No. 60. — 1908.] bakros : history of ceylox. 



41 



king's advisers, and his own through the counsel of these, 

 representing to him dangers to his life and loss of his state if he 

 thus granted us a place for a fortress 1 , that when one morning 

 Lopo Soarez intended to go on land to cut the ditch in that point 

 which he had chosen for the fortress, he found that by the 

 industry of the Moors there were there some mud- walls 2 after 

 the manner of intrenchments with defences of wood, in which 

 they had placed certain iron bombards with bowmen posted 

 for defending the land. And this was not all, but there were 

 also some of our men taken prisoners, who as in a safe place had 

 gone ashore, of those who went with these messages between 

 Lopo Soarez and the king, as if in the way of hostages so as 

 afterwards to make use of them if the affair did not succeed well. 

 Lopo Soarez , when he learnt of the welcome with which they in- 

 tended to receive him on land, having taken counsel with the 

 captains, altered the manner of landing, being convinced that 

 by the power of the sword he would have to remove that 

 impediment which prevented his building the fortress, the 

 which he understood had been planned by the Moors, chiefly 

 after he had sent to view from near at hand the positions 

 and what people they were who were in defence of them. 

 The which determination caused among all the men of arms 

 as great a transport of delight as they had previously been 

 sorrowful, on seeing that the king of goodwill granted a place for 

 building a fortress , and that in that transaction they had to exer- 

 cise more the strength of their arms, like mechanics, with stone 

 and lime on their backs, without any reward in treasure and 

 honour, than with sword in hand like knights, with which they 

 obtained these two things. Lopo Soarez. although he saw this 

 eagerness among the men, after they had been notified of what 

 he had agreed to with the captains, didnot choose to land that 

 day, deferring it for the following fore-dawn, so as to go better 

 prepared : and this he did, getting ashore without hindrance 

 from the enemy. Because, as their strength lay more in the 

 bombards and tranqueira 3 than in courage, they did not dare 



1 Castanheda invents a long speech, and puts it into the mouth of the 

 leading Moor. According to Correa the opposition did not begin until 

 after the building of the fortress had made some progress, and was in 

 part due to the king's brother, who ruled in another part of the island. 



2 The original has cavallos, which gives no sense Barros here seems 

 to have copied from Castanheda, who has vaUados, for which cavallos 

 appears to be an error. 



3 This is a word that we shall come across frequently in the course of 

 this history. I have left it untranslated in all cases, because in some 

 the sense is doubtful. The general meaning seems to be a stockade ; 

 but it is used vaguely to mean an enclosed defence of limited size. 



