under the Portuguese. 5x 
In 1632 the King of Candy died. He left the province of 
Ouve to his eldest son ; Matalle to the second ; and to his 
youngest son, who now assumed the name of Raja Singa Ad- 
aseyn, he left the kingdom of Candy with the imperial title, 
and the supreme dominion of Ceylon. This division gave 
^ great disgust to the two elder brothers. The eldest soon after 
died, and Raja Singa having seized upon the share which 
had been alloted to him, the jealousy of the second brother 
was still farther increased. 
The Portuguese, having received fresh reinforcements, made 
another attack on Candy, but were repulsed by Raja Singa, 
and obliged to come to a treaty, which however they only 
kept till they found an opportunity to break it with advantage. 
Raja Singa, being now convinced that no dependence was to 
be placed in their good faith, in 1636 sent an ambassador to 
the Dutch governor of Pulicat, requesting his assistance against 
the Portuguese. The letter with which the ambassador was 
charged to the governor was written in Arabic on tablets of 
gold. In this letter Raja Singa, with the view of impressing 
the Dutch with a higii sense of his greatness, describes him- 
self by all the titles with which either Europeans Or Asiatics 
had ever adorned the Emperor of Ceylon. He gives an ac- 
count of his wars with the Portuguese, his victories over them, 
and his hopes of being able with the assistance of the Dutch 
to expel them finally from the island. The Dutch governor 
in return sent an embassy to the King, who received them 
with much distinction, and gave them an audience in the 
country of Bintane on the banks of the river Malivagonga. 
This audience was held by torch-light in great state ; and the 
King on this occassion delivered a letter of invitation to the 
