NO. 41. — 1890.] KEBELION DB CEYLAN. 



563 



for it lay in the centre of Malabar, Cochin, Goa, and 

 Diu, with the north coast from Ormuz on one side, and 

 on the other the coast of Coromandel, Bengala, Pegu, Malaca, 

 China, and the Moluccas (y Malucd) ; it enjoyed the benefit 

 of the monsoons (monciones, a term commonly given to the 

 prevailing winds, which at certain times of the year blow 

 from one side or the other), so that fleets can be despatched 

 from Ceylan to any part at the same time, like another Bima- 

 ris Corinthus, for on such opposite coasts as those of Goa 

 and Coromandel they only have the advantage of either the 

 winter or summer seasons (as it has been said), whilst the 

 ports of the Island are so many and differently situated that 

 they can be navigated either from one side or the other the 

 whole year round, which is not the case with Goa, for it can 

 only be made use of during one monsoon, thus having a 

 limited time for sailing purposes ; for ships enter in during 

 the summer season, which lasts from September to the end 

 of April, and are stopped from May till August, a part of the 

 year, which notwithstanding the sun is in the ascendant, and 

 although they lose the influence of that great planet, the 

 father of life, we know by experience that when it is most 

 distant the summer commences, and the frequent and violent 

 storms cease, which during the winter prevent ships going 

 over the bars without manifest danger, owing to the sand- 

 banks which surround them and shut them up until the 

 summer season, when they gradually open out again. 



[Such are the wonders of nature, and the wonderful differ- 

 ence the coasts and lands undergo in the East, causing such 

 contradictory opinions amongst our philosophers as to the 

 causes of the winds and the seasons, that what the prophet 

 says is true, that God makes the seasons and the summer 

 like unto a sculptor, who makes out of wood or clay the 

 body of parts and members so dissimilar.] 



To these considerations Constantino de Sa, in his letter 

 to the Viceroy, also added that it would be as easy and as 

 safe for the King's ships to go direct to Columbo as they did 

 to Goa, leading Portugal so as to arrive about the middle of 



