34 MODEEX HISTORY. [Part VI. 



A.D. trade Avitli Portugal, the Dutch had despatched theu^ first 

 ^^ convoy to India.^ A " Company for distant Lands " was 

 speedily organised, and, in 1595, Cornehus Houtman, 

 who shortly before had been released from a prison, con- 

 ducted the first fleet of free merchantmen round the Cape 

 of Good Hope.^ 



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 chstant, and least hkely to bring them into 

 premature conflict with tlie Portuguese ; and at length on 

 the 30th May, 1602, the first Dutch ship seen in Cej^on, 

 " La Brebis," commanded by Admiral Spilberg, cast 

 anchor in tlie Port of Batticaloa.^ So imperfectly were 

 the Dutch informed regarding the island, tliat they ex- 

 pected to find cinnamon as abundant on the east coast 

 as at Colombo, and announced that its pmxhase was the 

 object of their \dsit.^ 



Wimala Dharma, the successful usurper and the hus- 

 band of Donna Catharina, was, at that time, tlie sovereign 

 of Kandy, where he had assumed the style of Emperor of 

 Ceylon, in order to mark liis supremacy over tlie subor- 

 dinate princes, who took the title of kings in their several 

 localities.^ One of these, the petty prince of Batticaloa, 



^ It is a curious evidence of tlie ' JRectteil, ^-c, vol. ii. p. 417. 



prudence of the Dutch in taking this ] * Yalexttx, ch. xv. p. 223, 224, 



bold step in defiance of the inhihi- says that in 1075 cinnamon was still 



tions of Charles V. and Philip II., by found near Batticaloa, and must have 



which the rest of Europe was for- \ been exported thence prior to the 



mally excluded from any share in the | an-ival of the Dutch. The latter 



trade with India, that in formiug' ; point admits of doubt, but Mr. 



then- first navigation company for the ' Thwaites, of the I\oy.al Botanical 



Ea.st, they suppressed tlie name of | (larden at Peradenia, writes to me 



India, and called it " Zr; Compaj/nie 

 des Pais Loi?dams.'" — "Het Maat- 

 schappy van verre Ian des." It is 

 also observable that, to avoid if pos- 

 sible 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. 



^ Raynal, Commerce des I/ides, 

 J^-c, liv. ii. ch. i. vol. i. p. 308. 



that in 1857 he foimd cinnamon 

 gT0-«-iug in that locality, and under 

 circumstances which led him to doubt 

 whether it had not at some fonner 

 period been systematically cidtivated 

 there. 



* The sty^le adopted was " Emperor 

 of Ceylon, — King of Cotta, Kandy, 

 Sitavacca and Jaflhapatam — Prince 

 of Oovah, Bintenue, and Trincomalie 

 — Grand Duke of Matelle and 31a- 



