174 



JOURNAL, E.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. X. 



50 In original " deselfde " : but surely an error for " de sesde " (' the 

 sixth.'). 



51 Baldseus (1672) gives a couple of plans of Colombo, — one as it was 

 when the Dutch took it from the Portuguese, and the other as it was 

 after the conquerors had improved it and built stronger fortifications. 

 A comparison of the latter plan with Dr. Daalmans' description 

 shows that, at the time the latter visited Colombo, the " old town " 

 was little altered, the twelve squares or cubes of houses being shown 

 in the plan, with the churchyard in the centre ; but the interior of 

 the " castle " had undergone considerable change, only four blocks of 

 buildings and the church being shown in the plan. Wouter Schouten 

 (1676) has only a very brief description of Colombo, but gives a 

 curious, and apparently somewhat fanciful, view of the town and harbour 

 from the sea. Yalentijn (1726) does not, unfortunately, give a plan 

 of Colombo, but only six plates showing the Governor's house, garden, 

 &c. However, he has a pretty fair description of the fort and the old 

 town. Heydt, in his " Allerneuester Geographisch and Topogra- 

 phischer Schau-Platz von Africa and Ost-Indien" (1744), gives 

 two views of Colombo as it appeared from the sea, from sketches 

 taken in 1734 and 1735, and a somewhat detailed description of the 

 place. With the plans, sketches, and descriptions mentioned above 

 may be compared the description and plan given by Capt. Percival 

 in his work on Ceylon (1805). Other descriptions of Colombo in the 

 Dutch times will be found in Saar (1662), Langhans (1705), and 

 Eschelskroon (1781). Descriptions of Colombo under the Portuguese 

 will be found in Gaspar Correa (156-), who gives an account of the 

 erection of the first fortress and factory in 1518, illustrated by a 

 furious drawing ; Barretto de Resende (1646), who illustrates his 

 description by a brilliantly coloured and most valuable plan (Sloane 

 MS. 197, in the British Museum) ; and Ribeiro (1685) ; the plan 

 given by Le Grand in his French translation being, however, very 

 poor and not agreeing with Ribeiro's description. 



52 Pagger = Javanese pagdr, ' an enclosure.' 



53 The fullest details of the events here briefly narrated are given 

 by Baldseus, Ribeiro, and Saar. It will be noticed that Dr. Daalmans 

 confirms the character given to Major van der Laan by the Portuguese 

 writer whose interesting narrative is translated in Baldseus (I quote 



from the English translation in Churchill's Voyages) : — " Major 



Van der Laan (a mortal enemy of the Portugueses, and a zealous 

 heretic) having received a wound in the cheek, took a most barbarous 

 revenge from all the Portugueses he met with, who were all massacred 

 in the woods (sometimes twenty and thirty together) by his orders 

 in cool blood, he having often been heard to say, that if the Portu- 

 gueses were at his disposal, he would cut them all off at one stroke." 

 So that the marginal note of the English translator, " This must be 

 look'd upon as a Calumny," was hardly justified. 



