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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XI. 



would be much better carried out under a subterfuge of 

 peace (badly kept as it was); and considering our power was 

 so limited, it did not appear prudent to commence any new 

 expedition without great forethought. For as much as in all 

 wars of conquest the first thing for a prince is to find out if 

 his strength is equal to the task he is about to undertake, in 

 order that he may not conquer more than he can keep : since 

 after climbing to the top of a tree (as says Alexander the Great) 

 one might have the fear of falling from one of its branches. 



The Count-Admiral, informed by Constantino de Sa of 

 these and other reasons, ordered him to suspend the 

 conquest of Candia and to carry out the erection of the 

 fortress at Triquilimale. 



On receiving these orders he collected together all the forces 

 he could muster by sea and by land, and in the following sum- 

 mer of the year [1]G24, within a few days he commenced the 

 work which his predecessors had desired so much to perform. 

 He carefully selected an almost impregnable site on which 

 was a famous pagode or varella (which names are synony- 

 mous) where a point of land juts into the ocean, continued 

 by a high eminence, at the foot of which stretches the 

 city of Triquilimale, from which the Province takes its 

 name, and the great bay or estuary, forming a peninsula, after 

 making a wide circuit, expends its waves against the walls. 

 On the first rise to the summit of the rock was a pagode, 

 another at mid ascent, and the most famous of them all on 

 the highest eminence, which was looked upon and worshipped 

 with great superstition by crowds of wondering pilgrims, 

 and for this reason was more celebrated than for the build- 

 ing itself and the beauties of its architecture. Upon this lofty 

 situation the Fortress, in the form of a triangle, commanded 

 the extensive bay, which the sea made there of sufficient 

 depth and capacity for numbers of ships as far up as the mouth 

 of the river : on whose banks, at three leagues' distant, is the city 

 of Vintane, the maritime fortress of the King of Candia. By 

 this we hindered in a great measure the building, working, 

 and navigation of his fleets. 



