NO. 41.--1890.] REBELION DB CBYLAN. 



429 1 



tryal of their Truth and Fidelity, put them in the forefront of his 

 Battel, and commanded then to give the first Onset. The King at the 

 time might have Twenty or Thirty thousand men in the field. Who, 

 taking their opportonity, set upon the Portuguese Army, and gave 

 them such a total overthrow, that as they report in that Countrey not 

 one of them escaped. The General seeing this Defeat, and himself 

 like to be taken, called his Black Boy, to give him water to drink, and 

 snatching the Knife that struck by his Boy's side, stabbed himself 

 with it. 



This description of the General's death differs entirely 

 from that given by his son, and is evidently an invention 

 of his enemies. The Mahdwansa does not make special 

 mention of Constantino de Sa's disastrous expedition ; but 

 the Rdjavaliya has the following account : — 



Don Constantine, with an army, went to make war upon the high 

 country ; and, while yet marching through the provinces of Oeva, 

 was met at the foot of the mountain of Welley Wawey, in the field 

 called Rat Daneiyey Wela, by the Princes Koumara Sinha Wyaya, 

 Pawla Dewa Rajah, and the King Senerat Rajaoroowo, and there 

 the battle began. 



In this battle the Portuguese General, the abovesaid Captain, and 

 four Portuguese Dessavas, were taken prisoners and put to death ; 

 and sparing the 15,000 Cingalese which went with the Portuguese 

 to battle, they cut down the Portuguese in heaps. The said three 

 princes and king, after this battle, came down to the low 

 country in order to possess the same, but finding the people not 

 well disposed to receive them, they returned to the high country 

 again.* 



The statement as to four " Portuguese " Disavas being 

 " taken prisoners and put to death " seems to be founded on 

 some mistake ; nor is it easy to reconcile the two descrip- 

 tions of the scene of the massacre. 



In spite of its inflated style and tedious digressions, Sa e 

 Menezes' work is of considerable value, giving as it does 

 much information respecting the Portuguese occupation of 

 Ceylon not afforded by other writers. 



The title of the original work is as follows : — 



Rebelion de Ceylan, y los Progressos de sv Gonqvista en 

 el Gobierno de Constantino de Seta, y Norona. Escribala su 

 Hi jo Juan Rodriguez de Saa, y Menezes, y Dedicata a la 

 Virgen Nuestra Sehora Madre de Miser icordias. — Lisboa con 

 las licencias necessarias, Por Antonio Craesbeeck de Mello, 

 hnpressor de S. Alteza A no 1681. | 



After the title-page follows the dedication to the Virgin. 

 Then come eleven sonnets and a decima, some in Spanish 

 and some in Portuguese, the first two being by the author 



* Upham's " Sacred and Historical Works of Ceylon," Vol. II., pp. 323-4. 

 f See woodcut opposite. — B., Hon. Sec. 



B 2 



