlie point I have referred to. It' rvould seem to give us furtlier g'limpses into the life and occupation of the artist. As the studie-q in the book are all o{ the human figure in its various parts and aspects, they must have provided hirn rvitir cxclcise in figure clras'ing ancl painting; and it is, I thinli, reasonable to suppose that his profe.<sion as an artist u.as not limited to t,he tlelinea,tion of natural historv objects, such as those he designed for his patron l but that he must a,lso have clevoted his tirne to dras,ing and liainting the " hnnlan fotn divine." It is ver.y proliable tha1, he \vas & portrait painter. f conre nou' to tlre subject of the granclfatlier-the 1\{ajqr: de Bevere referred to b;rr Governor Loten. Tliat tiiis u'as tlte Captain Willem Hendrik de Bevere u.ho figured in Ceylon history in tlie first and second decades of the eighteenth century i-s, I think, more than probable. He might very l'ell have been the father of David Willemsz (i.e., Willem's son) de Bevere and have brought over his son rvith him from l3atavia, as the particulars f havc quoted from the Marriage Register are quite in agreement witli this supposition and also u'ith the ages rvhich Loten assigns to iris artist' prot6g6 and his fatirer. That the father rvas born in Ceylon is, f thinh, clearly disproved, and rvhen Gol'ernor Loten, in later vears, possibly s'hen in England, speaks of him as " a natural -*on of i\Iajor
Bcvere bg a, Ci,ngale,se or blaclr Portuguese rlome,n," he is not cluite cor:rect. Major (or Captain) de Bevere had, as far as rr'e linol, never beern in Ceylon before 1708, nnd his son, born in Balavia, could not have hacl a Cingalcse. or bla,ck Poltuguese for his mother : although jt, is not impossible bhat the wolnan
r1e

requires sorne e xplanalion. It must be r.onreinberc'cl l,lia,t, Loten, lhougli by lhis timer sufficiertly familiar l-ittr Jlnglish ,to use it t'ith freedom, nrust still have beeri ignorant of sorrre of bhose nice distinctions s4rich only a native or a li{elorigstudent coulcl be cxpected to knori-. .Bv " untaugirt " Iie

rvas u, nal,ive of the Mtr,.lay Isiands" lVhcn, again, Lot,el rlescribes the a,rtisN a.* " the r-rntaugirt Clrristian [1inga]cse " he is either posilivei.r' u'rong or he uses tliese rvords in a sen.*c ri'hiclr

n"

{)n. the

lst A.t:ril, I?fli},

horrg}rt

by,l.

(". }lol.leirei.k""

possibiv nreant " sclf-taught," and in calling Pictcr do Bevere a " Cingalese," he most iikely meant a Ceylonese, in the sense of onc bont in the Island. In Ure cla,ssificatiorr o{Iiciallv recognized in Ceylor.r cluling the l)utch rule he u ould. I think, ]rave been rightl-y desclibecl as a rnirt,ies" llo rcturn to Capta,in \Villern Hendrik de Bevere. The pa,ssage l'hich l{r. Ferguson quotes flcxn thc .Ileknopte Histori,e undoubtecll1,' refers to him. I find that orr the 14fh Septemlter 1708 he took his sea,t for thc lirst tiriie :rt the Politictil llouncii as Chief of the I'Iilitary ab Colombo, and occupiecl it till tho 23r'cl ,Januarv 1714. On tho 9th Septcmber l7l3 the Council unanirnously elected him Arnbassaclol to the liandyan Court, and the Embassy soon after set or-rt ri.itir tlie usual pornp and cereil1ony. Nothing unto*':r,ril appeilr's to have ocrcurled in the journey upcountry. The conduct, both of tlre Anrbassadol ir,ncl of liis retinr.re, u'as cvelything to be dt-.sired, arid lhe reception at Kandl' ri'as rnost grlcious. tsut, de Beyere is said to have t'aken umbrage at lhc tluality of the letuln gifts rtich the King pr:esented to the Jt)mbass.y. .[Ie ioohed upon these tr,s of too little value and unt.ortliy his posit,ion and dignity. In th.e r&ncour created in his mind bv this, which lie looked upon as an insnlt and indignitlt, he appears to have behaved in a most rasir, if not insane, manner'. When, immedjatelv after the audience rvith tlie King, tlie royal rcpast *'as scrved out according to the custom of the countly, he rvould not so much as touch or ta.qte auv of thc dishes r'hich ryere presented to him, but, in the most ofiensive lnanner, ordered them to be given to his slaves to eat. Ancl the royal s^jfts. l'hicll her l':rs J:ound to corrr-cy *'ith due celelnonv. covcling them uith l u.hite cloth, he treatecl u'ith great disrespect and conternpt b1' t,vins- thcm up at thcr foot cncl of his ptrt;rnquin. Nol did lie

260

.l0unNAr,. R..\.s. (cx\'l,or,r

).

lVor,"

XL\.

