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THE     NAVARATNA     MEDAL,     1686. 


l<bm^)c. 


CEYLON  AND  THE  HOLLANDERS 


1658  - 1796 


BY 

P.  E.  PIERIS 

DERANIYAGALA   SAMARASINHA   SRIWARDHANA 

D.  Litt.  {Cantab.)   Ceylon    Civil  Service.     Vice-Presidtftt, 
Royal  Asiatic  Socitty  {Ceylon.) 


AMERICAN   CEYLON   MISSION  PRESS, 

TELLIPPALAI.  CEYLON. 

s  1918. 


TO 

THE  HON.  SIR  ANTON  BERTRAM,  Kl,  K.  C. 

Chief  Justice  of  Ceylon, 

who,  East  of  Suez,  finely  upholds 

THE  Cambridge  Tradition, 

this  book 

18  Respectfully  Dedicated. 


"Wliere  there  is  no  vision,  the  people  perish.  " 


INTRODUCTION 


Many  visitors  from  Europe  since  Saar  of  Nuremberg 
(1647-1658)  have  left  on  record  their  experiences  in 
Ceylon  during  the  time  of  the  Netherlands  East 
India  Company,  and  the  most  important  of  these 
narratives  have  been  translated  into  English  and 
published  from  time  to  time.  Much  information  is 
contained  in  the  pages  of  various  Journals  and  Magazines, 
and  an  important  series  of  seven  Memoirs,  issued 
since  1903  by  the  learned  Government  Archivist  and 
his  able  Assistant,  Mrs.  Anthonisz,  has  shed  a  great 
deal  of  light  on  the  administration  and  policy  of  the 
Company  till  1740.  Sir  Alexander  Johnston,  Chief 
Justice  of  Ceylon  from  1811  to  1819,  left  behind  a 
valuable  collection  of  manuscripts,  much  of  which  has 
been  rendered  accessible  to  me  through  the  great 
kindness  of  Mr.  A.  W.  Winter  of  Baddegama.  In 
addition,  private  documents  in  Sinhalese  Walauwas 
throw  an  interesting  and  personal  sidelight  on  the 
period.  Out  of  this  material  the  present  compilation 
has  been  made,  in  the  hope  that  it  will  furnish  the 
average  inhabitant  of  Ceylon  who  can  read  English 
with  a  co-herent,  reasonably  accurate,  and  perhaps 
not  uninteresting  account  of  his  country  during  its 
transition  from  the  mediaeval  to  the    modern.     The 


VI 

Medal  shown  in  the  Frontispiece  was  very  kindly 
placed  at  my  disposal  by  Mr.  H.  de  0.  Ekanayaka 
of  Matara. 

This  book  is  the  sequel  to  another,  Ceylon  and 
the  Portuguese,  written  for  publication  in  En-gland. 
Though  the  issue  of  this  latter  has  been  delayed 
by  war  conditions,  the  reader  has  been  treated  as 
not  unfamiliar  with  its  contents. 

The  Judge's  House,  P.  E.  P. 

Jaffna. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

A  conspiracy  against  the  Company.  Its  territory.  Principles  of 
administration.  Condition  of  the  country.  Agriculture.  New 
industries.  Justice.  Conversion.  The  Lascarins.  The  Burghers. 
Inter-marriage.  Anxiety  for  peace.  Attitude  of  Raja  Sinha.  The 
British.  A  conspiracy  against  the  King.  Its  failure.  Van  Goens  as 
Governor.  The  Company  prosperous.  The  French  Company.  The 
Nayaker  of  Madura. 

CHAPTER  II 

Arandora  captured.  Embassy  of  Bystervelt.  The  French  at 
Trincomalee.  Count  de  LaneroUe.  Bibilegama  captured.  Clement 
Magellian.  Tennekon  Disava.  Ambanwela  Rala.  The  King's 
pleasantries.  Treachery  of  Tennekon.  The  Wanni.  Laurens  Pyl 
as  Governor.  The  Company's  policy.  Raja  Sinha  and  his  subjects. 
Hanguranketa.  The  King's  diversions.  His  religious  attitude.  His 
partiality  for  Europeans.  Attempts  to  keep  him  in  humour. 
Obsequiousness  of  Pyl.  Hendrik  van  Rheede.  The  King's  abdica- 
tion.    The  memorial  celebration. 

CHAPTER  m 

Wimala  Daham  Surya.  The  city  of  Colombo.  Navaratna.  Policy 
of  the  new  King.  Attitude  of  the  Company.  Buddhism.  The 
clergy.  Thomas  van  Rhee.  The  Chaliyas.  The  Elephant  hunt. 
Arecanuts.  Jaffna.  Changarapillai.  Character  of  the  Tamils.  Encroach- 
ment on  tanks.  Unrest  in  Jaffna.  The  Ports  opened.  The  Bud- 
dhist Ordination.  Friendly  attitude  of  the  Court.  Administration 
of  the  Kingdom.  Military  measures.  Subserviency  of  the  Com- 
pany. Administration  of  Justice.  Cornells  Joan  Simons.  The 
Thesawalamai.    Death  of  Wimala  Daham  Surya. 

CHAPTER  IV 

Narendra  Sinha.  The  Ports  closed.  Governor  Becker's  reforms. 
Condition  of  the  Public  Service.  Wijayawardhana  Mudaliyar.  Salt 
and  cinnamon.  Jaffna.  Conspiracy  against  the  King.  Misconduct 
of  de  Bevere.  The  King  friendly.  Augustin  Rumpf.  Trade  dis- 
putes. Smuggling.  The  Chalias.  Misgovernment  of  Vuyst.  Versluys. 
Pielat  as  Commissioner.  Narendra  Sinha's  administration.  Unrest. 
Reform  of  abuses.  The  Law  Courts.  Van  Domburg.  Rioting  among 
the  Chalias.  General  discontent.  The  Council  helpless.  Lewke  Disava. 
Arrival  of  Van  Imhoff. 


vm 

CHAPTER  V 

Sri  Wijaya  Raja  Sinha.  Van  Imhoff's  policy.  Agriculture.  Buddhism. 
Saranankara.  Sinhalese  literature.  The  religious  revival.  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries.  Mission  to  Pegu.  Trade  disputes.  Smug- 
gling. Rioting.  Mission  to  Siam.  Accession  of  Kirti  Sri  Raja  Sinha. 
The  British,  The  King's  religious  policy.  The  Ordination  restored. 
Lienderan  de  Saram.  Government  of  Loten.  Jan  Schreuder. 

CHAPTER  VI 

Review  of  the  Company's  administration.  Classes  of  its  subjects. 
Nepotism.  Dishonesty.  Legal  administration.  The  Land  Raad.  The 
Portuguese  Tombo.  The  New  Tombo.  Classes  of  lands.  The 
native  officials.  Bribery  over  their  appointments.  Their  remunera- 
tion. Misuse  of  the  Company's  lands.  Badawedili  lands.  The  Com- 
pany's dues.  The  Pearl  Fishery,  Other  sea  revenue.  Wijayawardhana 
Coffee.  Cardamoms.  Pepper.  Arecanut.  Smuggling.  Coconut  and 
arrack.  The  Leper  Asylum.  Conversion.  Persecution  of  the  heathen. 
Indifference  of  the  clergy.  The  Seminaries.  The  Catholic  mission- 
aries. The  resistance  of  the  Catholics.  Criticism  of  the  clergy. 
Immorality  of  the  Europeans.  The  Scholarchal  Commission. 
Education   under  the  Company. 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  King's  marriages.  The  Malabar  influence.  Dumbara  Rala 
and  the  Company.  Greed  for  cinnamon.  Consequent  obsequious- 
ness of  tlie  Company.  Desertions.  Trade  jealousy.  Growth  of  » 
stronger  policy  at  Court.  Policy  regarding  cinnamon.  Secret 
policy  against  the  King.  Attitude  of  the  Company's  subjects. 
Unrest  among  them.  Rioting.  A  conspiracy  against  the  King.  He 
supports  the  rioters.  Open  war.  Matara  and  Hanwella  captured. 
Guerrilla  tactics  of  the  Sinhalese.  Company  anxious  for  peace. 
Letter  to  the  King.  Arrival  of  Baron  van  Eck  as  Governor.  Pybus' 
Mission.  Description  of  the  Capital.  The  reception  of  an  ambassador. 
Method   of  conversation.  Failure  of  the  Mission. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Chilaw  and  Puttalam  occupied.  Failure  of  a  fresh  expedition. 
Further  preparations.  Illangakon  Maha  Mudaliyar.  The  new  cam- 
paign. The  Capital  occupied.  The  attack  on  Hanguranketa. 
Withdrawal  of  van  Eck.  His  death.  The  garrison  blockaded. 
Moyaart  summoned  from  Jaffna.  Arrival  of  Falck  as  Governor. 
Energetic  steps  taken  by  him.  The  Treaty  of  Colombo.  Falck's 
intrigues.    The   Treaty  ratified.    Cost  of  the    war.    Trouble     with 


IX 

the  Thever.  Chilaw.  Puttalam.  The  salt  industry.  Batticaloa. 
Jaffna.  The  Mutu  Raja  Wela  scheme.  Canals.  Hena  cultivation. 
Planting  cinnamon. 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Disawa  and  his  duties.  Policy  towards  the  Mudaliyars 
Attitude  towards  Sinhalese  prejudices.  Pseudo  Burghers.  Caste 
duties.  Sumptuary  regulations.  Buddhism  tolerated.  Roman  Catho- 
lics. Wolfs  of  Mecklenburg.  The  Tamils.  Purchase  of  titles. 
Domestic  habits.  Embassy  to  Batavia.  The  Tooth  Relic  restored. 
The  Buddhist  revival.  Anxiety  of  the  Company.  Literature  at 
Court.  Literature  in  the  South.  Jeux  d'  esprit.  Metrical  Diagrams. 
The  King  and  the  Company.  The  supply  of  salt.  The  Wanni.  The 
British  at  Trincomalee.  Hugh  Boyd.  Death  of  the  King.  Military 
preparations.  Death  of  Falck.  Abayasinha  Maha  Mudaliyar.  Treaty 
with  the  Nawab.  The  British  and  the  United  Provinces.  Unrett, 
De  Meuron  in  Sabaragamuwa. 


CHAPTER  X 

Attitude  of  the  Company.  Development  of  cinnamon  planting. 
Medals.  Weakness  of  Sinhalese  for  Medals.  Agriculture  and  Irrigation. 
The  Giant's  Tank.  The  Negumbo  canal.  The  areca  trade.  The 
elephant  hunt.  Cotton  cultivation.  The  Public  Service.  The  condi- 
tion of  the  Sinhalese.  Social  changes.  Jaffna.  The  Sinhalese 
Kingdom.  The  Exchange  Problem.  Outbreak  of  hostilities  in  Europe. 
Departure  of  van  der  Graaf.  The  British  and  the  piece  goods 
trade.  Holland  invaded.  British  capture  Trincomalee.  Robert 
Andrews  at  Court.  Jaffna  occupied.  Dumbara  Rala  at  Madras. 
Preparations  at  Colombo.  The  de  Meuron  Regiment.  Colombo  threat- 
ened. Condition  of  the  Hollanders.  The  enemy  before  Colombo. 
Negociations.   End  of  the  Company's  rule. 


AUTHORITIES  RELIED  ON. 


Ceylon,  Account  of,  by 

Johann  Jacob  Saar    of    Nuremberg,     (1647- 1658),     tr.     by    Ph. 
Freudenberg.  R.  A.    S.  Ceylon  xi. 

Philip  Baldaeus,    (1656-1665)  Amsterdam   1672,  tr.   in   Churchill's 
Voyages,   iii. 

Robert  Knox,   (1659-1679)  London  1681. 

Wouter  Schouten  of  Haarlem,  (1661-1664)  tr.  by  Ph.  Freudenberg, 
R.  A.  S.  Cey.  xi. 

Albrecht  Herport    of    Berne,    (1663-1665)    tr.  by?    I.  Cey.    Lit. 
Reg. 

Christoph  Schweitzer  of  Wurtemberg,  (1675-1682)  tr,  by    S.  L. 
London  1700. 

Aegidius    Daalmans    of    Antwerp,     (1687-1689)     tr.    by     D.   W 
Ferguson.  R.  A.  S.  Cey.  x. 

Christoph  Langhansz  of    Breslau,     (1695-1696)    tr.    by  D.    W, 
Ferguson,  iii  Cey.  Lit.  Reg. 

Johan  Christopel    Wolfs  of    Mecklenburg,   (1749-1768)    tr.    by? 
London   1785. 

Charles  Peter  Thunberg  of  Upsala,   (1777-1778)  in  Travels    in 
Europe,   Africa   and  Asia.   London   1796. 

Paul  Eschelskroon,      (1782  ?  )      appended    to    the    English    tr. 
of  Wolfs. 

Jacob  Haafner  of   Halle     (1782-1784)   tr.  fom   a  French  tr.  by 
D.   W.  Ferguson,   v  Cey.   Lit.  Reg. 
Travels   on   Foot   through  Ceylon,   tr.  by  ?    London   1821. 

Robert  Percival,  1796  London. 

Anthony  Bertolacci,  London  1817. 

John  Davy  (1816-1820)   London   1821. 

From  Welsh's  Military  Reminiscences,  reprinted  ii  Cey.   Lit.  Reg. 

H.  Suckling   ("An  Officer,   late  of  the   Ceylon  Rifles")  London 
1876. 


XI 

Memorie  of 

Ryclof    Van     Goens,    Jr.,      (1675-1679).  tr.   by    Sophia  Pieters, 
Colombo,   1910. 

Thomas  Van  Rhee,   (1692-1697),  tr.  by  S.  Pieters,  Colombo,  1915. 

Hendrick  Zwardecroon,  (1694-1697),  do  do,         1911 

Cornelis  Joan  Simons,  (1703-1907),  do  (Sophia  Anthonisz) 

Colombo,     1914 

Hendrick  Becker,   (1707-1716),  do  do,        1914 

Jacob  Christian  Pielat,   (1732-1734),  do  do         1905 

Gustaaf  Willem  Baron  Van  Imhoff,(  1736-1740),         dodo         1911 

Julius  Valentyn  Stein  Van  GoUenesse,  (1743-1751),  Johnston 
Mss.  tr.  by? 

Jan  Schreuder,  (  1757-1762),  Johnston  Mss.  tr.  by? 

Willem  Jacob  Van  de  Graaf,  (1778-1794),  Tr.  by  ?  1  Cey.  Lit. 
Reg. 

Burnand,  once  Chief  of  Batticaloa,  1809,  iii,iv.  Monthly  Lit. 
Reg. 

Diary  of 

Bystervelt's  Embassy,  1671,  tr.  by  F.  H.  de  Vos,  Jr.,  R.  A.  S. 
Cey.  XL 

Gerrit  de  Heere,  1697,  tr.  by  Sophia  Anthonisz,  Colombo   1914. 

Schnee's    Embassy,   1731,  by    Wijayasriwardhana  Maha     Mudi- 

yanse,  tr.   by  P.  E.   Pieris,    R.   A.  S.  Cey.  XXI. 

Kirti  Sri  Raja  Sinha's  Embassy  to  Siam,  1751,  tr.  by  P.  E. 
Pieris,  R.  A.  S.    Cey.  XVIIL 

Pybus'   Embassy,  1762. 

Van  Eck's  Expedition,  1765,  tr.  by  A.  E.  Buultjens,  R.  A.  S. 
Cey.  XVL 

Iman  Willem    Falck,   1767,   (report  on  circuit)    Johnston    Mss. 

Boyd's  Embassy,  1782,  printed  in  the  Miscellaneous  Works  of 
Hugh  Boyd,  edited  by  Lawrence  Campbell.  2  vols, 
London,   1800. 

Don  Adrian  de  Alwis,  Mudaliyar,  1774-1794,  in  Some 
Sinhalese  Families,  by  P.  E.  Pieris. 

Andrew's  Embassy,  (1795-1796),  Ed.  by  J.  P.  Lewis,  C  M.  G. 
R.  A.  S.  Cey.  XXVL 


Xll 

Dagh  Register,  Batavia,   1661.  Extracts  from,  tr.   by  F.  H.    de 
Vo8,  IV.   Cey.  Lit.  Reg. 

Report  on 

The  Chalias,   by  Johannes  Stafforts  to  Governor    de    Heere,  c. 
1700,  Johnston  Mss. 

The  Colombo  Disawani,    by    G.    L.   de    Coste,    Disawa,     1770, 
Johnston  Mss. 

Puttalam  District,  by  Elias  Paravacini  di  Capelli,  1775,  Johnston 
Mss. 

Chilaw  District,  by  Drieberg,   1798?    Johnston  Mss. 

The    Peace  Negociations,    by     Governor     Falck,  March    1766. 
Johnston  Mss. 

Kantalai  Tank,  by  J.  G.  Fornbauer,   1793,   tr.  by  George    Lee, 
i  Cey.  Lit.  Reg. 

The  Pearl  Fishery,    by    George    Lee,     (1658-1797)    ii.iii.    Cey. 
Lit.  Reg. 

The  Dutch  Records,  by  R.  G.  Anthonisz,  Colombo   1907. 

The  Education  Establishments  of  the  Dutch,  by  J.    D.    Palm. 
R.   A.  S.  Cey.   1846-7. 

The  Dutch  Church  in    Ceylon,  by  J.  D.  Palm,  R.    A.  S.  Cey. 
1847-8. 

Correspondence, 

Regarding  Muturajawela,  lii  Cey.  Lit.  Reg. 

The  Surrender  of  Colombo,  iii  Cey.  Lit.  Reg. 

With  the  Br.  East  India  Company,  (1788-1795)  iv  Cey.  Lit.  Reg. 

Of  Raja  Sinha  ii,  tr.  by  D.  W.  Ferguson,  R.  A.  S.  Cey.  xviii. 

J.  G.  Van  Angelbeek  to  the  Governor  at  Fort  William,    June 
1797,  Johnston  Mss. 

Manuscripts 

Illangakon,  Sinhalese   and  Dutch,   various. 

Tilakaratna.  Dutch,  various. 

In  European  Languages   in  the  India  Office,  by  C.  C.  Blagden, 
London  1916. 

Sinhalese,    in    the    British     Museum,     by     D.    M.    de    ZilvR 
Wickremesinghe,  London,  1900. 


Xlll 

Extracts  from  the  Wellesley,  by  A.  E.  Buultjens,  iii  Cey. 
Lit.    Reg. 

Resolutions  of  Council,    various,  Johnston  Mss. 

Rajawaliya,  continued  up  to  1815,  palm  leaf,  with  Mr.  L.  A. 
Samarakkoddy,  Advocate. 

Goens,  ...  Instructions  by  Ryckloff  van,  (1653—1661),  tr.  by 
Sophia  Pieters,  Colombo,    1908 

Joinville,  . .  .  Narrative  of  the  Negociations  of  the  Court  of 
Kandy  with  the  British  Government  of  Ceylon,  by  Joseph,  tr. 
by  W.  Tolfrey,  Johnston  Mss. 

Tcmbe,  .  .  .  The  surrender  of  Colombo,  by  C.  F.  de  La,  tr. 
by  N.  (Mrs.  C.  A.  Lorensz)  v  Cey-   Lit.  Reg. 

Strachan  .  . .  Elephants  in  Zeylan,  by,  extracted  from  Philo- 
sophical Transactions  xxiii,  1704,  Printed  in  ii  Cey.  Lit. 
Reg. 

Alwis,  .  .  .  Introduction  to  the  Sidath  Sangarawa,  by  James 
de,  Colombo,  1852. 

Fetch,  .  .  .    Grimm's  Laboratorium  Ceylonium,  by  T.,  in  Ceylon 

Antiquary,  vol.  iii. 
Ferguson,  .  .  .    Joan  Gideon  Loten,     by  D.  W,,  R.  A.  S.    Cey. 

xix. 

