condition of the countries through which he travelled. In this, he introduced also an interesting account of the Hindu mythology, and some specimens of the Tamil language, including the translation of the Lord's Prayer: defective enough it is true, but remarkable as the first treatise, printed in Europe, on any Indian language. The title of the whole work is Description of the East Indian Countries of Malabar, Coromandel, Ceylon, etc. (in Dutch, 1671) The book is dedicated to the bailiff Cornelis de Witt. Legacy At present in Trincomalee there is a Baldeus Theological College training preachers for working as Calvinists in Asia. Under a big tamarind tree in the middle of the Point Pedro Market Square stands a white limestone inscription which marks the place where Rev. Baldeus has regularly preached Christianity to the Tamils. This tamarind tree was uprooted during the cyclone of 1963. Baldaeus recorded everything of value with ethnological, historical, geographical and theological viewpoints from himself or of informants (e.g., a baptized pundit), interpreters, or from the collections of the Jesuit libraries in Ceylon and South India. His records are still accessible in the Netherlands literature about south Asia and its detailed records. In addition, he quoted in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Sanskrit. His depiction of the Tamil language was groundbreaking. He had rudimentary knowledge in his own words. He probably did not know much more than the alphabet. The book is divided into the following sections: "Detailed description of the East Indian coast or of Lagoon areas of Malabar and Coromandel" (includes: "short guide to the time sophisticated language arts") "Description of the great and famous island Ceylon" "Abgotterey of the East Indian heathen. A truthful and detailed description of the worship of the Hindus and Hindu idols." With an ethnological, historical, geographical and theological point of view, Baldaeus recorded everything that he himself or from the knowledge of high caste learned people (pundits). in addition he gathered material brought by interpreters from the holdings of the Jesuit libraries in Ceylon and southern India and also later in the Netherlands from all the accessible literature about this part of South Asia. Thus, his knowledge of Sanskrit, as well as of the Portuguese as a lingua franca was widely used by him; In addition, he cited in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, French and Italian. His portrayal of Tamil language was groundbreaking although he