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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XX. 



resuming his journey, he went following his course ; but as the 

 weather was still very tempestuous, they met with such great 

 counterseas, that they were many times on their beam-ends 

 and all awash, and for seven days continuously. they expe- 

 rienced such great storms, that there was no one that thought 

 any longer of anything but God, nor did they eat save a very 

 little of something ; and like men stupefied and who now took 

 no more account of themselves, they went expecting every 

 hour that the galliot would founder. And being in this plight 

 and desperation, on Christmas eve at eleven o'clock in the day 3 

 they sighted land, which the pilot thought to be Negapatao, 

 in which he deceived himself, and so they made for it, because 

 they were in such a condition that they considered that it 

 would be safer for them to run aground on whatever place it 

 might be than to go on ; and running the prow on land, they 

 stranded on it with such heavy seas, that on the beach the 

 roll of the water immediately overwhelmed them, and the 

 waves carried those that had most intrepidity on land, where 

 they were like to have been dashed to pieces, and others having 

 lost heart were unable to save themselves, and thus were lost 

 ten soldiers and some servants. The rest having got ashore, 

 joining with the sailors, who were forty in number, all of them, 

 both the ones and the others, naked and bare, and having 

 nothing to eat, began to walk alongside the sea, thinking that it 

 was towards Negapatao, according to the pilot's calculation. 

 And all that night they never rested, but kept on walking : 

 and when day broke they came across some blacks, of whom 

 they had speech, and learnt that they were in the kingdom of 

 Jafanapatao at the extremity of the island of Ceilao, because 

 they had been wrecked five leagues from Triquimale towards 

 Jafanapatao 2 ; and if instead of striking land five leagues on 

 this side they had struck five leagues on the bther side, not a 

 single person would have escaped, because all that part was 

 under the rule of Raju 3 . And giving thanks to God for 

 delivering them from the hands of that tyrant, they went on 

 journeying with much trouble, naked and bare, because the 

 best equipped was Simao de Abreu, who made a hole in the 

 middle of an old mat that he found, and put it over his head, 

 it covering him like a sambenito*. And during all this time 



1 The manuscript has " at night," which seems improbable. 



2 The ship must therefore have been wrecked somewhere near Kueh- 

 chaveli. 



3 Perhaps the Virgil-aru formed the northern boundary of Raja 

 Sinha's dominions on the east coast. 



4 The garment put upon persons condemned by the inquisition to 

 be burnt (see plate in Morse Stephens's Portugal 293). 



