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viii INTRODUCTION. INTRODUCTION. IX
Lima, set sail for Malacca, which place was relieved ; and the command of Simao da Costa, arrived from Hormuz ;
the city of Johor, after a short siege, was stormed, burnt, and Pedro Teixeira, ever ready to take advantage of oppor
i and sacked.1 tunities that offered themselves, succeeded in obtaining
But Malacca was not the only Portuguese possession permission to accompany Manoel de Sousa to Ceylon. ;
that needed relief. Since the early part of 1586, the fort On 4th February, 1588, this fleet, consisting of two galleys,
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ress of Columbo, in Ceylon, had been besieged by the captained respectively by Manoel de Sousa Coutinho and i
arch-enemy of the Portuguese, the “tyrant Raju” (Raja D. Jeronymo de Azevedo,1 and sixteen foists, with six
Sinha I), with an immense force,2 and, though occasional hundred men, set sail from Goa, and rounding Cape 1;
help had been sent to them from India, the defenders had Comorin coasted as far as Rdmcsvaram Island,2 whence !
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barely been able to hold their own.8 At length, in it crossed over, and, passing the island of Mannar, came Hi
September, 1587, urgent appeals for reinforcements reached to anchor off Karaittfvu. Thence a message was dis ■
the Viceroy from the captain of Columbo, Joao Correa de patched to the captain of Columbo, asking him to send ;
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Brito ;4 and after dispatching thither what ships and men two officers with native troops to join Manoel de Sousa's
ii:
were available, as also provisions, Dom Duarte and his forces, as it was intended to devastate the country between
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Council resolved to get ready and send to Columbo a large that place and Columbo. These two officers set off from
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fleet, which was to be joined there by the fleet of D. Paulo Columbo with eighty Portuguese and the native lascarins,
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de Lima, to whom word had already been sent that he was in a foist and nine doneys ; and, after carrying out various
to sail as soon as possible for Ceylon. For the command punitive and aggressive operations on their own account,
of this fleet the Viceroy chose Manoel de Sousa Coutinho,6 came to where the relieving fleet lay. Having been f
on whom he bestowed the title of Captain-major of the informed of what they had done, of the state of Colombo,
Indian Sea. and that the town of Chilaw was strongly garrisoned, C: 1:
Just when steps were being taken for the preparation of Manoel de Sousa Coutinho weighed anchor, and came with
this fleet, the ships of Affonso de Mello’s expedition, under his fleet before Chilaw. Here a large force under D.
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Jeronymo de Azevedo was disembarked, the enemy was
routed, no quarter being given, and the town was sacked ■
1 Full and very graphic details of these events are given by Couto :
{Dec. X, Liv. vin, caps, xiii-xvii, Liv. ix, caps, vi-xii). Linschotcn’s and burnt. Departing thence, the fleet reached Columbo
account (vol. ii, pp. 193-194, 197, 198-200) contains a number of in 18th February, decked with flags, and saluting the fort *
accuracies. (See also Archivo P ortuguez-Oriental, fasc. iii, pp. 177- on
178, 274-276, 380.) with salvos from its cannon and arquebuses. At this time
2 Cf. infra, pp. 221, 235.
also the ships of D. Paulo de Lima’s fleet began to arrive, Ii
3 Ful!. details of this siege are given by Couto {Dec. X, Liv. vn,
caps, xui-xiv, Liv. viii, cap. xii, Liv. ix, caps, iv-v, Liv. x, caps, so that the citizens of Columbo were overjoyed at the
i-xvn). See also Lmschoten, vol. ii, p. 196. sight of such an array of vessels. Manoel de Sousa and ?
4 See infra, pp. 232 n., 235 n.
6 He was chosen to command this expedition because, when him- 1 Afterwards (1594-1612) captain-general of Ceylon, where he com
seJl captain of Columbo some five or six years previously, he had mitted frightful atrocities (cf. Hakluyt Soc. Pyrard, vol. ii, p. 143, "•) ■
successfully stood a similar siege by the same “ Raju,” whom he had and Viceroy of India (1612-1617), from which position he was taken
driven off with great loss (see Linschoten, vol. ii, p. 197). Couto’s back a prisoner to Portugal, where he ended his days in prison. ,
Ninth Decade, containing details of this siege, is unhappily lost. 2 Couto calls it the IlJia dejogues (Island of Jogis).
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