ELEPHANTS CAPTUREDCEYLON
AN ACCOUNT OE THE ISLAND
PHYSICAL, HISTOEICAL, AND TOPOG-BAPHICAL
NOTICES OF ITS NATUBAL HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES AND PRODUCTIONS
BY
SIR JAMES EMERSON TEMENT, K.C.S. LLD. &c.
ILIiTJSTEATEB BY MAPS, PLANS AKD DEAWI2TGS FOUBTH EDITION, THOBOtJGHIlT EEVISED
"VOLTOiE II,
LONDON
LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS I860CONTENTS
THE SECOND VOLUME.
PAET VI.
MODERN HISTORY.
CHAPTER I.
THE PORTUGUESE IN CEYLON.
Page Gloomy character of tlie policy of
Portugal in Ceylon ... 3 " War, trade, and religion" . . 3 Their history as written by themselves ......4
A.r . 1505.?Their first visit to Ceylon 5
They did not go for cinnamon ^note) 5 Political condition of Ceylon at the
time...... 5
Active commerce of the Moors . . 6
Chiefs of the Wanny .... 6
List of the petty principalities (note) 6
Low character of the Singhalese kings 7
Dependent on India for rice . . 7 A.D. 1505. ? Almevda accidentally
visits Galle '. " . . . ? . 7 His reception by the pretended king 8 A.D. 1517.?Portuguese come to Colombo ...... 8
Importance of Ceylon to their trade . 8 They commence to build a fort . 9 The Moors excite the king to resistance ...... 9
A.D. 1520. ? Fort of Colombo constructed ...... 10
Portuguese besieged in it . . .10 The beginning of a protracted war . 10 Effects of this war on the Singhalese ...... 10
Impotence of the kings of Cotta, . 11
The Kandyans organise resistance . 11
The Singhalese become soldiers . 12
And learn to manufacture arms (wote) 12 Genealogy of the kings of Ceylon (note) 13
The king killed by JMaya Dunnai . 13
A.D. 1534.?Bhuwaneka Bahu Til. . 13
Cotta besieged by Maya Dunnai . 14
A.D. 1538.?WarVenewed ... 14 A.IX 1541.? King's son christened at
Lisbon ...... 14
Franciscan Order established in
Ceylon ...»?. 15
Page
A. D. 1542. ? The king accidentally shot . ........ .15
The young king avows Christianity 16 Renewed war and cruelties of the
Portuguese . . , . .16 Coast towards Galle laid waste . 16
Raja Singha, son to Maya Dunnai 17 A.D. 1563.?He besieges Colombo 17
Cotta abandoned ... 17
Increase of proselytism . . 17
The king of Kandy (1547) invites
the Roman Catholic priests . 18
But attacks and expels them . 18
A.D. 1581.?Raja Singha I. crowned 18 Takes possession of Kandj'-, and the
king flies , . . . . . 19 Donna Catharina, daughter of the
fugitive king . . . . .19 A.D. 1586.?Raja Singha II. besieges
Colombo.....19
Cruelties of the siege . (note) 19 Destruction of the temple at Dondera
Head . '.....20
The siege raised, and death, of Raja
Singha II. . . , . . 21 The Portuguese take Kandy . . 21 Their general Kunappoo revolts . 21 And becomes king as " Wimala
Dharma".....22
Lopez de Souza and his army de-
stroved......23
A.D. 1594.?The atrocities of Azavedo 23 A.D. 1597. ?The King of Cotta dies, leaving the King of Portugal heir to his crown
Dignified conduct of the Singaale,
chiefs
24
25
Nature and extent of the Portuguese
possessians ..... 26
Their establishments and trade . . 26
Error corrected in Ribeyro . (note) 27
Colombo as it then existed.? Galie
and the other forts . . . * 28
Sketch of the history of Jaffna . . 28
Made tributary in 1&44 . . 20
A 3VI
CONTENTS OF
A.D. 1560.? Constantino of Braganza takes it......29
And destroys the " Sacred Tooth " . 29 Story of the false dalada ... SO A.D. 1604.?Jaffna again attacked . 30 A»D. 1617.?City sacked and finally
annexed by Portugal . . ,30 The Dutch appear in Ceylon . .31
CHAP. II.
THE DUTCH IN CEYLON.
A.D. 1580. ?Philip II. becomes King
of Portugal..... 32
And Holland declares its independence ...... 32
Histories of Baldseus and Yalentyn
('note} 32
Rise of the Butch mercantile marine 33 A.D. 1594.?The Dutch excluded from
Lisbon...... 34
And thus driven to send ships to India 34 A.D. 1595.?Houtnian sails round the Cape ..... . .34
Dutch East India Company formed
(note} 34 A.D. 1602,?First Dutch ship touches
Ceylon...... 35
Spilberg lands at Batticaloa . . 35 Traces of cinnamon at Batticaloa (note) 35 Titles of the King of Kandy . . 35 Spilberg received at Kandy . . 35 A.D. 1603.?Sibalt de Weert killed . 37 A.D. 1604.?Death of Wimala Dharnia 37 Senerat becomes king . . .37 Truce between Spain and Holland , 38 Marcellus de Boschouwer at Kandy . 38 His singular advancement . . 38 War renewed with Portuguese . . 39 A.D. 1615.?Boschouwer sent to Holland ...... 39
A. i . 1620.? Danish ships sent to
Ceylon ...... 39
A.D. 1030.?Destruction of Constan-
tine de Saa..... 40
A.D. 1632.?Death of King Senerat . 41 Eaja Singha II. king . . .41 Portuguese take Kandy, but are
routed...... 42
A.D. 1638. ?Admiral Westerwold's treaty . . . . . .42
A.D. 1630.? Trincomalie and Batticaloa taken..... 43
A.i . 1640. ? Negombo, Matura, and
Galle taken ..... 43 Commodore Koster murdered (note) 4S Raja Singfaa II. false to the Dutch . 44 A truce lor ten years with Portugal . 44 Intriguing policy of Raja Singha II. 44 Patient endurance of the Dutch . 44 Their desereditable policy . , .44 A.D, 1C55. ? The truce end:*, and Colombo taken..... 45
A,T . 1656.?Dutch quarrel with Raja
Singha...... 45
Alleged breach of the Westerwold
treaty...... -15
Page A.D. 1658.?Manaar and Jaffna taken
by the Dutch .... 46 Dutch now masters of Ceylon . . 46 Dutch and Portuguese policy contrasted ......47
Honour sacrificed to trade . . .47 Similar policy of the English East
India Company . . (note) 47 Despotic acts of Eaja Singha II. .48 He imprisons the Dutch ambassadors
(note) 48
Dutch presents to the king (note) 48 Raja Singha's passion for hawking
(note) 48 His forcible detention of foreigners
(note') 48
A.D. 1664.?Rebellion at Kandy (note} 49 The Dutch policy in Ceylon?peace . 50
Their trade.....50
Mode of procuring cinnamon . . 51 The cinnamon of Negombo the finest 51 Cinnamon trade not profitable . .51 Elephants and their export . . 52 Areca nuts, ? Persecution of the
Moors......52
Duties assessed according to religion 54 Other exports . . . .55
Coffee, its cultivation discouraged . 55 Salt monopoly . . . ... 56
Taxes, on land and other articles . 56 Pearls doubtful if profitable . .56 Power of native chiefs under the
Dutch.....56,57
Dutch did little for the natives . . 57 Religion and education subservient to policy . . . . . .58
Agriculture neglected . . .58 Dutch officials ill paid .and discontented ...... 58
Ceylon, in reality a military tenure , 59 Ceylon did not pay its own. expenses 59 Treason of Governor Vuyst, 1626 . 60 Rebellion under Governor Versluys . 60 A.D, 1672.?The French visit Ceylon 60 French ambassador's suite flogged . 60
A.D. 1687__Death of Raja Singba II, 61
Character of his successor . . 61 A.D. 1739___The Singhalese line extinct ...... 61
A.D. 1766.?The Dutch take Kandy . 61 Governors Imhoff and Falck . .61 Arrival of the English in Ceylon . 62
CHAP. III.
ENGLISH PERIOD.
First Englishman in Ceylon R. Fitch 63 {?sir John Mandeville never in Cevlon
(note) 63
England slow to enter the Indian trade . . . . . .64
Portugal claimed its monopoly . . 64
Declaration of Queen Elizabeth 1500 64 Dutch exclude strangers from Ceylon
(note} 64
The first English ship seen in Ceylon 64
Travellers during the Dutch period . 65 \Volf,Tavermer,Tnunberg, and SirT.
Herbert .... (note} 65THE SECOND VOLUME.
Vll
English look to Ceylon in 1664.
Passion of Kaja Singha II. to detain, strangers.....
Coincidence, of the captivity of the Theban in Palladius and Knox
(note) 65.
English embassy in 1763 .
Hugh Boyd's embassy in 1782 .
Trincomalie taken bythe English and French......
England attacks the Dutch in Ceylon, 1795......
Trincomalie taken ....
Colombo and the rest of the island taken, 1796.....
Disgraceful conduct of the Dutch Governor .... (note')
Policy of Portugal and Holland contrasted ......
Remains of Portuguese language and names .... (note)
Fate of the Dutch inhabitants of Cej-lon ......
Ceylon governed from Madras .
The result a rebellion
Ceylon governed from home
Mr. North the first Governor .
His private letters . . (note)
His policy ....
Difficulty of reconstructing the Courts of Law ......
Events at the Court of Kandy .
Story of the Adigar Pilame TalaVe" .
His treachery and intrigues
Questionable policy of Mr. North
Mr. North's defence of his own policy
Travels of Lord Valentia and Mr. Cordiner . . . (note)
Designs of the Adigar disclosed
The embassy of 1800 planned .
Mr. North's self-delusive defence
Failure of the embassy and its object
M. Joinville's account of it
Pa
,66
66 66
67
67 67
68 68 69 70
71 72 73 73
74 74 75
75 75
76
77
77 78 78 79 80 80
Page
Disastrous results of this policy . 81 Disturbances excited by the Adigar 81 The Duke of Wellington at Trincomalie as Colonel Wellesley (note) 81 Violence to British subjects . .81 Kandy taken by the British . . 81 Treaties with the new king and the
Adigar...... 82
The massacre of 1803 . . 83
Disturbances which followed . . 84
Insurrections in the low country . 84 Wonderful march of Captain Johnston, 1804 .... (note) 85
Measures of the Governor . . . 86 Mr. North's secret communications
with Kandy..... 86
Character of his administration . 86
The war of 1815, and its causes . 87
Savage character of the king . . 87
Death of Pilanie' Talawe ... 87 Eheylapola made Adigar . . .87
Awful murder of his family . . 88 The king of Kandy mutilates British
subjects...... 88
Kandy taken by the British in 1815 . 89 The king deposed and banished to
Vellore...... 90
Kandy ceded to the British Crown . 90
Rebellion of 1817, and its causes . 90
Discontent of the chiefs and priests 90 Outbreak of rebellion . . .91
Sufferings of the Kandyan people . 92
Low country Singhalese loyal . . 92 Fresh convention, 1818 . .92 Eeform of the Civil Government of
Kandy......
Frequent attempts at rebellion since. Kandyan country opened by roads . " The Kaduganawa Pass surmounted
Civil administration since 1820.
Coffee cultivation in. Kandy, and its
effect......
92 93
94 95 95
PART VIL SOUTHERN" AND CENTEAL PROVINCES.
CHAPTER I.
POINT 1 B GAU.B.
Beauty of it» scenery ... 99
Probably the ancient Tarshish . . 100
Double canoes.....103
Mentioned by Pliny .... 104
The Fort . *.....105
Error of the Portuguese and Dutch
in confounding Galle and gattua
(note') 105 The Queen's House . . . .105
Its gardens.....105
The people of many nations at Galle. 105 Antiquity of-the mode of dressing
the hair......106
Genera! effeminacy ? . . .107
The country ..... 107
Dress of Singhalese females . . 107 Moorish dealers in gems . . . 108 Tortoise-shell . . . (note) 108 Carved ebony ...... 108,
The trade of the port?cliiefly limited
to the products of the coco-nut palm 109 Local prosperity depends on shipping 109 The Suria trees and their caterpillars ....., 110
The Native town .... Ill
The gardens.....Ill
The jak tree described by Pliny (note") III Hdix hema&tama . . , .112 Belligam ...... 112
Statue of the £^mtia Ruja. . .113 Matura . (note 113
A 4Vlll
CONTENTS OF
Page
Dondera and its temples . . .US Tangalk and Hambangtotte . .114
Fireflies ???? }f2 A dinner at Galle . . (note) 115 Mosquitoes the "plague of Egypt
(wote) llo
The harbour of Galle . » - U6 Theory of the tides around Ceylon
117?^-1U
120 121 122 122 123 123 124 124 125
125
CHAP. IL
GALLE TO COLOMBO.
Galle and Colombo mail The roads of Ceylon . Beauty of the Galle road View of Adam's Peak Houses of the villagers The Chalias and their origin The coco-nut palm . Its prodigious numbers at Galle Its " hundred uses " . "Won't grow out of sound of the human voice.....
Extent of coco-nut cultivation (note) 125
Coco de mer.....126
Curry spoken of by Ibn Batuta (note) 126
fficcode......127
" Coir," origin of the word (note) 127 Amblangodde, coral . . . .127 Cosgodde, anecdote . . . .128 Bentotte, oysters . . . .129 The Fisher caste ' . » . .129
The fish-tax.....ISO
Adam's Peak-.....132
Worship of the sun -. . . .132 Various traditions . , v .133
-----the Footstep of St. Thomas (note) 133
------of Buddha. . . (note) 133
-----of Adam (Mahometan) . .134
The Gnostics authors of last . .135 The first Mahometan pilgrims . . 136 The route to the summit . . .137 The Iron Chains . . . , 138 Elephants visit the summit (note) 139 The Footstep . . . . .140
The View......141
The descent to Caltura by water , 142 Caltura . .. . . k . 142
Pantura......143
Canals . . . . .143
MoroHu .... 143
Mount Lavinia . * 144
Galkisse?the temple * -. 145
Approach to Colombo The Galle Face . Queen's House . Note on the fish-tax .
146 . 146 . 147 148,149
CHAP. III.
COLOMBO*
Town, modern . . . . 151
The "Jons JSxtremum" of Ptolemy . 151 Origin of the name " Colombo " . 152 The Colombo Lake or " Gobb ". .153 Country houses in the suburbs » . 153
Page
Annoyances from reptiles . ? .153 Destruction of books by insects ?, 154
The fish insect.....154
The plague of flies . . . .155 Various races inhabiting Colombo . 156 The Dutch descendants . . .156 Caste, and its malignant influence . 157 European society at Colombo . .158 Expense of living .... 159 Curious effects of the Pinguicula vul-
garis .... (note) 159 Fruit at Colombo . . . .160 Shops in the Native Town . .160 Interior of a Native house. . .160 The soap-nut and the marking-nut .... (note) 160 Houses of the chiefs . . . .161 Dinner with Maha-Moodliar . . 161 The Cinnamon Gardens . . .161 Decline of the trade in cinnamon , 161 Its present state .... 163 Dangerous harbour and roadstead . 165 Elie house and gardens . . .166
CHAP. IV.