Tibbatuwawe  .  ,  .  The  Mahawansa,  continuation  of,  by,  Maha 
Nayaka  Unanse,  c.   1775  tr.  by  L.  C.  Wijesinghe,  Colombo. 

Beknopte  Historie,  (1602-1757),  anonymous,  Colombo  1760,  tr.  by? 
R.  A.  S.  Cey.  xi 

O  Oriente  Portugues,  Goa, 

Upham  .  .  .  Sacred  auid  Historical  Books  of  Ceylon,  edited  by 
Edward,  3  vols.  London  1833. 

Lawrie  .  .  .  Gazeteer  of  the  Central  Province,  by  Sir  A.  C, 
2  vols..  Colombo,   1896. 


GLOSSARY 


AdJgar,     originally   a  judicial   officer,  but  later  applied   to   the  two 

chief   Ministers   of    the  King. 
Adukku,   cooked  provisions  supplied   to  an   official. 
Aldear,  from  Port    Aldea,   a  village. 
Andi,  the  Indian    fakir. 
Amu,    the    Varaku  of  the  Tamil,   an   inferior  grain. 

Amunam,  as  a  dry  measure,   equals  between  4%   and  6  bushels. 

The  extent  required   to  sow  an   amunam  of  seed  was  the 

chief  unit  of  superficial   measurement ;  while  usually  24000 

nuts  formed   an  amunam  of  areca. 
Appuhami,     highborn  men  of  the  position  of  the  sons  of  Mudaliyars. 
Attapattu,  originally  the  selected  troops  who  formed  the  King's  Guard. 
Badawedili,  Dutch  Accommodessan,   lands  given  to  public  servants 

for  their  maintenance  while  in  office. 
Bana,    the  doctrine  of  the  Buddha. 
Basnayafca,  a  high  native  official,  acting  as     the    mouthpiece    of 

the  European   official. 
Bo,    the  ficus  religiosa,    under    which  the  Buddha  attained  perfect 

knowledge. 
Bulat  Surulla,  a  handful  of  betel  leaves,  usually  enclosing  a  money 

present. 
Cabook,    a  species  of  stone,  laterite. 

Chalia,    a  caste   mainly   employed  in  collecting  cinnamon. 
Dagoba,    a  shrine  of  brickwork  erected  over  a  relic. 
Devalaya,    the  temple  of  a  Hindu  deity    worshiped     among     the 

Buddhists. 
Disawani,  a  Province  administered     by   a  Disawa. 
Dugganna   Rala,  a  courtier. 

Duraroba,  an   imposition  levied  on   cinnamon  for    the  benefit    of 
the  Duraya. 

Duraya,  the  headman  of  the  Chaliya. 

Esela,  the  month  of  July — August. 

Etbaadana  Rala,  the  Chief  of   the  Elephant  Hunt. 

Factory,    a  store  where   goods    were    collected    for    purposes    of 

trade. 
Gabadagama,  a  Royal    village. 
Gaja  Nayaka,  the  Master  of  the  Elephants, 


XV 

Gane  Bandar,  same  as  Maha  Nayaka. 

Goigama,  the  chief  caste  among  the  Sinhalese. 

Gowwa,  a  Sinhalese  measure  of  distance,   about  four  miles. 

Hena,  land  under  forest  and  cleared  for  cultivation  at  long  intervals. 

Hitwandiram,    an  imposition  similar  to  the  Duraroba. 

Kadawatu,  thorn  gates  used  for  closing  and  guarding    the  public 

thoroughfares. 
Karanduwa,  a  bell-shaped  receptacle  for   a  relic. 
Karti    Mangalaya,   a  religious  festival   held  in  honour  ot  the  War 

God. 
Kitol,  a  palm  with  strong  timber,   Caryota   Urens. 
Kodituwafcku,  small     cannon   which   could    be  transported    by    a 

couple  of  men. 
Kraals,  an  enclosure  formed   of  beams  for  capturing  Elephants. 

Lacham,  a  Tamil    dry   measure,    used    like    an    amunam    as     a 

superficial   measure  as  well. 
Laryn,  a  coin    of  Persian  origin,   formed  of    a    silver    bar    bent 

into  the  shape  of  a  hook. 
Lewaya,  a  salt  pan  in  the  Southern  Coast. 
Madapally,  a  Tamil    caste. 

Maduwa,   a  structure  in  the  nature  of  large  shed. 
Magul  Poruwa,  the  ornamental  platform  on  which    the   marriage 

ceremony  is  performed. 
Maha   Nayaka,  the  Chief  High    Priest. 
Maligawa,    lit.  a  structure  consisting  of  several  stories.      This    is 

the  usual  name  given  to  the  Temple  of  the    Tooth. 

Mohottiar,  Mohottala,   a  Secretary. 

Mohundiram,  a  Military  Officer.  The  word  is  probably  not  of 
Sinhalese  origin.  It  is  frequently  applied  as  an  honori- 
fic  to  silversmiths  and  Malays. 

Morgen,  a  Dutch  measure  of  area  containing    about  2^acres. 

Modaliyar,  chief  military  officer  commanding  the  Hewayo  or  Sin- 
halese militia,  who  were  named  Lascarins  by  the  Euro- 
peans. Twenty  five  Lascarins  formed  a  Ranchu  under 
an  Arachchi, 

Mofcfcuwa,  a  fisher  caste  of  Tamil  origin. 

Muttetto,   lands  belonging  to  the  lord  of  a  village. 

Nalalpata,  the  metal  band    which  was  secured  to    the  forehead 
in  confering  rank. 

P»ravas,  a  caste  of  Fishermen  from  Southern  India,  who  were 
employed  as  divers  at  the  Pearl  fishery. 


XVI 

Patangatyn,  a  term  usually  employed  for  the  headmen  of  the  Parava 

and  similar  castes. 
Pehidun,    uncooked  provisions  supplied    as    Rajakariya. 

Perahera,  the  chief  religious  festival  of  the  Sinhalese,  so  called 
from  the  processions  which  were  an  essential  portion 
of  the  celebration. 

PJoda  patika,  one  who  subsists  on  the  food  he  begs  from  door 
to  door. 

Plafcaat,    a  legislative  enactment. 

Polaya,    a   tax  levied  on  coconut  palms. 

Rala,  an  honorific  applied  to  men    of    high  birth. 

Ranchu,  a  band  of  about  twenty  five  Lascarins  under  an  Arach- 
chi. 

Ran  Doliya,  the  Royal  Consort  of  a  King,  as  opposed  to  the 
Yakada  Doliya,  a  Goigama  Junior  Queen. 

Rata  Sabha,  a  Council  of  the  leading  men  of  a  Rata. 

Samanera,  an  unordained  Buddhist  monk. 

Sannas,  a  Royal  grant. 

Sulu  Disawa,  a  sub  Disawa,  over  an  inferior  Province. 

Tanayama,  a  house  used    as  a  resting  place  on  a  journey. 

Tavalam,  cattle    employed  to  convey  loads  on  their  backs. 

Tombo,  a  Register,  of  lands  and  of  men. 

Upasamadawa,  the  Buddhist  Ordination. 

Veddahs,  probably  the  aborigines  of  Ceylon,  a  race  similar  to  the 
Bushmen  of    Australia. 

Vidane,  a  supervising  officer  ;  there  were  various  grades  of  such. 

Wanni,  the  wild  region  lying  approximately  between  Anuradha- 
pura  and  the  Jaffna  Peninsula.  It  was  in  charge  of 
semi -independent  chiefs  called  Wanniyas,  (Wanichchi,  femi- 
nine. ) 

Wasala,  the  residence  of  the  King,  sometimes  applied  to  the 
residence  of  lesser  officials. 

Wato  Badda,  a  tax  levied  on  planted  lands. 

Wellala,  the  chief  caste  among  the  Tamils  of  Jaffna. 

Yakdessa,  one  reputed  to  have  certain  magical  powers ;  usually  a 
lay  priest  at  a  Devalaya. 


CHAPTER  I. 


The  curtain  which  had  fallen  on  the  last  crowded 
scene  in  the  mediaeval  melodrama  was  raised  again 
to  show  the  interior  of  a  business  establishment 
which  the  Hollanders  were  employed  in  reducing  into 
some  semblance  of  order.  A  conspiracy  against  them 
was  discovered  at  Jaffna  and  fourteen  of  the  alleged 
ringleaders  were  sentenced  to  death.  It  was  considered 
necessary  to  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the 
disaffected,  and  horrible  punishments  were  inflicted 
on  the  condemned  men ;  three  of  them  were  stretched 
out  on  wooden  crosses  laid  on  the  ground,  and 
after  being  stabbed  in  the  neck  and  breast,  were 
disembowelled ;  their  hearts  were  then  taken  out  and 
laid  on  their  mouths,  after  which  their  heads  were 
cut  off  and  exposed  in  the  market-place.  A  Jesuit 
was  beheaded  and  eleven  others  were  hanged,  their 
bodies  being  left  to  rot  on  the  gibbets.  A  resolution 
was  passed  by  the  Council  placing  on  record  an 
expression  of  gratitude  to  Almighty  God  for  the 
success  obtained  over  the  Portuguese,  and  the  20th  of 
November,  1658,  was  fixed  as  a  special  day  of  thanks- 
giving and  of  supplication  for  His  further  aid  :  any- 
one failing  to  observe  this  order  became  liable  to  a 
fine  of  a  hundred  rix-dollars. 

The  territory  of  which  the  Netherlands  East 
India  Company  now  found  itself  master  in  the  South 
of  Ceylon  extended  from  the  Maha  Oya  to  the  Walawe 
Ganga,  thus  including  the  entire  Matara  Disawani, 
and  the  most  valuable  portions  of  the  Disa- 
wanis  of  Sabaragamuwa,  the  Four  Korales  and 
the  Seven   Korales,  which  at    one    time    had    been 


2  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

administered  directly  from  Kotte.  In  land  its  frontiers 
were  marked  by  the  forts  of  Sitawaka,  Anguruwatota 
and  Katuwana.  In  the  North  the  entire  kingdom  of 
Jaffnapatnam,  including  Manar  and  extending  vaguely 
to  the  frontiers  of  Trincomalee,  acknowledged  its 
authority,  which  however  was  but  lightly  felt  in  the 
Wanni.  The  Bentara  River  served  to  divide  the 
Sinhalese  districts,  the  Nothern  portion  being  entrusted 
to  a  Disawa  stationed  at  Hulftsdorp,  outside  the 
fort  of  Colombo,  and  the  Southern  to  a  Commandeur 
at  Galle,  to  whom  the  Disawa  of  Matara  was  sub- 
ordinate. There  was  a  Commandeur  at  Jaffna;  he 
took  precedence  immediately  after  the  Governor,  who 
lived  at  Colombo;  this  latter  was  appointed  by  the 
Supreme  Government  at  Batavia,  and  was  assisted  by 
a  Political  Council  of  the  highest  officials  in  the 
Country.  Executive  functions  were  carried  out  by  a 
Civil  Service  of  six  classes,  distinguished  by  trade 
names  such  as  Merchant  and  Under  Merchant.  Boards 
were  organised  for  the  administration  of  justice  and 
the  spread  of  education  and  of  the  Christian 
religion  among  the  people  of  the  country ;  while 
orphanages  and  poorhouses  were  started  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  needy  among  the  Hollanders  themselves. 
The  principles,  if  such  they  could  be  called,  which 
had  guided  the  Portuguese  in  the  mismanagement 
of  the  occupied  territories,  were  never  accepted  by 
the  methodical  Teuton.  The  Company  had  succeeded 
to  an  estate,  badly  neglected  and  run  to  weed,  it 
was  true,  but  with  great  possibilities  and  latent 
resources  ;  these  were  now  going  to  be  developed  with 
patient  husbandry  and  a  reasonable  consideration  for 
the  well-being  of  the  native  inhabitants. 

Matters  were  indeed  in  a  deplorable  condition. 
From  Negombo  to  the  Walawe  Ganga  the  country 
was  largely  waste  and  unpopulated  ;  the  rich  tracts  of 
rice  fields  were  lying  abandoned,  with  their  dams  and 
water  channels  destroyed,  and  the  great  reservoirs 
were  breached  and  useless.      Thick    tropical    forest 


Internal  condition  3 

covered  many  a  happy  village  which  in  1505  Lourenco 
de  Almeyda  had  eagerly  scanned  from  his  vessel. 
Even  the  Southern  coast-road  was  so  infested  with 
wild  elephants  as  to  be  dangerous  to  the  traveller, 
and  on  a  generous  estimate  the  population  did  not 
exceed  350,000,  though  the  Galle  District  was  in  this 
respect  somewhat  better  than  Colombo.  At  the  same 
time  the  population  of  Jaffna  was  calculated  at  120,000 
souls. 

It  was  of  the  first  importance  that  the  country 
should  pay  its  way  and  not  be  a  drain  on  the    re- 
sources of  the  Company,  and  energetic    steps    were 
taken  to  secure  this  object.    The  supply  of  food  had 
to  be  increased,  and  therefore  the   Company    began 
cultivating  rice  on  its  own  account.    Several  thousand 
Tamil  slaves  were  imported  from  South    India,   and 
after  being  branded  with  the  Company's  mark  were 
set  to  reclaim  the  rice  fields ;  even  the  work  of  fortify- 
ing Colombo  was  considered  secondary  to  this  urgent 
question.    Poverty  and  debt  had  so  seriously  affected 
the  villagers  that  large  numbers  had  been  obliged  to 
sell  themselves  into  slavery  ;  a  regulation  was  accord- 
ingly passed  forbidding  the  purchase    or    taking   in 
mortgage  of  the  last  property  of  any  person,   which 
was  essential  to  his  maintenance.    Instructions  were 
given  for  repairing  Kattakarai,  the  tank    which  had 
once  fed  the  wealthy  province  of  Mantota,  and  which 
like  so  many  hundreds  of  others  was  now  lying  in  a 
ruined  condition  ;  its  extent  was  so  immense  that  it 
was  named  the  Giants  Tank  by  the  Hollanders,  who 
anticipated  that  the    lands    which    its    water    could 
irrigate  alone  would  be  sufficient  to  feed  the    entire 
North.    The  sluices  of  the  Musali  river  had    to    be 
kept  in  proper  order  further  to  conserve  the  supply 
of  water,  and  the  Tamils  of  the  Peninsula  induced, 
in  spite  of  their  strong  prejudices,  to  settle  as  culti- 
vators in  Punaryn.    The  numerous  wells  which  have 
always  formed  so  striking  a  feature  of  the  dry  Tamil 


4  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

kingdom,  were  to  be  attended  to,  and  the  cattle  which 
had  been  killed  off  by  disease  and  the  demands  of 
the  European  soldiery,  replaced  by  importations  from 
India. 

Other  industries  also  were  taken  in  hand;  silk 
worms  were  introduced  from  Bengal,  and  an  attempt 
was  made  to  start  the  systematic  cultivation  of  the 
indigo  which  was  found  wild  in  some  parts  of  the 
country.  Cotton  growing  was  encouraged  and  weav- 
ers and  dyers  enticed  over  from  the  Choromandel 
Coast,  in  order  to  compete  with  the  trade  which 
formed  such  an  important  source  of  revenue  there. 
Heavy  duties  were  imposed  on  imported  tobacco,  in 
order  to  protect  the  home  industry ;  while  a  local 
mint  issued  in  reasonable  abundance  a  copper  coinage 
which,  though  of  the  crudest  execution  yet  seen  in 
Ceylon,  removed  one  of  the  main  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  trade.  Success,  however,  could  hardly  be  expected 
unless  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  natives  of  the 
country  were  assured.  It  was  of  the  greatest  importance 
that  justice  should  be  carefully  administered,  and  the 
mind  of  the  Teuton  had  an  instinctive  respect  for 
law.  The  Digest  of  the  Plakaats  and  Ordinances 
which  Maetsuycker,  who  since  leaving  Galle  had 
risen  to  be  Governor  General,  had  prepared  under 
the  name  of  the  Statutes  of  Batavia,  was 
introduced,  but  experienced  Sinhalese  invariably  occu- 
pied seats  on  the  Land  Raad  Courts,  which  were 
mainly  engaged  in  deciding  land  disputes,  in  order 
to  see  that  all  ancient  customs  were  observed.  The 
Disawa  continued  to  exercise  a  summary  and  pater- 
nal jurisdiction  in  respect  of  smaller  matters. 

In  the  North  the  Portuguese  officers  were 
replaced  by  Tamils,  four  Mudaliyars  being  placed 
over  the  four  Provinces  of  the  Peninsula.  Special 
consideration  was  shown  to  the  mild  and  obse- 
quious Wellalas,  and  no  undue  haste  was  to  be 
employed     in    forcing    a  new   religion     upon    them. 


Jajfna  5 

The  Christianity  which  the  Portuguese  had  left 
behind  was  very  nominal  in  character  and  consisted  of 
little  more  than  the  capacity  to  say  a  few  prayers,  and 
to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross ;  indeed  several  Christ- 
ians had  already  applied  for  permission  to  resume 
their  Hindu  practices.  Religious  instruction  there- 
fore was  to  be  given  to  all  and  children  compelled 
to  attend  school,  preparatory  to  their  being  received 
into  the  Reformed  Church.  Everyone  was  obliged  to 
attend  Church  service,  and  listen  to  the  lengthy  ser- 
mons of  the  energetic  Philip  Baldaeus  and  his  fel- 
low workers,  absentees  being  punished  with  fines 
which  were  used  to  pay  the  schoolmasters.  The 
results  of  these  attempts  at  conversion  were  soon 
reported  to  be  as  gratifying  as  the  Portuguese  had 
found  them.  The  Thesawalamai,  or  the  custom  of  the 
Tamil  country,  was  retained  as  the  basis  for  legal 
decision  so  long  as  it  appeared  to  be  consonant  with 
reason,  all  deficiencies  being  supplied  from  the  Dutch 
Law.  At  the  same  time  the  practice  of  child  marriage 
was  discouraged:  the  daughters  of  the  Hollanders 
themselves  did  not  marry  till  they  were  twelve  or 
thirteen  years  of  age. 

There  were  about  two  thousand  Sinhalese 
lascarins  on  the  rolls  and  all  of  these  were  provided  for 
their  maintenance  with  Badawedili  lands,  now  called 
Accommodessan.  These  men  still  continued  under  the 
orders  of  the  Disawa,  Pierre  du  Pon  being  the  first 
to  be  appointed  to  that  position  in  Colombo.  The 
duties  of  the  Disawa  were  of  the  most  varied  kind ; 
he  was  responsible  for  the  military  outside  the  fort, 
for  the  maintenance  of  roads  and  the  draining  of 
swamps,  for  the  development  of  agriculture,  and  for 
the  general  well-being  of  his  district.  He  was  also 
expected  to  see  that  prayers  were  said  at  the  out- 
stations  every  morning  and  evening  by  a  well  con- 
ducted junior  oflficer.  Even  petty  matters  of  detail 
were  the  subject  of  regulation  :  the  prices  of  foodstuffs 


6  Ceylon   and  the  Hollanders 

were  fixed,  and  overseers  appointed  to  supervise  the 
bazaars  and  markets.  Only  pious  men  who  regularly 
attended  divine  service  were  to  be  licensed  as  bakers. 
The  necessity  for  the  proper  maintenance  of  its 
own  people  was  not  ignored  by  the  Company.  The 
burgher  class,  representing  the  free  European  settlers 
not  in  the  Company's  service,  was  to  be  recruited  as 
much  as  possible  from  them;  they  were  provided  with  lib- 
eral grants  of  land  with  the  right  of  free  trade  through- 
out the  settlements ;  and  where  possible  they  were  pre- 
ferred to  natives  for  appointment  to   office. 

