NO. 41. — 1890.] REBELION DB CEYLAN. 



451 



or friendship, should be the eulogists of the heroic works of 

 their own kindred, and to hand them down to the memory of 

 mankind, so that envy, which has already hushed up the 

 praise which was due to him, may not be able to bury his 

 merits and leave to posterity by this example a reproach to 

 him who openly follows virtue, and that it may be known 

 that by it alone are laurels, crowns, and triumphs gained ; 

 insomuch that there is no Empire, however just it may be, 

 that owes more to fortune than to merits. 



CHAPTER I. 



Description of the Island of Ceylan, both 

 Ancient and Modern. 



For a more complete understanding of this dissertation it 

 is necessary, before commencing it, to give a short description 

 of the Island of Gey lan, its importance, strength, situation, 

 government ; also the introduction of the Portuguese, their 

 claims, and how they commenced and followed up its 

 conquest : all necessary preliminaries for the better know- 

 ledge of the excellence and the results of the actions of the 

 government of Constantino de Sa. 



Geylan is the most celebrated Island, as to its proportions, 

 there is in Asia. It lies at its most austral point, in front of 

 the Cape of Gomorin, at the point which faces the south 

 wind, in latitude from six to almost ten degrees to the north. 

 A strait divides it from the mainland ; the gulf, forty leagues 

 from east to west and sixty from north to south, is so full 

 of narrow channels, sunken rocks, islets, and sandbanks that 

 it cannot be navigated except through known channels and 

 in very favourable weather. It is oval in shape, and extends 

 along the coast of India between Travancor, Choromandel, 

 and the Fishery (y Pescaria) to the point of the compass 

 which the navigators call north-east. Drawing a line from 

 the point of the promontory through the middle of the 



