370 



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



towns 1 , and from there dispatched his brother Rodrigo Alvres 2 , 

 Diogo Gonsalves, and Miguel Ferreira with eighty soldiers, and 

 with them the arache Domingos Pereira with his lascarins, and 

 ordered them to conceal themselves near the fort 3 of Gale ; and 

 that when they heard a signal, which he was to give them from 

 the sea, they were to attack the fort. These captains were 

 guided by two spies whom they captured, and whom they 

 took with them in leash ; and before reaching the fort they 

 hid themselves, and let themselves remain in perfect silence. 

 Thome de Sousa soon came with his armada and cast anchor 

 at the point of Gale ; and a little before daybreak he dis- 

 embarked on land with all the rest of the men that he carried, 

 and gave a signal by means of some bombard shots to those 

 that were in hiding, who on hearing the signal attacked the 

 tranqueira from the inland side, and Thome de Sousa attacked 

 the other, because the tranqueiras are like two bastions, which 

 run from one to the other. And taking the enemy by sur- 

 prise, although they experienced great resistance from them, 

 fche tranqueiras were entered, and many of the enemy killed, 

 and all the rest fled whithersoever they could, leaving the 

 tranqueiras in the hands of our people, who remained there 

 three days, during which they burnt the town, which was 

 very large, and in which were several warehouses of goods : 

 and they also cut down all the oarts and palm-groves that 

 were round about it, and all the boats that were beached, 

 and leaving everything destroyed, reduced to dust and ashes, 

 they demolished the tranqueiras, and burnt them, and re- 

 turned to the vessels laden with prizes ; all of which they did 

 without its costing them more than some wounds. 



1 In the wholesale extermination of Christians and destruction of 

 churches, &c, in the coast towns on the south-west of Ceylon by Vidiye 

 Raja in 1554-5, as related by Couto on p. 170, supra, the Portuguese 

 settlement at Galle, of which we were told on p. 145, appears to have 

 come to an end, and the place to have reverted to the sole occupation 

 of the natives. From 1587 onwards we find King Philip writing to the 

 viceroy of India on the advisability of building a fortress on Galle point 

 and having a fleet of eight foists cruising about there in order to keep the 

 course clear, Raja Sinha being reported as having some armed ships 

 there for the purpose of attacking Portuguese vessels coming from 

 Bengal and the Further East (see Arch. Port.-Or. iii. 108, 217, 255, 373). 

 It was not until 1595, however, that a fort was erected (see infra, 

 p. 404). 



2 The manuscript has " Gonsalves." 



3 This was a Sinhalese fort, or stockade, erected, probably by Raja 

 Sinha' s orders, to prevent the Portuguese from once more obtaining a 

 footing in Galle. 