The  privilege  of  keeping  shops  was  confined  to  them 
to  the  exclusion  of  their  energetic  rivals  the  Moors, 
whose  further  settlement  in  the  country  was  forbidden. 
Those  Moors  who  had  resided  in  the  country  for  a 
long  time  were  permitted  to  continue  there,  but  their 
occupations  were  restricted  to  agriculture  and  navi- 
gation. At  the  same  time  the  Indian  Moors  were 
encouraged  to  visit  the  ports  of  the  Island  with  their 
merchandise. 

The  frequency  with  which  the  Company's 
soldiers  were  marrying  native  women  was  a  cause  of 
some  anxiety;  it  was  therefore  resolved  that  such 
marriages  should  not  be  permitted  unless  a  clergyman 
was  prepared  to  certify  that  the  proposed  bride  pro- 
fessed the  Christian  religion.  Those  wives  were  com- 
pelled to  attend  religious  service  once  a  week,  under 
penalty  of  their  husbands'  wages  being  forfeited, 
and  the  daughters  born  of  such  marriages  were  to 
be  carefully  looked  after  in  order  to  supply  wives 
to  the  next  generation.  Great  difficulty  was  experi- 
enced in  keeping  the  Teuton  sober,  and  an  attempt 
was  made  to  brew  a  mild  and  wholesome  beer 
from  paddy.  "This  seems  to  be  a  necessary  measure" 
wrote  Van  Goens  "because  we  find— God  help  us— 
that  our  men  cannot  be  made  to  avoid  drink." 

But  above  everything  peace  was  essential  for 
successfully  carrying  out  the  new  scheme  of 
administration,    and  to  obtain    peace   the    Company 


The  Wanni  7 

was  ready  to  pay  almost  any  price.  The  strength  of  the 
army  was  fixed  at  2000  Europeans  in  addition  to  the 
native  levies,  strict  discipline  was  maintained,  instru- 
ctions were  given  for  the  strengthening  of  all  the 
fortresses,  and  a  careful  watch  was  kept  on  the 
frontiers.  The  Wannia  chiefs  received  special  treat- 
ment ;  the  Portuguese  had  been  content  to  leave  them 
unmolested  in  their  wilds  on  condition  of  their  pay- 
ing a  tribute  of  a  fixed  number  of  elephants  every 
year  in  lieu  of  the  tythes  and  taxes  which  were 
levied  from  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  in  the  North ; 
it  was  found  convenient  to  continue  this  policy  till 
a  suitable  opportunity  for  their  complete  reduction 
presented  itself.  The  Company  was  afraid  that  any 
strict  measures  would  induce  them  to  throw 
themselves  into  the  hands  of  the  King,  whereas 
they  could  be  utilised  to  act  as  spies  on  the  Sinha- 
lese, chiefly  by  means  of  the  tavalam  drivers  who 
maintained  an  active  trade  between  the  King's 
dominions  and  Jaffna.  They  were  however  not  all 
equally  complacent ;  and  the  principal  of  them,  Kaila 
Wannia  of  Panangaman,  could  not  be  persuaded  to 
accept  Van  Goens'  summons  to  appear  before  him ;  the 
policy  which  consequently  was  adopted  was  the 
favourite  one  of  breeding  jealousy  against  him  among 
the  remaining  Wannias.  Directions  also  were  given 
that  the  Veddahs  who  lived  on  the  boundaries  of 
the  Wanni  were  to  be  treated  kindly,  in  case  of 
future  emergencies. 

The  one  incalculable  factor  was  the  temper  of  the 
King,  who  was  still  raging  like  a  caged  tiger.  He 
had  vowed  never  again  to  trust  the  word  of  the  mer- 
chants who  had  outwitted  him,  and  yet  he  was 
grateful  to  the  men  who  had  driven  away  the  Por- 
tuguese who  had  ruined  his  country.  He  therefore 
had  not  only  remained  passive  during  the  last  strug- 
gle in  Jaffna,  but  he  even  wrote  to  Van  Goens  in 
November  1658  to  express  his  great  appreciation   of 


8  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

the  latter's  services.  He  was  no  longer  the  King 
only  of  the  Kanda  Uda  Rata,  the  Country  above  the 
Mountains,  but  of  the  Sinhale,  the  Country  of  the 
Sinhalese,  including  nearly  a  moiety  of  the  Pata  Rata 
or  Low  Country  which  had  belonged  to  Kotte.  His 
subjects  were  in  a  pitiable  condition.  Their  poverty 
was  so  abject  that  infanticide  was  of  shocking  fre- 
quency. The  stringency  with  which  the  King's  pro- 
hibition of  all  trade  with  the  Company  was  en-forced 
had  limited  their  foreign  intercourse  to  the  ports 
of  Puttalam  and  Kottiar,  and  they  were  unable  any 
longer  to  depend  on  that  barter  which  had  been 
the  means  of  providing  them  with  so  many  of  their 
wants.  Their  hardships  were  accentuated  when  in  May 
1659  a  Dutch  garrison  was  placed  in  the  old  Portu- 
guese Church  at  Kalpitiya,  this  controlling  the  Put- 
talam trade.  Dense  forests  had  been  allowed  to  grow 
up  not  only  on  his  frontiers  but  they  separated  the 
various  provinces,  and  the  only  means  of  communi- 
cation with  the  outside  world  consisted  of  narrow 
passages  which  were  strictly  guarded  and  closed  by 
thick  thorn  gates  called  Kadawatu.  There  was  much 
discontent  among  the  people  and  the  King  realised 
that  his  popularity  was  on  the  wane.  He  was,  how- 
ever, too  engrossed  in  nursing  his  own  grievances  to 
be  regardful  of  the  well-being  of  his  subjects.  A  plot 
to  poison  him  which  had  been  recently  discovered 
and  punished  with  terrible  severity,  made  him  sus- 
picious of  every  one,  and  any  subject  whose  influence, 
wealth,  or  success  attracted  his  attention,  was 
removed  out  of  the  way  without  hesitation. 

The  policy  adopted  by  the  Hollanders  was  to 
keep  him  in  good  humour  at  all  costs,  and  their  attitude 
towards  him  was  deferential  to  the  point  of  servility. 
Repeated  embassies  were  sent  to  him  with  presents 
of  rare  animals  and  similar  curiosities  which  he  was 
known  to  appreciate,  but  none  of  these  ambassadors 
would  the  King  allow  to  return.  His  hobby  was  to 
collect  a  perfect  menagerie  of  the  various   European 


The  British  Company  9 

races  which  visited  his  dominions.  In  this  way  he 
had  got  together  a  large  number  of  Portuguese, 
Hollanders,  and  English,  among  the  last  being  that 
Robert  Knox  who  was  taken  prisoner  at  Kottiar  in 
1630,  and  the  fruit  of  whose  long  detention  is  pre- 
served in  what  is  parhaps  the  most  valuable  account 
of  the  life  of  the  Sinhalese  people  yet  written  by  a 
foreigner. 

The  Hollanders  had  reason  to  be  nervous,  for  the 
cloud  which  was  destined  finally  to  overcast  their 
domination  had  already  reached  the  shores  of  Cey- 
lon. For  the  last  twenty  years  the  vessels  of  the 
British  and  Danes  had  been  not  unfamiliar  sights  at 
the  harbour  of  Kottiar,  which  afforded  facilities  for 
repairing  them  such  as  were  not  to  be  found  in 
any  Indian  harbour.  The  visitors  had  been  well  treated 
by  the  Sinhalese  and  permitted  freely  to  travel  inland, 
so  that  they  obtained  an  opportunity  of  learning  the 
condition  of  the  country.  As  early  as  1658  the  Direct- 
ors of  the  British  Company  in  London  had  received 
a  lettter  from  one  of  their  officers  advising  them  of 
the  desirability  of  setting  up  a  factory  at  Kalpitiya, 
so  as  to  secure  a  share  in  the  trade  of  the  Island, 
and  matters  received  a  great  impetus  from  the  Treaty 
of  June  1661,  regulating  the  conditions  for  the  mar- 
riage of  Charles  II  with  the  Portuguese  Infanta.  It 
was  there  laid  down  that  if  either  of  the  contract- 
ing parties  succeeded  in  obtaining  possession  of  the 
Island,  Colombo  was  to  be  given  to  Portugal  and 
Galle  to  England,  while  the  cinnamon  trade  was  to  be 
divided  between  the  two.  The  same  year  the  Bri- 
tish Directors  gave  orders  for  the  despatch  of  an 
embassy  to  Raja  Sinha  to  obtain  permission  for  build 
ing  a  factory  and  to  secure  a  share  in  the  cinnamon 
trade,  and  these  advances  were  received  not  unfavour- 
ably by  the  King. 

The  Hollanders  were  greatly  excited  by  these 
proceedings.    A  force  was    sent  to  Kottiar  but  soon 

2 


10  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

returned  in  consequence  of  an  outbreak  of  sickness ; 
and  steps  were  also  taken  to  fortify  Point  Pedro. 
Don  Joan  de  Costa,  who  was  their  chief  adviser  in 
respect  to  occurrences  at  the  Sinhalese  Court,  insisted 
that  the  English  and  Portuguese  were  acting  there 
in  concert,  and  that  an  attack  on  the  eastern  Coast 
or  on  Manar,  was  to  the  anticipated.  Sir  Edward 
Winter,  the  British  Agent  at  Madras,  announced 
plainly  what  the  intentions  of  his  Company  were,  and 
was  warned  that  in  consequence  of  the  existing 
arrangements  between  the  Hollanders  and  the  King, 
any  intrusion  would  be  regarded  as  an  unfriendly  act. 

However,  both  nations  were  anxious  to  cajole 
the  King  into  releasing  his  European  prisoners,  and 
their  ambassadors  appeared  at  Court  in  1664.  The 
King  was  at  Nilambe,  where  he  now  resided  during 
long  intervals  at  a  time  for  the  sake  of  his  health. 
He  had  roused  the  dissatisfaction  of  his  people  to  a 
dangerous  pitch  by  preventing  the  celebration  of  their 
greatest  festival,  the  Peraheray  this  year,  but  the 
Europeans  found  him  in  a  more  complacent  mood 
than  usual.  The  English  prisoners  were  collected 
from  the  various  parts  of  the  country  where  they 
were  lodged  and  informed  that  the  King  was  pleased 
to  set  them  free,  and  then  they  were  invited  to 
enter  his  service.  They  hesitated  and  were  allowed 
till  the  next  morning  to  come  to  a  final   decision. 

In  the  meantime,  a  plot  had  been  brewing  to 
kill  the  King  and  place  his  son  on  the  throne.  A 
terrific  comet  which  had  appeared  in  the  heavens  for 
some  days,  filled  the  minds  of  all  men  with 
gloomy  forebodings.  On  the  night  of  the  21st  of 
December,  on  which  day  the  prisoners  had  been  set 
at  liberty,  two  hundred  armed  men  assembled  at 
Nilambe  and  attacked  the  guards  who  watched  out- 
side the  palace  gates ;  the  majority  of  these  were 
killed  before  they  could  recover  from  their  surprise, 
while  a  few  escaped    within    and    joined    the  King. 


A   Conspiracy  11 

The  conspirators  followed  and  occupied  the  palace, 
the  King  with  a  handful  of  men  being  brought  to 
bay  behind  a  wall.  The  old  warrior  had  not  forgot- 
ten how  to  handle  the  steel,  and  the  majesty  of  his 
semi-divine  royalty  overawed  the  malcontents  who 
could  not  summon  up  sufficient  courage  to  storm  the 
place.  The  consequence  was  that  on  the  following 
morning  the  King,  guarded  by  his  men,  sallied  out, 
and  driving  elephants  in  front  of  them  to  crush  down 
the  jungle,  escaped  to  the  stronghold  of  Galauda 
behind  Hanguranketa,  fifteen  miles  away.  The  houses 
of  the  King's  partisans  were  quickly  plundered  by 
the  English,  and  then  the  bulk  of  the  rioters,  whose 
numbers  had  considerably  increased,  hurried  to  Senkada- 
gala,  where  the  Prince  was  living  with  the  Queen ;  they 
took  with  them  the  English,  whom  they  in  turn  attempt- 
ed to  win  over  to  their  side,  though  equally  without 
success. 

The  rebels  now  declared  Raja  Sinha  deposed 
from  the  throne  on  the  ground  of  misgovernment. 
They  charged  him  with  gross  breaches  of  the  law  of 
nations  in  detaining  the  ambassadors  of  foreign  gov- 
ernments and  arresting  such  of  their  subjects  as  came 
to  his  country.  They  declared  that  his  vindictive 
policy  had  destroyed  the  trade  of  his  subjects,  while 
his  cruelty  was  a  source  of  peril  to  the  life  of  every- 
one. They  accordingly  proclaimed  the  prince  as  King 
in  his  room.  The  latter,  however  showed  no  enthus- 
iasm for  this  unwelcome  honour.  The  25th  was 
fixed  for  advancing  on  Hanguranketa  to  capture  the 
fugitive,  but  in  the  meantime  the  prince,  accompani- 
ed by  the  favourite  sister  of  Raja  Sinha,  escaped  to  the 
King.  There  was  consternation  among  the  rebels. 
Some  fled  home  in  a  panic  and  in  such  haste  that 
the  courtyards  of  the  palace  were  strewn  with  the 
coin  which  they  had  brought  with  them  and  which 
the  English  hurried  to  pick  up.  Others  fell  to  quar- 
relling among  themselves ;  while  one  great  chief 
declared  for  the  King  and  seized  on  the    Capital    in 


12  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

his  name.  It  was  noted  with  awe  that  on  the  night 
of  the  21st  the  tail  of  the  comet  had  turned  in  the 
contrary  direction. 

The  rebellion  was  over  and  the  King  found  no 
difficulty  in  resuming  control  of  the  government.  The 
rebels  had  to  pay  a  terrible  price  for  their  rash- 
ness, torture  and  confiscation  of  property  being  not 
the  least  of  the  penalties  with  were  freely  employed. 
Several  priests  who  were  suspected  of  complicity  and 
who  belonged  to  some  of  the  best  families  in  the 
country,  were  executed  and  their  bodies  cast  into 
the  river.  The  Prince  disappeared,  and  for  many 
years  to  come  neither  the  Hollanders  nor  his  father's 
subjects   could  ascertain  what    had  happened  to  him. 

The  able  but  domineering  van  Goens,  who  as 
High  Commissioner  had  not  been  able  for  some  time 
to  work  in  harmony  with  the  sedate  van  der  Meyden 
and  who  had  been  obliged  to  suggest  to  the  author- 
ities at  Batavia  that  the  Governor  was  finding  the 
weight  of  administration  too  heavy  for  his  years, 
was  himself  appointed  to  succeed  the  latter  in  Sep- 
tember 1662.  The  trouble  among  the  Sinhalese  was 
viewed  by  the  Hollanders  with  unmixed  satisfaction, 
especially  as  war  had  broken  out  between  the  Unit- 
ed Provinces  and  England.  Indeed  their  Excellen- 
cies at  Batavia  wrote  and  expressed  the  pious  opinion 
that  the  Sinhalese  rebellion  was  "a  gift  from  heaven." 

The  King  in  his  general  distrust  of  his 
own  subjects  threw  himself  into  their  arms. 
At  his  request  a  force  of  Hollanders  was  des- 
patched into  Sabaragamuwa,  and  occupied  a  large 
portion  of  this  District  as  well  as  of  the  Three  and 
Four  Korales,  while  a  fort  was  built  at  Ruwanella  and 
the  Portuguese  church  at  Sabaragamuwa  was  forti- 
fied. In  September  1665  du  Pon  hastened  to  Trinco- 
malee  on  the  rumour  that  the  British  proposed  to 
seize  the  place,  and  built  another  fort  there.  The 
Batavian    authorities    hesitated,    fjr     an     extension 


Pearls  and  Elephants  13 

of  territory  did  not  suit  their  policy ;  but  they  were 
overborne  by  the  insistence  of  van  Goens,  and 
acquiesced  in  what  was  being  done,  the  more  so  as 
it  was  urged  that  the  occupation  of  Ruwanella  would 
divert  a  good  deal  of  the  arecanut  trade  from 
Kalpitiya  to  Colombo.  They  further  agreed  that 
Kalpitiya  and  Negombo  should  be  properly  fortified, 
and  Chilaw,  which  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
King,  should  be  seized.  At  the  same  time  some  small 
duties  on  arecanut  were  given  over  to  the  King,  in 
order  to  keep  him  in  his  present  complacent  mood. 

The  Company's  affairs  could  at  this  time  be 
regarded  as  prosperous.  Its  first  pearl  fishery  was 
conducted  by  van  der  Laan  in  1666,  when  400  boats 
took  part.  It  was  calculated  that  a  crowd  of  200,000 
people  was  attracted  to  the  scene,  and  as  all  the 
water  had  to  be  obtained  from  one  tank,  this  was 
soon  contaminated  and  sickness  broke  out,  1500  men 
dying  in  six  weeks.  In  July  of  the  same  year  the 
capture  of  ninety  six  elephants  at  one  kraal  added 
a  considerable  sum  to  the  revenue,  while  its  attempts 
to  increase  the  cultivation  of  rice  had  been  amply 
rewarded.  Indeed  the  grain  was  so  plentiful  as  to 
cause  anxiety  that  the  vessels  which  imported  it 
from  India  and  which  on  the  return  voyage  took 
away  the  elephants,  might  be  discouraged  from 
coming  to  Ceylon,  and  it  was  therefore  decided  to 
leave  the  cultivation  more  and  more  in  private  hands. 

The  condition  of  affairs  among  the  British  at 
Madras  was  also  such  as  to  give  the  Hollanders 
satisfaction,  for  in  1665  Winter  with  the  assistance 
of  the  military  had  turned  his  successor  out  of  office 
and  usurped  the  chief  control ;  as  this  state  of  things 
continued  till  1669,  internal  troubles  prevented  the 
British  from  interfering  with  the  Company  in  Ceylon. 
Some  awkwardness  however  was  caused  by  the  dis- 
covery that  in  1667  the  King  had  sent  envoys  to 
Madras.  These  men  were  seized  and  brought  back 
by  the  Hollanders,  but  about  the  same  time  a  letter 


U  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

was  received  by  the  King  from  Francois  Carron, 
the  conqueror  of  Negombo  in  1643.  He  had  now 
joined  the  French  and  been  appointed  Director  of 
the  powerful  French  East  India  Company  which  was 
started  in  1664  with  the  assistance  of  Louis  xiv. 
The  Company  proposed  to  estabhsh  a  settlement  in 
Ceylon,  and  Carron  now  wrote  to  inform  Raja  Sinha 
that  Louis  intended  at  an  early  date  to  send  to  him 
a  nobleman  with  presents.  This  no  doubt  tended  to 
elate  the  King,  who  at  the  same  time  was  annoyed 
by  the  cautious  advance  of  the  Hollanders  to  Arandora, 
the  scene  of  so  much  fighting  in  Portuguese  times, 
which  they  occupied  with  a  garrison.  A  large  force 
of  Sinhalese  was  soon  facing  them  and  watching 
their  movements,  while  in  October  1668  the  Sinha- 
lese drove  the  Hollanders  away  from  the  more 
remote  districts  of  the  Sabaragamuwa   Disawani. 

The  Company  however  was  anxious  about 
being  implicated  in  hostilities,  for  though  the  war 
with  the  English  was  over,  they  were  having  much 
trouble  with  the  native  potentates  in  South  India. 
One  of  these,  the  great  Nayaker  of  Madura,  had  as 
early  as  1644  given  them  permission  to  erect  a  factory 
at  Kayalpattanam,  and  when  fourteen  years  later 
Tutucorin  was  captured  from  the  Portuguese,  the 
Company  succeeded  to  the  rights  of  the  latter  over 
what  were  known  as  the  Seven  Ports,  the  Pearl 
and  Chank  fisheries  of  Tutucorin,  and  the  control 
of  the  Christian  Parawas  who  supplied  the  divers. 
A  treaty  concluded  in  1660  between  the  Nayaker  and 
Van  der  Meyden  confirmed  the  rights  thus  acquired 
by  the  Company,  while  at  the  same  time  emphasis- 
ing the  liability  of  the  Parawas  of  the  Fishery  Coast 
to  pay  the  same  dues  to  the  Nayaker's  Government 
as  they  had  been  accustomed  to  do  under  the  Portuguese. 
Ramnad  formed  the  Southern  portion  of  the  Madura 
Coast  and  was  ruled  by  the  Thever,  a  feudatory  of  the 
Nayaker,  and  Guardian  of  the  holy  temple  of  Rameswa- 


Madura  15 

ram.    A  separate  peace,  drawn  up  on  a  plate  of  copper, 
was  entered  into  with  him. 

