THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
to keep up the same spirit ; and their principal attention seems 
to have been directed to the fortification of a few stations on the 
coasts, and the erection of some military posts to awe the natives. 
But the Portuguese appear never to have properly discovered the 
advantages to be derived from this island, either in a commercial 
or military point of view. Their dominions extended all around 
it; and no station could be pointed out more commodious for 
a depot either of merchandise or military stores. These advan- 
tages were overlooked by the Court of Lisbon ; and those indi- 
viduals who were sent to command at Ceylon were more anxious 
to gratify their pride by conquest, and their avarice by extortion, 
than to pursue any plan of permanent advantage either to the 
mother country or the colony. The Portuguese, therefore, by 
their own misconduct, were deprived of this valuable island, 
before they were aware of the benefits to be derived from it. 
The joy of the Ceylonese, on being delivered from the yoke 
of these tyrannical invaders, and their gratitude to their deliver- 
ers, at first knew no bounds. The king of Candy willingly paid 
the expences of their armaments in cinnamon; and conferred 
upon his new allies the principal possessions, from which he had 
by their assistance expelled the Portuguese. Among these were 
the port of Trincomalee, and the fortress of Colombo. The 
former of these, which lies on the north-east part of the island, 
is that harbour which renders Ceylon the most valuable station 
m the Indian ocean. Columbo was built originally by the Por- 
tuguese in the south-west of the island, in the heart of tliat tract 
most celebrated for the production of cinnamon, as the most 