No" 5ll.*-lg07.l ,JoAr\ GrDxLlN r,otlrN,

lr.n,.s.

,til

treat lr'ith any grea,ter considerat.iori the coult'iers lvhom His Majesty appointed to accompany hirn on his retutn journey. 'lhese be insulted and abused, calling thern scoundlels and rascals, and their pricst, ot tclngutaar, 1l'ho $'as also in the oompany, he rnclcked and mimickcd in tho most irrevcrent, manner. l{ot content with all tliis, he rushod after one of thg coraels ancl somc of thrr othel ciriefs, blandisliing a cane, rvitlr which Jre threatencd to flog and r,hastjse them. lUhe first intim:'r,tion u-hicli the Gor,'ernor and Countril at Colombo received of thcse doings s-as fronr :rn ola dispatcliecl by thc Interpretel Mudalivar, .Don Paulo l)ias Gunaretna, rvho accompanied the lJn.rtiassr'-. Tlie Council, full of concern as to the result u,hich these rash proceedings of their accreilited ambassaclor s-ould have on thc friendlv relations then subsisting betrveen the Oourt and tlre l)utcli Government, decided to placc de Bevere unaler arrest as soon as lie should arrive at the capital, and al.qo to forryarcl to the Kandyan Court, an ola dispatch tendering apologies. trn the rneantime de .Bevere was deprived of hi-q seat in Council ancl of liis local comrnand in the army, x.hile it rvas decided to dispatch liim to Batavia by tlie vessel then reaclS, le .qail, so tirat he might be deaib rvith for his conduct by the Supreme Government of India. Of the fur:tlier hist'ory of Captain de Bevere the Ceyion records are, of course, silent. Of Governor Loten's personal hislorv very little beyond rvlrat has been stated could be gathered from the records. His residence in the Island rvas limited to five years, and the diaries for these years are unfortunately missing, rvhile the Resolutions of the Political Council deal for the most part, n'ith purcly official matt,ers. With reference to Loten's sonin-lau', Dirh Willenr van der Bruggen, it rnay be mentioned that he not onlv accompanied. the Govemor to Ceylon in the Giesen,burll , but served in Cevlon for about four years. On the sarne day that Governor Loten's letters patent rvere read in Council and he assunecl the Governruenl, (30th september 1752) , van der Bruggen was introduced to tlie Political Council ancl took his seat, as a rnember of it. A,1, the next nreeting of Oouncil, 9th Octobcr 1752, he subrnitted an application for a passagc in the lrornevard-bouncl vessel for his son, Jacolr

rnentionecl, rvas tJre highest otficiai uext to tho ()1;1.er11rl a.t tirer

ent inacc'racy i' both cases, because in rreither of thenr is the attitude of the animal in accorda.cc *'ith a*y prescribecl heraldic form. comparirrg the t*-o and rnahing arlr*,ari.e for tlie ignorance clf the ergraver: il, rrould seem that either ilrer lio'rampant or the lion passant ('ot guartlant,) ri'as intenilecl. 'lhis is fu'ther proved by the cresi o'e. tlre ratte. shieicl, *']rich sliould be properl-1t desclibed n,s a {e1ij-lio1 r,arnpa,1t. I attach no importance to the i' the fo.'r .f tlre ship in 'a'ia'ce. l,lie trvo v:r,n Beaum,rit shields. A certain ilrnount of tatitude is allorved in clepicting from helaldic s-orcl blazons such charges as these, and the slrip in bol,h cases may be taken to represont the same char.ge. 'I'here being r:eally no doubt that "Mrs. Loten belcinged to the same farnily as the young noble_ man whose death is recorded in the tombstone on page t6 of La1t. Zeyl", it l'ould be interesting to knol, rvhat lelatioriship he bore to Cornelis van Beaunont, the ftr,thel of I,Irs. l,oten. Thev appear to have been contemporalies. There is only one othe'p.int upon *,liich f shor.rlcl.'.isii to touch, and that is, the reference to the tlpper lfer,cha,'t a'cl Chief Adnrinistrator Nodl Anthorv Lel:reclr, u.ith r.r-ho'r G.ver_ nor Loten is siiicl to ha'e " expe'ie'cecl great clifficulties.,, The Cliief Aclministrator. (Hoofd Aclministr.ateur,), it rrra.y bcr