All  these  interests  in  South  India  were  admi- 
nistered by  the  Governor  in  Ceylon,  and  van  Goens  was 
anxious  to  convert  the  Parawas  into  the  Reformed 
church.  The  stoutest  opposition  was  raised  by  the 
Roman  Catholic  clergy,  and  consequently  numbers 
of  them  were  banished  from  the  sphere  of  the 
Company's  influence.  The  Nayaker's  Regent  was 
not  in  sympathy  with  the  Company's  policy  and 
sheltered  the  priests,  who  established  themselves 
among  the  neighbouring  heathen  and  continued 
to  exercise  their  old  influence  over  the  Parawas, 
who  were  at  the  same  time  much  harassed  by 
the  Nayaker's  agents.  Heavy  impositions  were  laid 
on  them;  but  the  Company,  though  it  found  its 
trade  seriously  hampered,  was  afraid  to  assert 
itself,  and  was  forced  to  have  recourse  to  bribes 
and  entreaties  to  secure  the  right  to  do  the  petti- 
est things.  Its  servants  were  prevented  by  the 
Nayaker's  Maniagar  or  renter  of  the  revenue  from 
cutting  firewood  for  its  use;  its  letters  were  fre- 
quently intercepted :  carpenters  were  forbidden  to 
work  at  its  vessels  :  the  repairs  to  its  factory  at 
Tutucorin  were  stopped:  extra  duty  was  demanded 
on  cattle  shipped  for  Colombo :  and  the  cloth-weaving 
industry  which  had  been  carefully  fostered,  was 
hampered  by  the  levy  of  extraordinary  duties  from 
the  weavers. 

At  a  time  when  the  fleet  of  Holland  was 
burning  King  Charles'  navy  at  Chatham,  the 
Company  was  prepared  to  see  its  chief  Resident, 
Hendrik  van  Rheede,  compelled  to  pay  tribute,  its 
judges  flogged  and  fined  by  the  Maniagar,  and 
Hollanders  chastised  for  presuming  to  ride  on  horse 
back.  It  made  an  attempt  to  buy  off  the  authorities, 
but  van  Rheede,  who  was  sent  with  an  expensive 
present,  was  treated  with  the  utmost  contumely. 
Several  members  of  his    mission    were    beaten,    the 


16  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

Company's  flag  was  dragged  in  the  mud,  no  answer 
at  all  was  vouchsafed  to  the  letter  which  he  had 
brought,  and  no  farewell  audience  was  accorded  to 
the  envoy.  The  submissive  attitude  of  the  Company 
increased  the  arrogance  of  the  Maniagar,  and  after 
the  Fishery  of  1668  the  Chief  Patangatyn  of  Manar 
was  arrested,  beaten  and  deprived  of  his  money. 
The  Tutucorin  wells  were  placed  under  guard  and 
the  Hollanders  and  Christians  prevented  from  taking 
water  from  them.  One  Hollander  who  was  bold 
enough  to  attempt  to  do  so  was  dragged  before  the 
Maniagar  and  forced  to  render  obeisance  to  him  on 
his  knees.  Even  an  endeavour  to  plant  a  hedge 
round  the  Company's  premises  was  imperiously  stop- 
ped. The  result  was  that  before  very  long  trade 
had  almost  disappeared,  and  the  Company  become  an 
object  of  ridicule  along  the  Coast. 

The  authorities  at  Colombo  however  could  not 
be  persuaded  to  take  action,  but  only  entreated  their 
agents  to  comply  with  every  demand  ;  as  a  conse- 
quence new  requisitions  were  made  in  respect  of  the 
fishery  and  an  armed  force  was  brought  up  to 
threaten  Tutucorin.  The  divers  were  alarmed ;  no 
fishery  could  be  held  in  1639 ;  and  at  last  the  Com- 
pany made  up  its  mind  to  maet  force  with  force, 
and  commenced  hostilities,  though  with  obvious 
unwillingness. 


CHAPTER  n. 


Raja  Sinha,  whose  Queen  was  a  member  of  the 
the  Royal  Family  of  Madura,  was  well  informed  of 
what  was  going  on ;  no  doubt  he  also  knew  that  the 
English  were  again  struggling  for  a  share  in  the 
cinnamon  trade  and  insisting  that  Kottiar  was  a 
free  port  where  they  were  entitled  to  purchase  the 
valuable  drug.  He  had  little  to  fear  from  his  sub- 
jects, whose  spirit  was  completely  crushed,  and  his 
attitude  towards  the  Hollanders  began  to  be  marked 
by  increasing  arrogance.  To  placate  him  certain 
shipping  rights  at  Colombo  and  Galle  were  conceded 
to  him,  but  none  the  less  in  October  1670  he  attacked 
and  captured  the  fort  at  Arandora,  the  erection  of 
which  he  had  never  forgiven,  and  carried  off  the 
entire  garrison  as  prisoners.  The  Hollanders  blustered, 
insisted  on  the  release  of  their  men,  threatened 
reprisals,  and  closed  the  ports  of  Batticaloa,  Kottiar, 
and  Kalpitiya.  The  King  remained  unmoved,  but 
when  Hendrik  Draak  who  had  been  sent  as  ambas- 
sador in  1663  and  had  been  detained  by  him,  died, 
his  body  escorted  by  some  Hollanders  was  sent  to 
Colombo  with  the  greatest  ceremony  for  interment. 
For  years  no  Hollander  had  dared  to  venture  on 
an  embassy  within  the  King's  dominions,  but  at  last 
a  soldier  named  Henricus  van  Bystervelt  was  found 
willing  to  undertake   the  dangerous  mission. 

Starting  from  Colombo  on  the  21st  of  February 
1671,  Bystervelt  was  received  by  the  King's  officers 
at  Sitawaka  and  escorted    in  procession  to  Hanguran- 

3 


18  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

keta,  for  the  King  never  returned  to  Senkadagala 
after  the  rebellion.  Another  plot  to  poison  the 
King  had  been  recently  discovered  and  the  guilty 
cooks  and  other  palace  servants  had  been  impaled, 
hanged  or  thrown  to  the  elephants.  Raja  Sinha  was 
therefore  in  a  friendly  mood  towards  the  Hollanders, 
who  on  their  part  were  prepared  to  humour 
him  to  the  utmost.  The  Company's  letter  was 
carried  within  the  palace  by  the  ambassador  on  his 
head  in  a  golden  salver,  and  he  greeted  the  King  with 
the  humble  prostrations  which  eastern  etiquette  exacted 
from  a  King's  subjects.  His  reception  was  most 
cordial.  The  King  was  warm  in  his  expressions  of 
esteem  for  the  Hollanders,  and  promised  to  restore 
the  prisoners  he  had  recently  captured  and  also  to 
send  back  the  previous  ambassadors  who  were  being 
detained  by  him.  He  however  complained  of  the 
closing  of  the  ports,  and  Bystervelt  hastened  to 
re-assure  him  with  the  old  formula  that  all  that  had 
been  done  for  the  better  protection  of  his  Kingdom, 
as  well  as  to  punish  those  traitors  to  the  King  who 
were   responsible  for  the  recent  acts  of  hostility. 

Bystervelt  was  appointed  a  Mohottiar  of  the 
King,  and  presented  with  the  silver  inkstand,  hour- 
glass, style  and  knife  which  were  usually  issued  to 
such  officers.  A  sword,  a  chain  of  gold,  rings  and 
other  jewels  were  also  given  to  him,  and  so  far  did 
Bystervelt's  obsequiousness  proceed  that  he  carried 
the  set  of  Sinhalese  clothes  which  was  sent  to  him, 
within  his  quarters  on  his  own  head.  Food  was 
supplied  to  him  daily  from  the  royal  kitchen,  his 
lodgings  were  guarded  by  Udapalata  Disawa  himself, 
an  officer  who  was  in  high  favour  with  the  King 
and  who  was  said  to  have  saved  his  life  during  the 
rebellion,  and  he  was  summoned  to  numerous  audi- 
ences. But  though  months  passed  in  this  fashion  no 
substantial  business  was  done.  It  was  clear  that 
whatever  Raja  Sinha's  own  feelings  were,  his  Coun- 
cil was  bitterly  hostile  to  the  Hollanders,  and  did  not 


Henricus  van  Bystervelt  19 

hesitate  in  the  ambassador's  presence  to  urge  a 
declaration  of  war  on  the  Company.  The  King 
exclaimed  that  he  would  never  permit  that,  but  a 
shrewd  Dane  who  had  been  at  Court  for  twenty-one 
years,  caustically  remarked  that  the  Company  always 
employed  fine  words  to  the  face,  but  calumny  at  the 
back,  of  people.  Bystervelt,  whose  training  had  not 
been  that  of  a  diplomat,  was  beside  himself  with  rage ; 
he  declared  that  if  the  detained  ambassadors  were 
not  sent  back,  the  whole  Kingdom  would  be  block- 
aded ;  he  challenged  the  King's  Councillors  to  single 
combat,  and  finally  insisted  on  being  given  permission 
to  return.  He  was  coldly  told  that  he  could  do  so 
and  was  allowed  to  withdraw ;  after  some  more  delay 
he  started  on  his  return  journey,  and  when  he  reached 
Colombo  on  the  29th  of  October,  dressed  in  all  the 
paraphernalia  of  a  Sinhalese  official,  he  received  a 
warm  greeting  and  the  hearty  congratulations  of  the 
Council. 

In  the  meantime  a  terrible  storm  had  burst 
upon  the  United  Provinces  of  Holland,  and  threatened 
their  very  existence.  Louis  XIV  had  by  a  secret 
Treaty  signed  at  Dover  in  May  1670  purchased  the 
services  of  the  licentious  Charles  II  who  still  disgraced 
the  throne  of  England,  and  declared  war  on  the 
Republic;  but  the  Hollanders,  led  by  the  youthful 
William  of  Orange,  faced  the  peril  with  the  indomitable 
courage  which  had  always  characterised  the  race  in 
moments  of  stress.  In  March  1672  a  large  French 
fleet  commanded  by  Admiral  de  la  Haye,  with  whom 
was  the  restless  Francois  Carron,  appeared  at  Trinco- 
malee,  and  seized  an  island  at  the  entrance  to  the 
inner  harbour.  An  embassy  was  then  despatched 
to  the  Court  and  was  welcomed  by  Raja  Sinha,  who 
presented  the  entire  bay  to  the  French,  whereupon 
the  Admiral  occupied  Kottiar  which  the  Hollanders 
had  abandoned.  A  fleet  of  the  latter  now  appeared 
on  the  scene,  while  the  King's  troops  were  gathering 
along  the  coast.    Sickness  however  broke  out  among 


20  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

the  French,  and  on  the  9th  of  July  de  la  Haye  sailed 
away,  leaving  behind  a  garrison  at  Kottiar.  This 
before  long  was  compelled  to  surrender  to  the 
Hollanders,  while  it  was  with  difficulty  that  his  fleet 
escaped  to  the  Choromandel  Coast. 

Before  leaving  de  la  Haye  sent  to  the  Court  a 
fresh  ambassador,  Count  de  Lanarolle,  a  Huguenot 
nobleman.  The  choice  was  not  a  fortunate  one,  for 
the  Count,  no  doubt  contrasting  the  splendour  of  the 
greatest  Court  in  Europe  with  the  squalor  of  that 
to  which  he  was  accredited,  bore  himself  with  a 
degree  of  hauteur  which  was  not  likely  to  render 
the  path  of  negociation  less  rugged.  He  travelled 
on  horseback  all  the  way  from  Kottiar,  and  when 
he  arrived  at  Hanguranketa  he  insisted  on  riding 
past  the  palace,  in  spite  of  the  agitated  remonstran- 
ces of  the  Sinhalese  courtiers,  who  were  horrified  at 
this  breach  of  etiquette.  The  King  however  took 
no  notice  of  this,  and  granted  an  interview.  De  Lana- 
rolle was  escorted  to  the  Palace  by  night  with  the 
usual  ceremonial,  but  he  was  so  annoyed  at  the 
delay  in  ushering  him  before  the  King,  that  he 
turned  on  his  heel,  and  returned  to  his  lodgings. 
The  King  was  enraged  and  ordered  the  ambassador 
and  his  suite  to  be  chastised  in  order  to  teach  them 
the  conduct  which  was  becoming  in  dealing  with 
Oriental  Kings.  The  ambassador  was  kept  in  chains 
for  six  months,  and  his  suite,  nervous  as  to  the 
consequences  of  their  chiefs  arrogant  temper,  begged 
to  be  separated  from  him.  They  were  accordingly 
taken  to  the  King's  service,  and  three  of  them  were 
placed  in  charge  of  his  favourite  horse,  while  the 
rest  were  allowed  to  settle  in  the  town  where  they 
made  a  living,  as  so  many  of  the  Portuguese  who 
were  there  also  did,  by  distilling  arack  and  opening 
taverns. 

De  La  Haye  never  returned,   and  De    Lanarolle 
was  subsequently  pardoned  by  the  King,  who  made 


Capture  of  Bibilegama  21 

him  one  of  his  Mohottalas,  and  had  him  married  to 
a  Sinhalese  lady  at  Court.  Their  descendants  are 
well  known  in  various  parts  of  the  Island. 

The  Hollanders  were  much  excited  by  these 
events.  They  feared  that  the  peace  for  which  they 
had  striven  so  arduously  would  be  broken  after  all, 
and  hurried  to  strengthen  the  garrisons  of  their  out- 
posts. There  was  some  fighting  in  the  South,  but 
Raja  Sinha  remained  quiet  till  1675,  in  April  of 
which  year  Van  Goens  handed  over  his  office  to  his 
son  Rykloff  van  Goens  junior,  who  was  born  in 
Batavia.  Four  months  later  a  Sinhalese  army  appeared 
before  the  fort  which  the  Company  had  raised  at 
Bibilegama,  and  laid  it  under  siege.  They  succeeded 
before  long  in  cutting  off  the  garrison  from  its  supply 
of  water,  and  then  collecting  a  huge  pile  of  faggots 
which  was  pushed  over  nearer  threatened  to  bum 
down  the  entire  fort.  Further  resistance  was  out 
of  the  question,  and  ninety  Hollanders  and  their  four 
guns  were  taken  in  triumph  to  Raja  Sinha.  The 
former  were  treated  with  every  consideration  and 
several  attempts  were  made  to  persuade  their  com- 
manding officer  to  enter  the  Royal  service,  while  the 
guns  were  mounted  on  richly  carved  carriages  and 
retained  at  the  palace  as  trophies  of  the  victory. 

In  Colombo  there  was  much  anxiety,  for  the 
Sinhalese  were  reported  to  be  threatening  Ruwanella. 
Clement  Magellian,  a  Chalia  of  distinguished  courage 
and  unusual  ability,  who  was  sent  into  the  Beligal 
Korale,  was  deserted  by  his  men  during  a  skirmish 
and  killed,  his  head  being  taken  as  a  trophy  to  the 
King.  This  man  had  been  educated  by  the  Portu- 
guese priests,  and  in  1663  was  appointed  Maha  Vidane 
over  his  caste,  in  succession  to  Anthony  Mendis. 
He  attempted  to  raise  a  body  of  lascarins  among  his 
own  people  but  he  fell  under  suspicion  of  carrying 
on  a  treasonable  correspondence  with  the  King,  and 
was  placed  on  his  trial.    He  was  honourably  acquitted 


22  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

and  in  compensation  was  made  Mudaliyar  over  all 
the  Chalia  Lascarins,  while  he  won  so  much  reput- 
ation in  the  hostilities  with  the  King  that  he  was 
permited  to  increase  the  number  of  these  lascarins 
to  five  hundred  men;  they  however  failed  him  in 
his  hour  of  need.  His  death  was  a  great  loss  to 
the  Company. 

Tennekon,  now  Disawa  of  the  Seven  Korales, 
was  hovering  near  Kalpitiya  with  his  men.  In  the 
South  the  Matara  Disawani  was  being  menaced  from 
Sabaragamuwa.  Batticaloa  was  said  to  be  in  revolt,  and 
Aripo,  the  possession  of  which  was  of  such  import- 
ance for  the  protection  of  the  Pearl  Fishery,  was 
in  danger  from  the  restlessness  of  Kayla  Wannia 
who  was  acting  in  concert  with  Tennekon.  Hostilities 
would  undo  all  the  work  which  the  Company  had 
so  patiently  built  up  during  the  years  of  peace,  and 
the  garrisons  were  hastily  withdrawn  from  the  threat- 
ened outposts. 

A  few  years  before  this  a  mysterious  figure  had 
appeared  in  the  Seven  Korales;  he  declared  that  he 
had  a  mission  to  preach  the  religion  of  the  Name- 
less God,  to  destroy  the  dewales  in  the  country,  and 
to  establish  this  new  religion.  The  King  watched 
him  with  saturnine  amusement  while  he  enriched 
himself  with  the  wealth  of  the  dewales,  but  when 
it  began  to  be  whispered  about  that  he  was  the  son 
of  his  late  brother  Wijayapala,  Prince  of  Matale,  he 
began  to  exercise  a  scrutiny  over  his  actions  which 
was  disconcerting  to  the  pretender.  The  latter  there- 
fore fled  to  Colombo,  where  he  was  well  received 
and  maintained  in  state  at  the  Company's  expense. 
There  by  his  shrewdness  he  acquired,  under  the 
name  of  Ambanwela  Rala,  a  reputation  as  a  wizard 
which  has  survived  up  to  the  present  day.  The  Hol- 
landers considered  that  the  moment  was  opportune  to 
make  use  of  his  great  influence  among  his  country- 
men, and  emissaries  were  sent  into  the  Seven  Kora- 


The  King's  pleasantries  23 

les  to  distract  the  King  by  creating  a  movement  in  his 
favour.  At  the  same  time  on  instructions  from  Bat- 
avia  a  humble  letter  was  despatched  to  the  King 
begging  him  to  take  back  all  the  districts  which  had 
been  occupied  by  the  Company  since  1665,  to 
release  the  Hollanders  whom  he  had  captured,  and 
to   receive  the  Company  once  more  into  his  friendship. 

This  was  followed  by  an  ambassador  who  took 
with  him  a  live  lion,  as  a  subtle  compliment  to  the 
King,  whose  name  signified  the  Lion  King.  Raja 
Sinha  however  was  not  satisfied  with  the  reports 
brought  to  him  with  regard  to  the  appearance  of  the 
animal,  and  would  not  deign  to  look  at  it.  The 
ambassador  was  detained  at  a  remote  village  till  the 
lion  died,  and  then  he  was  summoned  to  Hanguran- 
keta.  Months  passed  without  an  audience  being 
granted,  till  at  last  the  ambassador  impatient  of  the 
long  delay  attempted  to  force  his  way  within  the 
palace.  He  was  arrested  by  the  guards  at  the  en- 
trance and  on  the  King's  orders  was  detained  at  the 
spot  for  three  days  in  order  to  teach  him  patience, 
and   then  released. 

The  King  displayed  much  sense  of  humour  in 
his  dealings  with  the  Hollanders,  and  at  a  latter  date 
sent  as  a  return  present  for  the  despised  lion  a 
truculent  elephant  of  gigantic  size  which  had  been 
used  as  an  executioner  and  which  had  got  beyond 
control.  To  neglect  this  gift  would  have  been  deemed 
an  insult  to  the  King,  and  the  Company  was  oblig- 
ed to  obtain  two  other  elephants  to  attend  on  it,  and 
undergo  all  the  expense  of  its  maintenance. 

