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



349 



first questions became confused 1 , and betrayed the presence 

 of the poison in his bosom ; and being put to the torture, he 

 confessed everything, and showed the apothec that he carried 

 to effect his promises, which was, a book of many figures of 

 men, animals, and trees, and letters after their manner, in. 

 which were set down magic words, with which he summoned 

 the devil to work what he desired : and they also found on him 

 a bundle in which he had the head and tail of a dried cobra 

 de capello, a piece of a viper, seven pieces of barks of poison- 

 ous trees, a lump 2 of confections, which on being placed in 

 the fire threw out rays and made the air the colour of sulphur ; 

 certain grains of pepper, ginger, and saffron, and other seeds, 

 some peacock feathers, and some jogue's beads. All this 

 was burnt, and the sorcerer was impaled 3 , without the 

 devil's availing him ; because as these are illicit and mis- 

 chievous arts, they had no power by means of their enchant- 

 ments to deliver this sorcerer , and all the rest that made use 

 of them, from dangers and risks ; because the devil after 

 bringing them into these abandons them, as he has no power 

 for more. 



The affairs of Ceilao were in this state, with great caution in 

 every direction, there not ceasing to be many alarms and 

 assaults, in which our people always basted the enemy well, 

 when on the 23rd of October there arrived the galliot of Antonio 

 de Brito, which we left after it had set out from Goa, who 

 sailing with fair weather made landfall at the island of Ceilao ; 

 and through the blowing of the strong cachdes he was driven 

 beyond the point of Gale, and went right round it, making in 

 Raju's ports on the other coast some assaults and prizes, both 

 by sea and by land ; and coming round to the other side, he 

 made Manar, where he found the ship of Adriao Kunes of the 

 company of Nuno Alvres Datouguia, which as we have said 

 was driven to land by the weather 4 , who was ready to set out , 

 and Manoel de Macedo in a coragone 5 in which he had left the 



1 The manuscript has " turned about." 



2 Literally " stone." The word " confections " here has, of course, 

 the old sense of " poisons." 



3 This is the only instance in which we are told by Couto of the inflic- 

 tion, by the Portuguese, of this horrible oriental punishment upon a 

 criminal, though it is very probable that they resorted to it on many 

 other occasions. 



4 See supra, pp. 327-8. 



8 The manuscript has " cohoracone." On p. 356 below the word is 

 spelt caragone. I cannot find the origin. It cannot be a mistake for 

 coracora, which is a Malay war-vessel (see Hob.-Job. s.v. " Coracoa "). 



