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



been provided with victuals, we should very likely have had 

 to withdraw. In the following month of August, however, 

 the fortress capitulated ; we found much powder and ammu- 

 nition, and got three hundred and fifty picked men, who 

 were distributed amongst our sixteen ships as prisoners. 



On the 17th of September we marched towards Golumbo. 

 Four miles from it is a river called Bandre* which we had 

 to cross ; and that would have been difficult if we had 

 arrived a few hours later. The Portuguese had made many 

 bags full of straw and many fascines about as high as a man, 

 and intended to construct a battery, and prevent our landing ; 

 and if they had filled the bags with sand, and had built a small 

 rampart, it would have been very difficult for us to storm it. 

 The river is so broad, that, with an ordinary musket, you 

 cannot shoot across. The current is so strong, that, in cross- 

 ing, you must begin high up, otherwise the current takes you 

 into the open sea, and there would be nothing left but to 

 sail to the next landing-place as best one can ; and as these 

 small boats cannot carry a large quantity of provisions, it 

 may happen that one has to suffer hunger and thirst for 

 several days.f 



When on the 9thJ of September we had got across the 

 river, we marched straight towards Golumbo. After we had 

 been half an hour on the way, and were proceeding in 

 disorder, as we thought ourselves safe, our vanguard, about 

 one hundred and fifty men strong, came upon two hundred 

 men of the enemy. We skirmished so pluckily that they, 

 with the loss of seventeen dead and many wounded, had to 

 retreat towards Golumbo. A Portuguese, who had fled into 

 the wood, and had been taken prisoner, told us that at a 

 distance of an hour's march the enemy was posted with 



* Panadure. 



f The author then proceeds to give an example of this from his own 

 experience. When journeying- by boat from Matara to G-alle, he and his 

 companions were overtaken by a storm, and did not reach their destination 

 until the seventh day, having- been three days without water. 



X Sic in original ; but evidently a misprint for 19th, which the Dutch 

 translation has. 



