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



ammunition which were not saturated, rendering it absolutely 

 impossible for them to use their arquebuses in their defence ; 

 so that they gave themselves up for lost, looking upon 

 this last calamity which had befallen them as if it was from 

 the hand of God. They reconciled themselves, and gave thanks 

 unto Him, spending the remainder of the night in preparing 

 for death like Christians. It was comforting to see how they 

 exhorted one another, and how the General went about 

 encouraging all not to fear so ordinary a thing as death, 

 inasmuch that he looked upon his own as a triumph to be 

 obtained above all titles. 



The priests, both Jesuits and Franciscans, went about the 

 camp like true Apostles, inspiring courage into the souls and 

 minds of those poor Portuguese, of whom there barely 

 remained more than 300, and a small number of Zingalas. 

 The most conspicuous of them all for his zeal was the 

 Padre Simon de Leiva of the Company of Jesus, a man of 

 great virtue and unblemished life, the General's confessor, 

 whose side he never left until he gave up the ghost. 



At about the first watch of the night came Luis Gomes 

 Pinto, one of the principal and bravest Captains of Geylan, 

 who had many times served as Disava and Captain-Major of 

 the Camp, to persuade the General to make use of the 

 opportunity and escape to Golumho, having chosen 50 

 soldiers to escort him : with these, taking advantage of the 

 few hours that remained to them of night, he could elude the 

 enemy, and making a rapid retreat, place himself in safety. 

 He begged the General to consider the loss his death would 

 be, and that for many years there had not been another man 

 of such renown and valour as Constantino de Sa found in 

 the king's service. He told him that it was not a new thing 

 for great Captains to retreat, considering we had a thousand 

 examples amongst the most renowned and bravest Captains 

 of the world, who had good reason for so doing ; because the 

 safety of kingdoms depends on the lives of the great men 

 who sustain and exalt them, and sometimes the greatest 

 defeats are restored in this manner when there is no other 



