No. 35. — 1887.] capture of teincomalee. 139 



The Commander, therefore, through the Fiscal Gerard 

 Herbers and two Commissioners, proclaimed a placaat every- 

 where, on board the ships and on land, that should any one 

 be found involved in the aforesaid crimes he would be 

 punished by hanging. 



After the publication of the placaat the lord of Coutijar, 

 named Benjaen, sent to the Commander in the Fort a 

 certain Toupas to ask him whether we had conquered the 

 Fort of Trincomalee for ourselves or for the King. This being 

 rather a difficult question, he answered that if they treated 

 our soldiers here as they did in Batticaloa we should take 

 care of the Fort for the King, but if otherwise we should 

 have to consult our Governor-General. We had conquered 

 the Fort with the same mind as we did Batticaloa, and 

 meant afterwards to deal with His Majesty according to 

 the treaty entered into with him, and observe it in its full 

 force and intent. Being further asked whether they could 

 keep the Fort without our assistance, they replied that they 

 were not prepared to be entrusted with it. 



May 4. — In the forenoon the Commander returned ashore 

 to further negotiate with the Emperor's Mudaliyars about 

 the intended attack on Jaffnapatnam and the feeding of our 

 soldiers who were to remain in the Fort of Trincomalee. 

 No one, however, except the brother of Benjaen, the Governor 

 of Coutijar, came here to-day, and he desired to be admitted 

 only to see the conquered Fort. After permission was given 

 him, the Commander told him that the blacks, or Cingalese, 

 were guilty of many excesses, entering the houses of the Portu- 

 guese, threatening to bind and kill them, cutting down and 

 destroying the fruit trees in the gardens, and that if he 

 had not had his men (to keep order) he would have been 

 obliged to shoot down one or two of them. At noon there 

 arrived overland from Batticaloa the trumpeter who, with 

 the Ambassador Jacob Compostel, had been with His 

 Imperial Majesty at Kandy, bringing with him the journal 

 and letters from the Under-Clerk Nicolas Holsteyn, who was 

 ordered with the Head-Factor Compostel aforesaid to note 



83—88 D 