These  pleasantries  did  not  distract  the  atten- 
tion of  the  King  from  his  determination  to  make  him- 
self as  disagreeable  as  possible.  Tennekon  was  on 
the  borders  of  the  Kalutara  district  and  all  the 
population  retired  within  the  King's  dominions,  while 
the  Company's  outposts  had  to  be  abandoned.  The 
collection  of  cinnamon  was   seriously  affected ;  there 


24  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

had  been  no  pearl  fishery  for  eight  years,  and  the 
anxious  merchants  tried  to  soothe  the  King  by  a 
present  of  the  two  finest  Persian  horses  available. 
Noone  however  appeared  on  behalf  of  the  King  to 
receive  them,  while  on  the  other  hand  there  was  good 
reason  to  fear  that  a  hostile  demonstration  was 
being  prepared  on  the  boundaries  of  the  Three  Kora- 
les.  The  outposts  here  were  next  withdrawn,  leaving 
a  garrison  at  Sitawaka,  and  shortly  after  Tennekon 
appeared  in  the  Siyane  Korale  threatening  Malwana. 
He  had  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  able  of  the 
King's  Generals  and  it  was  believed  that  the  King 
was  regarding  his  abilities  with  jealousy.  At  any 
rate  Tennekon  entered  into  a  secret  correpondence 
with  the  Company's  officers,  and  on  the  30th  October 
1673  deserted  to  Colombo  with  his  family  and  three 
hundred  of  his  men.  Van  Goens  was  delighted;  a 
ceremonious  reception  awaited  the  renegade,  a  great 
collar  of  gold  was  placed  round  his  neck,  and  he 
was  given  lands  for  his  maintenance  till  his  services 
could  be  effectively  utilised.  The  King  betrayed  no 
feeling  on  the  subject,  and  allowed  all  the  traitor's 
property  which  became  forfeit  to  the  Crown,  to  rot 
where  it  stood. 

The  following  month  Ambanwela  Rala  fled  back 
to  the  King;  he  was  not  considered  of  much  value 
and  was  shortly  after  put  to  death.  The  people  of 
the  Wanni  were  still  in  a  restless  condition,  and 
when  Don  Philip,  their  most  influential  chief,  died, 
they  appointed  a  successor  to  his  office  without  any 
reference  to  the  authorities  at  Jaffna.  Matters  appear- 
ed so  '  threatening  that  it  was  considered  necessary 
to  despatch  a  military  expedition  to  the  district,  and 
this  display  of  force  was  found  sufficient  to  overawe 
the  inhabitants. 

It  was  during  these  troubled  times  that  the 
German,  Paulus  Hermann  of  Halle,  a  physician  in 
the  Company's  service  and  later  Professor  of  Botany 


Progress  25 

at  Leyden,  laid  the  foundation  of  European  Botany 
in  Ceylon  by  forming  the  herbarium  which  was  after- 
wards used  by  Linnaeus.  At  the  same  time  Grimm, 
a  Swede,  was  making  some  study  of  native  medicine 
and  drugs. 

Towards  the  end  of  1679  van  Goens,  who 
was  then  only  thirty  seven  years  of  age,  handed 
over  the  administration  to  Laurens  Pyl,  the  experi- 
enced Commandeur  of  Jafanapatnam,  and  started  for 
India.  In  spite  of  the  trouble  with  Raja  Sinha  and 
the  anxieties  of  the  war  with  Louis  XIV  which 
had  been  ended  in  July  of  the  previous  year  by  the 
Treaty  of  Nimeguen,  Van  Goens  had  been  able  to 
make  his  term  of  office  a  financial  success.  The 
monopoly  of  the  arecanut  trade  yielded  such  abund- 
ant profits  as  to  meet  the  expence  of  the  increased 
army  of  3400  men;  cotton  goods  were  imported  by 
the  Company  alone,  and  in  addition  to  the  direct 
profits  of  their  sale,  there  was  a  large  indirect  pro- 
fit arising  from  their  being  used  as  a  medium  of 
exchange  for  obtaining  arecanut.  The  retail  trade 
in  cloth  was  the  perquisite  of  the  burghers.  Ele- 
phants had  been  plentiful  and  their  sale  had  attracted 
both  money  and  rice,  in  which  latter  commodity  the 
animals  were  frequently  paid  for.  The  collection  of 
cinnamon  had  been  satisfactory,  and  the  Chalias  had 
been  allowed  by  the  King  to  penetrate  in  search 
of  the  bark  into  the  wilds  of  the  Pitigal  Korale 
without  any  opposition    being    raised. 

The  labour  devoted  to  increasing  the  local  pro- 
duction of  rice  had  been  well  repaid  and  Van  Goens  con- 
fidently expressed  his  opinion  that  it  was  beyond  doubt 
that  the  establishments  of  Ceylon  could  be  maintained 
from  the  profits  derived  from  its  own  products.  The 
Lascarins  had  been  increased  to  5000  and  proved  of 
great  service  during  the  recent  troubles;  as  a  reward 
they  had  received  some  of  the  best  villages  and 
their  lands  were  largely  exempt  from  the  duties  to 
which  the  lands  of  others  were    liable.    The     Com- 

4 


26  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

pany  realised  that  so  long  as  it  refused  to  surrender 
Colombo  to  Raja  Sinha,  it  could  not  expect  per- 
manent peace,  and  its  constant  policy  was  to  cajole 
him  with  presents.  However,  plans  had  been  care- 
fully formed  as  to  what  was  to  be  done  in  the 
event  of  his  death.  The  Hollanders,  adopting  the 
route  followed  by  their  illfated  predecessors  the  Portu- 
guese, were  to  occupy  Allauwa  and  Arandora, 
and  seize  the  Low  Country,  while  at  the  same 
time  attacking  Chilaw  by  sea.  In  such  an 
event  much  was  expected  from  Tennekon  and  Pun- 
chi  Appuhami  of  Wikeliya,  another  renegade,  who 
had  been  appointed  Disawa  of  the  Ruhuna  and  of  a 
part  of  Matara. 

When  Van  Goens  set  sail  for  Batavia  there 
went  with  him  Robert  Knox,  who  at  last,  after  a 
captivity  of  nineteen  years,  had  succeeded  in  escap- 
ing from  the  dominions  of  the  King.  He  was  sent 
by  the  Company  back  to  England,  where  he  prepar- 
ed an  Historical  Narrative  ot  his  experiences  which 
make  very  painful  reading.  The  greed  and  the  vio- 
lence of  the  West  had  crushed  the  sweetness  out  of 
the  life  of  the  East.  Raja  Sinha,  the  gallant  and 
chivalrous  warrior,  had  degenerated  into  an  embit- 
tered and  ferocious  tyrant,  haunted  by  the  consum- 
ing desire  to  punish  the  obsequious  merchants  who 
had  cheated  him.  Every  other  consideration  was  sub- 
ordinated to  this  passion  ;  he  preferred  to  see  his 
subjects  stricken  with  poverty  and  devoid  of  the 
most  ordinary  comforts  of  life,  while  the  arecanuts 
which  might  purchase  foreign  goods  for  them  rotted 
ungathered  under  the  trees,  rather  than  that  the  Com- 
pany should  make    any    profit    from    his    Kingdom. 

Frequent  plots  against  him  had  rendered  him 
merciless,  and  the  life  of  no  prominent  subject  was 
safe ;  cruel  tortures  were  freely  employed,  impalement 
was  of  common  occurrence,  the  elephants  which  were 
trained  to  act  as  executioners  were  kept  busy  and 
entire  families  were  exterminated  for  the  treason? 
real  or  only  suspected,  of  one  member.  Others  again  were 


Raja  Sinha  at  home  27 

arrested  and  kept  in  jail  for  years  without  a  word 
of  explanation  or  charge.  His  government  was  abso- 
lutely autocratic,  and  while  he  rarely  acted  under 
the  influence  of  haste  or  passion,  the  advice  of  no 
councillor  would  sway  him  from  the  course  he  had 
marked  out  for  himself.  No  officer  was  implicitly 
trusted  and  no  one  knew  what  commands  had  been 
given  to  another ;  each  served  as  a  spy  on  the  others  ; 
but  the  common  people  found  that  any  oppression 
by  the  King's  officers  would  be  swiftly  punished,  for 
the  King  brooked  no  tyranny  save  his  own. 

Hanguranketa  was  now  his  permanent  residence. 
The  palace  precincts,  which  covered  a  large  extent 
of  ground,  were  enclosed  by  a  stout  clay  wall  and 
abutted  on  the  hill  which  was  the  place  of  refuge, 
where  no  one  dared  to  venture  on  penalty  of  death. 
The  numerous  dependents  of  the  palace  lived  in  low 
thatched  buildings  within  the  precincts,  where  there 
were  also  a  few  storied  buildings  occupied  by  the 
higher  officials.  The  King's  own  residence  was  en- 
tered by  elaborately  carved  gates  ;  its  windows  were 
overlaid  with  silver  and  ebony  ;  and  within  the  palace 
was  full  of  intricate  passages  crowded  with  guards 
who  were  not  permitted  to  talk  to  each  other.  The 
King's  personal  guard  was  composed  of  Kaffirs,  his 
attendants  were  pages  of  the  best  families,  and  his 
kitchen  was  in  charge  of  women.  As  a  precaution 
against  poisoning  all  food  had  to  be  tasted  three 
hours  before  it  was  served  to  the  King,  whose  diet 
consisted  almost  exclusively  of  vegetables.  The  King's 
Ran  Doliya  resided  at  Senkadagala  with  a  separate 
establishment,  while  the  Yakada  Dolt  lived  in  villages 
close  to  the  palace,  where  no  stranger  durst    enter. 

The  diversions  which  had  attracted  the  King  in 
his  youth  still  continued  their  hold  on  him.  As  the 
Hollanders  knew,  he  loved  strange  animals,  and  a 
black  leopard,  a  white  deer  and  a  spotted  elephant 
were  in  his  menagerie.  Though  he  now  rarely  ap- 
peared on  horseback,  he  delighted  to  watch  his  horses 


28  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

being  ridden.  He  was  fond  of  elephant  sports  and 
spent  much  time  in  feeding  fishes  in  the  lake  which 
he  had  constructed.  He  liked  architecture  and  was 
always  busy  with  improvements  at  the  palace.  He 
was  proud  of  his  armoury  and  had  some  beautiful 
guns  of  local  make,  richly  inlaid  with  silver  and 
gold. 

In  matters  of  religion  he  was  very  tolerant. 
Though  he  himself  made  little  profession  of  Buddhism, 
there  was  at  Hanguranketa  a  College  of  priests  in- 
cluding his  own  uncle,  which  supervised  religious 
matters.  The  temple  villages  were  still  so  numer- 
ous as  seriously  to  affect  the  royal  revenues,  for 
such  villages  were  exempt  from  taxation.  There  was 
a  strong  feeling  among  the  people  for  their  religion 
and  numerous  small  temples  were  built  on  all  sides ; 
these  were  mean  buildings  usually  of  clay,  and  in  no 
way  compared  in  grandeur  with  the  older  buildings 
which  had  been  destroyed.  The  Indian  Fakirs  were 
still  in  charge  of  the  sacred  Peak,  and  crowds  still 
flocked  to  worship  the  Bo  tree  among  the  ruins  of 
Anuradhapura.  After  the  rebellion  the  King  never 
ventured  to  interfere  with  the  Perahera,  though  he 
himself  preferred  the  Karti  Mangalya  which  was 
celebrated  in  honour  of  the  War  God,  and  he  no 
longer  insisted  on  being  addressed  as  divine.  He 
respected  Christianity,  though  the  scandals  which 
grew  round  the  Church  of  the  Portuguese  at  Senka- 
dagala  compelled  him  to  close  it.  Even  the  Moors 
were  permitted  to  have  there  a  mosque  which  was 
supported  by  a  small  contribution  from    the    public. 

The  King  still  loved  a  stout  fighter;  he 
was  very  partial  to  Europeans  and  always  en- 
deavoured to  enlist  them  in  his  service.  Francois 
Vandenburg  was  given  a  high  military  command  till 
he  was  found  guilty  of  treasonable  correspondence, 
and  executed.  Richard  Varnham  was  placed  in  charge 
of  the  artillery  and  alloted  several  villages  for  his 
maintenance.    De  Lanarolle,  as    already    stated,    was 


The  King  and  Europeans  29 

made  a  Mohottala ;  and  an  ambassador  from  the 
Company  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Kottalbadda, 
or  Artisans  Department,  and  married  to  a  Sinhalese 
lady.  Several  Europeans  were  employed  in  the  palace 
and  there  was  a  special  company  of  European  sold- 
iers commanded  by  a  Portuguese  and  a  Hollander.  All 
the  European  prisoners  were  fed  at  the  public  ex- 
pence,  till  their  numbers  rendered  this  a  serious 
drain  on  the  resources  of  the  humble  villager.  The 
Europeans  however  found  the  want  of  beef  a  great 
hardship,  and  the  Jesuit  Verghonce,  who  also  was  a 
prisoner  among  them,  encouraged  them  to  kill  their 
neighbours'  cows.  This  priest  was  fond  of  food,  and 
would  often  visit  the  temples  and  share  with  the 
tom  tom  beaters  and  weavers  the  food  which  was 
offered  there.  It  is  not  surprising  that  Knox  has 
recorded  with  much  appreciation  that  on  board  Van 
Goens'  vessel  "every  meal  he  had  ten  or  twelve  dish- 
es of  meat  with   variety  of  wine." 

The  Portuguese  were  given  many  privileges  of 
trade,  and  opened  taverns  where  the  other  Europeans 
would  congregate  of  a  Sunday.  The  weakness  of  the  Hol- 
lander was  well  known  and  the  Sinhalese  proverb  which 
Knox  has  preserved  says  "Wine  is  as  natural  to  white 
men  as  Milk  to  children."  It  is  pleasant  to  note 
that  in  spite  of  the  abject  poverty  of  the  people, 
Knox  was  still  able  to  say  "They  have  none  of 
theire  own  nation  that  begg  thare,  for  all  releave 
those  of  theire  owne  families."  Pyl  continued  to  treat 
the  King  in  the  manner  recommended  by  Van 
Goens.  Successive  embassies  were  sent,  both  from 
Colombo  and  from  Batavia,  to  secure  peace  and  to 
obtain  the  release  of  prisoners,  but  the  King  would 
not  grant  them  audience.  Lions,  tigers,  horses,  civet 
cats,  falcons,  Persian  sheep  and  rare  fowls  were 
offered  in  order  to  tempt  him  into  good  humour,  but 
none  of  these  had  any  effect.  The  peeling  of  cinna- 
mon was  permitted  till  the  whim  seized  the  King 
to  attack  and  drive  away  the  peelers,  when  an  hum- 
ble apology  from  Colombo  secured  a   further  preca- 


30  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

rious  permission.  There  were  rumours  that  armed 
forces  were  again  on  the  frontier,  and  in  conse- 
quence the  outposts  were  again  withdrawn,  and  the 
forts  of  Hanwella  and  Kalutara  strengthened.  It  was 
also  whispered  about  that  the  fierce  old  tyrant  had 
taken  to :  opium  or  to  drink.  At  last  in  1684  an 
ambassador  arrived  to  announce  the  King's  good 
health,  and  not  long  after  the  messengers  of  the 
Company  who  had  been  detained  so  long,  made 
their  appearance  with  numerous  presents.  However  no 
mention  was  made  of  the  return  of  the  prisoners,  the 
matter  regarding  which  there  was  so  much  anxiety 
on  the  part  of  the  Company. 

The  Sinhalese  now  resumed  possession  of  some 
of  the  Korales  which  the  Company  had  offered  to 
surrender,  as  well  as  of  the  salt  Lewayas  in  the 
South,  and  no  resistance  was  offered  to  their  doing 
so.  Pyl  adopted  a  most  conciliatory  attitude  ;  he  sent 
a  private  communication  to  the  King  admitting  that 
the  Company  had  done  wrong  in  retaining  Colombo, 
that  the  whole  Island  belonged  to  the  King,  and 
that  the  Hollanders  were  there  merely  for  the  pur- 
pose of  assisting  him  in  its  defence  He  even  de- 
scribed himself  as  the  King's  "faithful  and  humble 
Governor,"  and  Colombo  as  the  "King's  imperial  and 
invincible  castle."  The  effect  was  excellent  and  it  was 
soon  perceived  that  the  King,  whose  health  was 
known  to  be  in  a  precarious  condition,  had  softened. 
This  impression  was  strengthened  by  the  arrival  in  1686 
of  his  chief  High  Priest  on  a  visit  to  Pyl.  This 
dignitary  was  received  with  almost  royal  honours, 
and  so  effective  were  the  Governor's  powers  of  per- 
suasion that  warm  hopes  were  entertained  of  a  speedy 
settlement  of  the  question  of  the  prisoners.  A  beauti- 
ful jewelled  Medal  was  presented  by  Pyl  to  Navaratna 
ofMatara,  the  inheritor  of  a  great  name,  who  was 
the  Chief  Mudaliyar  and  Basnayaka  of  Colombo,  as 
a  token  of  his  appreciation  of  the  share  which 
the  Basnayaka  had  taken  in  the  negotiations. 


Death  of  Raja  Sinha  31 

The  expectations  thus  created  were  not  dis- 
appointed, and  in  May,  to  the  great  delight  of  the 
Hollanders,  the  King's  Adigar,  Aswala  Rala,  appeared 
with  a  long  train  of  released  prisoners. 

In  the  meantime  Hendrik  Adriaan  Van  Rheede 
who  had  been  appointed  High  Commissioner  for 
the  Indies,  had  arrived  at  Nagapatnam,  and  Pyl  went 
there  to  meet  him.  Raja  Sinha  was  suspicious  of 
his  having  done  so  without  any  notice  to  him,  and 
sent  Mattamagoda  Chetty  to  bring  him  back.  Van 
Rheede  was  prepared  to  make  numerous  concessions 
and  in  August  Pyl,  acting  on  his  directions,  offered 
to  the  King's  ambassadors  to  restore  all  the  territory 
occupied  since  1665 ;  but  they  replied  that  they  had 
no  authority  from  the  King  to  deal  with  that 
question. 

Raja  Sinha,  clear  headed  to  the  last,  realised 
that  his  end  was  not  far  off.  He  summoned 
a  Council  of  his  Ministers  at  Hanguranketa,  and  led 
before  them  a  gentle-faced  man,  whom  he  introduced 
as  the  Prince  Mahastana,  his  son,  and  heir  to  the 
Throne  of  Lanka.  The  secret  of  his  existence  had 
been  well  kept.  The  Ministers  were  silent ;  they 
were  incredulous  but  dared  not  display  any  sign  of 
hesitation.  It  is  said  that  the  terrible  Autocrat  had 
to  prostrate  himself  at  the  feet  of  his  son,  and 
swear  allegiance  to  him  as  King,  before  the  Minis- 
ters recognised  him. 

On  the  10th  of  December  two  ambassadors 
arrived  at  Colombo  to  announce  that  the  prince 
had  succeeded  to  the  Sinhalese  Throne.  A 
great  demonstration  of  joy  followed ;  the  slaves 
who  were  in  chains  were  released,  and  all  criminals 
condemned  to  death  or  to  be  lashed  were  pardoned. 
Five  days  later  fresh  ambassadors  arrived  with  the 
news  of  the  death  and  cremation  of  Raja  Sinha ; 
they  also  added  that  his  last  instructions  to  his  son 
were  to  remain  on  friendly  terms  with  Pyl,  who  he 


32  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

believed  was    not    an    untrustworthy    man    like  the 
other  Hollanders. 

