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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. XX. 



would get the king Dom Joao 1 into his hands, so as to become 

 master of the whole of that island ; and thus setting his wits 

 to work and laying his plans, he determined to do by wiles 

 what he could not by force : and with this object he collected 

 a large army with much artillery and munitions, and spread 

 the report that he was going to attack Cotta, in order, if our 

 people in Columbo were put off their guard, to take it un- 

 awares, and get possession of it ; and so with that design he 

 appeared before Cotta on the 5th of October 2 , and encamped 

 with his whole army in the same place that he occupied on the 

 other occasion, that Columbo might be nearer to him. At the 

 time that he appeared before that fortress Pedro de Atayde 3 

 was in it, having come there to see the king, leaving in his 

 stead as captain of Columbo Dom Diogo de Atayde. Pedro 

 de Atayde seeing the enemy and finding himself unprepared, 

 and without enough provisions for the siege that he expected, 

 prepared in the best way he could to receive him, and fortified 

 himself wherever it seemed necessary, and dispatched a 

 message through the jungle to Dom Diogo de Atayde to 

 provide him with victuals whenever he could, because they 

 would be sure to need them ; and calling a muster of the 

 troops that he had, he found three hundred soldiers including 

 old men and invalids, and none of the king's troops, they 

 having all deserted to the enemy through knavery that Rajii 

 had practised for this purpose ; and he divided the posts of 

 greatest danger amongst the fidalgos and captains that were 

 there, after the following manner 4 : — Gaspar Pereira de 

 Lacerda at the entrance to Cotta with thirty men ; Antonio 

 Cardoso Suyero in a pass in front of an islet that the river 

 formed there, called the Islet of Challenges because to it the 

 soldiers challenged one another ; Manoel Lourenco in a pass 

 that they called the Pass of Mosquito^ ; Joao de Mello de 

 Atayde in the Pass of Andre Fernandez ; Ay res Ferreira, 

 nephew of Pedro Ferreira de Saopayo, in the Pass of the 

 Pachas ; Henrique Muniz Barretto at the wall of Prea 5 



1 This is the first occasion on which Couto refers to Dharmapala by 

 his baptismal name. (Gf. supra, p. 172, note 4 , p. 215, note 1 .) 



2 1564, as we find from the date given further on. As the relief of 

 Cotta mentioned at the end of VII. x. xv. supra (pp. 221-2) took place 

 apparently in August 1563, Raja Sinha seems to have given the 

 Portuguese a year's respite while he was maturing his new plans. 



3 See supra, VII. x. xix. (p. 222). 



4 Gf. supra, VII. x. xiv. (p. 217). 



5 The printed editions have, by a misreading, primeira (first), the 

 blunder being repeated throughout the chapter. 



