228 VALENTYN’S ACCOUNT OF MALACCA. 
in which our people generally carried the day; the enemy, 
exasperated from want of provisions, used his utmost efforts 
to bring them by water into the town, which our people tried 
to prevent, and which caused bloody battles; also similar 
attempts by land were made at the same time in a deter- 
mined manner, but were everywhere repelled by our men 
with the utmost courage. 
The natural strength of the place itself, which was greatly 
increased artificially, conduced to enable it to withstand so 
many thousands of cannon-balls fired at it from our Artillery, 
especially from the sixteen 24-pounders. Yet, by this in- 
cessant battering not only were large breaches made in the 
strong bastions “Curassa”’ and ‘St. Domingo,’’(!) but even 
the dome of the ‘“ Hospital des Pauvres”’ was levelled to the 
ground, and the tower of the old fortress, the church, and 
several large buildings were so badly damaged, that they 
were hardly recognizable. The hard-pressed Portuguese on 
the other hand did not fail to do us damage from their battery 
of extraordinary heavy pieces on St. Paul’s Hill, so much so 
that not one house in our quarters in the suburb remained 
intact. 
The protracted siege and the great want which followed, 
not only in the distressed town, but also in our army, caused 
a bad plague, with great mortality among the troops of both 
parties; more of the troops were destroyed by this disease 
than by the hand of the enemy. Hence, notwithstanding the 
many fresh supplies forwarded from Batavia with the neces- 
Sary provisions, our troops were quite unable to invest the 
town on all sides in such a manner as to cut off all supplies 
of victuals tothe enemy. Some deserters also gave us a great 
deal of trouble, as they informed the enemy of the bad condi- 
tion of our army and so encouraged him not to yield for some 
time longer, till, perchance, relief might come from Goa, or 
we might at last raise the siege, to which suggestions they 
gave so much credit, that they resolved to persevere to the 
(1) This was at the N. W. corner of the fort facing what is now the New 
Market. (See ‘Plan of Portguese Fortress in Malacca,” in vol. III of the 
Commentaries of Albuquerque translated by Mr, pE Gray Bircx for the 
Hakluyt Society.) 
