466 



THE NORTHERN FORESTS. 



[Part IX. 



fort in 1G27 in violation of tlieir treaty witli the emperor.^ 

 This was the &st spot on which " the Hollander " secured 

 a footing in Ceylon, when afterwards invited by the 

 kuig of Kandy to assist him against the insolence and 

 tyranny of the Portuguese. In 1638, the Dutch admiral 

 arrived from Batavia with a flotilla of six ships of war ; 

 and, according to the historian of the defeated party, 

 the Portuguese fort was so ill situated for defence and 

 the walls so unsubstantial, that in a very few days a 

 breach was made by the artillery, two bastions w^ere 

 overthrown, the garrison capitulated, and not one stone 

 was left on another.^ 



On the esplanade in front of the government house 

 there are the remains of wdiat had formerly been a 

 Dutch garden, with a reservoir in the centre, abounding 

 wdth tortoises^ and small fish. Contrary to the usual 

 habits of the kingfisher ^, which is fond of lonely places, 

 where it can piu^sue its prey unmolested, large numbers 

 of these beautiful creatures sat all day long on the 

 branches above the water, perfectly undistm'bed and 

 indiiferent to om^ presence, allow^ing us at all times to 

 approach within a few yards of them. 



The lagoon of Batticaloa, and indeed all the still waters 

 of this district, are remarkable for the numbers and pro- 

 dimous size of the crocodiles which infest them. Their 

 teeth are sometimes so large that the natives mount them 

 with silver hds and use them for boxes to cany the 

 pow^dered chunam, which they chew with the betel leaf. 

 On the morning after oiu" arrival a crocodile was caught 

 within a few yards of the government agent's re- 

 sidence, where a hook had been laid the night before, 

 baited with the entrails of a goat, and made fast, in the 

 native fashion, by a bunch of fine cords, which the 



* See ante, Vol. I. Pt. vi. ch. ii. p. 

 40 ; KiBEYiiO, lib. ii. cli. i. p. 189 ; 

 Valentyn, Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, 

 ch. X. p. 118. 



2 RiBEYRO; lib. ii. cli. vi. p. 227. 



^ Emys Sch(p, and Eniyda Ccylo- 

 nensis, the " Ibba " and " luri-ibba " 

 of the Singhalese. 



* Halcyon Ccqimm. 