he accornpanied her there. ' r irave exami'ed the i'rpared alrtrs on n{r:s. Lot*r,s tombstone at \\rolvcnda,al clrurch, iind also th.c arms on that of Jorrl<lreer Franqois r.an Bcauntor-rt depicted on pag-c 16 ol LalpirktriuT rt' zeyl,a.rtjt:um. 'rhe lierald ic tincrturcs .ot boing clcnoiecl on either of tliese stories by the conventiont_r,l ljnes nncl dots used for tiie pur,pose, I p'esur'e lilr:. van llo'te' oltttr,i'ecl tlic tirtctures he gives frorn sorne other sourcc. ruhe rcprocluctio's intb,e Lup. Zeyl. are not very ii,ccurate, but yet they cannot be said to be seliousl-l at fault. llire lion in tlte trppel half of the sirister impaler'ent on the L.ten tornbstonc ancl i. thc arrns of Franqois van Beaumont certainl;r var,"y. 'I,here is an apllar_

riage. Aftel Malcir 1756 liis name disappear.s fronr tlle rccords, ti,rd as his lrifc llote''s claugrrter) cliecr :r,t [Jai,a'irr, on the lSth llal' 1756, it is moirt likelv tlrat about tha,t time

Willem van r{er J3ruggen, evidently a son by a previous nrar-

r1

l
l

262

JouriNAL, R,A.s.

(ou).loN).

fVor,. XIX.

No. 58.-1907.]

.roar.r GTDEoN Lo.r&N, r..R.s.

263

Council Boatcl, tliat is, cxcepting the Comniandeurs of Jafina and Galle, n'ho, l,lien present, took precedence of all the other rnembels. Tiie strained relations bctu-een Loten and Lebeck u'oulcl appeal to have begun fr.orn the ver,v mornent of Loten's landing in Colombo. When the Giesertburrl u,ith tlie Governor on troard arrivcd at, the Colornbo r:oacls on the 30th Septenrbgr I752, it is said that, upon Lebeck's proposal, the castlc guns. instead of, in the first instance, opening the salute u-ith the usual dischatge, \t'ere made to au'ait and to ansrver the salute lired from the sliip. Again, Lebeck, it is stated, objected to

the temporary suspension of the state rnourning u'liich u.as then rvorn for the late Ilrince of Orange. \Villiam fV., rvhen tliis tvas suggested as a cornpliment to the incoming Governor. Whether in these matters he had a,cted in good faith or u-ith the determined intention of ofier:ing a sJight to tlic Governor, it is clear that Loten l'as not, a little put out by tire circum* stance. What plivate explanations or recriminations passed betr.r'een the Governor anr-l the Hoofd Administrateur do not appear, but tliat a good cleal of ranciour existed betlr.een them througliout their intercourse l.itli cach otlrer js abundantly manifest. Yet t,he smouldering fire dicl not burst forth till nearly four years had gone by. Accumulated cliarges rrere then brought against Lebeck, anlong rvhiih rnay be rnentionerd (1) the failure to foru,ard rice to 'frincomalee, rviiere it tvas urgently s'antecl for tlie ga,r,r'ison and the establishment, (2) not having the cinnamon intended for export properll, packed in bags. (i)) the excessive expenditure of 1,000
guilders in the repairs of the ll,otterdam Bastion of the Colombo

Governor with iraving written against hirn to the Lrovernrient r,vrote concerning ;rou last year to Batavia arrcr also to the fatherrand, and r srra[ clo s' |3in. You may be sure I will not lie still -vouand he added;,,r " I have had mucJr greater enemies than fi.om whom h4ve escaped, and, trarkyou, I shall with God,s helpresist you also and get ofl free.',t On the 26tir April I7b6 the Council, on the proposition of the Governor, suspencled him frorn office, when he put in the following protest : ,, I prol,est against tiris temporary suspension from office in the most resl-rectful nanner, chiefly on the ground that I have not yet replied to all the charges brought against me by His trxceltency, nor have I been heard thereon. I request also that copies of the rvritten charges brought against me may be furnish-ed to me, wiilr ail the papers relatiug thereto placed on the ta]:le this day, and that this protest may be duly entered in the pr.oceejings",, 'l'he matter event*allv went before the Council of trraiu, *rrA although I have not been able to trace any record of the fiat, pronounced in ths case try the Supreme Gover.nrnent of India, there is no doubt that, as a consequence of his spirited conduct, Lebeck was, for ser-eral years, superseded by Abrahaui Samlant as Hoofd Administrateur, ancl il, r,vas onlyoir Anthony Mooyaart's retirerne't {rom the cornmarrdcurship of Jaff*apatam in 1767 that lie regaiired thc seniority rvhich lie appears to have temporariiy lost.

