CHAPTEE I. 



THE PORTUGUESE IN CEYLON. 



There is no page in the story of European coloni- 

 sation more gloomy and repulsive than tliat which re- 

 counts 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 success^ 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 tlieir 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 rehgion."^ Theii^ expeditions 

 consisted of soldiers as weU as adventurers, and included 

 friars and a chaplain-major. Their instructions were, " to 

 begin by preaching, but, that faihng, to proceed to the 

 decision of the sword." ^ At once aggressive and timid, 

 they combined the profession of arms with that of trade ; 

 and thus their factories became fortresses, from under 



A. p. 



150.5. 



' The annexed sketch of a Portu- 

 guese Discovery Ship of the fifteenth 

 ceutury is copied from a dra^^^ng in 

 La Place's Circumnavi<jation cle VAr- 

 icmise, torn. i. p. 54. 



^ Faiiia t Souza, Asia PoHiigucsa, 

 Jisbon, 1G66 — 75 : translated by Ste- 

 vens, London, 1G95, vol. i. pt. i. ch. 

 V. p. 54. De Cgtjto says : " Os Reys 

 Portugal sempre per tenderani nesta 

 conquista do Oiiente unir tanto os 

 dous poderes espiritual e temporal, 

 que em nenlium tempo se exercitasse 

 hum sem o outro." — Dec. vi. lib. iv. 

 ch. vii. p. 323. 



^ Ibid., -p. 53. 



POKTUGni'.SK DISCOVERY SHIP 



B 2 



