440 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XVII. 



Thus done and resolved in the town of Galle, datum 

 ut supra. Jan Thysen, Marten Vinck, Gerrit Moutmaker, 

 Lambert Camholt, Gerrit Maeyer, Albert Hooghland, 

 Secretary. 



Monday, October 19, 1643. 



MS.fol. 92. 



Whereas for some time past rumours have reached us 

 that the traitor St. Amand was to be appointed Captain 

 and Chief of Biligam ; that with three or four other 

 runaways and a few Portuguese he would now be there, 

 engaged in the equipping and fitting-out of a mantchoe 1 or 

 vessel of war, in order to attack, and if possible capture any 

 champans that should avail themselves of the good monsoon 

 (which is beginning to blow in this month) in order to come 

 this way from Battecaloa, Coromandel, &c. 



The Lord President, having convened his Council, has 

 submitted to them the question what had best be done in 

 order to prevent this, and to get the said champans here 

 in safety (this being of the utmost importance to the 

 Honourable Company) ; 



which having been duly weighed, and it having been 

 considered that until the yacht " Kleyn-Sutphen " shall 

 have returned here from Battecaloa, the yacht " Delf shaven " 

 from Coromandel, or other yachts from Batavia, 

 the yacht " Santvoort" now lying in this bay can do little ser- 

 vice to the Honourable Company, except by defending the bay, 

 which, however, with the help of God, we trust at present to 

 be able to do ourselves with our sloops and other small craft ; 



1 MancJwa, a large cargo-boat, with a single mast and square sail, 

 much used on the Malabar coast. {Hobson-Jobson.~) That these were 

 often subsidized for regular or predatory warfare appears from the follow- 

 ing extract, also given in Yule : " So he made ready two manchuas, and one 

 night got into the house of the king and stole from him the most beautiful 

 woman that he had, and, along with her, jewels and a quantity of 

 money." — Gaspar Correa, Lendas da India, i., 281. 