of fndia, he retortcd : ,, yes, f

22nd Febmarr" tr907

tl,. (1. Aul:nowrsz

fortifications, and (4) tlie taking of everv opportunitv to rvilfull;, rnislead thc Govelnor', u'hereby he rvas ]ed to cornmit several errors of administration. Lebecli, rrho appear.s to have considered himself very much ill-used, and $'ho looked upon the action taken agairrst hirn in the light of a persecution, shou'ed anything but a submissive spirit under these proceedings. When pressed. very hard in the Council on one occasion he burst fort'h rdth the l-ords : " I shall nclu- r'isk evervthing, )'ea, evervtliinq, even if it be mi lif e."* \Vhen chargecl by the + r{ lvu sal jk er a,lles a,arru-aagen, ja ili sal er allcs a,l n'tlt het nr5,n leven ilarttt'aa gt:n, "

* " Ja. ik 1r,.b vuor|pdurr jrar ovcr u gr.s, Irlr,* *,, ,,,, n,,,,,,.;, e,r n,):( r.i Vaderlant{, on i}< zni het, nu wecXer'oen. u liu'd r.rzel<er.rl zv* dat ili nit't stil zit. "
't

f "Ik.heb zoi: veel groter vyanden gehad u,aar van ik my wel r.erlost. zie, et za,l het N. B" c{oor Gods huip tegens u ook wel houclen en rny reddon," }f
36 07

264

JouR\AL, R.A.s. (cEYLoN).

[Vor. XIX.

No. 58.-1907.1 ,JoAN (irDEoN r,orrN, r..R.s. o'In the first volume of a copy <if Valentyn's
East lndies, which rvas published at Dordrecht is the.follorving note on the front sheet :-

2(iir

rvork on tlrt,

Memorandum bv illr. n'" H. nu Vos, Advocate'

J

1724_26, t,het.c

ohan Gid,ean Loten"

take the following from Mr" R. P' van den Bosch'slist* of persons who held office in Ceylon under the l)utch :-

" ' Dit werk is vcrrnoedelyk in het bezit geweest van den Herrl Joan Gideon Loten in 1754 Gouverneur en Directeur van
Ljeylon (zie de ei,(tenhand,'ist: aanteeke,ning op page 320 r,an lret IIIe Dl)" This book I bought in l?3b or lT36 at Samarang on bhe East Coast of Java; it Lvas with me at, Batavia, Mactr,ssa,r. Oeylon. Cape the Good. Hope, Utrecht, and Londen, also at

" 1754, 30th September. Johan Gideon Loten, f born in Utrecht l6th May 1710, son of Mr. Jan Carel Loten, Beuetaris aan ilen Lekkend,uk, bened'enclam,s, died lst December 1763' and Maria Aartsen van Juchem. Johan Gideon Lot'en was married,f 25fn August l?33, to Anna Henrietta van

Beaumont, daugllter of Cornelis van Beaumont, died 1724, Independent 3'iscal of the Cape of Good llope, and Deliana Blesius.$ Anna Henrietta van Beaumont' was born in the Cape of Goorl }Iope on the lSth November 1716, and diecl in Oolombo on the l0th August 1755" " Johan Gideon Loten married, (2) in Banstead in Surrey, 4th July l?65, Letitia Cotes, daughter of Digby Cotes and

enough""'.....,.

St. Helene. I bought, it of Benjamin Blom ancl as I rernember pd. st. at the ra,te of about f. lb0, certainly clear
"

The above does rrot perhaps add much to what is containecl in Mr. tr'erguson's paper and Mr" Anthonisz's menlorandum. I have not been able to discover the grandparents of Gover-

