274 



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



to the Emperor. The Emperor, however, would not receive 

 it, and ordered him to put it to his side again ; but his men 

 had to give up their matchlocks. Then he gave instructions 

 that all the prisoners, 600 in number, should be well fed 

 three times a day, and whatever had been taken from them 

 should be restored ; that anybody whom the prisoners 

 should complain of was to be executed by the elephants 

 To the Lieutenant, however, as a courageous German soldier, 

 he presented a horse, an eleph mt, and a thick golden chain ; 

 and he always made him ride by his side, which astonished 

 evsry one. 



After this he sent an Ambassador to the Hollandish 

 Governor at S. Galle, with a message that as he had enough 

 elephants and enough cinnamon, if they would give back 

 his four elephants, and not again have a military camp in 

 his country, he would live in peace and friendship with 

 them as long as the sun shone and the moon endured, and 

 he would at once liberate the 600 men. But our Governor 

 would not accept the Emperor's good-will ; he had the 

 Ambassador and all those that were with him blindfolded, 

 and led away so far that they could no longer see the town, 

 and only then had the bandages removed. This displeased 

 the Emperor very much, and he went with his followers and 

 prisoners to Candi, where he had his residence and treasure 

 vault. Once a year he was in the habit of going there, and 

 likewise only once a year he used to go into his treasure 

 vault. On such occasions one of his body-guards has to 

 accompany him with a light, and after having inspected the 

 treasure, the Emperor goes out ; as soon as the guardsman, 

 however, arrives at the outer court, his head is cut off, so 

 that nobody knows for certain where the imperial treasure 

 is. Other heathen have similar habits, likewise the Portu- 

 guese, who, when they are besieged, and are afraid that they 

 will have to surrender, order one of their slaves to dig a 

 large, deep hole, into which they put their best valuables ; 

 after this has been done, they immediately kill the slave, 

 that he may not reveal where the treasures are. I have seen 



