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



267 



There died of the enemy more than two hundred, and about 

 a hundred Malavares. With this victory our people returned 

 to Columbo, and Raju was so annoyed at it that he was like to 

 die of vexation 1 . Pedro Homem Pereira and Joao Rodrigues 

 de Carvalho immediately set sail for Goa, where they arrived 

 almost at the same time as Dom Jeronimo Mascarenhas. 



Dec. X., Bk. v., Chap. ix. 



By the ships 2 that arrived at the bar of Goa the count Dom 

 Francisco learnt that there had left the kingdom as viceroy 

 Dom Duarte de Meneses, of whom they gave no news. And 

 as he might be delayed, or might make landfall at Cochim, he 

 did not like to neglect fulfilling his obligation and supplying 

 the fortress of Ceilao, on which Raju made continual war 3 , 

 and likewise the coasts of the north and south 4 with the usual 

 fleets : wherefore he ordered to make haste with the galleon 



1 The Rdjdvaliya (90) tells us that after Raja Sinha had become the 

 sole ruler over the whole of Ceylon (except the kingdom of Jaffna) 

 " the Portuguese lived in Colombo [Kolontota] with king Dharmapala. 

 Raja Sinha cut off all communication with Colombo, so that no man 

 could take there any article of merchandise. The Portuguese, how- 

 ever, were in the habit of going from Colombo [Kolontota] in boats 

 [padaw~\, and making inroads into the villages on the coast : thus 

 attacking from day to day different places, they making captives. 

 Be it known that the number of men who fell on both sides on such 

 occasions was so great that 5,000 leaves would not suffice to make a 

 full record thereof." In the aoove statement are included the raids 

 described infra, X. x. xiv.-xvi. 



2 The Bom Jesus alias Caranja, and the Boa Viagem, which reached 

 Goa towards the end of September 1584. 



3 After the raising of the siege of Columbo in 1580, Raja Sinha, as we 

 have seen (supra, p. 258), turned his attention to the conquest of 

 the Kandyan kingdom ; and having accomplished that, he was free to 

 prepare for another attempt on Columbo. It was not until April 

 1586, as we shall see, that his preparations for this expedition were 

 completed, and he set his army in motion. But, doubtless, he had 

 meanwhile kept the Portuguese in a state of continual disquiet with 

 raids and forays. In a letter of 25 February 1585 to the new vice- 

 roy, King Philip expresses his uneasiness at Raja Sinha's growing power 

 and the cost in blood and treasure that his repeated attacks on Columbo 

 were causing the state, urging Dom Duarte to adopt all possible 

 measures for the destruction of this formidable enemy. 



4 Of Western India. 