IJtrecht

Elizabeth Bannister, and died in [Jtrecht, 25th ]'ebruarv 1?89. The follor,ving is an extract from the Burial Register;-' " 'Overleden op 25 Februari l'789 en begraven inde Jaeobikerk : f)el Wel Ed. G. Hee'r Mr. Johan Gideon Loten, op rlen Drift hii de witte vrourvenburg, laat na zyn vrouw, maar geen kinderen. Gezonken f. 250 en op den 2en May l79l het' 1l'apen opgehangen.'.. n "... " We also have come across the rrame of Joseph Loten, 1709-10, Fiscal I'rtdeytenderzt, rvho in the year I"721 returned to Holland. wibli a return fleet of 34 ships and (a cargo) worth rnore than ten million guilders iVal. I. v' p' 177)' '' IIe is also mentioned as Lot'en 1/ eer DalL Bun'nik en' Yechlen' ' Witte Vrouwert en' Astetle., rni,tsgrt'clers Kanunnik ten Capitelle' uan, ilen' Dom. [{e rvasr the unc]e of Joan Gideon Loten' ' ' ' ' ' " Jo&n Gideotr Loten, born in Utrecht, is ment'ionetl as a student in ther Acr:r,demv of Utrecht Ao' 1776" * 1 l,Vapenlrct&ttt i7. No 52' t .rn.oi,ii, Ii.A.S. ' C.8., r'ol' XV. , No 49, p' 235 ; vol' XVxI' ' rn. 16" 18. ' ''i 4t Fia{avia. 14r lr ,\rretlst, 1733. $ Jot,rtnl, tt.A.S " (:. lllv,rl .\Vlll', \o' 5G'p' 3:)7'

rror Loten" According t<i Mr. van Houten there lived at in 1756 a brotirer of the Governor byname Arnoud, rvho v'as burgomaster of Utrecht and rliecl there in 1801. This
must have been the Arnoud Loten * rvho u'as married to Lucre-

,foseph Loten

January 1769, clie.cl in Bonn, lst June 1829. As rega,rds ] the follor-ing is an extract from t]re ]Iarriage ilegister, Batavia :-

tia Christina Scheffer and had b5' her Mr. Joan Gideon Loten f (the Governor's narnesalie), horn 23rd September 1755, died I0t'h January 1809, rnarried at LItrecirt,, 29th May 1Tg7, Hemictta Wilhrimina van den T.l.euvel, born in Utrecht, l4th

"
"

13

Juli

1720. va,rr Arnsterdam

in de directie van Bengale wedulvnaar van Allierta Pierraerd van Batavia mel, Abigael 'tr'ant va,n Babavi;r weduwe van de Ildele Joan van der Nipoort, oud-socretaris , au de Hoogc Regeering van lndia."
prendent fiscaal

Loten "Ioseph

laaist geu'eest zijnde incle-

He rnust tiierefore hal'e retulned atter his marriage.

to the fatherland a ye?r,r

* Aunz'ienl'gke Famil'ien, Vorsteman van Oyen. r'ol. XI., p" ti0. f Student in the Academy of Utrecht. ""; .De Netlerlanil,sche .Leeu,u:, vol, xxiii., p 286.
ri! 2

266

JouR'NAL, P"'A's'

(cEYLoN)' [Vor'' XIX'

r\o.58.-I907.1

Jo-{N GTDEoN LorEN, F.R.s.

26i

Dirlc Will'em aan

d'e'r

B'ruogen (Brug91e' Brugghen)'

na Engeltina Rebbens opperkoopman' weduwn'u" outt bhtisti Ji errroiaina Deliana Cornelia Loten van Sernarang'" were the The children * of these parties born in Ceylon following :r' Jan carel Gideon van der B*ugge (Brugghen)' baptized at Colombo, ISth APril 1753'

R'egister' Tlie following is an ext'ract from the rMarriage Batavia,:" 19 Juli 1752' " Dirk Willem van d'er Bruggiren van Bergen-op-zoom'

Johannes Blesius of Breukelen, married, 22nd April 1685, Christina Diemer, and had by her :-

l. 2. 3.

Gysberta Johanna, baptized

Christina, baptized

in the Cape,

23rd June
1690,

1686, marriecl Governor ll,umpf.*

jn the Caupe, 24th September

irarried Jacobus Cruse.t

Deliana, baptized in the Cape, 29th November: 1693.
Pieter d,e Beuere.

I agree u'ith Mr. Anthonisz that Pieter de Bevere was the son of David Willemsz cle Revere and Christina de Kelcq, but
do not knorv lvhere l{r. Anthonisz got the information that Christina rvas the natural daughter of Willem de Kelcq, master sailmaker, and Anna Coere. Willem Jansz de Kelcq, of Dor Crecht, sailmaker, u'as marriecl in Colombo, 3rd September
1690, to Domingn Flalrrensz, of Colombo. From a woma,Ir ,:alled lVlaria Lucas he (de ltelcq) had an illegitimate daughter',

at Colombo' 30th baptized at Colombo, 31st March 1754" died

2.AlbertAnthonyCorne,lisvanderBrugge(Brugghen)'

Julv 1755. S.ArrnaHenriettavand"erBrugge(Brugghen),baptizecl

at Colombo. 20th APril 1755' and sister of According to Mr. van Houten the brother predeeeased the .{lbert Antlrony Cornelis van der Brugghen latter.
C

orneliu's''*an

eau'rnont'

