No. 60. — 1908.] barros : history of ceylon. 



49 



Brito arranged to build it of stone and lime 1 . And because 

 near there he could find no stone, nor shell-fish for lime, he 

 sent some champanas 2 to the seed-pearl fishery of Callecare 3 , 

 which is very close to there, to load with the shells from which 

 the seed-pearl is taken, from which he made as large a quantity 

 of lime as he needed, with which he built not only the fortress 

 but also some houses 4 ; and in addition to this work he 

 very strongly protected the ditch that cut the land from sea 

 to sea, whereby the fortress stood on an island in the manner 

 that we have already described. 



The people of the country, when they saw this reformation of 

 the fortress , like folk affrighted at what the Moors had told them 

 about us, began to be more afraid of that fortification, think- 

 ing that all was in order to take the country from them 5 . Finally 

 to this suspicion were added other causes, which affected their 

 liberty, since our people would not consent that the Moors 

 should come there and trade with them, by which they suffered 

 much loss, both one and the other. From which prohibition 

 resulted that they did not supply our people with the produce 

 of the country, which they had been coming to sell to them ; 

 and beside this, if they found anyone contrary to orders out- 

 side of our fortress, he was wounded, or killed if they could 

 accomplish it 6 . Lopo de Brito, in order to preserve the peace 

 that had been agreed to by Lopo Soarez, overlooked some of 

 these affairs, treating them as such trivial matters that there 

 began to be a murmuring among our people, who called this 

 forbearance not prudence but cowardice : whence it came 

 about that he thought better to carry out the wish of the men 



1 In writing to the king on 27 October 1519, D. Joao da Silveira 

 said that a piece of the fortress had fallen down, and that he had dug a 

 ditch round it to save the rest. Antonio de Miranda de Azevedo, in his 

 letter of 8 November 1519, speaks of repairs being carried out with 

 stone and lime, the latter being made from shells brought by him from 

 Cochin. 



2 Small vessels (see Hob. -Job. s.v. " Sampan "). 



3 See IV. ii. vii. (p. 58, note 



4 The houses had been built of mud and covered with olas (cadjans) ; 

 and D. Joao da Silveira, in the letter referred to above, expressed his 

 fear lest the Sinhalese should set fire to them. It will be seen below that 

 the fear was not groundless. 



5 Both D. Joao da Silveira and Antonio de Miranda de Azevedo 

 (u.s.) say that the Moorish merchant Mamale of Cananor had written to 

 the king of Kotte that he was arranging with the governor to demolish 

 the fortress and return to the status quo ante. 



6 D. Joao da Silveira (u.s.) complains of similar conduct on the part 

 of the Sinhalese. 



e 36-08 



