7 
under the Portuguese. 
the desire of enriching themselves, and aggrandizing theit nation, 
to make any inquiries into the manners of the natives, or the 
natural history of the country. The rich harvest which the 
cinnamon of Ceylon presented to commerce seems to have 
been the chief object which attracted the attention of Almeyda ; 
and accordingly we soon find him endeavouring to secure these 
advantages, by forming a Portuguese settlement on the island. 
This conduct, as might be expected, roused the jealousy and 
indignation of the native princes. 
At the period when Almeyda first arrived, there were many 
petty princes ; but one to whom they all owned fealty reigned as 
sovereign over the whole of the island. He was a Brahmin, 
and encouraged a trade which his subjects then carried on 
with the Moors and Malabars of the continent. These nations 
observing that the Portuguese had been introduced as a barrier 
against their incroachments, and fearing that their traffic would 
be cut off by these strangers, began to foment jealousies between 
the king and the Europeans. Almeyda had obtained leave 
from the monarch to traffic with the natives, he had also 
procured permission to build a fort at Columbo ; the arts of 
the Moors however soon made the king repent of his grants, 
and resolve to revoke them. Accordingly De Brito, an officer 
who had been sent by Almeyda with soldiers and workmen 
to erect the fort, on his arriving at the spot, found it already 
occupied by the Aloors, who, with the concurrence of the Cey- 
lonese, attacked his party, and took prisoners some of the Por- 
tuguese who had landed without suspecting any treachery. De 
Brito, however, in his turn was soon enabled to beat them off 
with great loss ; and had time to throw up an entrenchment 
along the shore, and build a small fort on a rock projecting 
5 