,l,isputcier, Colombo, 1712' tr'iscal of Blesius and rnarried to Deliana Blesius, daughter of Johannes Christina Diemer. He had bY her :-

on'derkoop'man and I Corrtelius aan Bect'umont ol Bteda' Cape' 1713-24' u'as the

1. Catharina Balthazarina' baptized 7th October 1714; !. Anna Hanrietta. baptized 22nd l{ovember 1716; 3. Christina Jacoba, baptizecl 21st August 1718: 4. Cornelis Johan, baptized 18th n'ebruarv 1?20; 5" Elizabeih Aronc'lina, baptized 2n'd March 1721 ; 6. T)eliana Isabella. baptiz'ed 5tli Julv i722;
.\ll

Wilhelmina, baptizecl in Colombo, 3rd May 1711. Dominga Harmensz n'as perhaps the daughter of Hendrik Harmensz of I{orden, abrazier in Colombo in 1669, thereafter auri'jbwge,r, by his u'ife Dona Dominga. In the catalogue referred t,o bv l[r. lterguson at t]re comnlerlcement' of his paper de Beve,re is called a siea,r, rvirich I think has a peculiar significance" It Irleans that he held the rank of a boekhouder. Valentyn f says: " De onderkoopman, die als sezcr of boekhouder van otls :xrhip medevoel, was Jakobus Valentyn, enz." This confirms Mr. Anthonisz's statement regarding the status

of de Beve,r:e in 1757. Govertror Loten's statement that Nlajor de Bevere " was of the most noble and ancient' fa,mily of de Bevere" f think requires confirmaticin. Vorstemanvart
Oyen $ makes no reference to him.

Journa,I, R.A.S., C.I3., vol.

XVIII., No.5{i, p.326.

She married

flis

born in lltc OaPc' irl eldest <larighter, Anna Henriett'a rvas haptized

oolorn'boorr"gthocLoberl7l2,arrdrntrsthavediedyoung'
*
y12 )da1,r-tsrscher

Ilrunpf) in Batavia, l6t'h March 1726, Mr. Everhard Kravvanger of llacassar, Advocate Fiscal of India, rn*idower of Maria Cathariria de Vcrs (24 Nederlantl,sche Leeuzo 241. f Journal, R,.A.S., C.B., vol. XVIII.' No. 56, p. 327. I Vat'ten'naar Indie, by A. W. Stelhvagen, p. 126.
(as widow

'til1

J2

lVtt'iten'heraut 6'

Aanzienluke Fam'ili,ert (de Reveren).

268

JOI,IR,NAL, N,.A.S. (CEYI,ON).

fVor,. XIX-

No. 58.-1907.1

PR,OCDNDINGS.

265

Pi,eter

C ornel'is

H assel,aur

Pieter Uornelis Hasselaar, Rurgomaster of Amsterdam,+ thereafter R'esident, Cheribon, born at Batavia' 24th March 1720, was the son of Cornelis Hasselaar of l)nkhuyzen, DirectorGeneral of the Dutch fndies, by his third rvife Gertniida Contantia Clement. Pieter Cornelis Hasselaar married (2) Gertruida lVlargarita Mossel, of Negapatam. the datighter of the Governor-General l\{ossel. llhe issue of this marriage was Adriana Hasselaar, born in the Indies, 4ih July 1795, married in 1780 Jacob Antony d'c' Roth, born Surat, tr753, the son of
Johan de Roth and Susanna Anthonia van der Bruggen' So that in 1780 Pieter Cornelis Hasselaar's son-in-law was the son of (perhaps) the sister of Dirk Willern van cler Brugghen'

lr

I'l

Loten's son-in-lalv. This is the, only possible connection see of the Governor rvith tlie Hasselaar farnily' Loten ctnd ad'lr Beau'rn'onl'

can

shod sr-rrveys ; and from tv-r: such plaus in my possession I cam fancy ihat De Bevere must havehacla training indras'ingbefore he qualified to become a Land S\rrve.,vor. The confents of the Memoir

page 202") X mav at once say that though se;veral officials' nams are metrbioned, no mention is rnade of De Bevere or Lebeck. I{owever, some light is thrown upon the lvork oI Land Surveyors in Coylon in 174:l-1757, which is interesting, as the artist De Bewere was a Land Surveyor. I may here rnention that Dutch surveyors' plans were coloured, and {ar more works of art than rrtodern slip-