On  the  23rd  of  December  1687  the  death 
of  the  late  King  was  observed  at  Colombo  by 
a  memorial  celebration,  accompanied  with  all  the 
funeral  pomp  so  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  Teuton. 
Long  lines  of  Lascarins,  companies  of  soldiers  and 
sailors  with  arms  reversed  and  trailing  pikes,  each 
company  preceded  by  a  field-piece  dragged  by  slaves, 
and  the  Governor's  guard  in  armour,  went  in  front 
of  the  trumpets  and  kettledrums  which  were  on 
horseback.  The  great  standard  of  the  King,  smaller 
standards,  his  personal  banner,  led  horses  covered 
with  black  velvet,  gilt  spurs,  gauntlets,  dagger,  hel- 
met, coat  of  mail,  etc,  came  next.  These  were  suc- 
ceeded by  a  coach  drawn  by  six  led  horses,  all 
hung  with  the  King's  device  of  the  Red  Lion  on  a 
gold  ground,  the  horse  of  State,  herald  in  armour, 
the  Sword  of  Sovereignty,  the  Crown  and  the  Sceptre, 
These  last  were  carried  on  cushions  by  noblemen 
and  were  guarded  by  halberdiers,  and  accompanied 
by  lighted  flambeaux.  Next  came  the  Governor, 
whose  train  of  six  ells  in  length  was  borne  by  a 
page,  with  the  Sinhalese  ambassador  by  his  side. 
The  Political  Council,  the  Ministers,  the  Council  of 
Justice,  and  other  officials  followed,  while  the  burg- 
hers and  domestics  brought  up  the  rear. 

This  long  procession  wended  its  way  to  the  Church 
where  the  insignia  remained  on  a  table  till  evening ;  then 
they  were  removed  under  three  vollies  of  musketry  and 
a  royal  salute  from  all  the  guns  in  the  city  and  the 
fort,  and  escorted  back  to  the  Governor's  house  with 
the  same  marks  of  distinction.  After  this  demon- 
tration  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  King  whose 
death  had  filled  them  with  exultation,  the  weary 
officers  were  regaled  with  spirits  and  wine  and 
allowed  to  return  to  their  homes. 


CHAPTER  III. 


On  the  10th  of  July  1688  the  Maha  Mohottiar 
arrived  from  the  Court  to  announce  that  on  the  27th 
of  the  previous  month  the  new  King  had  girded  on 
the  Sword  of  State;  he  brought  with  him  a  gun  of 
soHd  gold  as  a  present  for  the  Governor,  and  he 
was  accompanied  by  a  long  train  of  Hollanders  whom, 
with  their  wives  and  children,  the  King  had  been 
pleased  to  set  at  liberty.  On  the  15th  following  the 
new  King  was  proclaimed  from  the  balcony  of  the 
Council  House  under  the  name  of  Wimala  Daham 
Surya  Maha  Raja  amidst  great  shouts  of  "Long  live 
the  King";  a  display  of  fire-works  completed  the 
festivities. 

The  re-arrangement  of  Colombo  which  had 
begun  in  1656  was  now  complete,  and  the  original 
town,  now  known  as  the  Old  City  or  Oude  stad,  sepa- 
rated from  the  Castle.  The  former  in  the  main 
occupied  the  Pettahof  today,  and  was  divided  into 
twelve  squares ;  in  the  centre  was  the  graveyard, 
round  two  sides  of  which  ran  the  public  market, 
where  anything  from  a  slave  to  a  betel  leaf  could 
be  purchased.  On  the  east  and  south  the  town  was 
strongly  defended  by  ramparts  and  the  lake,  which 
teemed  with  crocodiles;  the  only  entrance  was  on 
the  North-east  corner,  iDy  the  Negombo  gate,  while 
the  adjacent  sea  shore  was  used  as  a  fish  market. 
The  buildings  within  the  walls  were  chiefly  of  Portu- 
guese construction,  and  the  residents  included  several 
Europeans  with  their  Sinhalese  or  Mestico  wives. 
Outside  the  walls  there  was  thick  jungle  running  in 
the  direction  of  Wolvendahl,    the  Agoa    de  Lopo   of 

the  Portuguese. 

5 


34  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

The  Castle  itself  was  separated  from  the  Old  City 
by  a  broad  stretch  of  marshy  ground  terminating  in 
the  moat  into  which  the  original  outlet  of  the  lake 
had  been  converted,  and  was  protected  on  three  sides 
by  the  lake,  the  sea,  and  the  bay  respectively.  A 
causeway  connected  the  Castle  with  the  Old  City; 
on  the  South  West  ran  the  road  to  Galle  through 
the  Galle  Gate,  while  the  Water  Gate  led  down  by 
twenty  steps,  into  the  Bay.  Within  the  Castle  and 
facing  the  Bay  was  the  Governor's  house,  and  close 
to  it  was  the  house  reserved  for  the  accommodation 
of  Sinhalese  Ambassadors.  Most  of  the  officials  resi- 
ded within  the  walls,  though  the  finest  street  was 
curiously  enough  occupied  mainly  by  Tupasses  and 
Sinhalese.  The  five  bastions  of  the  Castle  were  of 
cabook,  and  a  canal  ran  within  the  fortifications  and 
alongside  the  eastern  rampart.  Vessels  were  obliged 
to  anchor  a  couple  of  miles  away  in  consequence 
of  the  sand  bar    at    the  entrance  to    the    harbour. 

The  plans  which  the  Company  had  formed  for  a 
hostile  demonstration  on  the  frontiers  at  the  death 
of  Raja  Sinha  were  left  in  abeyance,  for  its  officials 
believed  that  they  could  obtain  all  they  desired  by 
diplomatic  pressure  on  his  inexperienced  successor. 
They  assumed  the  position  that  all  treaty  obligations 
entered  into  with  the  late  King,  as  well  as  the  offer 
made  to  him  to  restore  the  territory  occupied  since 
1665,  were  no  longer  binding ;  but  they  soon  received 
a  rude  awakening.  Pyl  had  declared  that  all  the 
Island  belonged  to  the  Sinhalese  King,  and  one  of  the 
first  .'acts  of  Wimala  Daham  Surya  was  to  send  an 
ambassador  with  his  Sannas  granting  the  historic  port 
of  Weligama  to  Navaratna,  accompanied  by  a  request 
that  the  Sannas  should  be  delivered  to  the  Basnayaka 
before  the  full  Council. 

The  Councillors  were  in  consternation ;  they 
hastened  to  explain  that  when  they  had  described 
the  Hollanders  as  the  servants  of  the  King,  they  did 
not  mean  anything  more  than  that  they  were  there 


The  New  Policy  35 

to  render  the  King  service.  It  was  impossible  for 
the  Sannas  to  be  regarded  as  effective;  some  evil 
disposed  person,  they  said,  must  have  suggested  the 
granting  of  the  port  in  order  to  annoy  the  Com- 
pany; and  they  hinted  that  as  a  matter  of  fact  the 
King  was  largely  in  their  debt  for  the  services  they 
had  rendered  against  the  Portuguese.  However  after 
much  agitated  discussion  they  agreed  to  the  Sannas 
being  formally  presented  as  requested,  but  at  the 
same  time  Navaratna  was  privately  instructed  to 
return  it  to  the    Political    Secretary. 

It  was  soon  discovered  that  the  King  did  not  pro- 
pose to  rule  autocratically,  as  his  father  had  done.  He 
apparently  had  spent  his  time  since  1664  in  a  temple, 
and  he  had  the  good  sense  to  allow  himself  to  be  guided 
by  Ministers,  including  his  Maha  Nayaka,  who  under- 
stood the  Company  much  better  than  he  did;  and 
he  had  also  the  valuable  advice  of  de  LanaroUe. 
The  attitude  taken  up  by  the  Court  was  very  sim- 
ple: the  ports  of  Ceylon  must  be  thrown  open 
and  the  Company  must  surrender  all  the  territory 
occupied  since  1665,  and  from  this  position  the  Min- 
isters were  not  prepared  to  stir. 

The  Hollanders,  acting  under  the  advice  of 
the  High  Commissioner  van  Rheede,  tried  what  would 
today  be  described  as  bluff.  They  had  made  up 
their  minds  that  under  no  circumstances  could  the 
trade  of  Ceylon  be  thrown  open  to  their  rivals. 
They  declared  that  the  King  must  enter  into  a  fresh 
treaty  with  them  and  the  whole  question  of  the 
occupied  territory  must  be  discussed  anew.  They 
accordingly  submitted  the  terms  which  they  proposed 
as  the  basis  of  the  new  treaty,  specially  reserving 
for  themselves  the  exclusive  and  unhampered  trade 
with  the  Sinhalese  Kingdom,  as  well  as  the  right 
to  collect  cinnamon  within  the  King's  dominions, 
subject  to  the  payment  to  him  of  a  yearly  subsidy ; 
they  also  suggested  that  the  occupied  territories 
should  either  be  held  by  them  as  security  for  their 


36  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

alleged  claim    against    the  King,  or    be    transferred 
to  them  absolutely  in  full  discharge  of  all  such  claims. 

However  "His  Imperial  Majesty,"  as  they  insisted 
on  addressing  Wimala  Dharma,  was  in  no  hurry ;  the 
terms  were  carefully  considered  and  were  not  found 
acceptable.  The  Ministers  denied  that  the  Company 
was  entitled  to  make  any  claim  against  the  King's 
Treasury ;  he  was  willing  to  grant  them  the  required 
permission  for  gathering  cinnamon,  but  as  to  the 
rest  he  desired  first  to  see  the  Governor  personally. 
This  did  not  suit  the  Company,  and  a  reply  was 
sent  that  Pyl  could  not  under  standing  orders  leave 
the  Company's  lands  unless  a  suitable  substitute  was 
available  to  take  his  place ;  but  from  this  date  began 
the  custom  of  sending  every  year  an  ambassador  to 
Court  with  the  promised  subsidy,  in  order  to  receive 
formal  permission  for  the  peelers  to  enter  the  Sin- 
halese Kingdom. 

The  Hollanders  were  not  feeling  comfortable. 
The  people  of  the  Low  Country  were  going  in  large 
numbers  to  Court  to  receive  titles  and  distinctions 
from  the  King,  as  Suzerain,  and  even  Navaratna 
had  in  consequence  of  his  too  frequent  correspon- 
dence with  the  King's  Ministers,  become  an  object 
of  suspicion.  In  order  to  avoid  unpleasantness  they 
deemed  it  advisable  quietly  to  evacuate  the  mountain 
Korales,  as  well  as  the  Three  Korales,  which  were 
nearly  devoid  of  inhabitants.  These  were  taken 
possession  of  immediately  on  behalf    of  the  King. 

Religious  questions  complicated  the  situation,  for 
the  King  was  devoted  to  Buddhism,  and  within  the  Com- 
pany's territory  there  were  shrines  which  commanded 
the  reverence  of  all  Buddhists.  Kelaniya  had 
never  lost  the  sanctity  which  the  visit  of  Gautama 
Buddha  had  conferred  on  it,  and  crowds  still 
assembled  from  the  King's  dominions  to  worship 
at  Mulgiri  Gala.  This  latter  was  a  superb  mountain 
temple  situated  not  many  miles  to    the  North    East 


Revival  of  Buddhism  37 

of  Matar^ ;  its  sanctity  dated  from  the  earliest  times 
of  the  Sinhalese  and  fresh  glamour  had  been  cast 
round  it  by  the  belief  which  the  Europeans  enter- 
tained that  Adam  and  Eve  were  buried  there. 

In  1682  repressive  legislation  had  been  passed 
by  Pyl  with  a  view  to  check  heathenism  and  to 
encourage  Christianity,  and  in  consequence  there  were 
nearly  25,000  professing  Christians  in  the  Colombo 
Disawani.  The  clergy  however  were  fain  to  admit 
that  their  religion  was  very  nominal  and  that  many 
professed  Christianity  from  worldly  motives,  to  derive 
advantages  from  the  Christian  Government. 

What  alarmed  them  above  all  was  the  increas- 
ing activity  of  the  Buddhists  which  manifested  itself 
as  more  and  more  people  who  had  been  driven  into 
the  mountains  by  order  of  Raja  Sinha,  began  to  re- 
turn to  the  Pata  Rata.  Acting  it  is  said  on  a  hint 
from  Colombo,  the  King  even  sent  a  demand  for  the 
rebuilding  of  the  dagobas  in  the  Low  Country,  the 
return  of  the  temporalities  which  had  belonged 
to  them  under  the  Sinhalese  Kings,  and  freedom  of 
worship  to  all  Sinhalese. 

The  Company  was  afraid  to  interfere  with  the 
Buddhists  at  Kelaniya,  for  it  would  not  risk  the 
peace  it  craved  for  by  incurring  the  displeasure  of 
the  powerful  Gane  Bandar,  or  Maha  Nayaka.  The 
clergy  were  scandalised,  for  they  had  great  faith  in 
the  efficiency  of  the  civil  arm  in  supporting  the 
Church.  What,  said  they,  was  the  use  of  repressive 
legislation  elsewhere,  when  Buddhism  was  allowed 
unchecked  almost  within  hearing  of  Colombo  ?  How- 
ever the  civil  authorities  would  not  go  with  them; 
they  would  punish  professing  Christians  who  took 
part  in  heathen  worship,  but  they  were  not  prepared 
to  forbid  the  exercise  of  their  religion  by  the  heathen. 
The  clergy  therefore  adopted  the  policy  which 
had  been  followed  by  the  Portuguese  before  them, 
and  converted  a  maduwa  which    stood  close  to    the 


38  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

ruins  of  the  ancient  dagoba  at  Kelaniya,  into  a  school. 
This  however  had  no  effect  in  reducing  the  crowds 
which  attended  the  festivals,  whereupon  they  urged 
that  a  place  of  Christian  worship  should  be  establish- 
ed there,  and  in  1692  received  permission  to  do  so. 

Meanwhile  the  King  demanded  that  all  the 
Company's  territory  except  the  coast  forts  should  be 
returned  to  him,  and  repeated  attempts  were  made 
by  vessels  flying  his  flag  to  sail  out  of  Puttalam. 
War  seemed  inevitable  and  the  Hollanders  began  to 
argue  that  their  title  to  what  they  occupied  arose 
not  from  contract  with  the  King,  but  from  conquest 
over  the  Portuguese,  who  had  received  the  same 
under  the  donation  of  Dharmapala.  They  determined 
to  maintain  their  rights  by  force  if  required,  and 
while  strengthening  their  outposts,  kept  a  careful 
eye  on  all  the  highborn  Sinhalese  within  their  juris- 
diction. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  annual  subsidy  was  sent 
to  the  King,  though  it  was  not  always  that  this 
was  accepted,  for  sometimes  the  presents  were  left 
abandoned  on  the  road.  No  cinnamon  could  be 
collected  in  1690,  but  in  the  following  year  after  a 
long  interval  a  pearl  fishery,  the  first  of  a  profitable 
series,  again  contributed  to  swell  the  Company's 
chest.  Pyl  was  anxious  to  return  home;  neverthe- 
less in  deference  to  the  express  wishes  of  the  King, 
he  consented  to  remain  in  oflice  while  the  negocia 
tions  dragged  on;  nothing  however  came  of  them, 
and  in  February  1692  he  handed  over  the  adminis- 
tration to  Thomas  Van  Rhee,  who  had  already  seen 
much  service  in  the  Island. 

Obsequiousness  and  tact  enabled  the  new 
Governor  to  administer  the  occupied  districts  for  a 
period  of  five  years  with  much  less  friction  than 
Pyl  had  experienced.  The  peeHng  of  cinnamon  was 
freely  permitted,  and  the  collection  was  so  large 
that    the     surplus    left    over    after     providing    the 


Cinnamon  39 

yearly  fleet  with  full  cargos,  was  burnt  in  order  to 
prevent  a  glut  in  the  market.  The  Chalias  however 
proved  themselves  as  turbulent  as  they  always  had 
a  reputation  for  being,  and  the  majority  of  them 
fled  within  the  King's  dominions,  complaining  of 
oppression  at  the  hands  of  their  officers.  Their 
work  was  of  the  most  arduous  kind,  and  even 
when  there  was  no  opposition  by  the  King's  subjects, 
the  danger  to  which  they  were  exposed  in  collecting 
the  spice  in  the  elephant-haunted  forests,  was  very 
great. 

The  King  ordered  them  to  go  back,  but  it 
was  necessary  to  keep  them  in  good  humour;  they 
were  given  a  supply  of  rice,  salt  and  arrack  when 
they  started  on  their  collecting  round,  and  each 
man  received  in  addition  a  small  present  when  he 
delivered  the  amount  for  which  he  was  liable.  The 
distribution  of  the  presents  was  celebrated  by  a 
fantastic  dance  by  men  wearing  hideous  or  grotesque 
masks,  a  ceremony  still  popular  in  the  South.  They 
were  further  allowed  free  passage  over  the  ferries, 
with  the  right  to  bring  their  produce  for  sale  in 
the  town  without  payment  of  duty,  and  to  help 
themselves  to  the  salt  at  the  Lewayas  after  the  Raja- 
kariya  was  duly  performed. 

A  severe  drought  which  prevailed  throughout 
1694  and  1695  caused  much  hardship  to  the  inhabi- 
tants, and  loss  of  tythes  to  the  Company.  The 
elphant  trade,  which  was  still  conducted  on  the  lines 
laid  down  by  the  Sinhalese  Kings,  was  yielding 
good  profits.  The  elephants  which  were  captured  by 
the  Etbandana  Rala  in  the  four  kraals  which  were 
maintained  in  the  South,  were  collected  at  the  Stalls 
at  Matara,  which  were  under  the  charge  of  the 
Gajanayaka,  and  had  to  be  fed  with  coconut  branches, 
plantain  trees,  and  grass  from  the  surrounding 
villages  so  long  as  they  were  kept  on  the  Company's 
account. 


40  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

This  was  a  severe  tax  on  the  inhabitants,  who 
were  greatly  rejoiced  when  a  new  system  was 
introduced  for  transporting  the  animals  by  sea  to 
Kangesanturai,  to  be  sold  at  Jaffna  along  with  those 
captured  by  means  of  nooses  and  pits  in  the  North. 
The  liability  to  supply  the  coconut  branches  was 
now  shared  with  the  Jaffna  people;  this  unfortu- 
nately in  combination  with  the  drought  so  affected 
the  trees  there,  that  the  export  of  coconuts  ceased,  the 
province  could  no  longer  supply  the  oil  which  was 
required  for  the  service  of  the  Company,  and  the 
deficiency  had  to  be  made  good  by  importation 
from  Malabar. 

The  areca  trade  from  which  the  Governor 
drew  heavy  perquisites  was  flourishing,  but  the 
evils  of  the  system  initiated  by  the  Portuguese 
still  continued.  Lands  which  did  not  contain  a 
single  tree  had  to  supply  a  fixed  quantity  at  the 
nominal  figure  of  four  larins  the  amunam  of  24,000 
nuts.  The  deficiency  of  any  one  year  was  carried 
forward  as  a  balance  due  for  the  next,  and  in  a 
short  time  the  burden  became  so  intolerable  that 
the  owners  preferred  to  abandon  their  lands  and 
flee  the  country.  In  addition  to  this  supply  the 
Company  purchased  all  the  areca  in  the  market  at 
nine  larins,  and  in  some  cases  insisted  on  28,000 
nuts  being  counted  for  the  amunam,  the  excess  of 
4,000,  known  as  Crescentie  nuts,  being  the  Governor's 
perquisite.  There  were  also  certain  Muttetu  gardens 
belonging  to  the  Company,  the  crop  of  which  was 
collected  on  its  account  free  of  cost. 

