Chap. II.] 



FIRST EMBASSY OF THE DUTCH. 



35 



though nominally tributary to Portugal, was attached by a.d. 

 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 reception ^ ; but, after detaining Spilberg a month, 

 on pretence of dehvering cinnamon, he eventually facihta- 

 ted 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 aUiance offensive and 

 defensive.^ 



The king received him with a guard of honour of a 

 thousand 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."^ Spilberg, besides the banner of the United 

 Provinces, caused a standard-bearer to lay at the feet of 

 the kins; tlie flao; of Portuo;al with the blazon reversed. 



Wimala Dharma, accustomed to be importuned for cin- 

 namon, 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 com- 

 merce but an aUiance, and to offer his majesty the assist- 

 ance 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 



naar, ^Marquis of Toonipane and Yat- 

 teneura — Earl of Cottiar and Batti- 

 caloa — Count of Matura and Gall(!, 

 Lord of the ports of Colombo, Chi- 

 law and Madanipe, and Master of 

 the Fisheries of Pearl." The places 

 enunierfitedwere occasionally varied. 

 Valentyn, ch. xiv. p. 200. 



' Recueil, ^-c, torn. ii. '' Relation 

 du Voyage de George Spilberg en 



qualittS d'Aniiral aux Tndes Orien- 

 tales," p. 417 ; Valentyij^, Outl en 

 Nieuw Oost-Indien, vol. v. pt. i. ch. 

 viii. p. 101. 



"^ " D'etre ami de ses amis et 

 ennemi de ses ennemis." — SriLBERG, 

 Relation, S;c., p. 42"». 



* Spilberg, Rekifim, ^-c, vol. ii. 

 p. 428 ; Valentvn, vol. v. p. i. ch. 

 viii. p. 104. 



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