gedateert, Colombo,28 Feb.,1757, geinsoreert in het 2ncl Ceylon's Briefboek, I758, p.202. , {Memoir on Cey'on le{t by the outgoing Governor Joan Gideon floten to t'heincoming Governor Jari Schreuder, dated Colombo" February 28, l7lt7, inserted in the 2nd Ceylon Letterbook l.758,

tlen aan l(omenden Gotlverneur Jan Sclrreuder,

well-known Nijhotr of the Hague from whorn Mr. varr }louberi. bought his collection of drawings, in one of r1y trips to Hoilanc[ in 1B85 or 1886. The title of the Mernoir is " Merriorie raekende Ceylon door den afgaanden Gouverneur Joan Gideon Loten aan
nagaleten,

arein

The Arms ol The arms on the tomb of Governor Loten's wife are the impaled arms t of Loten and van Bea,urnont, the blazons of
which have taken from Riet'stap's Arrnorinl Gdndral (2nd ed')" The close resemblance between the arms of X'ranqois van 'Beaumont and Anna Henrietta van Beaumont' shows t'hat

Sscrroll
The Company should remain the Land.
Ch,rr,per

T"

harn:ion3' witlr the Prince of

I.

The Jiitg's birtli a,rrd malriage. The l)essaves aud Acligaars.

R,elations n'ith the f,.(anclyan Court, relia.vmel and Cirila,,v banks"
Siamese embassr-.

they were, beyond a doubt, of the same family.

Clm,ptu' Maldives.

II.

3, Mr. Gnnano Josnpn therr read the following notc frolr XIr. A. E. Buultjens, bearing on the subject', prepared-from- certain Dutch rrranuscripts in his liossession 'which he pur:chased at' the Haque on one of his visits there :Notn ev Mr. A. E. Buur,tlnNs' B'A'
lrave in my possession t,he I'[emoir on Ce.r''lon .of Governor Loterr, and as t]ot'n m". van llouten and Mr. Antlionisz state t'hat " all trace of other Papers of Lotel has, alas, since been lost"' ancl " thr: cLiaries for the five years of Lot'en's rule in Ceylon ^are rrnfortunately lost," I hasten to give (as I received t'he proof .of l[r. Ferguson's paper only yesterday' ?1tl the mect'ing is lor the day aftei to-moirow; only an outline of t'he manuscript' . th* Dot"h manuscript in my possessiotr consists of seventy folio pages of contemporary writing in a fair st'ate o{ preservatior' t puich"asecl the maiuscriirt' rvith solne '1the1s'

Of the Princes and their rule on the coast of Tndia and the
Madura, Tinnevelly, Tutucorin, &c. The Ulaldir.ian Sultan, cor,I'ries, ernbassl'.

Adrninistratiol of

SscrroN T[. possessions and subjects.

Chapter I.

t11lt*i"-"

Garden Description. As De Bevere was Land Surveyor, 17 43-17 57 , I trarslate a part of this chapter, and itmay well be imagined that llo l3everc hactr ample scolle for study o{ birds from nature cluring lris sun'eJ,'s. The l-and Description was begun in Colombo iri I7rt3 fthe year

Functions of l)essave, Land Raad, the 'Iombo or Land anrl

* 62 Naaorscher

contentement personifi6s

" (Mevr. van Hogendorp)' f Journal, R.A.S., vol. XV., No. 49, pp. 229, 235'

24A; "'un charmant vieillard (1737), la sant6 et

le

now, says Loterr (in I75l),

been completed.

that' the artist De

.lJevere was appointed

the Register of Lands and NIen of the Ilina, R,ay'garrr, Allrtlioer, Tlev'agarl, anrl Happitiqarn liorles ir as

"

Land Surveyorl,

arLri

t
I

(\

'!
i

270

JOrJliNAL, R.A.S. (CDYLON).

[Vor,.

XIX.
! I I

No. 58.-r907.1

PROCEEDINGS.

27t

" The Tombo at Galle was begun in 1741, and tire n'our Gravets and the Talpe Pattu have been completed ; since then in the past year ( 1756) a beginning has been made with the Gangeboda Pattu, a great part of which, together with the Wellabodda Pattu and the ',vhole of Wallalawitte Corle, still remains to be completed" " The Tombo at Matara was begun in 1740, and during this time the whole of the Morawal< I(orle has been completed, a,nd in course of completion are the Mature, Four Gr:avets, Weligama, Weligam liorle, Girrewalr Pattu, as well as the Wellabodda, Gangebodda, and I(andeboda Pattus, Dondra, the Baaygams"
Cattoene, Oedabokke. " Now, in order t'liat the Land Description

Chapter
Ti're Products of the Land. Cinnamon and disorclers of the

lII.

