346 



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



[Vol. XX. 



his ships , which were going after those of the enemy until they 

 should make them run aground. The latter had lost four 

 ships, two captured and other two sunk ; of dead there were 

 more than three hundred, and a greater number of wounded ; 

 and twenty-five captives, whom the ships hung out as flags. 

 Of our people two of the lascarins were killed, and twenty- 

 three wounded 1 . 



The galley, which had anchored at the sandbank, was so 

 near that it could not get away quickly, because the north-east 

 began to blow, which they there call cachad 2 , which is a cross 

 wind, and on that coast blows on most of the days, which 

 came driving down so fiercely that at once the sea began to 

 rage in such fashion that all considered the galley lost ; and on 

 account of being very close to the sandbank, as we have said, 

 they did not dare to weigh anchor, lest they should be driven 

 upon it ; and the same was the case with the ships of Rodrigo 

 Alvres, brother of Thome de Sousa, and Simao Botelho , which 

 anchored near the galley, because all the rest remained so far 

 off that they were able to return to Columbo. And all night 

 they remained anchored in that position at the mercy of God, 

 because the weather became ever more tempestuous ; and its 

 force was so great, that the cables could scarcely bear it, and 

 each time they got nearer to the sandbanks, because the wind 

 carried them forward. The enemy stood waiting on land until 

 they should be driven ashoie, in order to capture them all 

 and get possession of the ships with all the artillery, on which 

 they already reckoned ; but our people commended themselves 

 in their hearts to God, and laboured all they could, throwing 

 out other grapnels , and paying great heed to the cables. From 

 the fortress could well be seen the trouble and danger in which 

 all were, and they considered that God alone could deliver 

 them, and so all went about the streets with their hands 

 raised to heaven, begging it to succour them in that trouble. 

 The monks spent all the night in prayer and disciplines, 

 commending that matter to God and to our Lady, who appear 

 to have heard their servants, as in the greatest force of the 

 storm the wind abated, and the sea became quiet and serene, 

 whereupon the galley and the ships took to their oars with 

 great speed ; and so hard did they row, that in the space of 

 two hours they reached Columbo ; and were scarcely inside 

 when the weather became stormy again as before, and even 

 more so : in which the most high God clearly showed that 

 favour to be his own, and that he had not forsaken that city, 

 because its refuge was in that armada. 



1 According to the manuscript the two killed were Portuguese. 



2 See supra, p. 268, note 3 . 



