CiiAF. II.] DEATH OF BOSCIIOUWER. 39 



children.^ The i:>lan was, however, disconcerted by the -\-t>- 

 • ' . 1 r 1 7 



Portuguese taldng the field, and compeUing an engage- ^ 



nient in the Seven Corles, in which the Kandyans were 



worsted, and his new principahty of Migone wi'ested from 



Boschouwer. 



At the same time, tlie eldest son of Donna Catharina 

 A\^as taken off by poison, administered by his stepfather 

 the Emperor, and the broken-hearted mother died 

 within a few months of this calamity. Disasters quickly 

 followed : the Portuguese troops on two occasions 

 marched to within a few miles of Kandy, and were A\dth 

 difficulty repulsed, and in 1615 Boschouwer was de- 

 spatched to Holland by Senerat to solicit reinforcements, 

 pursuant to the recent convention. But, at the moment 

 of his arrival, he found the people of Holland impressed 

 with dishke to the character of the Kandyans^, and dis- 

 inchned to active proceedings in Ceylon ; whilst the 

 States General, dissatisfied with the conduct and demea- 

 nour of the envoy, who approached them not as a subject 

 of Holland but as a prince and ambassador from the 

 sovereign of Kandy, dechned to send the required forces. 

 Boschouwer, thus repulsed, addressed himself to the 

 Danes, who were eager to obtain a footing in India, and 

 persuaded Christian IV. to fit out a squadron of five a.d. 

 ships, with which he sailed from Copenhagen, in 1618. l^^^- 

 Boschouwer died upon the voyage, and, on the arrival of 

 the Danish commander at Cottiar in 1620, Senerat repu- a.d. 

 diatcd the acts of his deceased agent, dechned to receive l^-*^- 

 the proffered assistance, and the vessels were sent back to 

 Denmark.^ 



The Portuguese availed themselves of the perplexity 

 of the Emperor, occasioned by these occurrences, to 



' Balb^us, cli. xi. p. 618 ; Ya- 

 LKNTYX, ch. X. p. 112. 



^ Valenttn, eh. xii. p. 142. 



* Valentyn, ch. X. p. 11(5, ch. xii. 

 p. 142; Bald-EITS, cli. xvii. p. 029. 

 " Being in want of refreshments, 



thej put into Tranqnebar, on the 

 Coroniaiidel coat^t ; and this circum- 

 stance gave rise to the first settlement 

 of the Danish cohiny, which has 

 continued there ever since." — Per- 

 cival's Ccyhn, Sfc, p. 28. 



D 4 



