8io 
Defcriftion of C E Y L O N. 
Baldaiis. 
Abounds 
CatteL 
in 
Great Mor- 
tality a- 
viong them. 
A rema)\- 
able 
Spy'vig. 
Cattel are tranrported thither from Tow- 
day^ which makes Cattel fo cheap there 
that you may buy a good Cow for four 
Dutch Shillings (or half a Rixdollar) 
but their Oxen and Cows are not near fo 
big as thofe on the Continent of Jafna- 
patnam. Oftentimes a Mortality happens 
among the Cattel, becaufe the Ground 
being hot and dry, produces divers veno- 
mous Herbs, which they feed upon. The 
I-nhabitants are very poor, and live upon 
miferable Diet : I remember that being 
once eight days in this Ifle, I and my 
Company conld fcarce get Provifions for 
our Suftenance. The Ifle is of difficult 
accefs, becaufe the Shore is rocky, and 
has no Bays, but only a few narrow 
Creeks, where there is no coming in ex- 
cept in very calm Weather j otherwife 
the Sea beats with fuch violence againfl 
the Rocks, that there is no coming near 
them, tho there be fometimes five or fix 
fathom Water. For which reafon there 
is no coming at it except in the calm 
Seafons, which happen twice a year at the 
change of the Moufons : For the South- 
wind forces you upon the Rocks, and 
with the North-wind the Shore is too 
fliallow to approach it. The Portuguefes 
had formerly a Fort here, the Ruins 
whereof are to be feen to this day. 
They alfo brought fome Horfes into this 
Kle, which multiplying in time produc'd 
a certain kind of Horfes that are very 
imall, but hardy and very fit to travel 
on llony and rocky grounds : They live 
m the Wildernefs, and are taken by 
forcing them unto the Bank of a River 
or Pond, where they catch them in Snares 
or Ropes. This Ifle produces alfo a 
certain kind of Goats, out of which they 
take Bezoar Stones, but they are none 
of the beft. It has about 900 Inhabi- 
tants, and 170 Children. 
It is very remarkable that there is no 
freOi Water in all this Ifle, except what 
is found in one place among the Rocks, 
being above half a mile in Circuit. If 
we may credit the Inhabitants, thefe 
Rocks were fplit by a Thunderbolt, 
which occafion'd thefe Springs, fome 
whereof have not above half a foot, 
others a foot deep Water: The entire 
Rocks arifing betwixt thefe Springs have 
often cafl: Men and Beaftsdow^n the Pre- 
cipices. 
There arc fome other iflands near this 
Shore, but being very fmall and not in- 
habited (as the Paktiva, and the two 
Brothers, lince call'd Hoorn and Enchuy- 
fen) are not worth our particular Obfer- 
vation. 
In the year 1663, I and niy Collcgue 
Mr. John a Breyl fent the following ac- 
count to Mr. MaaUuyker^ General of the 
Indies for our Company, viz.. That in 
Jafnapatnam were at that time 15012 
Children under the Tuition of the re- 
fpedive School- mafters there, being all 
Natives •, not reckoning thofe of Manaar 
and the Country of the Wannias^ where chrijl'wu 
in my Vifitation 1665. in March and fl^<^_ 
u^jiril^ I found in thofe of Poemry^ Polve- ^^^^^^ 
raincatti^ Peringale^ Mantotte, Nanatam, j,aar. 
and j4ripu^ all Churches belonging to 
the I4^annias, and in the Churches of 
Manaar., viz. TotavalU^ Karfel., hkelam- 
pattiyTeUemanaar.^ Peixak., the Filhers and 
City Churches, 1315 Children of the Na- 
tives. Such as were come to Age of ma- 
turity amounted in the Wannicvi to 4533, 
and in the Ifle of Manaar to 3520, not 
including 214 Slaves lately converted, 
who had already learn'd certain forms of 
Prayers. According to the Church- ^^'umier »/ 
Regifters ( call'd here Patolcvs ) in the chriflUns 
year 166^. there were of Chriftian Men "^J^^^^' 
and Women in the Kingdom of Jafna- ^ 
patnam 62558, not including the Slaves, 
whereof there were 2587. The number 
of the baptized Children from 1658, till 
1 65 1, fviz.. in three years and a half, in 
the Churches of Jafnapatnam amounted 
to 5799 Children, and 35 that were come 
to Age of Maturity. During that time 
were married 21 58 Couples, not reckon- 
ing thofe baptiz'd and married in the 
Low-Dutch and Portuguefe Churches. An 
the time of my departure the number-qf 
the Children in the Schools was rifen tp 
18000, and that of the baptized Chil- 
dren in r553 to 12387. From the year 
i<?58, till 1 661. the whole burden qf 
vifiting all the before-mention'd Churches 
lay upon my Shoulders, till Mr. Breyl 
was join'd with me, who dying in his 
return to Holland (his Corps being in- 
ter'd at the Cape of Good Hope) \66%. 
Mr. Bartholomew Heyne fucceeded in his 
place. 
In the Churches of Jafnapatnam the 
Ten Commandments written in large 
Malabar Characters, are hung up on a 
Table, on both fides whereof are the 
Our Father^ and the Creed. Every Sun- How the 
day the People come to Church about ^^''i'l^^' 
Ten a Clock, and after they have fung a 
Pfalm, the School-maltcr reads a Sermon 
in the Malabar Language, for which pur- 
pofe a certain number of Sermons are 
allotted to each Church, to be read in the 
abfence of the Minifter. This done, 
they conclude with finging another 
Pfalm. 
