ClIAP. I.] 



rORTUGUESE TRADE. 



27 



by the captain-general of Colombo, who governed Avith 

 the local title of "King of Malwane."^ Trade was pro- 

 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-nuts^, 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 Co- 

 lombo and GaUe from Persia, Arabia, the Eed Sea, 

 China, Bengal, and Europe ; and according to Eibeyro, 

 the sin^plus of cinnamon beyond that required by these 

 traders was annually burned, lest any accumulation 

 might occasion tlie price to be reduced, or the ChaUas 

 to relax their toil in searching the forests for the spice.^ 

 The taxes were paid in Idnd. 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 paUsades and 

 earthworks^ were replaced by fortifications of stone 

 mounting upwards of two hundred guns. Convents, 

 churches, monasteries, and hospitals were erected within 

 the walls, and at tlie period of its capture by the Dutch, 

 in 1656, upwards of 900 noble famihes were residing 

 within the town, besides 1500 famihes of those con- 



A.D. 



1597. 



^ A Toi-y minute detail of the mi- 

 litaiy and revenue systeni of tlie Por- 

 tuguese will be found in the First 

 Book of RiBETKO, ch. X. xi. 



^ A passage in Ribeyho's account 

 of the productions of Ceylon litis 

 puzzled both his translators and 

 readers, as it describes the island as 

 detspatching '' tons les ans, plus de 

 iiiille bateaux, chacun de soixante 

 tonneaux, (Fioi certain aab/c, dont on 

 fait un tres-grand debit dans toutes 

 lea Tndes." — ch. iii. Lee naively says 



that "he cannot discover what this 

 sand is." But as Le Grand made his 

 French translation from the Portu- 

 guese ]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 RiisEYiio, b. i. ch. X. 



^ " Les murailles n'ont 6i6 long- 

 tenis que de taipa siiit/clfa," &c. — III- 

 isEYEO, pt. i. ch. xii. p. 80. 



