No. 39. — 1889.] account of ceylon. 



281 



firing of guns. Those who were not well he kept until they 

 had fully recovered and could join the others. Amongst 

 them was a Nuremberger of the name of Andreas Heberlein, 

 now a rich man, and a miller in Batavia, as I shall describe 

 later on. 



* * I*. # * 



Anno 1650. 



In the year of Christ 1650, on the 12th of February, a letter 

 arrived in Persia* from Holland overland, to our merchant, 

 which stated that they had beheaded the King of England? 

 Carolus, with an axe, and that the sword or Government had 

 been handed over by Feurfaxf to Oliver Cromwell. There- 

 upon I was at once ordered with other ten men from the 

 ship of the Moors on to another one from Zealand called the 

 yacht Lello, to go to the island of Ceilon, whither she was 

 bound. We arrived at Piinte de Galle on the 9th of April, 

 and reported what had happened to the King of England. 

 The ship was ordered at once to proceed to Batavia, and there 

 to report the news, but I remained in Ceilon, where at that 

 time it was advisable to stay, inasmuch as there was a constant 

 talk about a big fleet which was to come from Batavia to 

 besiege Columbo, the great and rich town in Ceilon, and 

 where many, like myself, expected a large booty. This, how- 

 ever, was delayed until Anno Christi 1655. 



On the 9th of October I was ordered to Negumbo with two 

 hundred men in the ship Banda, to reinforce the garrison, 

 of which many had completed their time of service. On 

 that occasion I was in the greatest danger of death, for when 

 our steward with a light went to look after the brandy 

 casks, he incautiously allowed a spark to fall : the brandy 

 quickly took fire, and ran over the whole ship ; and if we 

 had not speedily thrown the powder into the sea we should 

 all have been blown up. As it was, I thought that our last 

 hour had come, and I looked out for a piece of an old mast 



* The author was at the time in G-ambroon. 

 f Fairfax (Dutch ed.). 



K 2 > 