THE CEYLON GOVERNMENT, REVENUE, AND ESTABLISHMENTS.
THE COUNTRY FROM COLOMBO TO KANDY.
The governor and his councils . .167 Sources of public revenue . (note) 168 The pearl fishery . . . .169
The monopoly of salt and arrack . 169 Unwise tax upon rice . . .169 Its demoralizing effects . (note) 170 Tolls on bridges and ferries . .171 Expenditure on establishments (note) 172 The Civil Service and its efficiency . 172 Causes of its former decline (note) 173 Reforms of the Earl of Derby . .174 The Maldwe ambassador . . .175 The weather at Colombo, in March . 176 The superstition of " the evil eye " . 176 Cruelty to animals .... 177
Turtle sold alive piece-meal . .177 Ancient temple of Kalany . . 178 Sita-wacca and Kuan well £ (note) 179 The road from Colombo to Kandy . 179 The bullocks of Ceylon . . .180 "Tavalams" . " . . . .181
Camels tried to be domesticated (note) 181 Veangodde . . . . . .182
Don Solomon Dias . . . .182
Ambepusse. . . . . .183
White monkeys . . (note) 184 The Kandyan*peasantry . . .184
A juggler"......185
Diodorus Siculus' account of the Singhalese jugglers . . (note) 185 The Kaduganawa Pass . . . ] 86 The Rodiyas ? their inhuman degradation . . . . . .187
The Cagots of the Pyrenees . . 191 Entrance to Kandy.....192THE SECOND VOLUME.
IX
CHAP. V.
KANDY ? PAKEDENIA.
Page General aspect of Kandy . . - 194
Its antiquities.....194
Its ancient history . . . .194 The public buildings and Temple of
the Tooth.....195
The streets and native houses . . 196 The palace . . . . - I96
The temples.....197
Status of the Buddhist priesthood . 197 The Pera-hara . . . (note) 198 The Sacred Tooth and its story. .198 Fraud practised on the king of Pegu 200 The Tooth, and its shrine . . . 202 The lake and scenery of Kandy . 203 Yisit of a leopard . . . - 203
Snakes......203
Scorpions ....?? 204 Wine grown at Kandy. A.D. 1602
(note-) 206 Costume of the chiefs . . .206
Peradenia......207
Cultivation of sugar .... 207 The Botanic Garden . . . .209 Unreasoning complaints against 209, 210 Duties of a botanic officer . . .211 Story of the Tooth . . (note) 213
CHAP. YI.
GAMPOLA AND THE COFFEE DISTRICTS.
The bridge of Peradenia . . .222 Torrents of the Mahawelli-ganga . 222 Country from Kandy to Gampola . 222 Character of the Kandyans . . 223 Their affection for kindred . . 224 Gampola and its antiquities . . 224 Huge spiders?the Mygale . . 225 Origin of coffee-planting in Ceylon . 226 Introduced by the Arabs . . . 226 Discouraged by the Dutch . . 227 Coffee found at Kandy in 1815 . . 227 Cultivated by the natives . . . 227 Systematic culture introduced by Sir
"Edward Barnes . . ." .228 Encouraging circumstances in 1826 . 228 Increased consumption of coffee in
Europe . . . . (note) 228 Failure of the supply from the West
Indies......228
Rapid success of the experiment . 229 Rapid sale of crown lands . (note) 230 Imprudence of the early planters . 231 Attractions of a forest life . . .231 The mania at its height in 1845 . 231 The crisis of 1846 . . . .232
Pape
Sacrifice of estates .... 232 Gradual recovery of the enterprise . 232 Subsequent improvements in culture 233 Difficulties of the speculation . . 233 Difficulty of obtaining labour . . 233 Dangers from winds, vermin, and
insects......234
Ravages of the " coffee bug " . . 234 Rats . . . . . . .234
Future prospect of the planter . . 235 Present extent tinder cultivation . 235 Valuable tables of Mr. Ferguson . 235 The future and probable extension . 236 The anxieties of absent planters . 236 Old Gampola ferry .... 237
Table of coffee estates . . . 238 Note on the coffee bug ? . . 244
CHAP. VII.
FUSILAWA AND NEUERA-ELLIA.
Road from Gampola to Pusilawa . 249
Gamboge trees, &c.....249
Patenas......249
Sounds heard clearly on the hills . 250 Mode of felling forests . . . 250
Pusilawa......250
The estate of Mr. Worms . .250 Beauty of a coffee plantation . . 251 Tea grown at Pusilawa . . .251 Objects of natural history . . 252 Habits of animals at various hours
of the day.....252
The early butterflies and birds . 253 Songsters and bees. " . . 253
Noon arid the effects of heat on the animals . ... . . 254
Evening and its characteristics . 255
Night......257
Rangbodde. . . . . 257 General Eraser's estate . . . 258 Gregarious spiders .... 258 Effects of cold on the Singhalese . 259 The Caffre corps . . . .259 One of them killed by an elephant .....259
Neuera-ellia and its discovery . . 260 Its climate and vegetation . . 261 Effects on health . . . .262 The benefits to invalids . . . 263 Farming at Neuera-ellia . , 264
Gem-finding.....264
Oovah,?its fertility . . . . 265
Itsproductions,~coffee estates 266-268
J3adu!la,?tQwii described . . . 266
The hot well.....268
Outcasts and degraded races . .268 Magnificent view at the pass of Ella......268CONTENTS OF
PAET VIII. THE ELEPHANT.
Page . 271
i)271
. 272 273 274 275 277 279 280
281
282
283
284 285
286
CHAPTER I.
STRUCTUKE.
Vast numbers in Ceylon Derivation of the word " elephant"
Mischief done by them to crops
Ivory scarce in fceylon
Conjectures as to the absence of tusks
Elephant a harmless animal
Alleged antipathies to other animals
Fights one with another .
His foot his chief weapon .
Use of the tusks in a wild state doubtful .. .....
Anecdote of sagacity at Kandy .
Difference between African and Indian species.....
Native ideas of perfection in an elephant ......
Blotches on the skin ....
White elephants not unknown in Ceylon .......
CHAP. II.
HABITS.
Water, but not heat, essential to elephants ...... 287
Sight limited ..... 287
Smell acute ..... 288
Caution . ..... 288
Hearing, good ..... 289
Cries of the elephant . . . .289
Trumpeting . . . . . 289
Booming noise . . . . . 290
Height, exaggerated .... 290
Facility of stealthy motion . .291 Ancient delusion as to the joints of the leg ...... 292
Its exposure by Sir Thomas Browne . 293 Its perpetuation by poets and others 294 Position of the elephant in sleep . 297 An elephant killed on its feet . . 298 Mode of lying down . . . .299
Its gait a shuffle . . . .299
Power of climbing mountains . . 800 Facilitated by the joint of the knee . 300 Mode of descending declivities . .301 A " herd " is a family. . . .301
Attachment to their voung . . 302 Suckled indifferentlyby the females . 303 A " rogue *' elephant .... 304
Their cunning and vice . . . 305 Injuries done by them . . . 305 The leader of a herd a tusker . . 306 Bathing and nocturnal gambols, de-
scription of a scene by Maj or Skinner 306 Method of swimming . . . 310 Internal anatomy imperfectly known 311
Faculty of storing water . . 311 Peculiarity of the stomach 312-316 The food of the elephant , . 317 Sagacity in search of it , 317,318 Unexplained dread of fences 318, 319 His spirit of curiosity and inquisitive-ness . . * . . . .320 Estimate of sagacity .... 320 Singular conduct of a herd during thunder ...... 321
CHAP. HI.
ELEPHANT SHOOTING.
Yast numbers shot in Ceylon . . 323 Fatal spots at which to aim . . 324 Revolting details of elephant killing
in Africa . . . (note) 324 Attitudes when surprised . . . 328 Peculiar movements when reposing . 328 Habits when attacked . , . 329 Sagacity of native trackers . . 330 Courage and agility in escape * .331 Worthlessness of the carcass . . 332 Singular recovery from a wound(«ote) 333
CHAP. IV.
AN ELEPHANT CORRAI*
Method of capture by noosing . . 335 Panickeas?their courage and address 336 Their sagacity in following the elephant ...... 337
Mode of capture by the noose . . 338 Mode of taming. . . . .339
Method of leading the elephants to
the coast.....340
Process of embarking them at Ma-
naar......341
Method of capturing a whole herd . 341 The " keddah " in Bengal described . 342 Process of enclosing a herd . . 34,3 Process of capture in Ceylon . . 343 An elephant corral and its construction ......344
An elephant hunt in Ceylon. 1847 . 344 The town and district of Kornegalle 345 The rock of Aetagalla . . .345 Forced labour of the corral in former
times......347
Now given voluntarily . . . 34$ Form of the enclosure . .. . 349 Method of securing a wild herd . 350 Scene when, driving them into the corral . « . . ? ? .351
A failure......352
An elephant drove by night . . 353 Singular scene in the corral . .354 Excitement of the tame elephants . 354THE SECOND VOLUME.
Xl
CHAP. V.
THE CAPTIVES.
Page
A night scene . . . . 355 Morning in the corral . . . 356 Preparations for securing1 the captives ......357
The " cooroowe," or noosers . . 357 The tame decoys . . . 357 !First captive tied up . . . . 358 Singular conduct of the wild elephants ......359
Purious attempts of the herd to
escape......360
Courageous conduct of the natives . 360 Yariety of disposition exhibited by
the herd......363
Extraordinary contortions of the captives ......363
Water withdrawn from the stomach . 365 Instinct of the decoys . . . 365 Conduct of the noosers . . . 367 The young ones and their actions . 368 Noosing a " rogue," and his death . 369 Instinct of flies in search of carrion
(note) 370
Strange scene.....371
A second herd captured . . . 372 Their treatment of a solitary elephant......373
A magnificent female elephant. . 373 Her extraordinary attitudes . . 373 Taking the captives out of the corral 376 Their subsequent treatment and training.......376
Grandeur of the scene . . . 376 Story of young pet elephant . . 377
CHAP. VI.
CONDUCT IN" CAPTIVITY.
Page Alleged superiority of the Indian to
the African elephant?not true . 378 Ditto of Ceylon elephant to Indian . 379 Process of training in Ceylon . . 382 Allowed to bathe . . . .383 Difference of disposition . . . 384: Sudden death of " broken heart" . 385 First employment treading clay . 886 Drawing a waggon .... 386 Dragging timber . . . . 387 Sagacity in labour .... 387 Mode of raising stones . . . 387 Strength in throwing down trees
exaggerated.....388
Piling timber.....389
Not uniform in habits of work . . 889 Lazy if not watched . . . .390 Obedience to keeper from affection
not fear......390
Change of keeper?story of child 390-391 Ear for sounds and music . . . 391 Hurra! .... (note) 391
Docility......392
Working elephants, delicate . . 393 Deaths in government stud . . 394
Diseases......395
Question of the value of labour of an
elephant.....395
Food in captivity, and cost . .395 Breed in captivity .... 397
Age.......398
No dead elephants found . . . 399 Sindbad's story..... 400 Passage from /Elian . . . .401
PAET IX.
THE NOBTHBRN FORESTS.
CHAPTER I.
FOREST TRAVELLING IN CEYLON.
The ancient province of Pihiti . . 407
Little known to Europeans . . 407
Coco-nut plantations oil the coast . 409
Difficulty of travellers regarding provisions .... . . 410
Their dependence on game . .4.11
Water . . . .. . .411
Method of purifying it by a nut . 411
Koiids and forest-paths . . . 412
Solitude of the forest. . . .413
Scarcity of animals in its depths . 413
Mode of crossing rivers . . » 413
Arrangement of'a day's march . . 414
CHAP. II.
BJNTEKNE ? THE MAHAWELIJ-GANG A ? THE ANCIENT TANKS.
Scenery of the Mahawelli-ganga . 415
Chalybeate streams . 416
Gonnegamme and the Maha-oya . 416 Singhalese torches .... 417 The Cinnamon Eiver . . . 417
The Coma-ova.....417
Elephants swimming . . .418 Effects of rain on the rivers . .418 Pangragamme. . . , . .418 Bintenne and its antiquities . 419-420 The ** Maagrammum " of Ptolemy . 420 Its ancient dagoba .... 421
The town......421
The Mahawelli-ganga . . . 422 Exploration of its capabilities for navigation......423
Effects of its diversion into the Vergel 424 Mr. Broohes's ascent of the river . 42-i Possibility of rendering it navigable 428 The residence of a chief . . . 427
His family.....428
Polyandry and its origin . . . 428 Its prevalence in India ? . . 429 And among1 the ancient Britons (note) 429 The ruined tank of Horra-bora, . 430Xll
CONTENTS OF
Possibility of restoring the ruined tanks ....
Its national importance
Unrivalled magnitude of the ancient works for irrigation in Ceylon
Why necessary in the north and not in the south of the island
Causes of the destruction of the ancient tanks .
Difficulties of restoring them
Sentiments of the native population
Facilities afforded by the tank at Horra-bora.....
^ Page
432 432
. 433
434 435
CHAP. III.
THE VEDDAHS.
The Veddah country. . . .437 Origin of the tribe . . . .438 A remnant of the aborigines of Ceylon .......438
Historical evidences . . . . 438
Srnilar races in India . (note) 4-38 Veddahs described by Palladius A.D. 400 . . . . . . 438
Veddahs are "archers" . . .439 Their food. . . . . .439
I. The Rock Veddahs . . .440
Their organisation and habits . 440
Their language . . . . 440 Their marriage rites . . .441
No religion .... 441
Their clevil-worship . . . 441
No burial of the dead . . . 442
Legend as to their high caste . 442
II. The Village Veddahs . . . 443 Their customs .... 443
III. The Coast Veddahs . . .444 Numbers of the Veddahs in Ceylon ......444
Their general character . . 444 Attempts of Government to reclaim them . .. . .445 Success as regards the Rock Veddahs .....446
Settlement of Village Veddahs . 447 Settlement of Coast Veddahs . 448 General results .... 448 A Veddah dance . ? , 449 Mode of kindling fire . . .451 Country between Bintenne and
Batticaloa . . . . 452 The road from Badulla . , 452
CHAP. IV.
BATTICALOA. ? "THE MUSICAL FISH/' ? THE SALT COUNTRY.
Singular features of the east coast-Scenery of [he rivers . . . The island of Poeliantivo . . . The great sand formation . Coco-nut plantations of Batticaloa Extraordinary size of the nuts . The Moors ofBatticaloa . Damask manufacture of Arrapatoo
454 455 456 456 456 457 458 458
Page
Singular law of succession . . . 458 Its Indian origin .... 459 Feudal system in Ceylon . . .459 The " village system "... 4GO The " honour of the White Cloth " . 4G1 Chena cultivation .... 463 The Fort of Batticaloa . , . 465 Its history and present state . . 465
Kingfishers.....466
Capture of a crocodile . . » 467 The " Musical Pish "... 468 Similar sounds in other seas . . 469 Organs of hearing in fishes . .469 Sounds uttered by the Tritonia arbo~
rescens......470
The salt-marshes . . . 472,473 Eraoor and the " Elephant-catchers" 472 The Natoor River . . . .473 Scenery of Venloos Bay . . . 473
Shells......474
The palace of the Vanichee . . 474 The salt lake of Panetjen-Kerny . 474 The Vergel River . . . .475 Its dangerous inundations. . . 475 Arnetivoe, *' the Island of Elephants" 476 Night-scene at Topoor . . . 477 Cottiar . . . . . 478
Former history of the place and its
trade ...... 478
Knox's tamarind tree . . . 478 Extraordinary oysters . . . 479 Bay of Trincomalie . . . .479
Note.?Tritonia arborescens . . 480
CHAP. V.
