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



211 



crossed over to the other side , having had more than sixty killed 

 in that passage of the meadow, among whom were some fidalgos , 

 of whom the only name we remember is that of Joao de Mello , 

 son of Tristao de Mello. Dom Jorge proceeded to his tran- 

 queiras, so mortified at that loss and disaster, that he threw 

 himself on the ground, storming and cursing his luck 1 . 

 Thenceforward he remained in that place, continuing the 

 war and the defence of the passes, so that Raju might not 

 enter the limits of the kingdom of Cota, having several 

 encounters with the enemy, in which there were aways some 

 wounded on both sides. 



Dec VII , Bk. ix., Chap. x. 



* * * * # * * 



The viceroy dispatched 2 some captains 



with troops for Ceilao, because there had already come away 

 from there Dom Jorge de Meneses Baroche, who had left that 

 captaincy in charge of Balthesar Guedez de Sousa 3 , who con- 

 tinued carrying on the war against Raju, as we shall relate 

 more fully further on 4 



Dec. VII., Bk. ix., Chap. xvii. 



Of how the king of Pegu sent to offer a sum of gold to the viceroy 

 Dom Constantino for the ape's tooth that he brought away 

 from Jafanapatao : and of what the divines resolved regard- 

 ing this : and of how it was burnt : 



Martim Afonso de Mello 5 was in the kingdom of Pegu with 

 a ship of his doing a trade when the viceroy Dom Constantino 



1 There cannot be any doubt, I think, that the engagement de- 

 scribed in this chapter by Couto is the one recounted so picturesquely 

 by the writer of the Rdjdvaliya (87-8), which, he says, took place "on 

 the field of Mulleriyawa." In this account also the elephants are 

 mentioned as playing a prominent part. The loss ascribed to the 

 Portuguese by the Sinhalese historian is, however, manifestly greatly 

 exaggerated. Valentyn {Ceylon 82) records the affair briefly, and adds, 

 that their defeat so embittered the Portuguese against Raja Sinha, that 

 they " began to devastate all the lands about Colombo and Cotta, and 

 to capture all the ports and villages belonging to Ceitavaca, and to 

 depopulate the seaside villages." 



2 Apparently in February 1561. 3 See supra, p. 203. 



4 See infra, VII. x. xiv. (p. 219). 5 I cannot identify this mail. 



p 2 



