36 



MODEEX HISTOET. 



[Pabt YI. 



A.D. 



1617. 



alacrity. As to cinnamon, lie said all in his dominions 

 was at the service of the Prince of Orange without pur- 

 chase, liis only regret being that the quantity was small, 

 as he had ordered the destruction of the trees, to put an 

 end to the Portus-uese trade. 



o 



The king detained Spilberg at Kandy till the approach 

 of the monsoon warned him to retmii to liis ship : and 

 ha^'ing presented him to Donna Catharina and her chil- 

 dren, and given unsohcited permission to the Dutch to 

 erect a fort in any part of liis domains, he added that, if 

 necessary, the queen and her cliildren would assist to 

 coUect the materials for its construction.^ 



The admiral, at the request of the king, left beliind 

 him his secretary, with two musicians of his band, and 

 retmiied to Batticaloa loaded wdth honom's and gifts."^ 

 Here he captm^ed, and presented to Wimala Dharnia, a 

 Portuguese galhot, laden with spices and manned by a 

 crew of forty men ; thus testifs'ing at once his obhgations 

 to the Kaudyans, and the hostihty 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 

 160.3, mtli three ships, to cruise against the Portuguese, 

 and undertake the siege of Galle ; but the prizes which he 

 took he set at hberty, contrary to the expectations of 

 the emperor, who reqimed one moiety to be given up 

 to himself. An altercation ensued, in which the Dutch 

 commander, excited by wine, repudiated his engage- 

 ment to bombard Galle, and forgot himself so far as to 

 make an insulting allusion to the empress. Wimala 

 Dharma resented it by directing his mstant arrest ; but 



^ "Ziet, ilc, ni\Ti keizerin, Piins, 

 Prinszes, zullen de steenen, kalk, en 

 andre bouwstoffen, zoo de Heeren 

 alg-emeeue Staaten en den Prins een 

 vesting in niTO lande begeeren te 

 boiiwen, op onze scliouderen dragen." 

 — Valextyx, cb. viii. p. 105 ; see also 

 Spilberg, lieJation, Sfc, vol. ii. p. 4'')8. 



* One luxuiy bigbly praised by 

 tbe admiral in his nan-ative was tlie 

 icine, made from grapes grown at 

 Kandy, which he pronounces ex- 

 cellent. — Spilbekg, Relation, i^-c, 

 vol. ii. p. 451. 