TRINCOMALIE?THE EBONY FORESTS ? THE S/LT-FOKMATIONS? THE GREAT TANK OF PADIVIL.
The bay and harbour of Trincomalie 482 The fortifications .... 483 Legend of " the Saamy Rock " . . 483 The "temple of a thousand columns" 484 Destroyed by the Portuguese . . 484 Curious ceremony .... 485 Francina Van Reede .... 485 French attempts on Trincomalie . 485 The importance of the position . . 486 Its present neglect .... 486 Surrounding country depopulated . 487 The town and bazaars . . . 487 Trincomalie as the capital of Ceylon. 488 Reasons for its adoption . . . 488 Tamblegam Lake .... 491
Its pearl's......491
Elephants and monkeys » . . 492 A tiger . . . . (note) 492 The ebony forests .... 493 Life of the foresters .... 493 Nillavdli and the salt works . . 495 Hot springs of Kannea ' , . .496
Iron-sand...... 497
Climbing fish.....498
The lake of KoMai . . . .4-99 The mirage . . . . .500 Night travelling in the forest . . 501 The great tank of J?udivil , .502THE SECOND VOLUME.
Xlll
Page
Singular scene.....503
The embankment and sluices . 504, 505 Extraordinary view . . . .506 Wild animals . - . . . .506 Obscure origin of the tank . .507 The Wanny and its history . . 508 An attack by ants . . . .512 Singular tameness of game . . 512 Houses of the Tamil peasantry. . 513 Adventure with a crocodile . . 514 The fort of Moeletivoe . . .515 Crocodiles......516
CHAP. YI.
THE PENINSULA OF JAFFNA.?THE PALMYRA PALM.?THE TAMILS.
The " Elephant Pass" . . .517 Pass Beschuter . . . (note) 517 Geologic formation of Jaffna . .518 The palmyra palm . . . .519 Marriage of the palmyra and the
banyan......520
Tamil poem on the palmyra . .521 Fallacy of Rumphius . (note") 521 Economic uses of the palmyra . . 522 Animals frequenting the tree . . 523 Method of collecting the juice . .524 Manufacture of palmyra sugar . . 524
The ripe fruit.....525
"Poonatoo".....525
The "kelingoo" .... 525 Timber of the palmyra . . . 526 The leaves and their uses . . . 527
" Olas "......527
Coco-nut plantations of Jaffna . . 528
Mode of culture.....528
Destruction by beetles . . . 530 Other fruit trees of Jaffna . . .531 Ingenious system of cultivation . 531 Cattle and their peculiarities . .531 Wells and irrigation ? 533
Tobacco......534
Point Pedro.....535
The tamarind tree of JGaldaeus . . 535
Page
Costume of the Tamil females . . 536 The extraordinary -well of Potoor . 536 Jaffna?the suburbs . . . 536, 537 Cultivation of the vine . . . 538 The Tamils?their origin in Ce}rlon . 539 Their rise and former power (note) 539 Their subjugation by Portugal. . 540 The town and fort of Jaffna . . 541 Arts and employments of the people. 542 Oil crushing ..... 542 The vices of the Tamils . . .544 Their superstitions .... 545 An extraordinary murder . . . 545 Comparative state of crime in Ceylon 547
CHAP. VII. ADAM'S BRIDGE AND THE ISLANDS.?
THE PEARL FISHERY, Kayts, Hammaniel, and Donna Clara
(note) 549
Delft, "the Island of the Sun ". . 550 The breed of horses in Delft . . 550 The use of the " lasso " . (note) 550 Ramiseram?the great temple . 550, 551 The Paumbam Passage . . . 552
Adam's Bridge.....553
The legend of its formation (note) 554 The coral groves . .. . . 555
Manaar.....,556
Its ancient importance . . . 556
Choya root.....556
Chank shells . . . (note) 556 The " tripang," or bicho de mar. . 556
TheDugong.....557
Origin of the fable of the Mermaid . 557 The baobab trees at Manaar . .559 The pearl fishery . . . .560 The beach at Aripo .... 560 Enormous accumulations of shells . 560 Disappearances of the pearl oyster . 561 Investigations of Dr. Kelaart . . 562 The pearl divers and their customs . 563 Exaggerated stories of their powers . 564
Shark charmers.....564
Return to Colombo .... 565
PART X. THE BUINED CITIES.
CHAPTER I.
SIGIRI AND PQLLANARRUA.
Symptoms of rebellion and the causes 5G9
Author's visits to the north in consequence .....570
The village of the Gahalayas . .571 Scenery around Matelle . . . 572 Jlfatelle and its antiquity . . . 272 Ornamental arts of its inhabitants . 572 The Alu Wihara . . . .573 Country to Xalande .... 574
Mistakes relative to bridges in Ceylon o74 The Sea of Prakrama . ." .575 Dambool?the rock .... 575 The temple .... 576, 577 The parricide king .... 579 Sigiri?the rock fortress . , . 579 The ruins , . . . . 580
Devil-dancers.....581
Extraordinary view .... 581 Curious custom of antiquity . (note) 582 Distances measured by sounds . . 582 Singhalese names for days of the week . (note) 582XIV
CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
Page
Cottawelle.....583
ToparS or Pollanarrua . . . 583 Extreme beauty of the site . .583 Importance of the city, anciently . 584 Its vicissitudes ..... 584 Its extent and buildings . . . 584: The ruins unknown to the Portuguese
and Dutch.....586
Their discovery in 1817 . . .586
The palace......587
The " seven storied-house " . . 588 The great stone tablet . . 588
The "round-house" . . . 589
The Dalada Malagawa . . 590
The Rankot Dagoba. . .591
The Jayta-wana-rama . 592, 593
Singular mode of lighting the statue 594 The Kiri Dagoba . . 594
The Gal-wahira . . 595,596
Its colossal statues . . .597
Great extent of the ruins . .597
A colony of parroquets . . 599
CHAP. II.
THE TANK OF MTNEEY.?ANARAJAPOOKA, AND THE WEST COAST.
The artificial lake of Minery 600
Its beauty .... 600
A temple to its founder . 601
Abundance of wild animals 601
The Rittagalla Mountain . 602
The great tank of Kalaweva 602
Its prodigious dimensions . 602
The ruins of Vigita-poora. 603
An. abominable tree . ? 603
Colossal statue . . . 604
The sacred mountain of Mihintala 605
Its historical associations . . 605
Its ancient names . . (note) 606
Enormous flights of stone steps . 607
The Et-wihara Dagoba . . .607 The Ambustella Dagoba . « .608 Magnificent view . . . .609 The road from Mihintala to Anaraja-
poora......GOD
The ancient tanks . . . .609 Plan of the city . . . .610 Ancient history of Anarajapoora .611 The ruins of the Brazen Palace . 612 Other antiquities .... 612 The Sacred Bo-tree .... 613 The oldest historical tree in the world 614
Proofs of this.....615
The singular veneration shown to it. 616 Its present condition. . . .618 Finely carved stone slab . . .619 The tomb of Elala . . . .619 The Mirisiwettye Dagoba . .620 The Ruanwelle Dagoba . . . 620 Dimensions of the dagobas (note} 621 Other monuments .... 621 The Abhayagiri Dagoba . . . 621 Its extraordinary size , ? . 621 The Thuparama Dagoba . . . 622 The Dalada Maligawa . . . . 622 The Jayta-wana-rama Dagoba . . 623 Its iramenue cubical contents . . 623 Wild animals near the ruins . . 624 Fable of the jackal . , (note) 625 The Giants' Tank .... 626 Its present condition and history . 626 The country on the west coast . .626 JKoodramalle . 627
Putlam and its baobab-tree . . 627 Calpentyn and its " Gobb " . . 628 Sea-snakes there and at the Basses
(note) 628
Chilaw......629
Euins of Dambedenia and Yapahoo
(note) 629
ISTegombo......680
Evidences of the identity of the Bo-tree .... (note) 631ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE SECOND VOLUME.
MAPS.
Page
A Map of Ceylon.......By ARROWSMTTII . . to face I
A Portuguese Map of Ceylon in A.D. 1658 . From KJBKYRO .... 5 The Coffee Districts of Ceylon . . . . By ARROWSMITH . . to face 234
PLANS AND CHARTS.
Plan of the Temple, &c. on Adam's Peak . By MR. W. FERGUSON . . . 140 " Gobbs" on the West Coast . . . ARROWSJVIITH .... 143
Section of a Well made by an Elephant.........311
Grround Plan and Fence of a Corral..........349
" Gobbs" on the East Coast . . . ARROWSMITH .... 456
Plan of the City of Pollanarraa . . . MR. W. G. HALL . . .585 Plan of the Dalada Malagawa at Topare . . MR. W. G. HALL . . .590
Temple in Ava.......YULE'S Ava, &c. . . . , 594
Plan of the Ruins at Anarajapoora . . . By MAJOR SKINNER . . . 610 Diagram of the Dagobas at Anarajapoora . MAJOR SKLNJSER . . . 621
WOOD ENGRAVINGS.
Elephants captured in a Corral . . .By MR. J. WOLF . . Frontispiece Portuguese Discovery Ship .... LA PLACE .... 3
Portrait of Raja Singha II. ... . From KNOX.....49
General Macdowall and Pilame' Talawe . . JOINVILLE MSS.....80
Double Canoe of Galle.....By MRS. BRUNKER . . .103
A Singhalese, with his Hair Combs . . . MRS. BRUNKER . . . 106
Coco de Mer..............126
Summit of Adam's Peak.....MR. FAIRHOLME . . . 140
Portico of the old Queen's House, Colombo . MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 147
View of Colombo......MR. FAIRHOLME . , » 150
Elie House.......MR. A. NICHOLL . . .166
Portrait of Don Solomon Dias .... From a Photograph . . .182 The Rest-house at Ambepusse . . . .By MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 183 The Kaduganawa Pass ..... MB. A. XICIIOLL . . 3 86
Rodiya Girls.......PRINCE SOLTYKOFF . . .190
Temple of the Sacred Tooth, at Kandy . . MR. A. NICHOLL . . .195
The Sacred Tooth......From COLONEL FORBES . .201
Shrine of the Sacred Tooth . . . .By MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 202
View of Kandy......MR. FAIRHOLME . . .204
Group of Kandyan Chiefs .... From a Photograph . . . 206
The old Gampola Ferry . . . . .By MR. FAIRHOLME . . . 237
General Fraser's Coffee Estate .... MR. FAIRHOLME . . . 258
View of Badulla ...... MR. FAIRHOLME . . . 2C6
Brain of the Elephant ..... PROFESSOR HARRISON . . 288ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE SECOND VOLUME.
Page Clavicle of the Horse and the Elephant . . By SIE CHARLES BELL . . . 2U9
Elephant descending a Declivity..........301
Elephant's Stomach......Sin EVERARD HOME . . 813
Trachea of an Elephant ..... PROFESSOR HARRISON . .315
A Captive Elephant......MR. J. WOLF . . . .359
Contortions of a Captive.....MR. J. WOLF . . . .300
Rage of a Captive Elephant .... MR. J. WOLF .... 3G3 Conduct of tame Elephants .... MR. J. WOLF .... 375 Elephant on Greek and Roman Coins . . ARMANDI .... 378
Medal of Numidia......ARMANDI .... 382
Modern Hendoo.............382
Cerithium palustre; said to be the Musical Shell
of Batticaloa..............4G8
Trincomalie.......MR. EAIRIIOLME . . . 4S2
A Coco-nut Oil Mill......MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 542
Panmbam. Passage......M. H. SYLVAT .... 552
Female Dugong......MR. J. WOLF .... 557
Baobab Trees at Manaar.....MR. FAIRHOLME . . . 559
The Alu Wihara......MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 573
Ptock of Dambool......MR. KNIGHTON . . . 575
Entrance to the Temple of Dambool. . . MR. A. NICHOLL . . .577
Rock of .Sigiri.......MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 579
Devil-dancers ?...... MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 581
The Palace at Pollanarrua . . . MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 587
The Sat-mohal-prasada . . ... . MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 588
The Round House at Pollanarrua . . . MR. A. NICHOLL . , .589
The Rankot Dagoba......MR. A. NICHOLL . . .591
The Jayta-wana-rama Temple . . . MR. A. NICIIOLL . . .593
Temple in Ava...... . YULES'S Ava &c.....594
The Gal-wihara at Pollanarrua . . .. By MR. A. NTCHOJ.L . . .596 Colossal Statue . . . . . . MR. A. NICHOLL . . . 604
Ascent to Mihintala......MR. A. NICHOLL . . .607
The Ambustella Dagoba, Mihintala . . . MR. A. NICHOLL . . , 608 Ruins of the Brazen Palace .... MR. A. NICHOLL . . .612
The sacred Bo-tree......MR. A. NICHOLL . « . 614"
Carved Stone at Anarajapoora .... MR. A. NICHOLL . . .619 Jayta-wana-rama Dagoba at Anarajapoora . MR. A. NICHOLL . . , 62.';\PART VI.
MODERN HISTORY.
VOL. H.CHAPTEE I
THE PORTUGUESE IN CEYLON.
THERE is no page in the story of European colonisation more gloomy and repulsive than that which recounts the proceedings of the Portuguese in Ceylon. Astonished at the magnitude of their enterprises, and the glory of their discoveries and conquests in India, the rapidity and success1 of which secured for Portugal an unprecedented renown, we are ill-prepared to hear of the rapacity, bigotry, and cruelty which characterised every stage of their progress in the East. They appeared in the Indian Seas in the threefold character of merchants, missionaries, and pirates. Their ostensible motto was, "amity, commerce, and religion."2 Their expeditions consisted of soldiers as well as adventurers, and included friars and a chaplain-major. Their instructions were, " to begin by preaching, but, that failing, to proceed to the decision of the sword."3 At once aggressive and timid, they combined the profession of arms with that of trade; and thus their factories became fortresses, from under
A.I).
1505.
1 The annexed sketch, of a Portuguese Discovery SMp of the fifteenth century is copied from a drawing" in LA PLACE'S Oircumnamffation deVAy-temise,, tom. i. p. 54.
2 FABIA Y SOTTZA, Asia Portuguesa, Lisbon, 1666?75 :" translated by Stevens, London^ 1695, vol. i, pt. i. ch. v. p. 54. DE COUTO says: " Os Keys Portugal sempre per tenderam nesta conqulsta do Oriente unir tanto os dous poderes espiritual e temporal, que em nenhuni tempo se exercitasse liuni sem o outro."?DQC, vi. lib. iv. ch. vii p. 323.
3 IMd.? p. 53.
PORTUGUESE DISCOVERY SHIP.
B 2MODERN" HISTOEY.
