CEYLON. 



Situation. 



Settlement 

 of the For 

 tugue&e. 



! 



EYLOtf, an island in the Indian Ocean, at the en- 

 of the bay of Bengal, situated between 79 

 50', and 82 10' East Long, and 5 50*, and 9 .51' 

 North Lat. It is separated from the Coromandel 

 coast, by the Gulf of Manaar, a narrow strait, full of 

 shoals, which receives the name of Adam's Bridge, 

 because the natives generally believe that at this place 

 the great ancestor of the human race, after his fall, 

 passed from this island, which they imagine to have 

 been the scat of the terrestrial paradise, to the shores 

 of the continent. Many suppose that Ceylon, at a 

 distant period, formed part of India, and was after- 

 wards separated from it by some great convulsion of 

 nature. This island is computed to be about 900 

 miles in circumference ; its greatest length is 280, 

 and its greatest breadth 150 miles. 



Mention is made of this island by some of the wri- 

 ters of antiquity ; but the accounts which they give 

 of it are very incorrect and contradictory. In mo- 

 dern times, the Portuguese were the first Europeans 

 who visited Crylon. It was discovered in 1505 by 

 Almeyda, who was accidentally driven from his 

 cruize off the Maldive islands, by the violence of the 

 currents, into one of the harbours of this country. 

 The situation of the island, and the productions in 

 which it abounded, excited him to cultivate a closer 

 connection with the natives, while the difficulty they 

 found in repelling the attacks of the Arabs, render- 

 ed them willing to form an alliance with this power- 

 ful and enterprising nation. Accordingly, when Al- 

 meyda was introduced to the king, he easily suc- 

 ceeded in persuading him to pay the Portuguese 

 an annual tribute of 250,000 lb?. of cinnamon, on 

 condition that they would protect his coasts from 

 every hostile invasion. In order, however, to ob- 

 tain a monopoly of this valuable article, these ambi- 

 tious adventurers soon attempted to form a settle- 

 ment on the island. This naturally excited the 

 jealousy and indignation of the native princes ; but, 

 after a long and bloody struggle, the Portuguese suc- 

 ceeded in reducing the whole of the coast under their 

 dominion, and drove the Ceylonese to the mountains 

 in the interior parts of the country. From thence 

 the natives made frequent incursions on the coast, 

 and destroyed the plantations of their invaders, 

 while they, in return, exercised toward? the inhabi- 

 tants every species of oppression and barbarity. This 

 desultory warfare was carried on for upwards of a 

 century, and though productive of little advantage, 

 was attended with much bloodshed to both parties. 

 In this state of distress, the Ceylonese were eager 

 to accept the offer of assistance from the Dutch. 

 In 1632, the States, agreeably to a previous treaty, 

 sent a powerful armament to act in concert with the 

 native princes against their oppressors. The strug- 

 gle which ensued was violent and bloody ; every 

 pass, every fortress, was warmly disputed with them; 

 and after the Portuguese were driven from all their 

 stations, except Columbo, the seat of the govern- 

 ment, they seemed, determined to perish rather than 

 yield it up. The Dutch invested the town, but the 

 beuieged baffled all their attempts, and rejected every 



proposal of surrender with disdain. At length, how- * 

 ever, famine and disease began to subdue those brave 

 spirits who had despised death in every other form. 

 After a eiege of seven months, Columbo surrendered 

 to the Dutch in 16*56 ; and, by the fall of this place, 

 a period was put to the dominion of the Portuguese 

 in Ceylon, after it had subsisted for about a century 

 and a half. , 



The joy of the natives at their deliterance from 

 the yoke of the Portuguese, and the gratitude which 

 they felt to the Dutch, seemed at first to hare no 

 bounds. The King of Candy, cheerfully paid the 

 expences of their armaments in cinnamon, and eves 

 conferred on his new allies the principal possessions, 

 from which, by their assistance, he had lately expel- 

 led the Portuguese. On the other hand, they er- 

 pressed the warmest gratitude to the monarch for 

 these concessions ; they began to fortify their new 

 acquisitions under the profession of regard to his se- 

 curity; and so well were the natives convinced of their 

 good intentions, that they afforded them every assist* 

 ance in their power to complete then; operations. 

 The parts of the country assigned them were among 

 the best adapted for cultivation on the island, and 

 they also began to turn these to the best advantage. 

 At the same time, they kept up a most friendly in- 

 tercourse with the natives, so that the Ceylonese 

 viewed their operations without jealousy, and were 

 eager, by their good offices, to shew thr gratitude 

 which they felt to the guardians of their coasts. By 

 means of these prudent measures, the colony was 

 quietly brought into a flourishing state, and was even 

 able to depend on its own internal resources. But, 

 unhappily, the Dutch did not long pursue this wise 

 and moderate system of policy. By degrees, they 

 began to extend their posts into the interior of the 

 country, and to seize on every spot which appeared 

 advantageous for cultivation ; they also increased 

 their demands on the king for the protection thy af- 

 forded him ; and he quickly found that all the cinna- 

 mon which grew in his dominions wi uld not be suffi- 

 cient to gratify their insatiable desires. At length, 

 enraged by their accumulated acts of injustice and 

 extortion, he suddenly attacked their settlements, and 

 committed the greatest devastations upon them. This 

 breach between the natives and the Dutch was fol- 

 lowed by a long course of hostilities, during which, 

 much blood was shed, and no permanent advantage 

 gained by either party. The Dutch, however, were 

 the greatest losers in the contest ; for though they 

 frequently routed the natives, overrun their country, 

 and laid waste their villages, yet the hardships which 

 they encountered in forcing their way through a 

 country covered with wood and full of defiles, de- 

 stroyed so many of their troops, that all their suc- 

 cesses were too dearly purchased, and, in the end, 

 they were always obliged to abandon the conquests 

 they had made. On the other hand, the incursions 

 of the natives upon their cultivated grounds, though 

 in general temporary, and easily repulsed, frequently 

 destroyed the labours of many years. 



These considerations induced several cf the Dntcfe 



