3&6 Hamilton’s account or the east indies.

lo compliment him, and beg the favour that he would pick them out forne lufly Dutch men to carry their palanqueens and fomereras or umbrellas, which he promifed to doon honour, and fo went to meet his enemies.

The Dutch advancing towards the city, met the Portugueze unexpectedly, and there ,being a little lhallow river between them, the Portugueze pretended to flop the Dutch there, and began to fire very brilkly, though at too great a diftance, but did not ad-vance towards their enemy. Upon which the Dutch paft the river, and advanced tillthey came within piflol-fhot, and then fired on the Portugueze with fo good fuccefs,that they prefently broke, and betook them to their heels, and the Dutch kept arunning march after them, and being nimbler than the Portugueze, entered thecity with them, and'made themfelves mailers of it, wherein they found immenfe trea-fures : but the poor Portugueze ladies were ftrangely difappointed to find the Dutch were become their bed-fellows inllead of their Haves.

The Dutch had one game more to play before they had done with that expedition.They knew that reinforcements were fent from Goa , who came in fight two or threedays after the city was taken, and the Dutch fleet, which then lay in the road, pre-tended fear, weighed their anchors on fight of the Portugueze fleet, and feigned aflight, while the Dutch , in the city, hoilled Portugueze colours, and fired fomeguns towards the fea, to make thofe in the Portugueze fleet believe, that the firingwas at the Dutch fleet. f The ftralagem took, and the Portugueze came and anchoredift the road about a mile from the city, and fent their boats afliore, where they weredetained; and the Dutch fleet being in the offing, came in with the fea winds, and fell onthe Portuguefe fleet, which foon yielded to them, for which piece of civility they hadgood quarter.

Upon the conquefl of Colombo , followed all the other forts on the ifland, viz. Cal-kiffie and Barbarin, between Colombo and Galle; and, on the fouth end, Valta andMatura; on the eafl fide Batacola and Trankamalaya; and, on the north end, Jaf-napatam, with a fort four leagues from Galle, within land, called Biblegam ; and Tu-tecareen and Negapatam on the main continent, yielded.

The Dutch were no fooner mailers of the fea-coafls of Ceyloan, but they began togive laws to their ally the King of Candia forbidding him to trade with any foreign na-tion but theirs, which ufage the King could not well digefl, whereupon a war brokeout, that continued many years, but, in the end, the Dutch made a peace upon veryadvantageous conditions. And Colombo being too large to be defended with a fewforces, they have contracted it into one quarter of its ancient bounds, and have forti-fied it ftrongly with a wall and bullions. It is now about a mile in length, and threequarters of a mile in breadth ; and the Chriftians and other natives inhabit a part of theold town, without the walls of the new. The flreets of the new town are wide andfpacious, and the buildings after the new mode. The governor’s houfe is a noblefabrick, and feveral other houfes are beautiful. It wants the benefit of a river, buthas a fmall deep bay capable to receive fmall fhips, and fhelter them in the fouth-weftmonfoons.

Ponto de Galle, I have mentioned before, is a bay with a dangerous entrance for {hip-ping, but is capable to receive fhips of the greatefl burden. About the year 1670,Lewis XIV. of France had a great mind for a fettlement on Zeloan, and equipped fevenor eight fail of fhips for that enterprize ; and when they came to fea and opened theirorders, they found Galle was the place they were to take and fortify, and the manage-ment of that affair intruded to one Mr. de l’Haye, which one Mr. Jean Martin, whohad ferved the Dutch many years in good polls in India , and who had laid down that

project