[PART VI.
whose guns their formidable galleons carried war and de-solation against all weaker commercial rivals. The remarkable fact is, that the picture of their policy, has been drawn by friendly hands, and the most faithful records of their mis-government are contained in the decades of their own historians. The atrocities attributed to the Portuguese in the Tohfut-ul-mujaliideen1., might be ascribed to the resentment of its Mahometan author, on witnessing the havoc inflicted on his co-religionists in wars undertaken by Europeans, in order to annihilate the commerce of the Moors in Hindustan ; but no similar suspicion can attach to the narratives of MAFFEUS2, DE BAEEOS and DE
COUTO3, CASTA1STHEDA4, FAEIA T SOTJZA5, and ElBEYEO6,
each descriptive of actions that consign their authors to
infamy.
1 The ToJifttt-id-mujaTiideen, "written by Sheikh Zeen-ud-deen,- gives
an account of the proceedings of the Portuguese against the Mahometans from the year 1498 to 1583 A.D.
2 MAJTEI, Histana Indicarum}A.'D. 1570, written under royal authority.
s Dd Axia dos Feitos que os Portugueses jizeram no descubrimento e c&nqui#ta das terras e mares do Ori-ente. 'For Jolo BE BAEROS e DIOG-O BE COUTO. Lisboa, 1778?88. De Barros, who is preeminently the historian of Portuguese India, never visited the East, hut held at Lisbon the office of Custodian of the Records of India, u Feitor da Casa da India/' in which capacity lie had access to all official documents and despatches, £mm the contents of which he compiled his prreat work, of which he lived to publish only the first three Decades, the fourth being posthumous. He died in 1570; so that he was co-temporary with Albuquerque, whose ai'hievcmenta lie celebrates, and to whom, &.«* CEAWPUED observes in his iJli'fmifin/ of tlw Indian Inlands, he stcMxl ** in the aamo relation that Ornie the hititoriun of India does to the Eii;/*i4i Hffif|si«nr dive." His im-fiialsli^ti jktJboitrs were taken up by numerous Portuguese* authors; but
his ablest continuator was DIEGO DE COUTO, (or more properly DIOGO DO COXJTO,) who died at Groa; in 1616. He brings down the narrative of Do BAEEOS to the yiceroyalty of the Count Admiral Don. Erancisco de Grama, A.D. 1596.
4 PEENAI^DO LOPES DE GASTAJST-HEDA; Historia do Desoubrimento e Conquista da India pelos Portugueses. Coimbra; 1551?61. It has been translated into English by Litchfield; London^ 1582.
5 MANTJEL DE FAETA T SOIJZA, Asia Portugitesa, fyc. Lisbon, 1666. This was a posthumous publication, written in Spanish, but inferior, both in authenticity and ability, to the works of DE BAEEOS and DE COUTO. It has been translated into English by Captain John Stevens: 3 vols.. London, 1695.
6 EIBEYEO, Hist, de Vlsle de Ceilan. It is doubtful if this work was ever published in the Original Portuguese, in which it was written and " presented to the King of Portugal in 1685." But from it the French version was prepared by the Abb? Le Grand, and printed at Trevoux in 1701. There is an English translation by Lee, Colombo, 1847. To the above list may be added the Historia (k la India Orwntaly written inCHAP. L]
INTERNAL CONDITION.
The Portuguese were nearly twenty years in India before they took steps to obtain a footing in Cey-
Spanish by SAN ROMANO Y RIYA-DENEYJRA, aBenedictine of Valladolid, A.D. 1603, which describes the proceedings of the Portuguese in India
down to the death of John HI.. A.D. 1557.
Note to 2nd Edition.?Since the publication of the first edition, I haye
PORTUGUESE MAP OF CEYILON, A.D, 1685,
1. Columbo.
2. Cotta.
3. Caliture.
4. Alicara.
5. Galle.
G. Beligam.
7. Mature.
8. Tanavare.
9. Grevavas.
10. Balave.
11. Batecaloti.
12. Capello de Frade.
13. Marinhas do Sal.
14. Trinquimal£.
15. Terra dos Bedas.
16. Ovany. j
17. Ponta das Fetras.
18. Jafanapatao.
19. Ilha de Cardiva.
20. Ilha das Cabras.
21. Ilha dos Forcados.
22. II ha das Vacas,
23. Rio Salgado.
24. Ilha de Manaar,
25. Mantota.
26. Praya de Aripo.
27. Serra de Grmlumale.
28. Fatalam.
29. Ilha de Cardiga.
30. Chilio.
31. Negumbo.
32. Verganpenin.
33. Malvana.
34. Grubebe.
35. Ruanella.
36. Manicavare.
37. Ceitavacca.
38. Safregam.
39. Dinavaca.
40. Ura.
41. Candia.
42. Matal?.
43. Serra de Balane.
44. Praja de Moroto.
45. Beletote.
46. Curaca.
47. Mapolegama.
48. Etkceadados Arcos.
49. Panatur?.
50. Acumena.
51. Picco de Adam.
52. Vilarem.
53. Pasdun Corla.
54. Reygam Corla.
55. Salpitl Corla.
56. Quatro Corlas.
57. Sete Corlas.
58. Cotlar.
ascertained that the work of EIBETEO (or, as he writes his name, RIBEIBO) has been printed in the original Por-tugnese; by the Academia Real das
Sciencias. It forms the fifth vol. of a series entitled, CoUecqQo de Naticuis para a IIMoria e Geografia das Noqw# qm mvem nos Dominion
B 3MODERN" HISTOEY.
[PART VI
AJ .
1505.
Ion.1 Vasco de Gama, after rounding the Cape, anchored at Calicut A.D. 1498, and Lorenzo de Almeyda visited Galle A.D. 1505 ; but it was not till A.D. 1517, that Lopez Soarez, the third viceroy of the Indies, bethought himself of sending an expedition to form a permanent trading settlement at Colombo2; and so httle importance did the Portuguese attach to the acquisition, that within a very few years, an order (which was not acted upon) was issued from Goa to abandon the fort, as not worth the cost of retention.3
Portuguems ou llies sao msinhas ; and was published at Lisbon in 1836, from the identical MS. presented by the author to King Pedro II. In this, RIBEYEO entitles his work, FataUdade Historica da Mha de Ceilao; and the editor, after alluding in strong terms to the discreditable neglect in which it had so long been permitted to remain in Portugal, points out that its French translator, Le Grand, had not only committed gross errors, but had omitted whole chapters from the 2nd and 3rd Bookstand altered the sense of numerous passages, owing to his imperfect acquaintance with the Portuguese language. Eibeyro illustrated his narrative by a map of Ceylon, which is a remarkable evidence of the very slight knowledge of geography possessed by his countrymen in the seventeenth century. A foe simile of it is given above.
1 DE BABEOS, dec, iii.' lib. ii. ch. 2. vol. iii. pt. i. p. 119.
3 This fact is not without significance in relation to the daim of Ceylon to a "natural monopoly " of the finest qualities of cinnamon. Its existence as a production of the island had been made known to Europe by Di CONTI, seventy years before; and IBK BATOTA asserts that Malabar had been supplied with cinnamon from Ceylon at a still earlier period. It may therefore be inferred, that there can have been nothing very remarkable in the quality or repute of the spice at the beginning of the sixteenth century j else the
Portuguese, who had been mainly attracted to the East by the fame ot its spices, would have made their earliest visit to the country which afterwards acquired its renown by producing the rarest of them.
" can ell a
Com que Ceilao he rica, illustre, e bella." CAMOENS, canto ix. st. 14.
On the contrary, their first inquiries were for peppery and their chief resort was to the Dekkan, north of Cape Comorin, which was celebrated for producing it. (Toh-fut-ul-Mujahidem,^ ch. iv. s. i. p. 77.) It was not till 1516 that BAHBOSA proclaimed the superiority of Ceylon cinnamon over all others, and there is reason to believe, whatever doubt there may be as to its early introduction into the island, that its high reputation is comparatively modern, and attributable to the attention bestowed upon its preparation for market by the Portuguese, and afterwards in its cultivation by the Dutch, DE BAREOS, however, goes so far as to describe Ceylon as the-Mother of Cinnamon, "canella de que ella he madre como dissemos." ?Dec. iii. lib. ii. ch. i.
3 FABIA T SOITZA, vol. i. ch. ix. p. 281. VALENTYN" says the order was actually carried into force, and the fort of Colombo demolished by the Portuguese in 1524, but shortly afterwards reconstructed. (Oud en nieuw Oost-Indien, $c.f vol. v. pt. i. ch. vii. p. 91.)CHAP. L] ARRIVAL OF THE PORTUGUESE. 7
The political condition of Ceylon at the time was de- A.D. plorable. The seaports on all parts of the coast were 1505* virtually in the hands of the Moors; the north was in the possession of the Malabars, whose seat of government was at Jaffna-patarn ; and the great central region (since known as the Wanny), and Neuerakalawa, were formed into petty fiefs, each governed by a Wanniya, calling himself a vassal, but virtually uncontrolled by any paramount authority. In the south, the nominal sovereign, Dharma Prakrama Balm IX., had his capital at Gotta, near Colombo, whilst minor kings held mimic courts at Badulla, Gampola, Peraclenia, Kandy, and Mahagarn, and -caused repeated commotions by their intrigues and insurrections. They ceased to busy themselves with the endowment of temples, and the construction of works for irrigation, so that already in the fourteenth century, Ceylon had become dependent upon India for supplies of food, and annually imported rice from, the Dekkan.1
The first appearance of the Portuguese flag in the waters of Ceylon, in the year 1505, was the result of an accident. The profitable trade previously conducted by the Moors, in carrying the spices of Malacca and Sumatra to Cambay andBassora, having been effectually cut off by the Portuguese cruisers, the Moorish ships were compelled to take a wide course through the Maldives, and pass south of Ceylon, to escape capture. Don Francisco de Ahneyda, the Viceroy of India, despatched Ms son, Lorenzo, with a fleet from Goa to intercept the Moors on their route, and wandering over unknown seas, he was unexpectedly carried by the current to the harbour of Galle2; where he found Moorish ships loading with cin-
1 BABTHEHA, Itiwrario9 &c,; p.
XX VII.
s DE BABROS, dec. I. lib. I, eh. v. 5 FARIA y SOTJZA, vol. I. pt. i. ch. x.;
discovery of Ceylon/' ?an expression
which must liave been merely conventional, as in addition to all earlier travellers, Ceylon had been described
RIBEYEO, b. i. ek v.; DE CODTO, by a Portuguese., THOME LOPEZ, in
dec. v. lib. i. ch. iii. DE BABBQS and A*B, 1502, Bee RAMUSIO, vol. i. p. 333. SAW ROHANO describe this ? as ?«the )
B 4MODERN" HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A.D.
namon and elephants. Their owners, alarmed for their 1505. OW]QL safefy5 attempted to deceive him by the assertion that Galle was the residence of Dharma Prakrama IX., the king of Ceylon, under whose protection they professed to be trading; and by whom, they further assured him, they were authorised to propose a treaty of peace and commerce with the Portuguese, and to compliment their Commander, by a royal gift of four hundred bahars of cinnamon. They even conducted Payo de Souza, the heutenant of Almeyda, to an interview with a native who personated the Singhalese monarch, and who promised him permission to erect a factory at Colombo. Don Lorenzo, though aware of the deception, found it prudent to dissemble; and again put to sea after erecting a stone-cross at Point de Galle, to record the event of his arrival.1
A.D. Twelve years elapsed before the Portuguese again visited Ceylon. In the interim, their ascendancy in India had been secured by the capture of Ormuz, the fortification of Goa, the erection of forts at various places in Malabar, and the conquest of the spice country of Malacca. Midway between their extreme settlements, the harbours of Ceylon rendered the island a place of importance2 ; and at length, in 1517, Lopo Soarez de Albergaria appeared in person before Colombo, with a flotilla of seventeen sail, and with materials and workmen for the erection of a factory in conformity with the promise alleged to have been made by the king to Don Lorenzo de Almeyda, in 1505, and afterwards
1 DE BAEROS, dec. i lib. x. ch. v. vol. i. pt. ii. p. 425 ; BE COTTTO, dec. v. lib. i. ch. v, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 58; SAF EoMAisTo3 lib. i. ch. xviii. p. 106. CAHOENS, in a passage in the Lu-siadj implies that the Portuguese canie provided with these columns^ "padraos/' to be erected in commemoration of their expected discoveries.
" Hum padrao nesta terra alevant amos Que para assigna ar luga^es taes Trazia alguns," &c. Canto v. st. 78.
2 The importance of Ceylon, both for the facility and security of Portuguese commerce in India; has been ably discussed by HATNAL in his Histoire des EstaUissemmtset du Commerce de$ Europ$ens dans Us Indes, v. i, ch» xv. voL i. p. 166.CHAP. I.] FIRST STEUGGLES. 9
repeated by letter to the Viceroy Alfonzo de Albu- f-D-querque.1 But the apprehensions of the Singhalese court ° * were aroused by the discovery that seven hundred soldiers were carried in the merchant ships of the Viceroy, and that the proposed factory was to be mounted with cannon. In justification of this proceeding, Soarez pleaded the open hostility of the Moors, and the insecurity of the new traders when exposed to their violence;?but the arguments by which he succeeded in removing the king's scruples were proffers of the military services upon which the latter might rely, in case of assault from his aspiring relatives, and assurances of the riches to be derived from the trade which the Portuguese proposed to establish. Dazzled by such promises and prospects, the king gave a reluctant assent, and the first European stronghold in Ceylon began to rise on the rocky beach at Colombo.2
The Moors, instinctively alive to the dangers which threatened their trade, soon succeeded in re-kindling the alarms of the king at the consequences of his precipitancy. He made another attempt to draw back from his recent engagements ; he encouraged the Moors to resistance, and the Portuguese were closely besieged for several months. But the effort was ineffectual; the garrison was relieved by the arrival of succour from India, and the only result of the demonstration was to render the Singhalese king more helplessly dependent upon the power of the Viceroy. He submitted to acknowledge himself a vassal of Portugal, and to pay an annual tribute of cinnamon, rubies, sapphires, and elephants, and with this important convention inscribed on plates of gold, Lopo Soarez took his departure from Ceylon, leaving Juan de Silveira in command of the new settlement.3
1 FABIA T SOUZA, vol. I ])t. III. 2; \ ii. vol. iii. pi iL p. 121; BAX.DJETJS, DB BAEKO% dec. iii. lib, ii ch. ii, I cli. xl vol. iii. pt, L p. 118, t } s BE BABRGS, dec. iii. voL iii. p.
g DB BA&BOS, dee. iii. lib. ii. ch. j 132 $ BE COUTO, dec. v. vol. iii, p.10
MODERN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A.D. Owing to the difficulty of finding lime or even suitable 1517. stone on the spot, the first entrenchment of the Portuguese consisted of earth-work and stockades; and it was 1520. not till A.D. 1520, that Lopo de Brito was despatched with 400 soldiers, besides masons and carpenters, with orders to transport the shells of the pearl-oyster, which still form vast mounds along the sea-shore of Aripo, and to burn them for cement to complete the fortifications of Colombo.1 The Moors availed themselves of this undisguised attempt to convert a factory into a fortress, as an argument to rouse the indignation of the Singhalese ; and an army of 20,000 men was collected, which for upwards of five months held the Portuguese in utmost peril within the area of their entrenchments2, till the besiegers, alarmed by the arrival of reinforcements from India, suddenly dispersed, and left the garrison at liberty to complete their fortifications.
