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



185 



Dec. VII., Bk. ix., Chap. ii. 



Of the council that the viceroy Dom Constantino held regarding 

 the method of disembarkation : and of how he went on shore, 

 and captured the city : and of the incidents that occurred in 

 the entering of it. 



The viceroy; having cast anchor over against the city of 

 Jafanapatao, spent two days in taking counsel as to the 

 manner in which the disembarkation should be made, regard- 

 ing which there were differences of opinion amongst the 

 captains, and all voted according to the information they had 

 received from men that knew the country, who affirmed that 

 the city had only two places where one could disembark : the 

 first, and most usual, called the Elephants' Quay 1 , which lies 

 at the entrance to the city, just as does the stone quay at 

 Lisbon 2 , or the customhouse quay at Goa 3 , which that king 

 had strongly fortified with tranqueiras and artillery ; the 

 other was half a league from there at some distance from the 

 city 4 , which although it might be more troublesome would 

 involve less risk, because that king had no fear regarding it. 

 The majority of the council therefore voted that it was at this 

 place that they should disembark. 



1 In the original 46 o caes doselef antes." In the seventeenth century 

 the Elephants' Quay (so called, because from it were shipped elephants 

 for transport to India, &c. ) was on the island of Karaittivu, as can be 

 seen from the maps in Baldseus's Ceylon, the fact also being stated by 

 him in chap. xlvi. (English trans.). On the little islet opposite, between 

 Karaittivu and Velanai, the Portuguese built a fort, which they named 

 " fortaleza do caes " (renamed by the Dutch Fort Hammenhiel). 

 Through some strange blunder the word caes as a proper name got 

 transferred to a place on Velanai, which still exists and nourishes under 

 the name of Kayts ! (see C. Lit. Reg. i. 24, v. 115). 



2 See the plan of Lisbon in the sixteenth century in Morse Stephens's 

 Portugal 239. 



3 See the plan of Goa in Baldseus's Malabar and Ooromandel, fig. 41. 



1 In the absence of any contemporary description or accurate map 

 of Jaffnapatam and its vicinity, it is difficult to follow Couto. He 

 describes the caes dos elefantes as lying " at the entrance to the city," 

 like the quays he names at Lisbon and Goa; but, as I have said above, 

 the Elephants' Quaj>-, as the Dutch maps of Ceylon show, was on the 

 island of Karaittivu, at some distance from the town of Jaffna. In 

 Ressende's map of Jaffna, however, the fortaleza do caes is shown on a 

 point of land very near to the fort, a narrow channel intervening. 

 Where the "other" place was, half a league (say two miles) from the 

 town, it is not easy to say. It may have been Nivanturai to the west of 

 Jaffna, or (more likely) Karaiyor or Pasaiyur to the east. 



