NO. 39. — 1891.] ACCOUNT OF CEYLON. 



267 



in their distress.* At last the body is put upon a bier, and 

 if the man was particularly poor and of mean birth, they 

 carry him into the jungle or to the seabeach, where they 

 bury him with the face towards the east.f They generally 

 put upon the grave a green branch, and plant thorns around 

 it to protect it against the jackhals,% a kind of fox, which is 

 very fond of human flesh. As an outward sign of their 

 grief, they wear a long blue cap with no bottom to it, which 

 hangs far down behind, and in this dress they appear for 

 about a year. 



In this island, as mentioned before, the Portuguese had 

 several settlements. The Emperor of Ceilon and King of 

 Gandi, however, did not like them as neighbours, for they 

 had drowned his brother, because he was more inclined 

 towards the Dutch. He therefore began a great war against 

 them, and sent a special Ambassador to Batavia to ask for 

 help against Portugal, promising all help and assistance now 

 and afterwards. 



In this wise the Hollanders came to Ceilon for the first 

 time, Anno Christi 1640, and began by the conquest of the 

 town de Galle, soon followed by that of the great fortress of 

 Negumbo,\\ the latter they lost again two years afterwards, 

 Anno 1643, but in the subsequent year (1644) they recon- 

 quered it, thus twice losing and twice winning it within four 

 years, and always in February. Negumbo was a strong 

 place, and had four bastions, two facing the sea, called Horn% 



* Cf. Knox, p. 115. 



j A mistake. Sinhalese children are enjoined against sleeping with the 

 faces to the west — that being the posture assigned to the dead at burial. 

 Cf. Davy (Account of Ceylon, pp. 290, 291) : — " As Boodhoo came from the 

 east, they lie during life, with their heads in that direction ; and as they 

 think it is not right that the living and the dead should lie the same way, 



their first duty is to turn the head of the corpse to the westward Low 



caste people are not allowed to burn their dead ; they bury the corpse 

 with little ceremony, in a grave 3 or 4 feet deep, with its head to the west. 



J Jakhals (Dutch ed.). 



|| For the early history of Negombo, see " Old Negombo," in Cey. Lit. 

 Reg. vol. IV., p. 11, et. seq. 

 % Hoorn (Dutch ed.). 