But hostilities were merely suspended, not abandoned, and a war now commenced which endured almost without intermission during the entire period the Portuguese held possession of the maritime provinces ; a war which, as DE ? COUTO observes, rendered Ceylon to Portugal what Carthage had proved to Borne?a source of unceasing and anxious expenditure, " gradually consuming her Indian revenues, wasting her forces and her artillery, and causing a greater outlay for the government of that single island than for all her other conquests in the East."3
445. CAMOENS, in the Lusiadj celebrates this incident of the tnbwte of Cinnamon as the crowning triumph, which signalised the planting of the " Lxisitanian standard on the towers of Colombo."
t( Delia dara tribute & Lusitana Bandeira, quando excelsa e gloriosa Vencendo se erguera na torre erguida Em Columbo, dos proprios ta5 temida." Canto x. st. 51.
1 DE BABEOS, dec. iii. lib. iy. ch. vi, vol. iii. pt. i. p. 445; EAEIA Y SQUZA, vol. i pt iii. ch. iv. p. 238 $ KIBEYBO, book i. ch. v.; SAN BOMAHO, lib. ii. ch. xxvi. p. 348.
2 SAN BOMANO, lib. ii. ch. xxvi. p. 349.
3 DE CODTO; dec. v. pt. i. ch. v. RODRIOTES IDE SAA, in his narrative of the rebellion in Ceylon, in which his father perished in 1630, records a similar opinion:?ft Varies y estranos casossuccedidos en nna conquista, qiie siendo a los Estados de la India conio otro Cartago a E-oma en la horribel y prolixo de la guerra^ igualo sin duda a los mas formidables de Eit-ropa; porque ha ciento y veinte siete anos c[ue dura con igtial obstinacionCHAP. I.]
THE KA3SfDTANS TAKE ARMS.
11
The king, Dharina Prakrama IX., the first with whom the Portuguese came in contact, is correctly described by RIBBYRO, as a weak and irresolute prince, who lacked the courage to refuse any request.1 The same may be said of his brother, Wijayo Bahu VIL, and of Bhuwaneka YH, son and successor of the latter. Though nominally the paramount sovereign of Ceylon, such was the minute subdivision of the island into petty fiefs, that the territory under the direct government of the king was not only insignificant in extent, but from its position, insusceptible of defence. On one side Gotta, his capital, lay almost within range of the Portuguese guns; and on all others he was overawed by his own vassals, who, from their strongholds in the hills, threatened him with revolt and invasion. The kings of Gotta thus exposed to demands from arrogant strangers which they were powerless to resist, and alarmed by the resentment of their own people, called forth by their concessions, were compelled, for security, to draw closer the ill-omened alliance with Portugal, in order to protect themselves from the indignation of their nominal subjects.
The first to organise an armed resistance to the encroachments of the new settlers, were the mountaineers of Kandy and the surrounding regions. Prom the earliest ages the inhabitants of these lofty ranges have been distinguished by their patriotism and ardent resistance to every foreign invader. The Same impatient spirit, which had stimulated their forefathers fifteen hundred years before, to avenge the first aggressions of the Malabars, now animated their descendants to repel the intrusion of European adventurers, whose mingled arrogance and duplicity served to inflame a
A.D.
1527,
de Zingalas y Portugueses, pug-nandoj estos per el Imperio y la ex-altacion de nuestra santa Fe Oato-liea; y aquellos por la libertad de
los cuerpos."?HODEIGTTES DE SAA, Rebelion de Ceylon, fyc., p. 2. 1 KIBEYEO, book I. cliap. v.12
MODBEMT HISTORY.
[PAET YL
A.D.
resistance which no blandishments could divert and no 1527. reverses allay, and which served to keep alive an internecine war, never relaxed nor suspended till the Portuguese were expelled from Ceylon, one hundred and fifty years after their first landing.
The effects of this long-sustained struggle left strongly marked impressions upon the national character of the Ekadyans. It not only called forth their patriotism and daring, but taught them the profession of arms, and, as an illustration of the maxim of Scipio, that a continual war against a single people teaches the aggressors in time to strengthen themselves by adopting the tactics of their enemies, DE COUTO instances the remarkable fact, that whereas on the arrival of Almeyda, in 1505, the Singhalese were ignorant of the use of gunpowder, and there was not a single firelock in the island, they soon excelled the Portuguese in the manufacture of muskets, -and before the war was concluded, they could bring twenty thousand stand of arms into the field1
1 The astonishment of the natives at the first discharge of a cannon by the Portuguese at Colombo/ is forcibly described in the JRqfavali: £f ma-Mug a noise like thunder when it breaks upon Jungara Parwata?and a ball from one of them, after flying some leagues, will break a castle of marble." (p. 278.) The passage in DE GOTJTO is as follows:?" neste tempo nem huma so" espingarda hayia em toda a Ilha \ e depois que nos entra-mos nella, com o continuo uso da guerra que Ihe fizemos^ se fizeram tSo dgfltroe como hoje estam; e a fondireia a melhor, e mais fomosa ardlheria do xaundo, e a fazeram as mais formosas esp!ng»das? e me-Ihores que as de que hoje ha
na Ilha de vantagem de Tint© mil," ?Dec. v. lib, L en. v.
PABU r SOVZJL mentions that the Singhalese at the close of the Portuguese dominion "made the best fireloeia of all the East" (Vol. ii
pt. iv. ch. xix. p. 510.) See also RODRKHTES DE SAA, Hebelion^ $c., ch. i. p. 29. LINSCHOTEN, the Dutch traveller, who visited Ceylon in 1805, says, "the natural born people or Chmgalas, make the fairest barrels for pieces that may be found in any place, which shine as bright as if they were silver." Lond. 1598. And PYKABD, the French traveller, who landed at Galle after having been wrecked on the Maldives, in 1605, expresses unqualified admiration of the Singhalese workmanship on metals 5 and especially in the fabrication sand ornamenting of arms, which he says were esteemed the finest in India,, and even superior to those of France. "le n'eusse iamais pens4 qlls eussent est4 si ezcellens a Men. rare des arquebuses et autres armes ouumgfe et fagonn&s, qui sent plus belles que celles que I'on fait icy.1'? PTBABD DE LAYAZ^ Voyage*^ $c.9 W7% ch, x, torn, ii* p. 88.CHAP. I.]
THE EOYAL FAMILY.
The original leader of the insurgent Singhalese was A.D. Maaya Dunnai1, youngest son of Wijayo Bahu VIL, and grandson of the king by whom the Portuguese had been originally suffered to establish themselves at Colombo. This prince, exasperated by the degrading policy of his family towards the Europeans, and alarmed by an attempt of his father to set aside his brothers and himself from the succession in favour of children by a1 second marriage, levied war against the king, procured his assassination, and succeeded in placing the heir apparent, Bhuwaneka Bahu VII.2, on the throne ; reserving the fief of Sitawacca for himself, and that of Bayagam 1534 for his second brother.
The new king, however, outvied his predecessor in
A D
1 Called by the Portuguese historians Madune;?Ms son and successor, Raja Singha I., is the Itaju of De Barros and Be Couto. I have prepared the genealogical table which
is subjoined with a view to facilitate reference to the complicated alliances of the sovereigns of Ceylon at this period.
I. Dharma Prakrama Bahu IX. 1505. Died 1527.
Eaja Singha. Dead.
II. WIJAYO BAHO VII. 1527. Murdered by his sons, 1531.
Raygara Banda. Dead.
ill. BHUWANEKA BAHU VII. 1534. .Killed accidentally, 1542.
A daughter,m.Tribula Banda.
IV. Don Juan DHARMAPALA, 1542. A Christian. His authority was confined to Colombo, his grand-uncles having possession of the rest of his dominions. He died, A.D. 1581; and by will left the King of Portugal heir to his kingdom*
Rayagam Banda. MAAYA DUNNAI, DewaRajaKumara. murdered by his Son by a 2nd mar-son, Raja Singha. riage.
2 sous, d. A daughter, V. RAJA SINGHA 1.1581 dTslJ-' Died.
SURIYA COMARA, 1592.
deposed by
i ............... *
VI. WIMALA DHARMA. 1592. King of Kandy, m. Donna Catharina.
VII. SENERAT. 1604. BroTher of late king, m. Donna Catharina, his wido^.
Vm. RAJA SINGHA II. 1635. ~~^
IX. WIMALA DHA»MA SUEIYA II.
'
X. SRI WIRA PRAKRAMA. 1707. Son. At his death, in 1736, the Singhalese line extinct.
XI. SRI WIJAVA RAJA SINGHA. 1739. A Malabar.
1,534, "This king is the Bao of De Couto, and JBoe
kll. KIRFI SRI. 1747. Brother^ in-law.
XIII. RAJADHI RAJA SINGHA. 1781.
XIV. SRI WJKRKMA RAJA SIKGHA.
1708, nephew. Deposed by
the English, IB 15.
Nega'ba Pandar of Eibeyro*14
MODEEJS" HDSTOBY.
[PART VI.
A.D.
1538,
A.D.
1540.
faitMessness to Ms country and his religion, and in subserviency to the rising power of the Portuguese; and before two years, Maaya Dunnai, assisted by the Moors, " the greatest enemies of the Portuguese in India,"1 and supported by two thousand troops sent by the Zamorin of Calicut, invested Gotta, which, after a siege of three months, was relieved by the timely arrival of Portuguese reinforcements from India.2 In 1538 he renewed the war with the co-operation of Paichi Marcar, a powerful Moor of Cochin3; but the forces sent by the latter having been intercepted and destroyed by the Portuguese fleet, Maaya Dunnai again found it prudent to temporise. The death of his brother, the chief of Eayagam, and the acquisition of his territory, having greatly enhanced his strength, he renewed his solicitations to the Zamorin and Paichi Marcar, and again laid siege to Cotta in 1540.4 Again the viceroy of India was forced to interpose, and a third time Maaya Dunnai was obliged to sue for peace, which he purchased by a treacherous surrender of Paichi Marcar, ancl the chiefs of his Moorish allies, whose heads raised on spears he presented to the Portuguese general.5
The king of Cotta, Bhuwaneka VII., was now so utterly estranged from the sympathies of his own countrymen, and so entirely at the mercy of his foreign allies, that he appealed to the Portuguese to ensure the succession to his grandchild, the only male representative of his falnily. To give solemnity to their acquiescence, lie adopted the strange expedient of despatching to Europe a statue of the boy cast in gold, together with a
1 FAWA T SOTTZA, Tol. L pt IV. Cll.
8. SAX ROJCIS-O, Kb.iv, eh. xx. p. 734. § BB COTJTO, dec. v. Mb. i. ch. vi.; IK lib, il ch. IT. ; FAEIA T SOITZA, vi !. i. pt. IT. ch. xvii.
3 A.I». 1538; FARIA T SQUZA, vol. I pt;J,v. ch. viii. j BE Conic, dec. v. lib. il, eli* ir.-v.
4 DE Co TOO, dec v, lib. I ch, x : Jib, v. clu vi,
^5 BE COUTO, dec. v. lib. ii. ch. viii.; FAKTA r SQTJZ&, vol. ii.pt. i. ch. ii. TTTENOTJB says he was christened in effigy at Lisbon (JEpitome, fyc., p. 49); but BE GotTTO; with more probability^ says the ceremony was a coronation. (Bee. v. lib. vii. ch. iv.; dec. vi. lib. iv. ch. vii.)CHAP. L] ,
DEATH OF THE
crown ornamented with jewels ;?his ambassadors were A;D. received with signal honours by John III, and the form 1541" of a coronation in effigy was performed at Lisbon in A.D.
1541 \ the name of Don Juan being conferred on the young prince in addition to his previous patronymic of Dharmapala2 Bahu.
In return for this condescension, the king of Portugal, true to the policy of extending religion conterminously with his dominions3, exacted a further concession from the Singhalese sovereign. A party of Franciscans were directed to accompany the ambassadors on their return from Lisbon to Ceylon; licence was claimed to preach the gospel of Christ in all parts of the island, and the first Christian communities were organised at various parts of the coast between Colombo and Galle.4
Fresh outbursts of hostility and rebellion ensued on this attempt to overturn the national faith. Maaya Dunnai and his followers again took up arms, and in AI)
1542 the pusillanimous king, whilst preparing to en- 1542, counter him, was accidentally shot by a Portuguese gentleman on the banks of the Kalany-ganga,5 His memory in the annals of the Singhalese occupies a place similar to that of Count Julian in the chronicles of Spain, as a traitor alike to his country and Ms Grod;
and the circumstances of his death are pointed to as a judgment to mark the indignation of heaven at the calamities which he entailed on his country.6
On his death, the young prince, his grandson, nominally succeeded to the throne; but throughout the entire period of his rule, his dominions can scarcely be
says, the first Boman Catholic converts were made A.D. 1542; at Pan-tura, Macu (Malwane?) Berberin, Galle, and fielligam.?l)ee. vi. lib. iv. ch. vii.
6DE CoTtTTO, dec. vi. lib. ix. ch. xvi. torn. iii. pt. iii. p. 339?341.
6 Rajavali{ p. 290?293 5 FAKIA Y A, vol. ii. pt. iii. p. 364; BAL-3; ch. xl.
T, Qud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, fyc., ch. vii, p. 92.
3 Called Drama JSolla Bao by De COUTO.
3 DE COTJTO, dec. vi lib. ii. ch. vii..; FARIA Y SOUZA, vol. ii. pt. ii. ch. vi. p. 121.
4 For an account of the proceedings of the Portuguese missions, see Sir J. EMEBSOH TBKNBNT'S (Jhrwti-anity m Ceylon, ch i, DE COUTOMODEEN HISTOBY.
[PART VI.
AJ)- said to have extended beyond tlie fortifications of Colombo. To conciliate Ms protectors, he eventually abjured the Buddhist religion and professed himself a convert to Christianity; many nobles of his court being baptized on the occasion, and, according to the Eajavali, the lower castes, as well as the higher, hastened to profess Christianity, "fo£ the sake of the Portuguese gold/51
His accession served to revive the animosity and energies of Maaya Dunnai and the national party, whilst his helplessness placed the Portuguese in the position of principals rather than auxiliaries in the long war which ensued. In this new relation, relieved from even the former semblance of restraint, their rapacity betrayed itself by wanton excesses. They put to the torture the subjects of the king they professed to succour 5 in order to extort the disclosure of the buried treasures of his family; and after the first conflict with Maaya Dunnai, in which the Portuguese were victorious, they not only exacted the full charges of the expedition from their young ally, but in violation of their compact, appropriated to themselves the entire of the plunder of Sita-wacca, " the wants of India," as PAULA T SOUZA observes, "not permitting the performance of promises."2
Por many years the maritime provinces were devastated by civil war in its most revolting form. Cotta was so frequently threatened as to be kept in a state of almost incessant siege. Every town on the coast where the Portuguese had formed trading establishments, Pan-
1 Rajmali, p. 291. Hence the frequent occurrence at the present day of Portuguese names, in addition to the Singhalese patronymics in families of the highest rank in the maritime provinces. They were assumed at "baptism three centuries back, and are still retained even where the hearers have abandoned Christianity.
