240 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON).' [VOL. XL 



The island itself is exceeding large, and has a ruler of its 

 own, who is styled Emperor of Geilon and King of Candi* 

 a town where he resides, mighty rich in precious stones and 

 the fairest jewels. There is likewise an open pearl bank in 

 Ceilon, at a place called Manara.\ The country is very 

 thickly populated, I passed some eight years in it, having 

 always been ordered back there after occasional service to 

 other places. I shall now relate the different things I heard, 

 saw, and experienced in the island. 



The Portuguese are said to have been in the island about 

 two hundred years. When they first discovered it, they 

 asked the Emperor to grant them as much land as could be 

 comprised within the limits of a cow's or bullock's hide ; for 

 they had many sick on board their vessels, whom they were 

 anxious to put on shore for their recovery. But when the 

 Emperor granted the request, they cut up a bullock's hide 

 into narrow strips, and fastening them together, enclosed a 

 space large enough to build a fort, which they called the 

 « Black Fort."t 



Afterwards they built the town of S. [s/c] Galle, and, having 

 once established themselves, added other towns and forts, such 

 as the large town of Columbo, — Jaffanapatan, with strong 

 intrenchments near it, — the fort of Manara, where, as men- 

 tioned before, the pearl bank is, — the fortress of Nebiimbo,^ 



* For the full string of titles assumed by Raja Sinha II. (1632-1687), 

 see Wouter Schouten's Oost-Indische Voyagie, Tweede Boek, 311 (3rd 

 ed., 1745). 



f Mannar. 



I The above story, which has no basis in fact, is doubtless founded on 

 Dido's traditional subterfuge in the foundation of Carthage by Virgil, 

 Aeneid I., 335-371 :— 



Devenere locos, ubi nunc ingentia cernes, 

 Mcenia, surgentemque novae Carthaginis arcem ; 

 Mercatique solum, facti de nomine Byrsam, 

 Taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo. 



§ Negumbo in ed. of 1662. 



