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



335 



was, and asked for a decision on the manner in which it should 

 be relieved of the siege : and voting on this, after many 

 altercations on one side and another, they came to the conclu- 

 sion that the state had not, to help in that business, more capital 

 than Dom Paul 1 had in Malaca, from whom they had no news ; 

 that steps should be taken to defend the fortress, since the 

 men it had were enough for its safety, because with the arrival 

 of Bernardim de Carvalho there would be more than a 

 thousand Portuguese ; that a captain should be elected with 

 the power that the state at that time could give of itself, and 

 that he should go to Columbo, and that the viceroy should 

 write to Dom Paulo to go with all his fleet to that fortress, and 

 that having united his force with that which had gone and with 

 that which was already there, it was sufficient to give battle 

 to the enemy and to drive him thence, as already they had 

 done in the past siege of Manoel de Sousa 2 . With this resolu- 

 tion the viceroy wrote to Dom Paulo to be as expeditious as 

 possible in reaching Columbo, and that there he would find 

 orders as to what he had to do, and dispatched the ships for 

 Malaca, where he ordered provision to be made in many 

 things. 



Dec. X., Bk. x., Chap. vii. 



Of how Bernardim de Carvalho arrived at Columbo : and of the 

 other things that happened at the same time : and of the mines 

 thatRaju ordered to be made, which were discovered, and our 

 people destroyed them. 



Bernardim de Carvalho having set out from Goa 3 with his 

 armada all together, meeting with fair though boisterous 

 weather, made such haste, that in eleven days he reached 

 Columbo, which was on the 15th 4 of this month of September 

 of which we are treating. The sight of this armada was to the 

 enemy very dismaying, but to our people one of much joy and 

 rejoicing, they hastening to the shore to welcome the new 

 guests, who presently disembarked armed with many and 

 good arms. The captain Joao Correa took them to lodge 



1 D. Paulo de Lima Pereira, who had left Goa on 28 April 1587 

 with an armada for the relief of Malacca, which was besieged by the 

 kings of Achin and Johor (see Linsch. ii. 197). 



2 See supra, p. 257. 



3 See previous chapter, p. 334. 



4 The printed edition has in error " 11th." 