2 FAKIA Y SOTTZA, vol. ii. pt. ii. ch, ix. p. 159; DE COTITO, dec. vi. lib. ix
ch. xviii. torn. iii. pt. ii. .p. 350 ; Raja/vaU, p. 292. Restitution was made at a later period, John III. having ordered the restoration of all the plunder j and this order came to Ceylon, says FABIA Y SOTJZA, in the same ship which carried the poet CAMOENS/A.D. 1553, "to try if he could advance "by his sword that fortune which lie had failed to win by his pen." (VoL iii p. 169.)CHAP. I.] COTTA DISMANTLED. 17
tura, Caltura, Barberin, Galle, and Belligara were ravaged A-D-by the partisans of Maaya Dunnai, their churches and buildings destroyed, and their Christian inhabitants butchered by the Singhalese.1
In these sanguinary forays, the renown of Maaya Dunnai himself was eclipsed by that of his youngest son; who, beginning his military career whilst yet a child, had accompanied the army of his father in an expedition against one of the refractory chieftains of the south, on which occasion the boy won the title of Eaja Singha, " the Lion King."2
This fiery leader had the audacity to besiege Colombo in 1563; and afterwards attacked Cotta with such 1563. vigour and perseverance, that the Portuguese ? officer, Ataide, alarmed at the failure of provisions during a protracted defence, caused the flesh of those killed in the assault to be salted as a resource against famine.3 Warned by this critical emergency of the impossibility of maintaining Cotta as a fortress, it was judged expedient, in 1564, to dismantle it4, and the humiliated 1564. king thenceforth resided within the walls of Colombo; where, says FARIA T SOUZA, " he was no less tormented by the covetousness of the Portuguese Commander than he had been before by the tyranny of Eaja Singha."5
During this wretched struggle, it was the policy of Portugal to induce the minor chiefs of Ceylon to detach themselves from the national party, by inflaming their apprehensions, and exciting their jealousy of the ascendancy and pretensions of Maaya Dunnai and his son; and the more firmly to consolidate an alliance, the strongest inducements were held out to them to profess Christia-
^ * A.B. 1555. FABIA Y SOTJZA, vol. ii. pt. ii. ck xii. p. 181; BE COTJTO, dec, vi. lib. x. ck xii. torn. iii. p.
Ai~tr\ ' ? ?*?
RajawiK, p. 29; BIBEYBO, b. i.
479.
eh. v.
3 FABiAYSouzA; vol. ii. pt. iii. ck ii. p. 249.
4 DE GDITTO, dec. viii, lib. vii. ck vii. torn. i. pt. i. p. 57.
5 Portuguese Asia. vol. ii. pt. iii. ck ii. p. 248.
YOL. II. C18
MODERN HISTOEY.
[PAET VI.
A.D. irity ; but too feeble to contribute any effectual aid to their 3546' new allies, their treason and apostacy drew down on
them the indignation of their rightful sovereign, and
served only to furnish pretexts for their overthrow and
his farther aggrandisement. It was thus that the territory of Kandy was seized by
BajaSingha, in 1582. Jaya-weira, its king, in 1547,
A.D.
1547' invited the Eoman Catholic fathers to Ms dominions, permitted a church to be erected at his capital, and intimated a wish, which was promptly complied with, that a military party should be stationed at Kandy, with the double object of extending the faith* and protecting the sovereign from the resentment of his own people, should he openly embrace Christianity.1 An officer, with one hundred and twenty men, was despatched on this service, in 1548, and. landed at Batticaloa, whence his party crossed the island westward to Kandy ; but a sudden change in the king's intentions led him to place an ambush to cut off the militant mission, which, with difficulty, effected its escape to Colombo.2 So intent were the Portuguese upon the extension of the faith that, untaught by this act of treachery, they subjected themselves to a still more disastrous repetition of it in A.D. 1550, when Kumara Banda, the son of Jaya-weira3, renewed the application of Ms father for spiritual and inilitary assistance. A force despatched at his request was permitted to march to within three miles of Eandy, when they were surrounded by the followers of t\ie prince, and lost upwards of seven hundred men (of whom one-half were Europeans) in a headlong retreat to the coast.4
1 The soldiers were despatched, according to DE GGUTO, at once to ?confirm Mm in " the faith and in his possessions/' "pera invenar e assistar com. aqucUe HMJ ate 6 segurarem na Fe e no jvywo." DE COTJTO, dee. vi. liv. iv. eh. vii p. 324
* DE Corro, dec. vi. lib, iii cli, ?vii viii. vol iii. pt. i p. 329.
3 He resided, according to the Hqjavali, at Coral Taddea, and is called by the Portuguese vmters, Caralea Pandur. DE COUTO^ dec. vi. lib. viii. cli. iv. tom, iii. pt. ii. p. 155. c. vi. p. 165.
* BE COTTTO; dec. vi. lib. viii. ch. vii. vol. iii. gt. ii. p. 178; FAEIA T SOTTZA, vol. ii. pt. ii. ch. viii. p, 148.CHAP. L] RAJA SI5GHA. 19
Meanwhile Eaja Singha who, though the youngest of A.D. his family, succeeded to the territories of his father on the death of Maaya Duiinai in 1571, proceeded to develope his designs for concentrating in his person supreme authority over the other petty kingdoms of Geylon. He put to death every troublesome aspirant of the royal line1, and directed his arms against every chief who had been hostile or neutral during his struggles with the king of Gotta. In the course of a very few years he made himself virtually master of the interior, and drove into exile the king of Kandy, who, with his queen and children, fled for safety to the Portuguese fort at Manaar, where he and his daughter became Christians., and were baptized, she as Donna Catharina, and he under the name of Don Philip, in honour of Philip H., who had just acquired the crown of Portugal with that of Spain. On her father's decease, Donna Catharina was left a ward of the Portuguese, and through their instrumentality was afterwards made queen of her ancestral dominions.
Unable, from the extent of the military operations in which he was engaged, to retain possession of the Kandyan country, Eaja Singha adopted the precaution of disarming the Kandyans, and was thus enabled to concentrate Ms attention on preparations for the siege of Colombo, which he at length invested with a formidable force. To this memorable assault he brought, according to the account of the Portuguese, fifty thousand fighting men, and an equal number of pioneers and camp followers, with upwards of two thousand elephants and innumerable baggage oxen.2 He even collected a naval force with which to threaten the fleet of the Viceroy. He took up his position before the fort in August, A.D. 1586, and
1 A.B. 1581. The Portuguese assert, that Eaja Singha L, to clear liis own wav to the throne, murdered
dee. x. eh. xiii. vol. vi. pt. li. p. 215; FARIA Y SOUZA, vol. iii. pt. 1. ch. iv. 2 FABIA r SOITZA, vol. iii. pt. i. ch.
.J . T^TT-. f~1.n.vM.,n J3 _ -.__ _"f- "____1__*
not only his brothers, but MB aged | vi.; DE Cotrro, dec. x. ch, iv. TO! vi. father, Maaya Dimnai BE COTJTO \ pt, ii. p. 410,
c 220
MODEEN HISTORY.
[PART VL
A.D. continued to harass it by repeated assaults till the end 1586' of May in the following year. The barbarities practised by the garrison are related without emotion by the Portuguese historians of the siege?the tortures inflicted on the living, and the orgies perpetrated over the remains of the dead1?and as the entire country beyond the walls of Colombo was in possession of the enemy, Portuguese galleons were despatched to destroy the villages along the southern coast. The expedition, according to the complacent narrative of De Couto, achieved its mission with circumstances of signal atrocity, especially towards the women and their little ones, whose hands and arms the soldiers hacked off in their eagerness to secure their pendants and bangles; and returned to Colombo in triumph, with their spoils and captives.2
In a second expedition these outrages were repeated on a still greater scale, Thome de Sousa d'Arronches, in February, 1587, sacked and burned the villages of Cosgodde, Madampe, and Gindura, surprised and ravaged Galle, BeUigain, and Matiira, and utterly destroyed the great temple of Tanaveram or Dondera, then the most sumptuous in Ceylon, built on vaulted arches on a promontory overlooking the sea, with towers elaborately carved and covered with plates of gilded brass. De Sousa gave it up to the plunder of his soldiers; overthrew more than a thousand statues and idols of stone and bronze, and slaughtered cows ?within its precincts in order indelibly to defile the sacred places. Carrying away quantities of ivory, precious ornaments, jewelry, and gems, he committed the
1 DE COUTO relates, that an arachy of singular bravery, who on a former occasion had killed with his own hand twenty-nine Singhalese las-caring, haying been brought prisoner into Colombo, a Portuguese soldier cut open his heart and drank the blood out of his hands; "hum delles chamado Maroto, a quern devia deter
bem escandalizado; Ihe deo huma cutilada sobre o corac o, que abrio todo; e por tres vezes Ihe tonaou o sangue com os maos; e bebeo por far-tar a sede do odio que Ihe tinha." ?Dec. x. ch. y. yol. vi. pt. ii. p. 562. 2 Hajauali, p. 308; FAEIAT SOTTZA, yol. iii. pt, L ch. yi.CHAP. L]
DEATH OF EAJA SITOHA.
21
1587,
ruins of the pagoda and the' surrounding buildings to A.D. the flames.1
Eaja Singha? stunned by the intelhgence of these disasters, disheartened by the utter failure of his repeated assaults on Colombo, and alarmed by the intelligence of the arrival of large reinforcements to the garrison from Goa, suddenly abandoned the siege, and drew off his forces to the interior.
He survived his discomfiture at Colombo but a very few years, and died at Sita-wacca, in 1592, at an extremely advanced age.2 Authority and success seem equally to have deserted him towards the close of his career; the Portuguese taking advantage of his involvements and anxieties during the siege, contrived to excite a formidable diversion by rousing the Kandyans to revolt; and Kunappoo Bandar of Peradenia, a Singhalese of royal blood who had embraced Christianity, taking at his baptism the name of Don Juan3, was despatched with an armed force to prepare the way for enthroning Donna Catharina, the daughter of the late fugitive king Jaya-weira, who had been educated at Manaar. The expedition was signally successful ; the Kandyans not only asserted their own independence, but descending to the territories of Eaja Singha, laid waste his country to the walls of his palace at Sita-wacca.4 Don Juan, intoxicated by his victories, and indignant that the Portuguese, whilst continuing him in his military command, should have conferred the sovereignty of the interior on Don Philip, a rival on whom they intended also to bestow the hand of Queen Catharina, turned his arms against Ms allies, and drove the Portuguese from Kandy, removed Don Philip by poison, and conducted on his own account hostilities
1 BE GoTiTO; dec. x, cli. xv. TO!, vi.
pt ii. p. GC5.
2 The Portuguese say Raj a Singha
was upwards of 120 years old wlien he died; bat this is an obvious exaggeration.
3 Rajavali, p. 310: HIBETRO, b. i
ch, v. VALEOTYN says he was christened Don Juan, to compliment Don John of Austria, the hero of Lepanto.
4 RIBEYHO., ch. v.
c 3MODERN HISTOKY.
[PART VI."
A.D.
1592
against Eaja Singha A few years were wasted in desultory warfare in the Kandyan highlands, and then followed a decisive action at'Kukul-bittra-welle, near the pass of Kadaganauwa2, in which Eaja Singha was unsuccessful, and died in 1592, refusing surgical assistance for a wound, and mimmiring at the departure in his old age of that good fortune which had signalised his career in his boyhood.3
Thus left undisputed master of the interior of Handy, Bon Juan seized on the supreme power, and assumed the Kandyan crown under the title of Wimala Dharma. To secure the support of the priesthood, he abjured Christianity, and, availing himself of the faith of the nation in the dalada, " the sacred tooth of Buddha," as a palladium, the possession of which was inseparable from royalty, he produced the tooth which is still preserved in the temple at Kandy as the original one; and, notwithstanding the destruction of the latter at Groa in 15604, he had no difficulty in persuading the Kandyans that the counterfeit was the genuine relic, which he assured them had been removed from Gotta on the arrival of the Portuguese, and preserved at Delgamrnoa in Saffragam.
The Portuguese attempted to depose Don Juan, and despatched a force to the mountains under the command of Pedro Lopez de Souza, to escort the young Queen Catharina to the capital, and to restore the crown to its legitimate possessor. Don Pedro succeeded in expelling the usurper; but, after a very short interval, Wirnala Dharma returned, effectually detached the Kandyan forces from their alliance, utterly routed the Portuguese gar-
1 The events of this period are |fwn with particularity in the De-
wrfjtftoft of Ctylon, bv PHILIP BAL-
iLirs, "Minister of tlie word of God In LVykra;" printed at Amsterdam, 1072, untl of which an English; trans-L'itluii will lit1 found In CHTECHULL'S Cvtfa'iittHi vol. ili. p. 501.
2 IfajtlMtii p. #12.
3 te Since my eleventh year, no king has made way against me till now 5 Tbut my migit is diminished j this king is more powerful than me.'7? RajawK, p. 313.
4 For an account of the Sacred Tooth and its destruction, see Vol. TL p. 20. 199.CHAP. I.] ATROCITIES. 23
risoii, slew tlieir leader, possessed himself of the person of A-I)-the queen, and seized the Kandyan throne, of which he held undisturbed possession till his decease, twelve years afterwards.1
Wimala Dliarma thus succeeded to the rank and position of Baja Singha as the paramount sovereign of the whole island, and chief of the national party opposed to the Portuguese. The latter, resenting at once his treason and tlieir own defeat, resorted to violent measures of retaliation, and a war of extermination ensued, unsurpassed in atrocity and bloodshed.2 Jerome Azavedo, a soldier less distinguished by his prowess than infamous for his cruelties, was despatched to Ceylon in 1594, to avenge the indignities endured by Ms fellow-countrymen at the hands of the Kandyan usurper. Faria y Souza, in a review of the career of this commander, which ended in a dungeon at Lisbon, says his reverses were a judgment from the Almighty for his barbarities in Ceylon. In the height of Ms success there, he beheaded mothers, after forcing them to cast their babes betwixt mill-stones. Punning on the name of the tribe of Grallas or Chalias, and its resemblance to the Portuguese word for cocks, gallos, " he caused Ms soldiers to take up children on the points of their spears, and bade them hark how the young cocks crow /" " He caused many men to be cast off the bridge at Malwan6 for the troops to see the crocodiles devour them, and these creatures grew so used to the food, that at a whistle they would lift their heads above the water."3
1 BALDIEUS, cli.vi. p. COS tells a story of a Singhalese mood-liar (whom BALILH us calls Janiere') ?who joined Lopo de Souza in this
expedition, bringing- a large force to Ins aid; "but whom Don Juan contrived to get rid of, Tby addressing* to lilm fictitious letters with allusions to
tion, passed his sword through his heart.?IIIBEYH.O, ch. Tii. p. 47.
2 YALEXTYX, who describes the savage conduct of the Portuguese during this war (Oud en Nieuw Oost-IndieHf ch. vi. p. 82), says his information was chiefly obtained from the reports of the Singhalese, who had a
a pretended plot to betray the Portu- I vivid recollection of these horrors, gtiese. I )e Souza, without giving the 3 FABIA. y SOTTSIA, Stevens' Tram-iiioodliar an opportunity for cxplaaa- lotion, vol. iii, pt. iii. ch. xv, p. 279,
c 424
MOBEKN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
1594,
An internecine war now raged for years in Ceylon, the Portugese in successive forays penetrating to Kancly, and even to Oovah and Saffragain, burning towns, uprooting fruit trees, driving away cattle, and making captives to be enslaved in the lowlands.
