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



[Vol. X.. 



Portuguese army reaching Colombo, the wife of Antonio da 

 Mota Galvao " increased the alarm and horror by her cries." 

 This is utterly unjustified by the original : and in other 

 details the Abbe is equally incorrect. LeG. says that the 

 successor of Antonio da Mota Galvao in command of the 

 troops was "Jean Alvares Brandan "; B. has "Joao Alvres 

 Brandap"; but L.A. reads "Joao Alvres Beltrao." LeG. 

 says that the Captain-General of Colombo placed troops " in 

 the castle of Betal." Here he has been misled by B., which 

 reads " pago " (castle) for " passo " (pass). The place 

 referred to is Pass Betal (Wattala). 



Chapter XV. — LeG., following B., says that it was on the 

 17th of January, 1640, that the Dutch retired from Colombo to 

 Negombo ; whereas L.A. has the 27th. The " Paco dos 

 Lagartos" of B. and LeG. should be "Passo dos Lagartos " 

 (the Pass of the Lizards). As a specimen of the manner in 

 which LeG. has curtailed and mistranslated the original,, 

 the following passage may be quoted. Ribeiro says : — " On 

 the 25rh we gave them [the enemy] an invitation with nine 

 hundred and fifty balls and one hundred and twenty fire- 

 bombs, which had more the appearance of the latter than that 

 they were such in reality ; for the zeal of the Captain-General 

 led him to order the casting of a mortar, and in place of bombs 

 he ordered a good number of cocoanutstobe filled with powder, 

 which, when well covered with tow, pitch, and other in- 

 gredients, seemed to be what they were not ; so that, while the 

 enemy made fun of these bombs, they were all the same much 

 annoyed by them : for the Church and the houses of the old 

 fortress did not hold two hundred, and four hundred found 

 accommodation in thatched huts, and they went about conti- 

 nually with buckets in their hands to protect themselves from 

 those fireballs ; but the greatest effect was almost nothing." 

 This LeG. renders thus : — " On the 25th there came to us a 

 convoy of 950 bullets and 150 bombs ; the Captain-General 

 caused mortars to be erected, from which cocoanuts supplied 

 with pitch, tow, and resin were thrown, all thinking that 

 they would greatly inconvenience the besieged, because, as 