For  some  time  Jaffna  had  been  a  source  of 
anxiety.  The  Tombo  prepared  in  1646  under  the 
orders  of  Dom  Philippe  Mascarenhas  had  been  badly 
handled  and  only  fragments  of  it  remained.  Accor- 
dingly a  new  Tombo  was  commenced  in  1675,  and 
its  preparation  soon  created  intense  irritation.  The 
people  complained  that  the  lacham,  the  unit  of  land 
measurement  according  to  which  the   land  tax    was 


Trouble  in  Jaffna  41 

assessed,  and  which  is  the  sixteenth  part  of  an 
EngHsh  acre,  was  computed  as  four  instead  of  eight 
sowing  measures ;  that  lands  which  had  been  exempted 
from  the  old*  Tombo  were  included  in  the  new; 
and  that  a  fresh  tax  had  been  imposed  on  the  few 
arecanut  trees  which  their  barren  soil  supported. 

The  Company  was  also  alarmed  at  the  power 
the  Wellales  had  acquired  as  the  result  of  its 
patronage.  Don  Philip  Changarapillai,  the  broker  of 
the  powerful  Indian  elephant  merchants  whose  good- 
will was  of  such  importance,  was  the  leader  of  the 
caste,  and  so  great  was  his  influence  that  all  posi- 
tions of  authority  were  disposed  of  according  to  his 
wishes.  It  is  true  that  he  came  into  collision  with 
Pyl  when  Commandeur,  and  the  latter  gave  orders 
that  he  and  all  his  relatives  should  be  arrested  and 
sent  to  Colombo  in  chains.  Changarapillai  however 
escaped  to  Nagapatnam,  from  where  he  soon  returned 
with  greater  authority  than  ever.  The  Company 
therefore  resorted  to  the  favourite  device  of  patro- 
nising another  caste,  the  Madapallys,  to  counter- 
balance and  serve  as  a  spy  on  the  Wellales,  with 
the  result  that  the  latter  made  common  cause  with 
the  Wannias,  who  in  their  turn  were  showing  them- 
selves more  and  more  restive  under  the  slight  con- 
trol which  the  Company  exercised    over    them. 

The  people  of  Jaffna  were  liable  to  provide 
a  large  quantity  of  palmyra  timber  at  a  nominal  price, 
and  the  Commandeur  received  certain  perquisites  from 
its  export.  The  Tamil  proverb  says  that  the 
tree  lasts  a  thousands  years  in  life  and  a  thousand 
years  in  death,  and  the  demand  for  this  durable 
timber  was  so  great  that  the  valuable  female  trees 
which  alone  yielded  fruit  and  also  supplied  the  most 
toddy  and  the  best  timber,  were  greatly  reduced  in 
number,  thus  seriously  threatening  the  main  source 
of  the  food  supply  of  the  people. 


42  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

One  of  the  most  attractive  qualities  of  the 
Tamil  man  of  Jaffna  has  been  always  his  passionate 
attachment  to  the  soil  of  his  country.  Geologically 
but  of  recent  origin,  the  surface  consists  of  a  thin 
layer  of  sand  resting  on  a  stratum  of  coral  and 
limestone.  The  spots  which  are  marked  by 
any  degree  of  natural  fertility  are  few  and  eagerly 
sought  after,  and  no  cultivation  can  be  satisfactorily 
raised  till  a  soil  has  been  artificially  created  first 
by  breaking  up  the  hard  substratum  with  infinite 
labour. 

The  pride  of  the  Wellala  always  has  been 
his  skill  as  a  cultivator.  The  manner  in  which  he 
handles  his  spade  differentiates  him  at  once  from 
the  hireling.  Long  before  sunrise  and  long  after 
sunset  the  best  of  them  may  be  seen  working  on 
the  field,  while  their  wives  and  daughters,  so  grace- 
ful in  the  perfect  draperies  and  beautiful  jewels 
which  they  have  the  good  taste  to  prefer  to  impor- 
ted skirts  and  hats,  help  to  lead  the  water  drawn 
from  the  well  to  every  cultivated  patch.  The  wants 
of  the  Tamil  man  are  fewer  even  than  those  of  the 
Sinhalese,  and  all  his  savings  are  invested  in  land, 
and  that  in  his  own  limited  peninsula.  The  result 
is  that  the  soil  of  Jaffna  has  always  commanded  an 
exaggerated  and  ever-increasing  price,  and  by  1695 
it  was  reported  that  this  had  increased  fivefold  since 
the     expulsion    of    the    Portuguese. 

However  this  craving  for  land  had  another  side. 
All  through  the  country  there  had  existed  at  one  time 
village  tanks  formed  by  the  native  Kings.  In  every  direc- 
tion there  had  been  roads,  for  Jaffna  by  its  nature  always 
was  and  always  will  be  the  best  roaded  portion  of 
Ceylon.  Both  tanks  and  roads  had  been  neglected 
utterly  by  the  Portuguese,  and  in  the  case  of  the 
tanks  at  least  that  neglect  has  continued  up  to  the 
present  day.  The  result  was  that  the  tanks  were 
gradually  filled  up  and  encroached  upon  by  adjoining 


The  Ports  Opened  43 

villagers,  while  the  more  influential  and  powerful 
inhabitants  began  to  claim  them  as  their  private 
property.  Pyl  in  1687  had  declared  that  all  tanks 
belonged  to  the  public,  but  the  interests  affected, 
especially  those  of  Changarapillai's  family,  were  too 
powerful  for  him,  and  nothing  could  be  done  to 
remedy  the  unsatisfactory  state  of  things. 

With  a  sure  instinct  for  what  was  in  harmony 
with  his  brilliant  sky,  the  Tamil  loved  to  wear  cloths 
of  red ;  the  Company  however  found  that  to  gratify 
this  taste,  the  cloth  dyers  stole  the  chaya  ver,  or 
dye  root,  which  was  issued  to  them  on  account  of 
the  Company,  and  in  consequence  the  wearing  of 
red  cloth  was  forbidden.  The  drought  had  affected 
the  supply  of  rice,  and  though  attempts  were  made 
to  attract  the  Bengal  Moors  who  traded  in  it  to 
Jaffna,  these  had  not  been  successful  and  there  was 
much  hardship  experienced  by  the  people.  Over  3500 
slaves  were  imported  to  assist  in  developing  the  rice 
cultivation  of  the  North,  but  the  local  supply  always 
proved  unequal  to  the  demand.  All  these  matters 
created  a  condition  of  unrest  which  led  to  open 
rioting  in  1696;  the  position  had  to  be  cautiously 
handled,  and  Changarapillai's  son,  for  the  father  was 
now  dead,  was  mollified  by  the  present  of  a  horse  and 
an  umbrella  of  state,  as  the  chief  of  the  highest  caste. 

The  persistency  of  the  Sinhalese  at  last  found 
its  reward,  and  in  1696  Kalpitiya  and  Kottiar  were 
thrown  open  to  the  Indian  traders,  the  forts  at  Batti- 
caloa  and  Trincomalee  being  at  the  same  time 
converted  into  petty  outposts.  European  vessels  how- 
ever were  not  permitted  in  the  Company's  ports  except 
to  take  in  such  a  stock  of  food  and  water  as  they 
might  need.  The  Court  was  very  much  gratified, 
and  the  gratification  was  increased  when  the  Company 
agreed  to  place  a  vessel  at  the  King's  disposal  to 
fetch  a  Chapter  of  priests  from  Arrakan. 

At  the  death  of  Raja  Sinha  things  were  in  a 
very  bad  way  with  the  priesthood,  and  it  was  declared 


44  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

that  there  were  not  to  be  found  in  the  country  five 
ordained  priests  of  godly  Hfe.  From  the  commencement 
of  his  reign  Wimala  Daham  Surya,  who  had  erected 
a  new  three-storied  Mahgawa  for  the  Tooth  Rehc,  had 
invited  the  Company  to  assist  him  in  securing  the 
priests  who  were  necessary  to  re-estabhsh  the  Maha 
Vihare  succession,  just  as  his  great  namesake  had 
done  at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  At  last  the 
arrangements  were  completed;  two  embassies  were 
sent,  and  the  second,  consisting  of  five  ambassadors, 
returned  in  1697  with  two  high  priests  and  thirty- 
four  ordinary  priests,  and  an  Ordination  was  solemnly 
performed  at  Getambe. 

The  effect  of  this  reasonable  attitude  on  the 
part  of  the  Company  was  soon  visible.  The  most 
cordial  relations  were  maintained  till  the  death  of 
the  King ;  the  peeling  of  cinnamon  was  allowed  right 
up  to  Balane  Kanda,  the  limit  of  the  Pata  Rata ; 
deserters,  whether  lascarins  or  Chalias,  were  sent 
back  to  the  coast;  and  not  even  the  anxiety  of  the 
Sinhalese  to  attract  all  the  trade  they  could  to 
Puttalam  and  Kottiar  was  sufiicient  to  mar  the  pre- 
vailing harmony.  The  question  of  a  fresh  treaty  was 
allowed  to  sink  into  oblivion,  as  matters  were  found 
to  work  to  everybody's  satisfaction  without  the 
sanction  of  any  formal  document. 

The  King  hated  war  with  an  intense  hatred, 
and  fortunately  for  his  people  once  again  after  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  the  influence  of  a  peace- 
loving  priesthood  was  making  itself  felt  in  the  counsels 
of  his  Ministers.  Two  Adigars,  five  Maha  Disawas 
and  seven  Suludisawas,  were  responsible  for  the 
administration  of  the  country.  There  were  seven 
Mohottiars,  who  were  mainly  concerned  with  matters 
of  revenue.  Nominally  each  Mohottiar  was  responsible 
for  a  regiment  of  900  Lascarins  officered  by  Muhand- 
irams,   but  the  reaction  after   the    truculent  attitude 


The  King's  Attitude  45 

of  Raja  Sinha  was  so   great,    that    military    matters 
were  neglected. 

The  King's  guards  were  armed  mainly  with 
pikes,  there  were  barely  a  thousand  men  who  knew 
how  to  use  a  musket,  and  there  was  no  one  who 
could  manage  the  cannon  which  still  existed.  These 
last  had  been  increased  in  number  by  the  guns  of 
a  vessel  which  had  been  stranded  on  the  Eastern 
coast.  The  three  hundred  tusked  elephants  of  the 
King  were  maintained  chiefly  for  ceremonial  purposes 
and  were  kept  distributed  among  the  temples.  There 
was  perfect  friendliness  on  the  frontiers,  and  the 
unhappy  Sinhalese  could  at  last  thank  heaven  for 
the  blessings  of  peace,  and  obtain  for  themselves 
something  more  than  the  barest  necessities  of  life. 

The  King  was  quite  content ;  he  addressed  the 
Governor  as  one  of  his  Dugganna  Ralas,  and  Gerrit 
de  Heere,  who  succeeded  van  Rhee  in  1697,  continued 
to  subscribe  himself  from  "His  Majesty's  Castle  of 
Colombo".  When  this  Governor  died  the  King  sent 
anxious  directions  that  good  care  should  be  taken  to 
protect  the  interests  of  the  Company,  and  that  all 
the  stations  should  be  guarded  till  the  arrival  of  a 
successor. 

"The  Honourable  and  Most  Esteemed  Lords"  the 
Seventeen  Directors  who  managed  the  affairs  of  the 
Company  from  Europe,  had  expressed  their  disapproval 
of  the  excessively  servile  attitude  adopted  by  Pyl, 
and  directed  that  terms  of  address  unbecoming  to 
Christians  should  not  be  employed  towards  the  King, 
who  still  described  himself  as  divine;  every  respect, 
however,  was  to  be  paid  to  him.  This  instruction  was 
interpreted  in  a  generous  spirit ;  for  instance  a  ram 
which  was  sent  as  a  present  to  the  King  was  escorted 
for  four  miles  from  Jaffna  by  the  Disawa  and  other 
officials,  with  companies  of  soldiers  and  lascarins, 
after  being  saluted  with  three  vollies  of  musketry 
and  thirteen  guns  from  the  Castle. 


46  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

After  an  experience  of  fifty  years,  the  Company 
was  obliged  to  admit  that  the  question  of  the 
Administration  of  Justice,  the  importance  of  which 
was  fully  recognised  by  it,  had  not  been  satisfactorily 
answered.  This  was  especially  the  case  in  the  North, 
where  litigation  was  the  favourite  diversion  among  a 
people  whose  intellect,  if  not  broad,  was  peculiarly  keen 
and  subtle,  and  whose  character  was  marked  by  a 
persistency  which  could  not  easily  be  discouraged. 
Cases  which  had  been  disposed  of  in  Portuguese 
times  would  be  re-opened,  and  the  appearance  of  a 
new  Commandeur  served  as  an  excellent  excuse  for 
bringing  up   his  predecessor's  decisions  in  review. 

The  neglect  which  had  been  shown  in  the 
preservation  of  Court  records  aggravated  this  unfor- 
tunate tendency.  The  customs  prevailing  in  the  coun- 
try, and  which  had  to  be  observed  in  deciding  on  the 
rights  of  parties,  were  obscure  and  often  unintelligi- 
ble to  the  officers  who  were  entrusted  with  the 
duty  of  interpreting  them.  These  men  were  usually 
well-intentioned  and  were  probably  honest,  but  the 
Company's  servants  were  poor  Lawyers,  and  as  a 
rule  there  were  no  law-books  provided  for  the  use 
of  the  Courts.  Some  form  of  codification  therefore 
was  urgently  required.  The  condition  of  the  Raad 
Van  Justitie  at  Colombo,  which  was  the  highest  Court 
of  Appeal  in  the  Island,  was  little  better,  and  the 
Statutes  of  Batavia  and  the  Local  Placaats,  according 
to  which  Justice  had  to  be  administered,  were  not 
familiar  to  its  members.  The  irregularities  of 
Proctors  in  matters  of  procedure  were  a  cause  of 
complaint  even  at  this  time. 

It  was  probably    in    view    of    these     admitted 
deficiencies  that  Cornells  Joan  Simons,   who  was    at 
the  time  Vice-President  of  the  High  Court  at  Batavia 
and  who  had  also  the  advantage  of  a  legal  training 
at  one  of  the  Universities  of  the    Netherlands,    was 


Administration  of  Justice  47 

appointed  Governor.  Under  his  orders  a  careful  register 
was  prepared  of  the  Regulations  issued  from  the 
Netherlands  as  well  as  from  Batavia  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  and  a  convenient  summary  was 
drawn  up  of  the  Placaats ;  this  latter  was  to  be  read 
out  in  public  every  year  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Fiscal. 

At  the  same  time  Claas  Isaaksz,  Disawa  of 
Jaffna,  who  had  thirty-five  years  experience  in  Ceylon, 
was  directed  by  Simons  to  make  a  collection  of  the 
Customs  of  the  Tamil  country,  a  work  at  which  he 
was  engaged  for  nearly  three  years.  The  collection 
when  completed  was  referred  to  twelve  Tamil  Muda- 
liyars,  all  highborn  men  bearing  the  Portuguese  title 
of  Don,  and  was  then  by  an  order  of  the  4th  of 
June  1707,  adopted  as  an  authoritative  statement  of 
the  Thesawalamai  or  Customary  law  of  the  country. 
The  Collection,  with  its  quaint  reminiscences  of 
ancient  matriarchal  rights  and  joint  family  property, 
its  traces  of  a  lofty  code  of  morality  where  woman 
was  entitled  to  the  first  consideration,  and  it  was  a 
point  of  honour  for  the  son  to  take  on  himself 
the  unsecured  debts  of  his  deceased  father,  is  full 
of  interest  to  the  student  of  social  customs,  and  is 
still  observed  as  the  law  in  matters  of  inheritance, 
mortgage,  etc.  Moreover  in  1704  the  Seventy  Six 
Rules  and  Orders  which  prevailed  in  Jaffna  were 
collected  together  and  formally  declared  to  be  oper- 
ative. 

The  peaceful  and  unexciting  reign  of  Wimala 
Dharma  Surya  which  had  proved  such  a  blessing  to 
the  Island,  was  drawing  to  a  close.  To  the  end  he 
maintained  the  friendliest  relations  with  the  Company, 
and  even  wrote  to  ackowledge  the  care  with  which 
they  guarded  the  shores  of  Ceylon.  Presents  of  curios 
from  Nuremberg,  tea  from  China,  and  horses  from  Persia, 
served  to  keep  him  amused,  while  his  ambassadors 
were    gratified    by    the    four-in-hands     which    were 


48  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

maintained  especially  for  their  conveyance  when  they 
visited  Colombo,  as  their  residence  had  been  shifted  to 
Wolvendahl  from  the  Castle.  The  Company's  vessels 
were  always  at  his  disposal  to  convey  his  messengers 
to  India ;  thus  in  1706  an  embassy  was  sent  to 
fetch  a  Princess  from  Madura  as  a  bride  for  his 
son,  whose  own  mother  came  from  that  country.  In 
May  of  the  next  year  he  went  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
worship  the  Footprint  of  the  Buddha  on  Samanala 
Kanda,  offering  at  the  shrine  a  great  parasol  of  silver ; 
and  having  thus  acquired  Merit  he  peacefully  passed 
away  on  the  fourth  of  the  following  month,  genuinely 
lamented  by  everyone. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  new  King,  who  assumed  the  Sword  of 
State  the  following  year  under  the  name  of  Sri 
Wira  Narendra  Sinha,  was  a  boy  of  seventeen  years, 
regarding  whom  little  was  known  except  that  he 
was  said  to  have  a  violent  temper.  The  Nayaker 
of  Madura  also  was  an  inexperienced  minor,  while 
the  Thever  was  a  debauched  old  dotard.  Hendrik 
Becker  succeeded  Simons  at  Colombo,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity was  considered  favourable  for  carrying  out 
the  instructions  which  had  been  received  from  the 
Netherlands  five  years  before,  once  more  to  close 
the  ports  against  the  Indian  trade.  This  was  done, 
and  at  the  same  time  permission  was  obtained  from 
the  Thever  to  place  a  garrison  at  Paumben  to  pre- 
vent European  vessels  from  proceeding  coastwise  by 
that  passage. 

Violent  opposition  was  expected  from  the  Court, 
for  the  Sinhales2  had  been  reaping  much  advantage 
from  the  trade  which  had  been  opened  to  them ;  but 
to  the  surprise  of  everyone  little  notice  was  taken 
of  this  new  measure.  Harmonious  relations  were 
maintained,  and  Becker  was  able  during  the  nine 
years  of  his  administration  to  devote  himself  to  the 
re-organisation  of  the  Company's  affairs  without  any 
interruption. 

His  previous  service  in  the  country  had  given 
him  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  various  exist- 
ing evils  which  called  for  reform,  and  he  was 
determined  not  to  rely  on  the  information  of  lazy, 
prejudiced,  or  dishonest  subordinates,  but  to  inquire  into 

7 


50  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

every  matter  personally,  and,  as  he  said,  to  "lift  the 
veil  from  the  subtle  mysteries  presented  before  the  eyes 
of  rulers  by  dishonest  servants." 

Things  were  in  a  serious  condition,  for  the 
canker  which  had  destroyed  the  rule  of  the  Portu- 
guese had  set  in  among  the  Company's  officers,  who 
had  shown  themselves  too  weak  to  resist  the  numer- 
ous temptations  for  the  illicit  acquisition  of  wealth. 
Once  again  arecanut  proved  the  sorest  trial,  and  the 
officials  were  found  busily  employed  in  trading  in 
this  article  in  competition  with  the  Company.  The 
best  arecanut  in  the  market  was  bought  in  for  them  ; 
forestallers  waylaid  the  men  from  the  Sinhalese  king- 
dom who  brought  the  stuff  for  sale,  forced  them  to 
sell  it  at  low  figures,  or  harassed  them  from  place 
to  place ;  vessels  calling  for  arecanut  were  supplied 
with  what  belonged  to  them,  while  the  property  of 
the  Company  rotted  in  the  godowns  and  had  to  be 
burnt 

An  extensive  system  of  smuggling  was  at  the 
same  time  carried  on  along  the  coast.  The  cloth 
trade,  a  monopoly  from  which  the  Company  expected 
so  much,  was  being  ruined  by  the  Small  Company 
which  the  officials  had  formed  to  carry  on  a  rival 
business.  All  these  malpractices  had  to  be  put  down 
with  a  severe  hand.  There  were  grave  scand- 
als in  the  administration  of  the  Colombo  Disawani, 
which  had  to  be  thoroughly  purified. 

