74 



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



RIBEIRO'S ACCOUNT OF THE SIEGE 

 OF COLOMBO IN 1655-56. 



Introduction. 



Of the siege of Colombo by the Dutch in 1655-56 we 

 have no less than four independent accounts by eye-witnesses,, 

 most of whom took an active part in the stirring events on 

 one side or the other. Of these, two are written from the 

 Dutch point of view, and two from that of the Portuguese. 

 Of the former, that by Baldseus — who, as one of the chaplains 

 to the Dutch forces, had exceptional means of gaining reliable 

 information — is the fuller ; and it is also the longest of all the 

 four. This is contained in chapters XXIV.-XXXVIII. 

 of his work on Ceylon, published at Amsterdam in Dutch 

 and German in 1672, an English translation of which 

 appeared in vol. III. of Churchill's Collection of Voyages and 

 Travels (London, 1704). The second account is by Saar, a 

 Nuremberger, who served in the Dutch army, and is con- 

 tained in chapters XII. and XIII. of his Ost-Indianische Funf- 

 zehenjahrige Kriegs-Dienst, published at Nuremberg in 1662. 

 The portions of this work relating to Ceylon were translated 

 for this Society by Mr. Ph. Freudenberg, and the account of 

 the siege of Colombo was read at a General Meeting of the 

 Society held on January 29, 1885. Mr. Freudenberg's 

 translation has not yet been published in the Society's 

 Journal.* Of the Portuguese narratives of the siege, the first 

 is also contained in Baldaeus's work. It is given at the end 

 of the Dutch edition ; the author explaining that after hi& 

 book had been printed off this account was placed in his 

 hands by Matheus van den Broek, who had formerly been 

 a Member of the Council of the Indies, and was at that time 

 Governor of the Dutch East India Company. Recognising, 

 the value of the narrative, Baldseus had it translated into 



* The delay is due to various causes. The translation will appear in 

 the Journal for 1890, now in the press. — Hon. Sec. 



