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



281 



Dec. X., Bk. viii. , Chap. xii. 



Of the pretexts that Raju used to break the peace : and of 

 some Chingalas that fled to our fortress : and of the great 

 cruelties that Raju committed upon his people : and of the 

 mode in which J oao Correa de Brito fortified himself. 



With the truce that Raju made deceitfully with the captain 

 of Columbo, he went on providing himself with many things 

 for the great siege that he had determined to lay to that 

 fortress ; and as he was a tyrant, and had committed so great 

 a cruelty as that which he used towards his old father, he did 

 not fail to secure himself from the great men of the kingdom ; 

 it being the natural condition of tyrants ever to sleep un- 

 easily : and so not only in consequence of secret reports, 

 but even on the strength of dreams and imaginings, this 

 tyrant ordered the murder of all those that came into his mind 

 in whom he might find some obstacle, wherefore many were 

 dispersed over the island, fleeing from his fury 1 . Among these 

 were certain leading fidalgos, who betook themselves to our 

 fortress, whom Joao Correa received and heartily welcomed 2 : 

 this became known to Raju ; and displeased at this, he sent 

 to ask them of the captain, now with politeness, then with 

 threats and blusterings, without Joao Correa de Brito 1 s yielding 

 to him in anything, by which he considered himself affronted, 

 and went on making more haste with the materials for the 

 siege, of which he had collected a great quantity, and was daily 

 expecting a ship that he had sent to the Achem to get powder, 

 engineers, and bombardiers, for which he had sent much 

 money 3 . 



Of everything that he did Joao Correa was soon informed i 

 and considering the siege as determined upon, he went on 

 repairing and fortifying as best he could, so that he should 

 not take him unawares when he appeared with all his power 



1 This appears to be merely a restatement of the facts recorded in 

 X. vn. xiii. supra. 



2 Among these was " the son of Kidanpalageyi Hidda Nayide of 

 Hewagama," who obtained from Dharmapala " the title of Vijaya- 

 sekara Mudali," and took an active part in the fighting (see Rajav. 93). 

 Others will be mentioned further on. 



3 " The Achem " is the king of Achin, who, with the king of Johor, 

 was at this time besieging Malacca (see Linsch. ii. 193-4). This is the 

 first occasion on which we hear of communications between the rulers 

 of Ceylon and Achin. In 1603 the king of Achin sent an ambassador 

 to the king of Kandy (see Cey. Lit. Reg. vi. 342, note ; Orient, iii. 74, 

 89 et seq.), and we read of similar embassies in later years. 



