100 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. X. 



Ambassador had accompanied it in person. The contents 

 were not known ; but great preparation was made of all 

 kinds of silver trappings for the equipment of a Persian 

 horse. Pit 36 \_sic~] pretended to be ill in order not to give any 

 audiences.* 



On 25th January there came two more envoys from the 

 King, who were suitably received, and it was rumoured that 

 they had come to see how it fared with their Governor's 

 health. They returned on the 28th with the usual ceremonies. 

 Meanwhile work was carried on with all diligence at the 

 aforesaid silver trappings, and we made ready to leave for 

 Batavia on February 10. This is then, in brief, the state 

 of affairs between the King and the Company. 37 



Let us now say something of the situation of Colombo, and in 

 what manner the Portuguese were driven out of it. The city 

 of Colombo lies in seven degrees and a half north of the line, 

 and is divided into an old city and a new one or castle. The 

 old city is about a thousand paces long and seven hundred: 

 broad, and is an oblong quadrangle ; it has three long and? 

 straight streets lengthways and three breadthways, so that the 

 whole of the old city is almost made up of the twelve squares 

 or cubes, of which one of the midmost is the churchyard^ 

 surrounded by a wall. Against this wall little mud houses 

 covered with straw have been erected, where every day are 

 to be found one thing and another for sale, of which the 

 Cingalese have need, such as slaves, clothing, linen, thread, 

 betel, areeTc, &c, and which serve as a basaart* 8 that is, a 



* The course of the correspondence between the Kandyan Court and the 

 Butch from November, 1688, to January, 1689, was as follows : — 



On November 11 " Mattemagoda Chitty " (perhaps a Moor of Matama^- 

 goda in Four Korales) arrived with a letter from the King. This " Chitty " 

 seems to have been employed as intermediary, and was probably the 

 " Cingalese " by whose hand Daalmans says the Governor's reply of 

 November 25 was sent to Kandy. He returned on December 22, with 

 Mudaliyars " Bowolle Coeletonge " and " Oedowitte Jasinge," bearing two- 

 olas, dated December 17, from the King and the " G-onnebandaer." The 

 contents of both were virtually the same, and are dealt with in Governor - 

 Pyl's replies of January 5, substantially as summarised in the Behnopte- 

 Historic (See Note 37, infra.) — B., Hon. Sec. 



