No. 60 —1908.] couto : history of ceylon. 131 



escaping with all of them 1 : yet though we have not such a 

 wealth of words or so eloquent a style to embellish this deed, 

 by itself it is such, that told thus without additional adorn- 

 ment it is seen how much it surpasses that of his Decius ; 

 since this captain did not sally forth by night amongst the 

 enemy, when the darkness would make the hostile army 

 appear much larger to the Samnites, but in full daylight, and 

 through the midst of the enemy's city, surrounded on all sides, 

 breaking through the midst of them, it being plainly visible 

 that they were only one hundred and twenty ; and not for the 

 space of half-an-hour, but for three whole days, without losing 

 one of his comrades 2 . 



In the conversations that he had with Antonio Moniz Bar- 

 reto, Madune gave him to understand that his brother the 

 king of Cota had induced the king of Candea to kill him with 

 all the other Portuguese ; and that he wished to show how 

 much more a servant of the king of Portugal's he was than all 

 the other kings of that island, placing himself at his service 

 for all that he might require. Antonio Moniz Barret o re- 

 turned his compliments, and took leave of him, the modeliares 

 persuading the king to kill him and all the Portuguese, which 

 he was unwilling to do, however much it were a matter of 

 relief and import to him. Antonio Moniz Barret o reached 

 Columbo, where in a few days there arrived ambassadors from 

 Candea, by whom that king sent word to Antonio Moniz 

 Barreto that he was very repentant at having taken the coun- 

 sel of Madune, who had got him to commit that folly, and 

 sent him the bases that had been left there, and ten thousand 

 pardaos in silver to divide amongst the soldiers. And he 

 wrote to the friars of St. Francis, whom Antonio Moniz Bar- 

 reto had taken with him, to return to him, as he wished to 

 fulfil his word, and become a Christian : to which Antonio 

 Moniz Barreto would not consent until he had gone and given 

 a report to the governor ; and when the season came he 

 embarked for Goa 3 . 



1 Livy VII. 32. 



2 Correa says that more than thirty of the Portuguese were killed (see 

 C. Lit. Reg. iii. 253). 



3 In September 1547, apparently ; for in VI. v. vi. Couto mentions 

 him as leaving Goa at the end of that month or beginning of October 

 with the viceroy for Guzerat. Correa has a curious story about Antonio 

 Moniz, which may be one of his fictions (see C. Lit. Reg. iii. 253). It 

 will be noticed that Couto fails to tell us what became of the ships and 

 men left at Batecalou. They probably made their way to Columbo 

 when the weather served. 



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