NO. 59. — 1907.] PORTUGUESE IN CEYLON. 



309 



the correctness of Correa's statement, which is also corro- 

 borated by the Rdjdvaliya (see B 14, B 15) and by current 

 native tradition (see B 13). 



In the port* were a number of vessels of Moors from Cambay, 

 loading cinnamon and elephantsf : these, by Dom Lourenco's 

 orders, were not interfered with .J Word of the arrival of the 

 Portuguese having reached the king§ at Cota, he at once 

 dispatched a messenger to Dom Lourenco offering to enter into 

 an agreement of peace and amity with the Portuguese. To 

 carry this into effect an embassy was sent by Dom Lourenco 

 to Cota. 1 1 In regard to the ambassador the three historians 

 are strangely at variance. Castanheda (see B 8) says that he 



* Though we have no picture of the port of Columbo as it was when 

 the first Portuguese entered it, we are able to form a very good idea of 

 its appearance from Correa's drawing showing the first fortress erected 

 by Lopo Soares in 1518 (Cor. ii. 541), as it cannot have changed much 

 in the twelve years. From that sketch (reproduced below, p. 319) 

 it is evident that the ancient and notable town or city of Kolontota or 

 Kolompura or Kolamba (the Kalanbu of Ibn Batuta in 1345) was in 

 1506 almost entirely hidden from view by the dense groves of coco 

 palms and other trees. It is probable that Dom Lourenco and his 

 companions saw little or nothing of the town, and may possibly have 

 been unaware of its existence. The earliest mention of it by a Portu- 

 guese writer that I know of is that by Barbosa given below (C 22). 



f Barbosa, it will be seen (C 22), distinctly states that it was from 

 Columbo that the Moorish vessels carried cinnamon and elephants to 

 Cambay and other parts : Galle, therefore, could not have been the 

 port into which Dom Lourenco put. 



% From what Couto (B 12) and the Rdjdvaliya (B 15) say, it would 

 appear that the Portuguese indulged in some firing of cannon on enter- 

 ing the port — with the object of intimidating the natives, probably. 



§ According to the Rdjdvaliya (B 14, B 15) this was Dharma Para- 

 krama Bahu IX. ; but from an inscription at Kelani we know that this 

 king's reign began in 1508. From an inscription at Dondra we also 

 know that Vijaya Bahu VII. assumed regal power in 1505. Either, 

 therefore, the Rdjdvaliya is in error, or else Dharma Parakrama Bahu, 

 though ruling at Kotte, had not yet been generally recognized as king. 

 (On this very obscure historical problem see Bell's Rep. on the Kegalla 

 Dist. 85-86.) 



|j In describing the negotiations carried on between Dom Lourenco 

 and the Sinhalese king, Correa, it will be seen, allows his imagination 

 to run riot. 



