This Memoir of Commandeur Zwaardecroon was, as stated, compiled and left by him in 1697 for the instruction and guidance of the Political Council of Jaffnapatam during his absence from the “Commandement” on special duty as Commissioner to the Coast of Malabar. He did not, however, return to his post, having been appointed Director of Surat on the termination of his Commission. Of the many compilations of the same kind prepared by successive Commandeurs on the standing orders of the Supreme Government at Batavia, this of Zwaardecroon is one of the most exhaustive and authoritative in regard to the Dutch Company’s affairs in the north of the Island. It was quoted and referred to from time to time during almost the whole period of the Dutch rule in Ceylon. Its value will be found to consist chiefly in the light it throws on such matters as native industries, sources of revenue, and the condition of the people. Many obscure terms, some local, some obsolete, such as “officie gelden,” “adigary,” “alphandigo,” &c, which occur in the old records, will be found explained here for the first time; and the topographical information is both full and accurate. In a word, the work bears the impress not only of a man of great powers of observation and sound judgment, but also of a strong and capable ruler. His independent character is shown in the plain-spoken manner in which he marks his resentment of the methods adopted at headquarters in regard to appeals from the native subjects of the Commandement. That a man possessed of such intelligence and independence of character should in the course of time have risen to the highest post in the Company’s service, viz., that of Governor-General of Nederlands India, was in the natural course of events.

The following brief personal account of him, based on information collected from various sources, will, I am sure, be of some interest.

Hendrick, or Henricus, Zwaardecroon was born at Rotterdam on January 26, 1667. His father, Theophilus Zwaardecroon, son of an older Henricus Zwaardecroon, was Rentmeester, or Steward, to Jonker Gysbrecht van Mathenesse, his mother being Margaretha van Heulen. He came out to the East in 1684 as Secretary to the High Commissioner Hendrick Adriaan van Rhude, Lord of Mydrecht, to whom frequent reference is made in the Memoir. Having been first attached to the adelborsten (lit. “noble youths”), a regiment composed of gentlemen’s sons, he, shortly after his arrival in Batavia, exchanged from the Military to the Civil Service of the Company, and passed rapidly through the grades of boekhouder,