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



345 



many flags that fluttered in the breeze. The captain of the 

 fortress , who had already been advised of that armada , ordered 

 Thome de Sousa de Arronches, captain-major of the sea, to go 

 out against them with the ships of his command, and with 

 those of Bernardim de Carvalho and Nuno Alvres Datouguia, 

 which in all would be twelve, among which was a galliot, the 

 captain of which was Francisco da Silva, alcaide mor of the 

 fortress. In these ships embarked all the relief soldiers with 

 great desire to encounter the enemy, and in the galley with 

 Thome de Sousa many friends of his, and all in very good order 

 put out to sea against the enemy, who came to meet them : and 

 on arriving at the distance of a base shot they discharged 

 their artillery with such fury and uproar, that a good space of 

 time passed during which they could not see our fleet from the 

 fortress, on account of its being hidden by the denseness of the 

 smoke. And as they went towards each other at full speed , they 

 soon attacked one another ; and the alcaide mor Francisco da 

 Silva was the first that grappled a large ship which carried a 

 camelete in the bow and other small pieces, and had on board 

 sixty picked soldiers and three captains, — one of the bow, 

 another of the poop, and another of the coursy, — an arrange- 

 ment that all the rest had ; and having grappled one another 

 there commenced among them all a brisk interchange of spear 

 thrusts and cuts and many pots of powder. Francisco da Silva 

 displayed such energy, that by force he got with his soldiers on 

 to the enemy's galliot, and with sword and targe settled the 

 affair, there being left of them not more than twelve alive, 

 whom they hanged to the yard, like banners. Alfonso 1 

 Ferreira da Silva grappled another ship ; and after firing 

 the first volley he at once threw himself into it with his com- 

 panions, who fought so valiantly, that they put the whole of 

 the enemy to the edge of the sword. The other captains 

 attacked the ships that they were able to get near to, with 

 which they had their differences, at the end of which the 

 enemy, cut up and vanquished, ungrappled and made off. 

 The captain- major in the midst of the fleet with the galley 

 went about assisting those that were fighting, and for his part 

 making havoc of all that he could come at : and thus the enemy 

 turned about, harried, worried, and routed, and went fleeing 

 across the top of those sandbanks, knowing that Raju would 

 not pardon those that escaped ; and yet they would rather 

 risk his anger than the blows of our people, who gave over 

 following them so as not to ground on the sandbank ^ ; and the 

 captain-major for fear of them anchored in order to collect 



1 The manuscript has erroneously " Antonio " (c/. supra, p. 334). 



