Ko. 60. — 1908.] bareos : history of ceylon. 



25 



artifice of the Moors showed himself to our people in that 

 manner and place, to the end|that for that time they might 

 secure their ships ; and whilst they were occupied in this, they 

 would collect the goods that they had on shore, which they did. 



When Dom Lourenco learnt from Payo de Sousa what had 

 passed, and perceived how matters stood, he dissembled with 

 the Moors, because, as that island was under a heathen king 

 (although at that time there was no certain knowledge of its 

 affairs), it seemed to him that, whether it were he with whom 

 Payo de Sousa spoke, or not, the whole might have been 

 arranged by him, all the heathen kings being very supersti- 

 tious in their mode of communication with us, and that per- 

 chance the Moors had frightened him that he should not do it ; 

 so without desiring to inquire further into the matter, because 

 the weather would not allow his remaining longer in that port, 

 where he ran risks, he set sail to return to Cochij. And be- 

 cause Nuno Vaz Pereira, through the rough weather that had 

 forced them to leave, broke the mainyard of his ship, he found 

 it necessary to return once more to the port 1 , where he found 

 that our padram was already blackened by fire, as if they had 

 lighted one at the foot of it ; and on asking the reason of this 

 of the Moors who were there, they laid the blame on the 

 heathens of the country, saying that the latter being an 

 idolatrous people had their fancies about a thing wherever it 

 was made. Nuno Vaz, dealing with the matter in the form of 

 threats if they carried this further, overlooked the past offence ; 

 and having mended the yard of his ship returned to Dom 

 Lourenco, whom he found on the coast of India in a place 

 called Berinjam 2 , which is in the lordship of Coulam. And 

 because some Moors who were there had taken part in the 

 murder of Antonio de Sa 3 , Dom Lourenco went ashore and 

 burnt the village ; in which affair moreover there was blood 

 shed, both of the natives and of our people, owing to the 

 resistance that they made to the landing and the burning of 

 certain ships that were there awaiting cargo ; and having 

 taken this revenge for the injury that those Moors had done, 

 Dom Lourenco left for Cochij, where he arrived with his fleet. 



1 Barros alone relates this incident. 



2 Vilinjam in Travancore, 12 miles south of Trivandrum. 



3 At Quilon in 1505. 



