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



127 



of the island in order to make the port of Batecalou, where, 

 according to the order that he carried, he was to disembark 1 , 

 to proceed from there to the kingdom of Candea, as he had 

 been directed by the same king. In Gale he took some more 

 vessels that he found there 2 , which, although he had few 

 men, was necessary in order to spread the report on land that 

 he had a large fleet. 



And on arriving at the port of Batecalou 3 with twelve row- 

 ing vessels 4 he disembarked, and ordered several bases to be 

 brought on shore, and munitions, and chose one hundred and 

 twenty men 5 , leaving the rest to guard the vessels, and set out 

 for Candea 6 , guided by the ambassadors of that king, who 

 had accompanied the friar of St. Francis to Goa 7 , and thus he 

 journeyed for several days 8 until he arrived at the city of 

 Candea 9 , and as soon as he had entered it he was advised of 

 the determination of that king, and of how he had agreed 

 with Madune to kill him and all his company ; and it was not 

 known from what quarter the advice reached him. On hear- 

 ing this, and seeing that the matter brooked of no delay, 

 Antonio Moniz Barreto took a very speedy and resolute 

 determination, which was to order at once on the very instant 

 the burning of all the baggage that they had brought with 

 them, leaving nothing but what they carried on their bodies, 



1 The burst of the south-west monsoon being at hand. 



2 This is the first time wo read of Portuguese vessels at Galle since 

 the stay there in 1518 of Lopo Soares on his way to Columbo to erect a 

 fortress (see supra, p. 39). 



3 So far as I know, these were the first Europeans to visit this part. 

 As Antonio Moniz left Goa at the end of April, we may take it that he 

 reached Batecalou before the end of May 1547. He must have run 

 great risk of being caught by the burst of the south-west monsoon. 



4 As Antonio Moniz left Goa with five foists, and commandeered two 

 vessels at Mannar, he must have added three to his fleet at Galle. 



5 He took one hundred and fifty from Goa, but did not get many 

 more at Mannar and Galle. 



6 Correa makes Antonio Moniz land at Columbo (apparently), where, 

 learning that the king of Kandy has changed his mind, he is disinclined 

 to proceed, is persuaded to do so, but is forced to turn back by hostile 

 forces, never reaching Kandy at all (see C. Lit. Reg. iii. 252-3). 



7 Regarding one of these ambassadors see G. Lit. Reg. iii. 246. 



8 How different from this bald statement is the lively description of 

 the journey in 1602 of the first Dutch in Ceylon by the same route (see 

 C. Lit. Reg. vi. 318-9, 325). 



9 This is the first mention of the royal seat, which the Portuguese 

 oalled " the city of Candea," it being the capital of the kingdom to 

 which they applied that name. 



