308 



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



[Vol. XX. 



went spinning out the time in order to be able to have every- 

 thing very well done. And the best and most important 

 preparations that the captain ordered for the defence of 

 that city were masses, orisons, litanies, and other prayers, 

 in order to propitiate the most high God and the glorious 

 Virgin his mother 1 . 



Dec. X., Bk. x., Chap. ii. 



Of the very great and pertinacious assault that Raju made upon 

 our fortress : and of what happened therein 2 . 



Raju selected for making the first assault the day most 

 suitable for the Portuguese that could be, which was that 

 of Our Lady of the Snows, which falls on the 4th of August, 

 on which she was accustomed to satisfy the whole world with 

 her favours and gifts, and on which all Christians are so devout. 

 And the watch before daybreak having passed, Raju began to 

 march out of his encampments in the following order : — In 

 front he sent many elephants of war divided into three bodies 

 and in charge of three modeliares, which were to attack the 

 bastions of Sao Miguel, Sao Gonsalo 3 , and Sao Francisco 4 ; 

 behind the elephants the spearmen, and then the targe-bearers, 

 and behind these the bowmen, and behind all the whole of 

 the musketry ; and on the lake, in parts that still contained 

 water, he placed many catapunes 5 , which are small boats, moored 

 one to another, forming a large jangada 6 laden with men. 



In this order Raju began to move by the point of the 

 island towards the lake, he himself remaining at the point, 

 and commanded the captains to attack the bastions that were 

 allotted to them : which each did in such silence, that if our 

 paople had not kept such a strict watch it may well be that 

 they had not noticed them except in the bastion, the night 

 being very dark ; for those that were watching saw a sort of 

 black mass like a very dark and thick cloud, which came 



1 This last sentence, like many similar ones in this and other Decades , 

 is probably an interpolation by Couto's priestly brother-in-law, Fr. 

 Adeodato da Trinidade. 



2 The printed edition makes this last word refer to the fortress, but 

 the manuscript, with more probability, refers it to the assault. 



3 The manuscript puts this bastion last. 



4 Both the manuscript and the printed edition, here and further on, 

 have this name, which must, however, be an error, since in the list of 

 bastions given on pp. 293-7 supra no such name appears. Madre de 

 Deos is probably intended, the Franciscan convent being apparently 

 adjacent thereto (see infra, p. 408, note 2 ). 



5 See supra, p. 228, note *. 



6 See supra, p. 75, note 3 . 