These conflicts were, however, of uncertain success. On some occasions the invaders, overpowered by the energy of the Kandyans, were defeated and put to flight, followed by the exasperated mountaineers to the gates of Colombo.1 The frontier which separates the maritime districts from the hill country, was the scene of sanguinary conflicts, and at length the low-country Singhalese, roused to desperation by the miseries drawn down on them in never-ending hostilities, and by the atrocities perpetrated by the Portuguese soldiery2, manifested a determined resistance to the common oppressors, who, alarmed in turn for their own safety, mutinously resisted the orders of their officers, and the Viceroy at Goa was appealed to to arrest the disorganisation and utter ruin of the new settlement.3
In the midst of these scenes of blood and disaster,
1 FABIA T SodZA, vol. iii. pt. iii. eh. viii. ix. xii &c.
2 "We liad not grown odious to the Clilngalas (Singhalese), had we not provofeed them by our infamous proceedings. Not only the poor soldiers "went out to rob, "but those Portuguese who were lords of villages added rapes and adulteries, which obliged the people to seek the company of "beasts in the mountains rather than be subject to the more beastly villanies of men."?FAKIA Y SOTJZA, vol. iii. pt. iii. ch. iii. p. 203. A thrill of horror has been imparted to all who have read the story of the atrocities perpetrated on the wife of Eheylapola, the minister of the king of *Kandy, who, on the occasion of her husband's revolt in 1815, compelled her to kill her own children by pounding them in a rice-mortar. But it ought to be known that this inhuman practice wm tfwffki to the J&tndyaiu by tke
Portuguese; according to the truth-fa! Robert Knox, Simon Correa, et when he got any victory over the Chingulays, he did exercise great cruelty. He would make the women beat their own children in their mortars wherein they used to beat their corn."?EJSTOX, Mist. Relat., pt. iv. ch. xiii. p. 177.
It is a curious illustration of the conviction left on the minds of the Kandyans of the cruelty of Europeans, that "in 1664, when Raja Singha wished to inflict the utmost possible punishment on one of his ministers, he sent Mm to Colombo to be executed, thinking that the Butch, like the Portuguese, were ingenious in the invention of tortures. They, however, restored him to liberty.?VALEOTTO, ch. xiv. p. 199 j ch. xv. p. 249.
8 BE COUTO, dec. xi. ch. xxxlii, torn. yii p. 178; FAKIA T SOTTZA, vol. iii. pt. i, eh, ix. p. 73.CHAP. I.] NEW ALLEGIANCE. 25
died the last legitimate emperor of Ceylon, Don Juan ±J -Dharmapala. He expired at Colombo in May, 1597, bequeathing his dominions by will to Philip II. By this deed the Portuguese acquired their title to the sovereignty of the island1, with the exception of Jaffna, the nominal king of which they still recognised, and Kandy, to the throne of which they had themselves asserted the right of Donna Catharina the Queen.
Pdbeyro gives a remarkable account of the mutual arrangement under which the Singhalese chiefs now took the oath of allegiance to the new dynasty. It was at first proposed that the laws of Portugal should be introduced for all races alike, reserving to the native chiefs their ranks and privileges ; but after an interval asked for deliberation by the deputies, they returned a reply to the effect that, being by birth and education Singhalese, and earnestly attached to their own religion and customs, it would be difficult, if not perilous, to require them to abandon them on the instant for others which were utterly unknown to them. Such changes, they said, were often the precursors of revolutions, that swept away both institutions, the new as well as .the old, to the injury alike of the people and the king. On all other points they were ready to recognise Philip H. as their legitimate sovereign ; and so long as his majesty and his ministers respected the rights and usages of the nation, they would meet with the same loyalty and fidelity which the Singhalese had been accustomed to show to their own princes. On these con-* ditions they were ready to take the oath, the officers of the king being at the same time prepared to swear in the name of their master to respect and maintain the ancient privileges and laws of Ceylon.
The covenant was concluded and proclaimed, together with a solemn declaration that the priests and religious orders were to have full liberty to preach Christianity*
DE COTTTO, dec. xil cli* v, torn. viii. p. 39 j BIBEYRO/ bk* i. oh, l26 MODERN HISTORY. [PART VI.
A-D- neither parents restraining their children, nor children 1597" opposing the conformity of their parents, and that all offences against religion were to be punishable by the legal authorities.
The territory now under the direct government of the Portuguese embraced the maritime circuit of the island, with the exception of the peninsula of Jaffna, and a portion of the country to the south of it (which was not annexed till 1617), and extended inland to the base of the lofty zone which encircles the kingdom of Sandy.
It was from their strongholds in these mountains., protected on all sides by naturally fortified passes, that the Kandyans, who had become the scoiu-ge and terror of the Portuguese, were enabled to direct their forays into the lowlands. To watch them, and to protect their own territory in the plains, the Portuguese were obliged to keep up two camps, one at Manicavare in the Four Coiies, and a second at Saffragam, on the confines of Oovah. To garrison these and their forts at various points on the coast they were compelled to maintain an army of upwards of 20,000 men, of whom less than one thousand were Europeans.
The value of the trade carried on under such circumstances was incommensurate with the expenditure essential for its protection1; the products of the island were collected, it may almost be said, sword in hand, and shipped under the guns of the fortresses. Still tranquillity was so far preserved throughout the districts bordering on the coast from Matura to Chilaw, that the low country husbandmen pursued their ordinary avocations, and the patriarchal village system still regulated the organisation of agriculture. The military forces were recruited by the feudal service of the peasantry ; and the revenues in the same form in which they had by the kings of Gotta, were collected
, Oori-fadw, $c., ck rr. p. 282.CHAP. I.]
PORTUGUESE TRADE.
27
by the captain-general of Colombo, who governed with A.D. the local title of "King of Malwane."1 Trade was pro- 1597' hibited to all other nations, and even to the native Singhalese. Besides the royal monopolies of cinnamon, pepper, and musk, the chief articles of export were cardamoms, sapan-wood, areca-mits2, ebony, elephants, ivory, gems, and pearls, and along with these there were annually shipped small quantities of tobacco, silk, and tree-cotton.
In quest of these commodities, vessels came to Colombo and Galle from Persia, Arabia, the Eed Sea, China, Bengal, and Europe; and according to Eibeyro, the surplus of cinnamon beyond that required by these - traders was annually burned, lest any accumulation might occasion the price to be reduced, or the Chalias to relax their toil in searching the forests for the spice.3 The taxes were paid in kind. Trade was altogether conducted by barter, and money was almost unused in the island, except in the seaports and their immediate vicinity.
Colombo, as the seat of government and commerce, became a place of importance ; and its palisades and earthworks4 were replaced by fortifications of stone mounting upwards of two hundred guns. Convents, churches, monasteries., and hospitals were erected within the walls, and at the period of its capture by- the Dutch, in 1656, upwards of 900 noble families were residing within the town, besides 1500 families of those con-
1 A very minute detail of the military and revenue system of the Portuguese will be found in the First Book of BIBEYRO, eh. x. xi.
3 A passage in KIBEYEO'S account of the productions of Ceylon has puzzled both his translators and readers, as it describes the island as despatching "tous les ans, plus de mille bateaux, ehacun de soixante tonneauXj cFiw certain sable, dont on fait un tres-grand de*bitdans toutes lea lades."?eh. iii. Lee naively says
that "he cannot discover what this sand is." But as Le Grand nfade his French translation from the Portuguese MS. of the author, it is probable that by a clerical error the word arena may have been substituted for areca, the restoration of which solves the mystery.
3 RIBEYBO, b. i. ch. x.
4 "Les niurailles n'ont £te" long-tems que de taipasingetta" &c.?Ri-
, pt. i, ch. xii. p. 86.28 MODERN HISTORY. [PART VI.
A.D. nected with the Courts of Justice, merchants, and
1597' traders.
The value of Galle consisted chiefly in the facilities which its harbour afforded for commercial operations, and the Portuguese did not think it necessary to increase its natural strength by any considerable military defences. Caltura and Negombo were maintained chiefly as stations for the collection of cinnamon, and the ports on the opposite side of the island, Batticaloa and Trincomalie, were neither occupied nor fortified till shortly before the expulsion of the Portuguese from Ceylon.
A.D. It was not till the year 1617, that they took forcible
1617t possession of Jaffna, and having deposed the last sovereign of the Malabar dynasty, assumed the direct government of the country. Jaffna had long been coveted by them, less from any capabilities which it presented for extending their commerce than for the security it gave to their settlements in the richer districts of the south ; and apparently for the opportunity which it presented of displaying their missionary zeal in a region insusceptible of political resistance. Their first attempts to reduce this part of the island had been made in 1544, when an expedition, fitted out to plunder the Hindu temples on the south coast of the Dekkan, summoned the chief of the Peninsula either to submit and become tributary to Portugal, or to prepare to encounter the marauding fleet. He chose the former alternative, and agreed to pay 4000 ducats yearly.1 In the same year such numbers of the inhabitants of Manaar embraced Christianity at the hands of the Eoman Catholic missionaries under the direction of St. Francis Xavier, that the Eaja of Jaffnapatam sought to exterminate apostacy by the slaughter of six hundred of the new converts. The heresy, however, reached his own palace; his eldest son embraced the new faith, and was put to death in
1 FAEIA Y SOTJZA,, yol. ii. pt. 1 ch. xiii. p. 83.CHAP. I.]
JAFFKA TAKEN.
29
consequence; and the second fled to Goa to escape Ms A-D-father's resentment.
John III. directed the Viceroy of India "to take a slow and secure but severe revenge " for these excesses.1 In 1560, the Viceroy of India, Don Constantine de Bra-ganza, fitted out another armament against Jaffna on the double plea that the persecution of the Christians had been renewed at Manaar and that the reigning sovereign had usurped the rights of his elder brother the fugitive at Goa. De Couto has devoted the Seventh Decade of his History of India, to a pompous description of this sacred war, in which the bishop of Cochin accompanied the fleet along with the Viceroy, erected an altar on the shore, and in the presence of the invading army inaugurated the assault on the city by the celebration of a mass, the announcement of a plenary indulgence for all who should fight, and of a general absolution for all who might fall in the cause of the Cross.2 The assault was successful but disastrous; many fidalgos were slain f by the cannon of the enemy, the city was taken, the palace consumed, and the king in his extremity, being forced to make terms with the conquerors, was permitted to retain his sovereignty on condition of his disclosing the place of concealment of the treasures taken from Kandy and Cotta by Tribula Banda, son-in-law of Bhuwaneka VII. and father of Don Juan Dharma Pala.3 He was to pay in addition a sum of 80,000 cruzadoes4 and surrender the island of Manaar to the Portuguese, who forthwith occupied and fortified it
Amongst the incidents of the victory De Couto dwells on the seizure, by the Viceroy, of the dalada^ the "celebrated tooth of Buddha," wliich had been carried
1 BALDJEITS, In CHURCHILL'S Voyages, vol. iii. p. 647. 3 DE COXTTO, dec. viL lib. iv. ch. ii.
vol. iv. pt ii. p. 309,
8 DE COFIQ, dec. viL lib. iii. ch. v, vol. iv. pt. L p. 210,
4 A "crtizado/' so called "because bearing' a cross on the reverse, was worth two shillings and ninepence.30 MODERN HISTORY. [PART VI.
A-r - to-Jaffna during tlie corainotions in the Buddhist states.
i /»- ? o
The Portuguese insist that it was the tooth of an ape1, and worshipped in honour of Hanuman. It was mounted in gold, and had been deposited for security in one of the pagodas. On the intelligence of its capture by Don Con-stantine, the King of Pegu sent an embassy to Groa to tender as a ransom three or even four hundred thousand cimadoes, with offers of his alliance and services in many capacities, and an engagement to provision the Portuguese fort at Malacca as often as it should be required of him.2 The fidalgos and commanders were unanimous in their wish, to accept the offer as a means of replenishing the exhausted treasury of India. But the archbishop, Don Gaspar, was of a different mind. .He firmly resisted the offer, as an encouragement to idolatry, and was supported in his opposition by the inquisitors and clergy. The Viceroy, in consequence, rejected the proposal of the infidel king, the tooth was placed in a t mortar by the archbishop, in presence of the court, and reduced to powder and burned, its ashes being scattered over the sea." 3 " All men," says Paria y Souza, " then applauded the act; but not long after, two teeth being set up instead of that one, they as loudly condemned and railed at it"*
In 1591 and 1604, fresh expeditions were sent out from Goa, to punish the King of Jaffna for assisting the Singhalese chiefs in their opposition to the Portuguese, but on each occasion a ready submission on the part of the weaker power sufficed to avert the threatened danger.5 The determination, however, had been already
1 BE COTTTO. dec. v. lib. ix. ch. ii. TO! iv. pt ii. p. 316.
a BE COUTO, dec. vii lib. ix. eh. xvii. voL Iv. pt. ii. p. 428; FAHIA Y
ch. ii. p. 25L A detailed account of the destruction of the Sacred Tooth, as narrated by DE COUTO, will be found appended to the account of
8orzA, Tol. ii. pt ii eh* x*i p. Kandv in the present work, Vol. II.
200. | Pi TIL Ch. Y. ^
*( DE CQUTQ, dec. vii. lib, ix, ch. [ s FAEIA Y SOITZA, vol. iii. pt. i. ch.
Xv5i. I viii. p. 05 j pt ii. ch. v. p. 125.
13 FA MA Y SorzA. Tol ii. pt, iii, 1CHAP. I]
THE DUTCH APPEAU.
31
taken to assert the claim of Portugal to the Jaffna territories,, and the consummation was only postponed as a matter of convenience.1 In 1617, under the vice-royalty of Constantine de Saa y Norona, an expedition was directed against Jaffna; the city was captured with circumstances of singular barbarity. The king was carried captive to Groa, and there executed; his nephew, the last of the Malabar princes, having resigned his claim to the crown, and entered a convent of Franciscans, his inheritance was formally incorporated with the dominions of Portugal.2 True to their hereditary instincts, the Malabars, in 1622, fitted out an expedition to recover their ancient possession of Jaffna and the Peninsula ; but the vigour of the Portuguese governor, Oliveira, defeated the attempt.3
But a new and formidable rival now appeared to contend with Portugal for the possession of Ceylon. The Dutch had obtained a footing at the Kandyan court, and formed an alliance with the king, alike disastrous to the missionary zeal and the commercial enterprise of the Portuguese, who, after a struggle of nearly fifty years' cluration, were finally expelled from the island, which their kings had magniloquently declared that " they would rather lose all India than imperil"4
A.D.
1617.
1 FABIA Y SOTJZA, vol. iii. pt. iii. ch. xii. p. 259.
2 Urid., ch. xvi. p. 289; £c.
3 BALD^TTS, oh. xvii. p. 630.
4 Van Goens, the Dutch, governor of Ceylon in 1663, says that he had seen amongst the Portuguese records
at Colombo, the royal orders to the viceroys of India, containing this expression : u Dot men liever, geheel India soude laben verloren ffaan, dan
Ceylon in pn/kel van v&rlws brengen." ? VAiLEirror, Oif den Ntmw Oost-In~ .} ch. xrLL p. 174.MODERN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
CHAP. H.
