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



51 



Nevertheless, with the hurt that they there received in 

 attacking our men their indignation doubled, whereupon they 

 showed openly the hatred they bore us, not delaying many 

 days in coming to lay siege to the new fortress. On their first 

 arrival, although Lopo de Brito saw himself in a great strait, 

 they being nearly twenty thousand men, as they had come 

 badly arrayed, at the cost of many of their lives he drove 

 them back, and made them busy themselves in pitching their 

 camp. Making their entrenchments of earth, with a facing 

 of many palm-trees, little by little, like people that come at 

 their ease, they went on approaching our fortress, until they 

 constructed two bastions of the same palm-trees, in which they 

 placed some artillery. Although this was not so furious as 

 ours, the large number made up for the fury, because in that 

 siege there were more than six hundred spingardoons, some 

 of which were of the size of bases, which discharged wooden 

 arrows ten spans in length, with feathers of wild-boar leather 

 which at two hundred paces made very great execution 1 . 

 And beside this annoyance, in seeing by day the air thick 

 with these arrows, at night they had another, which was 

 being lit up by fire-arrows in order to burn the thatched houses 

 that they had ; and the greatest of all was, going to seek 

 drinking water outside the fortress 2 , because all cost much 

 blood. 



This siege lasted for the space of five months 3 ; whereby, 

 as it was during the winter season, and no succour could 

 come to them from India, it was the cause of our people's 

 suffering much trouble ; until from Cochij there came to them 

 in succour a galley, captain Antonio de Lemos 4 , son of Joam 

 Gomez de Lemos, lord of Trofa, in which he brought some 

 fifty men, and even these could with difficulty be sent. Because 

 at this time Diogo Lopez de Sequeira had gone to the strait of 

 the Red Sea, with a force of so many sail and men (as we have 



1 Cf. Couto's statement in V. I. v. (p. 72) as to the ignorance of fire- 

 arms on the part of the Sinhalese. 



2 This statement is strange, in view of the fact that among the 

 advantages of the point for a fortress, so D. Francisco de Almeida wrote 

 to King Manuel on 27 December 1506, was " much water," and Correa 

 in his drawing shows a well within the fortress. 



3 The months are not named ; but as Barros goes on to say that it 

 was during the " winter " season, we may take it that the siege lasted 

 from April to September. 



4 In III. ix. ii. (p. 55) we find him spoken of as captain-major of the 

 sea at Columbo, his brother Fernao Gomes de Lemos being captain 

 of the fortress. 



e2 



