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



209 



Dec. VII., Bk. ix., Chap. vii. 



Of another assault that Dom Jorge made on the enemy, in which 

 he was totally defeated : and of some honourable feats 

 that happened therein to some of our people. 



Dom Jorge remained there some days waiting for a favour- 

 able opportunity, until he was notified that Raju was in a 

 meadow near the tranqueira 1 with three or four thousand men. 

 And desiring to meet him in battle, he ordered his men to get 

 ready one day in the daybreak watch, and an hour before dawn 

 he fell of a sudden upon his encampments, and in such wise 

 were they attacked by our people, that before they were aware 

 of them more then a hundred felt the edge of their swords and 

 were left lying there, and the rest at this surprise vacated the 

 encampments ; and Raju with as many as he could collect 

 went retreating across the meadow, with Dom Jorge Baroche 

 following in pursuit, in which our harquebusery knocked over 

 another quantity of them, until they had driven them out of 

 the meadow and penned them inside a hollow, where they made 

 themselves secure. Dom Jorge Baroche arrived there, and 

 seeing the place in which Raju thought to fortify himself 

 determined to take it- and so complete the victory. But there 

 came to him a soldier named Pero J orge, and said to him that he 

 should be content with the favour that God had shown him, 

 and should retire, because already ammunition was wanting, 

 and there was nothing with which to load the firelocks, and 

 that he did not wish that there should befall them a disaster. 

 But Dom Jorge Baroche, being puffed up with that victory, 

 answered him very angrily that they might load the firelocks 

 with sand, or they might be able to win the victory with the 

 sword ; and seeking to attack the pass , he saw that his soldiers 

 had begun to retire (because in truth they had no more powder 

 or bullets) ; and being unable to do anything else, he followed 

 them, getting them into order, because he saw that they were 

 already in disarray. Raju, who was a sagacious leader, and 

 well versed in engagements, . understanding the situation in 

 which our people were, rushed with his troops after them, 

 and attacked them with such force and speed, that he threw 

 them into confusion ; and Dom Jorge Baroche, with the 

 fidalgos and knights that followed him, was forced to turn 

 upon the enemy many times, lest they should be entirely cut 

 up. And in this strait he arrived at a pass that lay at the end 



1 Where the respective forces were, it is not easy to tell ; but judging 

 by what the Rajavaliya says (88), it would seem that they were some- 

 where in the vicinity of Raggahawatta, wherever that was (see my 

 note in C. A. S. Jl. xviii. 271-2). 



p 36-08 



