NO. 42—1891.] SIEGE OF COLOMBO. 



105 



19 Saar was one of those who took part in this unsuccessful attack, 

 and was severely wounded. (See his account,) 



20 This was the " Maaght van Enkhuyzen." 



21 The Portuguese narrator in Baldaeus says that the Dutch loss 

 was computed at 1,000 ; but the Dutch themselves made the number 

 much less. Le Grand's MS. has " trez mil " instead of " dous mil." 



22 The Portuguese narrator in Baldseus says that not more than 

 thirty Portuguese were killed. 



23 The copyist of Le Grand's MS. was obliged to omit this word, 

 having left out Ribeiro's description of the " infernal device." 



24 This is recounted by Ribeiro in chapter XV. of Book II. 



25 On account of the omission in his MS., Le Grand renders 

 this sentence as follows : — " finally, they blockaded the port so well, 

 that we could no longer have any communication by sea, & they 

 captured all the boats that we tried to send out, or that sought to 

 enter, & obliged them to lie alongside their ships." 



26 Le Grand renders this sentence: — "As we could not prevent 

 the enemy from advancing their trenches, & as they had already 

 established themselves at the foot of the bastion of St. John, we 

 made several embrasures in this bastion." The reason why he does 

 not mention the countermine is, that his MS. reads " cortina" instead 

 of " contramina" thereby making nonsense. 



27 In consequence of the lengthy omission in his MS., Le Grand 

 connects this sentence with the one which commences the chapter, 

 omitting some intervening fragments which the copyist had spared. 



28 Le Grand renders this sentence as follows : — " The enemy 

 ivere also near another bastion, which was on the Mapane side, but 

 as this part was fortified in the modern style, they did not attempt to 

 attack us in that direction, and therefore there were few men there : 

 we perceived this, and made a sortie which succeeded so well 

 that we opened up a road for ourselves to go to a forest which was 

 quite near, & where we cut wood which we needed. We had taken 

 with us all the slaves that were in the City, & who were of great service 

 to us on this occasion. We re-entered the City with less trouble 

 than we had had in going out, because the enemy, who had known 

 nothing of our design, did not believe that we would return ; but 

 afterwards they made lines of countervallation round this fort, & 

 placed sufficient men there to guard them." It will be seen that, in 

 consequence of the copyist of his manuscript having omitted the first 

 portion of the sentence, Le Grand makes Ribeiro say that the expe- 

 dition was made to obtain wood (Lee makes it fire-wood) instead of 

 match-cord. This sortie seems to be the one referred to as follows by 

 Baldseus (English translation) : — " The 12 Decemb. 200 Negroes 

 being seen to sally out of the Gate of Mapane, keeping along the 

 Seashore, three Companies were ordered to attack them ; but they no 

 sooner espied our People advancing towards them, than they retreated 

 in haste to the City. However, three of them deserted to us, and 