BUTCH PERIOD.
A.B. 1617.
ABOUT the same time ? A.D. 1580, ? that Philip II. acquired the kingdom of Portugal in addition to his hereditary possessions, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, exasperated to revolt. by his unendurable tyranny, consummated their revolt by abjuring their allegiance to the Spanish Crown.1
During their struggles for independence, the Dutch organised with surprising rapidity not only a mercantile marine, but also a navy of surpassing gallantry for its protection; and engaging with energy in a branch of
1 The principal authorities for the history of the l)titch administration in Ceylon are the JBeschryvinff der Qostmdischm Landscapenj Malabar, Coromandelj Ceylon, $"c.,byBALi)JEirs, an English version of which will he found in CFTOCHILL'S Colkction, Yol. iii. p. 500 j under the title of A true and exact Description of Malabar, Coromandel, and also of the island of Ceylon, fyc., hy PHILIP BAX-pJETJS, Minister of the Word of (rod in Ceylon, Amsterdam, 1672; and VAXENTYN'S JBeschri/m'nff van Oud en Nleuw Qost-lndien, 5 vols. fol. Dor-diecht and Amsterdam, 1726. The great work of VALENTIN has never,, I Believe, been published in any other language than Dutch, in which it was written ; so that it is comparatively unknown in Europe, and is aptly described by PI^KEETON as aa treasure locked up in a chest, of which few have the key." Sir ALEXAJSDEK JOUKSION, wlien CMef
Justice of Ceylon, caused a very incorrect and imperfect translation to "be made of the part which refers to that island ; but it still remains in MS. amongst the collections of the Koyal Asiatic Society. Of the volumes which relate to continental India and the Eastern Archipelago, I am not competent to judge; bat the portion which treats of Ceylon seems to be scarcely worthy of the high reputation of the work. The official documents of which it is mainly composed are of unquestionable value, although it is more than doubtful that their statistics are falsified to conceal the frauds of the Dutch officials (see Lord VALENCIA'S Travek, vol. i. ch. vi. p. 310). As to the general information supplied by Valentyn himself, it is both meagre and incorrect. Some of the materials of his later chapters are taken from Knox's narrative of his own captivity.CHAP. II.] REVOLT OF THE LOW COUNTRIES. 33
commerce peculiarly suited to their position, their mer- A.D. chant ships successfully competed, as the carriers of 1617* Europe, with those of the Hanse Towns and Italy. In this department the Dutch maintained an intimate intercourse with Portugal, and their vessels resorted to Lisbon in search of the rich productions of India, which they transported to all the countries of the North.1 For some years a lucrative and prosperous trade, mutually advantageous to both countries, was permitted to flourish, uninterrupted even by the rupture'between the Low Countries and Spain; the Portuguese as an independent people having no other interest in the quarrel between Philip II. and his Dutch subjects, than that which arose from the accident of the two peninsular kingdoms being ruled by the same sovereign.
At length in 1694, Philip, impatient to strike a blow at the commerce of the Dutch, and regardless of the consequent injury to the trade of the Portuguese which the contemplated prohibition involved, forbade his new subjects to hold intercourse with his enemies, laid an embargo on the Dutch ships in the Tagus, imprisoned their supercargoes and masters, and, professing to treat them as heretics, subjected them to the discipline of the Inquisition.2
It admits of no question that this despotic effort to annihilate the commerce of Holland, acted as an immediate stimulus to its expansion; and suggested to the Dutch those enterprising expeditions to India, which led to the acquirement of large territory, the establishment of their own trade and the subversion of the Portuguese monopoly in the East.3
Within a year from the issue of the tyrannous veto to
Commerce des Indes, c., liv. ii. ch. i. vol. i. p. 305. 2 Mecueil des Voiages de la Com-des Indes Orientates, fyc.y vol. 1
5. 195.
3 "H sembloit que ces tirannies VOL. II. B
devoient miner le pais et falre pent la nation : mais au-contraire elles ont caus£ le salut et la prospe*iit£ de Tun et de Fautre!"?JRecueH, $c., vol. i, p. 9 j VALENTYN, ch. xv. p.34
MODERN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
1617
trade with Portugal, the Dutch had despatched their first convoy to India.1 A " Company for distant Lands " was speedily organised, and, in 1595, Cornelius Houtman, who shortly before had been released from a prison, conducted the first fleet of free merchantmen round the Cape of Good Hope.2
As the Dutch acquired a practical knowledge of the route, other expeditions followed in rapid succession. Java, the Moluccas, and China were first explored as being the most distant, and least likely to bring them into premature conflict with the Portuguese ; and at length on the 30th May, 1602, the first Dutch ship seen in Ceylon, " La Brebis," commanded by Admiral Spilberg, cast anchor in the Port of Batticaloa.3 So imperfectly were the Dutch informed regarding the island, that they expected to find cinnamon as abundant on the east coast as at Colombo, and announced that its purchase was the object of their visit4
Wirnala Dharrna, the successful usurper and the husband of Donna Catharina, was, at that time, the sovereign of Kancly, where he had assumed the style of Emperor of Ceylon, in order to mark his supremacy over the subordinate princes, who took the title of kings in their several localities.5 One of these, the petty prince of Batticaloa,
1 It Is a curious evidence of tlie prudence of tlie Dutch in taking this bold step in defiance of tlie inhibitions of Charles V, and PMlip H, by which, the rest of Europe was formally excluded from any share in the trade with India, that in forming their first navigation company for the East, they suppressed the name of India, and called it " La Compagnie des Pate J& wtoMi0."-r-"Het Maat-schappy van verre landes." It is also observable that, to avoid if possible any conflict with the Spanish cruisers," their earliest attempts to reach India were directed to the Arctic Ocean, in the hope to find a north-eastern passage to China.
2 EAYKALJ Commerce des # ?., liv. ii. ok i. vol. i. p, SOS,
3 Itecueily fyc., vol. ii. p. 417.
4 VAIBNTTN, ch. xv. p. 223, 224, says that in 1675 cinnamon was still found near, Batticaloa, and must have been exported thence prior to the arrival of the Butch. The latter point admits of doubt, but Mr. Thwaites, of the Royal Botanical Garden at Peradenia, writes to me that in 1857 he found cinnamon growing in that locality, and under circumstances which led him to doubt whether it had not at some former period been systematically cultivated there,
3 The style adopted was "Emperor of Ceylon,?King of Cotta, Kandy, Sitavacca and Jaffoapatam?Prince of Oovah, Bintenne, and Trincomalie ?Grand Duke of Matelle and Ma-CHAP. II.]
FIKST EMBASSY OF THE DUTCH.
though nominally tributary to Portugal, was attached by loyal sympathies to the cause of his native sovereign, between whom and the Portuguese hostilities were still actively carried on.
Suspecting the Dutch to be Portuguese in disguise, the chief of Batticaloa accorded to the, strangers a jealous and reluctant reception1; but, after detaining Spilberg a month, on pretence of delivering cinnamon, he eventually facilitated his journey to Kandy, to enable him to present to the king in person his credentials from the Prince of Orange, which contained the offer of an alliance offensive and defensive.2
The king received him with a guard of honour of a thdusand men, who bore arms and standards that had been captured from the Portuguese, and his cortege on the occasion was swelled by numbers of Portuguese prisoners, many of them deprived of their ears, "to denote that they had been permitted to enter the royal service."3 Spilberg, besides the banner of the United Provinces, caused a standard-bearer to lay at the feet of the king the flag of Portugal with the blazon reversed.
Wimala Dharrna, accustomed to be importuned for cinnamon, and eager to discourage the trade in that article, anticipated the expected demand by an offer of a small quantity at an extravagant cost; but on being assured in reply that the object of the mission was to seek not commerce but an alliance, and to offer his majesty the assistance of Holland against his enemies, the king folded the admiral in his arms, raised him from the ground in the ardour of his embrace, and accepted the proposal with
A.D.
1617.
naar, Marquis of Toompane and Yat-teneura?Earl of Cottiar and Batticaloa?Count of Matura and Galle, Lord of the ports of Colombo, Chi-law and Madampe, and Master of the Pisheries of Pearl." The places enumerated were occasionally varied. VALEHTYN, ch. xiv. p. 200.
1 Recueilj fyc., torn. ii. " Relation du Voyage de Greorge Spilberg en
qualite* d'Amiral aux Indes Orien-tales," p. 417; VALENTYN, Oud m Ni&uw Oost-Indien, vol. v, pt. i. ch. viii. p. 101.
2 et D'etre ami de ses amis et ennemi de ses ennemis."?SPILBEBO, Relation, fa, p. 423.
3 SpiLBEEe, Relation, $*c.? YOl. ii. p. 428; VALENriff, vol. v. p. i. ch. viii, p. 104,
2MODERN HISTORY.
[PABT VI.
A-D- alacrity. As to cinnamon, he said all in his dominions was at the service of the Prince of Orange without purchase, his only regret being that the quantity was small, as he had ordered the destruction of the trees, to put an end to the Portuguese trade.
The king detained Spilberg at Kandy till the approach of the monsoon warned Mm to return to his ship: and having presented him to Donna Oatharina and her children, and given unsolicited permission to the Dutch to erect a fort in any part of his domains, he added that, if necessary, the queen and her children would assist to collect the materials for its construction.1
The admiral, at the request of the king, left behind him his secretary, with two musicians of his band, and returned to Batticaloa loaded with honours and gifts.2 Here he captured, and presented to Wimala Dharma, a Portuguese galliot, laden with spices and manned by a crew of forty men; thus testifying at once his obligations to the Kandyans, and the hostility with which he regarded their enemies.
Pursuant to the agreement with the Dutch envoy, one of Spilberg's officers, Sibalt de Weert, left Batticaloa in 1603, with three ships, to cruise against the Portuguese, and undertake the siege of Galle; but the prizes which he took he set at liberty, contrary to the expectations of the emperor, who required one moiety to be given up to himself. An altercation ensued, in which the Dutch commander, excited by wine, repudiated his engagement to bombard Galle, and forgot himself so far as to make, an insulting allusion to the empress. Wimala Dharrna resented it by directing his" instant arrest; but
1 "Ziet, iky mya keizerin, Pi-ins, JPrinszes, zullen de steenen, kalk, en andre bouwstoffen, zoo de Heeren alg-euaeene Staaten en den Pras een vesting in myn lande begeeien te bouwen, op onze schouderen dragen." srraff, ch. viii. p. 105 j see also a, Relation, $c., vol. iL p. 433,
2 One luxury highly praised by the admiral in his narrative "was the wine, made from grapes grown at Kandy, which he pronounces excellent. ? SPIJJBEHG-, Relation, fyc., vol. ii. p. 451.CHAP. II.]
DEATH OF THE KING.
the attendants of the king, exceeding their orders, clove his head in the ante-room, and massacred his boat's crew-on the beach.1 The emperor returned to Xandy, and anticipating a breach with the Dutch, sent a pithy message to the ships of De Weert. " He who drinks wine, comes to mischief. God is just If you seek peace, let it be peace; if war, war be it"2 The Government of the Netherlands was too prudent to make even the murder of their officer the ground of a rupture with Kandy; no formal notice was taken of the event, and the decease of the emperor, in the following year, did away with the pretext for war.
On the death of Wimala Dharrna, in 1604, Donna Catharina, as Queen in her own right, assumed the sovereignty of Ceylon, her sons being children. But a contest ensued between the Prince of Oovah and a brother of the late king3, then a priest in a temple at Adam's Peak, relative to the guardianship of the minors, which ended in the murder of the prince and the marriage of the widowed empress with the assassin, who, on his coronation in 1604, assumed the title of Senaratena, or Senerat.
For a brief interval Ceylon enjoyed comparative tranquillity ; and although Donna Catharina declined to enter into any formal treaty of peace with the Portuguese, she formed an alliance oifensive and defensive with the Dutch in 1609. The opportunity for this convention arose out
A.D.
1617.
and BALDJETJS extenuate the conduct of Wimala Dhar-ma, by saying that the order which he gave, was to "bind that dog," mara isto can ! But te mara " is not Portiiguese ,??and it is possible that the king's order was atary" to bind," which may have been mistaken by the bystanders for matar, "to kill." VAIENTIN, ch. ix. p. 108, ch. xii. p. 141. BAXD^TJS, ch. vii. p. 611. FIBAED, the Erench traveller, who visited Ceylon shortly affcer, says the Portuguese avowed to him that De
Weert was killed at their instigation; but this seems untrue.? Voyage, fyc.} Paris, 1679, pt. ii. ch. il. | . 90.
2 The emperor, from his early education at Groa, spoke a little Portuguese. His words on the occasion were il Que "bebem Vinho nao he bon. Deos Tia faze juskida. Se quesieres pas, pas; se yuerra, guerra"?BAL-DJEUS, ch. vii. p. 612, VAiBNTnsr; ch. ix. 109.
3 Called by the Dutch historians, "Cenewierat"38
MODEKN HISTORY.
[PART VI.
A.D. of the conclusion of a truce for twelve years between the 1617' Low Countries and Spain1, one of the articles of which recognised the right of Holland to share in the commerce with India. But as this armistice did not extend to the hostilities still active in the East between the Dutch and the Portuguese, the States-General, prompt to avail themselves of the interval to re-establish their influence in Ceylon, despatched Marcellus de Boschouwer with overtures to Kandy. He was also the bearer of a letter from Prince Maurice of Nassau addressed to the emperor, tendering the friendship of the United Provinces, and offering, in the event of a renewal of Portuguese aggression by land or sea, to assist his majesty with ships, forces, and munitions of war.2 The result was a treaty, by which the Singhalese sovereign, in return for the promised military aid, gave permission to the Dutch to erect a fort at Cottiar, on the southern side of the bay of Trincornalie, and secured to them a monopoly of the trade in cinnamon, gems, and pearls. So eager was he to mature the alliance, that he prevailed upon Boschouwer to remain behind at Kandy, in the double capacity of representative of Holland and adviser of the emperor, who created him Prince of Migone3 and Ana-rajapoora, Knight of the Sun, and President of his Military Council, and High Admiral of the Fleet.4
Immediately on the erection of the new fort at Cottiar by the Dutch in 1612, it was surprised and destroyed by a Portuguese force, which was secretly inarched across the island; and Senerat, in turn, made preparations for a simultaneous attack on the forts of Galle and Colombo; with the resolution to give no quarter to any subject of Portugal, save women and
S, History of Holland^ vol. iii. p.436. 2 FS^ ck ix. p. 614.
8 MigoBe was tlie Mangel Coiie, north of the Deddroo oya. 4 VAi/Einro, ck ix. p. 112; BAL-
DJ3FS, Ck Xl p. 617., cli. xi. p. 618; VA-
LENTYfl, ell. X. p. 112.
2 VALENTOT, ck xii. p. 142.
3 VALENTYN, ck x. p. 116; ck xii. p. 142 j BALD-EUS, ck xvii. p. 629. "Being in want of refreshments,
they put into Tranquebar, on the Coromandel coast * and this circumstance gave rise to the first settlement
of the Danish colony, Tdiich has continued there eyer since." ? CIVAL'S Ceylon, fyc., p. 28*
CHAP. II.]