o{ the cinnamon trees rnore may be seen from the report of the
I)essave Oranrrer and the annexutes of the officer of the Mahabeddo I-eembruggen dated April 24, 1756, as well as t'hatof tlre Sworrr

Chalias. About the conselvatiorr

previous Dutch Governor] on an accurate survey, and this has been alreadl' arrcomplished so far that 1,he gardens and fields of the

nay be brought to perfection, everything depends, says Lleer van Gollensee [a

I)e Bevere, lvho was then at the head of his class.] .dbraham Samlant frvho superseded Lebeck] is here nrentioned a,s being tTpper l'[erc]rant, antl Chief Administratot. The Ceylon carclarnon'r. 'I'he pearl reefs (4 pages folio). The blood coral. Pepper cult'ivation
Coffee cultivation.

Land Surveyor of lr'ebruary

13,

1757. [This last may well

be

Maldivian cowries.
SpctroN I\''.

village Attidie irr Sa\riti I{orle, Kosgama in Hewagam Iiorle, Billern [I3ellana ?] irr Pasdun llorle, Il,aygarn, Iielanie, and Palourn in }lina Corle have been surveyed by the Sworn Surveyors,

Internal affairs.

and charts and registers thereof have been made." Hete Loten iroints out the necessary connection between the Land Description in the Torlbo and the Surveys, so that the possessions of each rnan rnay tle accurately described, and by the surveys and charts it can be imrnediately discovered whether encroachments have loeen made, and so that the surveys and the charts made from them shall agree u'ith the description of the land. More on this subject may be read from t'he report just, sent in on February 3, 1757, by t'he Sworn Land Surveyor, togeiher rvith thecompendiums referred t'o there, the cllarts, registers, &c.
Chapter II. Of the lands and the income from them. It is here noted that l,he revenue fell orving to plague depopu.trating t'he counl,ry (and Loten suggests measures as taken in Java, Macassar, &c.), and a terrific storm or ]rurrica,ne in Ma;', 1755, which uprooted a consj.derable number of trees. Chapter III. The Inliabitants, their Chiefs, cluties and accomodescans. Six folio pages here describe the different castes and the services

ILeligion: Jansz and De l{elho (Jaffna). .De Sih'a (Trincomale). Brousveld, Sybrands, Meyer (qualiff ing at tho Seminary)' Wirlrnelskircher (R,ector of School). Pot'ken, Smith, Schultze (Fredihants at Colombo ancl Galle). The printing press: catalogue of printed books. Tlie Courts of ,hrstice.

I'he fortifications atd artillery.

The Navy. fucome and expenditure.

4. I:[rs ]:lxcnr-t-uNcl-rHE GovnnNon : Does any gent]eman wis]r to speak on the papers which have jusf been delivered ? If the,rtr is no discussion I would ask tlie President to read a papel: on " Prehisloric lfan and Stone Implernents in Ceylon'"
litfle on-the iubject of t]re
stone age and prehist'oric remains. But one of the greatest authorities inlndia, Mr. Bruce Foote, l-.G'S'' has been irrcomtnunication r'vith Mr. Pole, and has expressed greaf interest in his lqork as a collector. f am no1, sure that he has seerl more than diagrams from llr. Pole as yet; but we hal'e t'he fact that t'he Drs. Sarasin so prized Mr. Pole's first collect'ion of stone implernents that they asked ]rim to take them to.Europe" Fortuirately Mr. Pole was able to duplicate the collection' and he has favourecl us u,itir a series of spe-imens and cerLain notes on the salne. I think it was befc-rre he left the llast that Lord Curzon related how a friend of lris examined the arrows in the quiver of a

paper bv gs,ying: J am not a geologist,, and indeed know- \'ery

5. 'llhe Pnosrousr (Mr. l'oneusoN) introduced Mr.

Poie's

by each. SscrroN LII.

Revenue fronr the land.
Ch,apter

I.

Trade.

l,inen frorn Madura. The Fanam Mint. Arecanuts, chanks, salt, elephants, &c.
Ahapter The Income.

II.

R'evenue fell.

with stone of the neolithic age, but that tlie next' t'as t'ippd with electric telegraph s{1's-a tlielt from the 20th ce1tu1f' T}rere is no case her6 oi such rnodern application, but Mr' Bruce Foote' juclging by the diagrams, sayi the collection shows a type of :' ni,L"-"p.oarrction,"'-quite iljstinct froin that' hitherto met' with in Inclia. I will now read from the notes :^Southein and WesLerr-r

native hunter in Tndia. He found that the first arrow rvas tipped