NO. 40. — 1890.] ACCOUNT OF CEYLON. 



339 



men, more than 1,100 elephants, and 45,000 oxen laden with 

 provisions, proceeded towards Kandy and defeated the force 

 of the Emperor. The latter escaped with a few followers into 

 the jungle, and remained there feeding on herbs and roots. 



The Portuguese, as well as the king Janiere, now thought 

 that the battle was won. The young, brown-skinned, and 

 intelligent Princess Dona Catarijna, who was the daughter 

 of an Emperor, and had been brought up by the Portuguese in 

 the Romish religion, was immediately escorted in great state 

 to Kandy from Manare, whither she had been taken 

 formerly. Having been crowned as Empress, she was 

 solicited by king Janiere in marriage from General Pedro 

 Lopes. The solicitation was however rejected, and Janiere, 

 in order to avenge himself on the Portuguese, entered into 

 negotiations with the exiled Emperor, resolving to drive all 

 the Lusitanians out of the country. But the plot was dis- 

 covered, and the Portuguese, having got scent of it, caused 

 Janiere to be treacherously murdered. 



The Emperor Don Jan now coming forth from his conceal- 

 ment, and representing the Lusitanians as despicable traitors, 

 easily turned everything in his favour. Thereupon, pursuing 

 the Portuguese, he defeated them with considerable slaughter. 

 The General Pedro Lopes, and the Empress Dona Catarijna, 

 were taken prisoners. The former died of his wounds, and 

 the latter married the Emperor, who now had everything 

 under his power. 



The Portuguese were subsequently defeated on several 

 occasions by the forces of the Emperor, and so severely used 

 that they had no desire to march afresh against Kandy. 

 Thus the monarch Vinna Ladarma Soria, or Don Jan, was 

 ruling victorious and in peace over the Empire of Ceilon, 

 when (as we have already mentioned) Spilbergen appeared 

 before his throne. 



The General was welcomed by the Emperor with extra- 

 ordinary honour, being escorted in royal manner overland 

 from Batacalo, Vintana, and Trinquenemale to Kandy. The 

 palinckijns, litters, and elephants were splendidly adorned, 