The  condition  of  things  in  connection  with  the 
cultivation  of  rice  in  the  Matara  Disawani  was  even 
worse.  Little  of  the  rice  to  which  the  Company  was 
entitled  reached  the  stores ;  the  best  of  its  lands  were 
cultivated  for  the  benefit  of  the  inhabitants  and  not 
of  the  Company,  while  the  powerful  Mudaliyars  had 
obtained  for  themselves  immense  tracts  by  way  of 
Badavedili.  Lands  were  being  occupied  on  all  sides 
without  any  show  of  title  and  without  any  payment 
of  rent.  A  Hollander  who  had  been  appointed  Master 


Refortns  51 

of  the  Sowing  was  perhaps  the  gratest  knave  of  all, 
and  in  addition  he  was  found  to  be  interfering  with 
the  effective  working  of  the  Elephant  Department, 
which  was  in  charge  of  Don  Simon  Wijayawardhana 
Mudaliyar,  a  Sinhalese  of  high  character  and  distin- 
guished abilities. 

Becker  did  not  hesitate.  The  Hollander  was 
dismissed  from  office.  Wijayawardhana  was  placed 
in  charge  of  both  departments,  and  the  Disawa 
informed  that  his  own  pompous  visits  to  the  scene 
of  the  Hunt  could  in  future  be  dispensed  with.  It 
was  not  long  before  Wijayawardhana  was  able  to 
prove  to  the  Company  how  great  was  the  value  of 
those  ancient  centres  of  rice  cultivation,  the 
Giruwayas  and  the  Batgan  ;  enough  rice  was  produced 
to  meet  the  needs  of  all  the  establishments  in  the 
South,  while  the  revenue  obtained  from  the  sale  of 
elephants  increased  with  rapidity. 

The  salt  which  was  brought  as  ballast  by  the 
dhonies  which  came  to  purchase  areca  supplied  the 
whole  of  the  seaboard  save  Jaffna ;  this  trade  was 
taken  into  the  hands  of  the  Company.  The  collec- 
tion of  cinnamon  was  improved  and  the  Chalias  treated 
with  much  indulgence.  Not  only  were  strict  rules 
passed  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  cinnamon  plants 
when  clearing  forest  land  for  cultivation,  but  the 
active  co-operation  of  the  King  was  secured,  and  he 
issued  similar  orders  regarding  the  wild  cinnamon 
in  his  Kingdom,  threatening  with  death  anyone  who 
damaged  a  tree. 

In  the  North  the  population  had  increased  and 
new  lands  been  opened  up  on  all  sides ;  a  fresh 
Tombo  was  therefore  begun  so  as  to  include  them 
for  taxation,  and  orders  were  given  to  sell  off  those 
for  which  no  good  title  could  be  proved.  Needless 
to  say  this  was  opposed  by  the  entire  landed  inter- 
est. The  horse  breeding  at  Neduntivo  was  made  to 
yield  a  profit.    The  dyeing  of  cloth  for  exportation  to 


52  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

Europe  and  Batavia  was  going  on  satisfactorily.  All 
unnecessary  expenditure  was  cut  down  and  an  Audit 
established  properly  to  check  accounts.  The  eleph- 
ants were,  with  the  King's  permission,  taken  over- 
land to  Jaffna,  whither  purchasers  were  attracted 
from  India  by  abolishing  the  system  of  brokers,  and 
preventing  the  petty  extortions  which  used  to  be 
practised  on  the  strangers.  It  should  be  remembered 
that  no  purchasers  could  be  found  in  the  Island 
itself,  where  an  elephant  would  have  been  of  no  use 
to  a  private  owner.  The  advantage  of  being  court- 
eous to  the  men  whose  money  was  sought  after  was 
not  forgotten,  and  when  the  sale  was  concluded  the 
merchants  were  served  with  betel  and  arecanut  and 
sprinkled  with  rosewater,  and  presented  with   spices. 

In  spite  of  the  failure  of  the  pearl  Fishery,  for 
none  were  held  during  Becker's  administration,  the 
result  of  his  energy  was  that  never  before  and  pro- 
bably never  after,  were  the  profits  derived  by  the 
Company  from  the  Island  so  uniformly  abundant. 
The  only  source  of  annoyance  was  the  steady  influx 
of  the  Moors,  who  in  spite  of  all  restrictions  continued 
to  make  their  way  and  to  obtain  lands  for  them- 
selves. 

Narendra  Sinha  was  not  popular  among  his  sub- 
jects, and  a  plot  was  set  on  foot  to  assassinate  him 
and  to  place  on  the  throne  a  certain  Pattiye  Bandara, 
who  was  said  to  be  a  member  of  the  Royal  Fa- 
mily. The  leader  of  the  conspiracy  was  Kiriwavule 
Rala,  and  with  him  were  associated  seven  other  men 
of  high  family  from  various  parts  of  the  Kingdom. 
Rammalaka  Rala  however  received  information  of 
what  was  on  foot  and  warned  the  King  in  time,  so 
that  when  the  conspirators  burst  into  his  bedroom 
and  plunged  their  swords  into  a  figure  which  lay 
under  the  sheets,  they  found  they  were  attacking  the 
trunk  of  a  plantain  tree. 

The  King  had  slipped  out  by  Udawatu  Kele  and 
escaped  across  the  river  to   Udugoda  Dewale.    There 


A  Conspiracy  53 

it  is  said  the  Yakdessa  whom  he  consulted  prophesied 
that  in  seven  days  success  would  attend  him,  where- 
upon he  vowed  an  offering  to  the  divinity  who  presi- 
ded over  the  shrine,  and  went  and  concealed  himself 
in  the  cave  at  Poddalgoda  in  Udasiya  Pattuwa.  In 
the  meantime  the  conspirators  had  been  searching  all 
the  royal  places  of  refuge  till  they  learnt  where  the 
King  was  concealed,  when  the  eight  ringleaders  and 
a  hundred  and  twenty  others  made  their  way  to  the 
village.  The  inhabitants  however  were  loyal  to  the 
King,  and  by  means  of  a  stratagem  arrested  all  the 
conspirators,  and  produced  them  bound  before  him. 
They  were  all  sentenced  to  death,  while  Pattiye  Ban- 
dara  was  hung  up  at  Talavinna,  and  shot  to  death 
with  arrows  by  Veddahs.  The  King  was  not  forget- 
ful of  his  vow,  and  the  Dewale  is  said  to  have  been 
rebuilt  by  him,  while  Rammalaka  was  loaded  with 
favours. 

Fortunately  for  the  Company,  his  relations  with  it 
were  so  cordial  that  not  even  the  mad  behaviour  of 
de  Bevere,  who  was  sent  as  Ambassador  in  1714, 
served  to  break  the  harmony.  This  person,  who  was 
a  Captain  in  the  army,  had  been  received  with  the 
utmost  graciousness,  but  considered  himself  aggrieved 
at  the  nature  of  the  presents  which  were  made  to 
him,  and  behaved  with  a  degree  of  rudeness  which 
in  the  time  of  Raja  Sinha  would  have  involved  im- 
mediate chastisement,  if  not  death.  He  would  not 
taste  the  repast  which  was  served  to  him  after  his 
interview  with  the  King,  and  asked  that  it  should 
be  given  to  his  slaves.  Instead  of  removing  the  pre- 
sents with  all  reverence,  he  tied  them  in  a  bundle 
at  the  foot  of  the  palanquin  which  he  had  been  per- 
mitted to  use.  He  abused  the  courtiers  who  were 
sent  to  escort  him,  threatened  to  chastise  one  of  the 
minor  headmen,  and  outrageously  insulted  a  priest, 
whose  person  was  regarded  as  almost  sacrosanct.  The 
Company  was  in  consternation  when  these  matters 
were  reported  by  Gunaratna  Mudaliyar  who  had  gone 


54  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

as  Interpreter;  De  Bevere  was  placed  under  arrest 
immediately  on  his  return  and  an  humble  apology 
was  conveyed  to  the  Court,  which  took  no  further 
notice  of  the  matter. 

Indeed  so  complacent  was  the  attitude  of  the 
King  that  when  in  the  following  year  two  of  the 
Wannias  sent  a  message  to  him  asking  for  his 
protection  and  assistance  against  the  Company,  so  far 
from  listening  to  them  he  had  the  messengers  arrested 
and  sent  with  their  letter  to  the  officials  at 
Colombo.  A  small  display  of  military  force  was  found 
sufficient  to  quell  the  threatened  disaffection,  and  the 
property  of  the  two  Wannias  was  confiscated.  It  was 
further  discovered  that  extensive  smuggling  had  been 
carried  on  from  the  Wanni,  and  a  small  fort  was 
erected  at  Mullativo  to  keep  this  in  check.  The  fol- 
lowing year  a  special  embassy  arrived  conveying  to 
Becker  his  appointment  as  Privy  Councillor  to  the 
King,  as  a  mark  of  Narendra  Sinha's  appreciation  of 
his  services.  Shortly  afterwards  he  was  succeeded  in 
office  by  Isaac  Augustin  Rumpf,  another  member  of 
the  local  Service. 

There  were  however  symptoms  that  the  King 
was  dissatisfied  with  the  restrictions  which  had  been 
imposed  on  the  trade  of  his  subjects,  and  the  Kadawatu 
which  led  to  the  Company's  territory  were  kept 
closed.  The  villagers  were  not  prevented  from  bring- 
ing provisions  for  sale,  but  the  supply  of  areca  was 
stopped.  A  formal  demand  was  made  for  free  trade 
at  Puttalam,  and  a  definite  answer  was  returned  that 
in  view  of  the  instructions  from  the  Netherlands  this 
could  not  be  permitted.  The  natural  result  followed, 
for  the  bold  Moors  of  Kilakarai,  who  were  chiefly 
affected,  were  not  prepared  to  acquiesce  in  the 
arrangements  of  the  Company,  and  landed  on  the 
coast  to  the  north  of  Kudiramalai. 

This  was  a  spot  held  in  great  reverence  by 
mariners  because  of  the  tomb  of  a  Saint  which  was 


Peirus  Vuysi  55 

there,  and  had  been  known  to  the  Greeks  under  the 
name  ot  Hippouros,  which  is  a  translation  of  the 
native  name.  It  was  a  convenient  centre  from  which 
to  open  communications  with  the  Sinhalese  King- 
dom. The  Company  was  therefore  obliged  to  streng- 
then the  military  guards  along  the  western  coast  and 
have  a  sloop  cruising  near  Aripo.  An  attempt  made 
on  behalf  of  the  King  to  fish  for  pearls  off  Chilaw 
was  forcibly  stopped,  but  the  appearance  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  some  of  the  King's  ofllicers  with  a  large 
retinue  necessitated  a  further  military  demonstration 
there. 

Nevertheless  in  1721  Rumpf  had  the  satisfaction 
of  announcing  the  highest  revenue  collected  by  the 
Company  for  the  hundred  years  following  the  capture 
of  Galle  in  1640. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  century  a  pearl  fishery 
was  held  in  the  following  year  and  this  was  repeated 
for  the  next  four  years  ;  no  cinnamon  however  could  be 
collected  in  1723  in  consequence  of  another  revolt 
among  the  Chalias.  They  complained  of  the  excessive 
burdens  laid  on  them,  refused  to  proceed  to  the 
woods,  and  applied  to  the  King  for  protection.  The 
Court  was  not  prepared  to  support  them  and  Rumpf 
was  able  to  compel  the  rebels  into  submission,  and 
to  punish  them  by  depriving  them  of  some  of  the 
privileges  which  had  been  conceded  to  them.  Rumpf 
himself  died  this  year  and  little  of  interest  occurred 
till  Petrus  Vuyst  undertook  the  administration  in  Sep- 
tember 1726. 

This  young  man  of  thirty  years  was  a  native 
of  Batavia,  being  the  son  of  a  European  father.  The 
three  years  of  his  administration  recalled  the  worst 
days  of  Dom  Jeronymo  de  Azavedo,  and  form  the 
blackest  page  in  the  history  of  the  Company  in  Cey- 
lon. The  one  charitable  conclusion  is  that  he  was 
suffering  from  homicidal  mania  which  developed  under 
the  stimulus  of  his  accession  to  power.  The  anxiety 
of  the  Court  to  maintain  peace  increased  his  oppor- 


56  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

tunity.  He  began  by  quarrelling  with  the  civil  and 
military  officials,  whom  he  treated  in  the  most 
imperious  fashion;  he  ended  by  the  infliction  of 
inhuman  tortures  and  murder.  At  last  the  authorities 
at  Batavia  were  moved  to  a  realisation  of  what  was 
taking  place  and  Stephanus  Versluys  was  sent  to  re- 
place the  madman,  who  was  taken  away  in  chains 
to  stand  his  trial.  A  special  Tribunal  inquired  into 
his  case  and  sentenced  him  to  be  beheaded,  his  body 
to  be  quartered  and  burnt,  and  the  ashes  cast  into 
the  sea. 

Versluys  had  come  out  with  a  special  commis- 
sion to  restore  order  and  to  render  justice  to 
those  who  had  suffered  from  the  actions  of  Vuyst. 
Unfortunately  he  failed  to  satisfy  either  the  authorities 
or  the  inhabitants,  and  was  soon  entangled  in  quarrels 
with  the  local  officials.  A  great  flood  which  swept 
over  Jaffna  in  1726  had  been  followed  by  famine  and 
disease,  just  as  in  the  time  of  de  Oliveira  a  hundred 
years  before.  There  was  much  suffering  among  the 
people  everywhere,  and  this  was  aggravated  by  the 
high  price  of  rice.  Versluys  was  soon  recalled,  and 
directed  to  hand  over  the  government  to  Diederik 
Van  Domburg,  the  Commandeur  of  Galle  ;  instead  of 
doing  so  he  entrusted  the  administration  to  the  Com- 
mandeur of  Jaffnapatnam,  and  Van  Domburg  found 
the  Castle  of  Colombo  closed  against  him.  He  appeal- 
ed to  Batavia,  and  in  December  1732  Jacob  Christian 
Pielat  arrived  as  Commissioner  to  restore  order. 

Fortunately  relations  with  the  Court  continued 
friendly,  though  Rammalaka  and  Hulangomuwa,  the  two 
Adigars,  were  complaining  of  the  closing  of  the  ports. 
The  King  was  kept  in  good  humour  by  presents  of  the 
same  nature  as  were  sent  to  his  grandfather.  A 
carriage  and  four,  camels,  and  other  curious  animals 
from  all  parts  were  much  appreciated,  but  not  more 
than  the  wigs  which  were  sent  for  the  personal  use 
of  Narendra  Sinha,  who  had  aged  prematurely.  A  great 
loss  befell  him  when  in  1731  the  stores    at    Hangu- 


Unrest  57 

ranketa  were  burnt  down  and  the  treasures  of  gold 
and  silver  which  were  kept  there  were  destroyed. 
The  King  usually  resided  at  Kundasala,  a  few  miles 
from  the  Capital,  where  he  had  established  a  charm- 
ing suburb  by  the  bank  of  the  river,  but  he  main- 
tained his  interest  in  the  Capital,  where  he  replaced 
the  Maligawa  which  his  father  had  erected  by  a  hand- 
some two-storied  building. 

It  was  however  manifest  that  the  dissatisfaction 
regarding  the  closing  of  the  ports  was  serious,  and 
though  the  King's  own  arecanuts  were  purchased  at  a 
higher  price  than  was  paid  for  ordinary  nuts,  the 
Kadawatu  remained  closed;  and  when  Pielat  urged 
the  ambassadors  who  visited  Colombo  in  January  1734, 
to  have  them  opened,  the  reply  of  Dodanwala  Rala 
who  headed  the  embassy  and  was  Disawa  of  Sabara- 
gamuwa,  was,  that  this  could  not  be  done  till  the  trade 
of  Puttalam  was  free. 

This  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  spread  to  the 
Company's  subjects,  and  even  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Colombo  there  were  riots,  the  populace  declaring 
themselves  for  the  King.  The  unrest  was  particularly 
marked  in  the  important  Siyane  Korale,  where 
military  action  was  found  necessary!  Several  of  the 
rebels  fled  to  Court  where  they  received  lands  and 
were  allowed  to  settle  down,  while  those  who  returned 
were  at  the  request  of  the  King  left  unpunished. 

The  reform  of  abuses  kept  Pielat  busily  employed. 
A  good  many  of  the  officials  were  incompetent, 
several  were  dishonest,  and  the  majority  hated  each 
other  and  were  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  ruin  their 
rivals.  Several  were  after  inquiry  removed  from 
office.  A  scrutiny  of  the  accounts  of  the  Court 
of  Justice  and  of  the  Orphan  Board  led  to  the  Secret- 
aries being  put  on  their  trial  for  embezzlement,  the 
Secretary  of  the  former  avoiding  punishment  by  killing 
himself  in  jail. 

8 


58  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

The  proceedings  of  the  Courts  were  character- 
ised by  serious  irregularities,  delay  and  negligence. 
The  system  of  penal  law  which  prevailed,  and  which 
was  in  accordance  with  the  practice  in  Europe,  was 
appallingly  severe.  For  instance  it  is  recorded  that 
in  1669  an  unfortunate  Chetty  who  had  been  guilty 
of  what  today  is  regarded  as  merely  a  social  offence^ 
was  sentenced  to  be  hanged,  his  corpse  to  be  put 
into  a  sack  and  cast  into  the  sea.  However,  this 
sentence  was  commuted,  and  instead,  he  was  flogged 
under  the  gallows,  branded,  and  banished  for  life.  In 
1751  a  woman  named  Joana,  who  was  found  guilty 
of  slave  stealing,  was  strangled  by  being  tied  to  a 
pole,  her  head  was  then  sundered  from  her  body, 
which  latter  was  dragged  to  the  public  place  of 
execution  and  stretched  on  the  wheel  and  left  there 
to  be  devoured  by  the  fowls  of  the  air. 

Breaking  on  the  wheel  was  not  customary,  and 
instead  it  was  usual  to  crush  the  thigh-bones  of 
criminals  with  an  iron  club.  As  a  rule  the  death 
sentence  was  executed  by  the  gallows  and  not  by  the 
sword ;  an  accused  person  could  not  be  sentenced  to 
death  till  he  confessed  his  guilt,  and  the  difficulty 
this  created  was  got  over  by  torturing  the  man  whose 
guilt  was  considered  proved,  till  a  confession  was 
wrung  from  him. 

The  Fiscal  who  was  responsible  for  the  public 
jail  was  found  to  be  imprisoning  people  at  the 
guard-house  of  the  Lascarins  on  his  own  authority, 
inflicting  fines  on  them  and  proceeding  to  the  extre- 
mity of  flogging  them  to  enforce  payment.  Subordi- 
nate officials  had  taken  on  themselves  to  sign  orders 
for  the  issue  of  supplies  from  the  Company's  stores, 
an  authority  which  was  vested  in  the  Governor  alone, 
and  the  not  unnatural  result  was  grave  abuse.  There 
was  much  discontent  among  the  natives  of  the  Col- 
ombo Disawani,  and  it  was  not  all  without  reason. 
Tact  and  patience  were  required  to  get  matters  into 


Unrest  59 

order,  and  Pielat  found  that  there  was  much  work 
for  him  to  do.  He  left  early  in  1734  and  Van 
Domburg  took  charge  of  the  administration,  when 
the  smouldering  discontent  in  the  country  broke  out 
in  a  violent    conflagration. 

The  trouble  began  with  a  fresh  strike  among 
the  peelers  who  had  been  sent  within  the  Seven 
Korales  ;  they  refused  to  work  unless  their  grievances 
against  their  officers  were  inquired  into  and  the 
exactions  practised  on  them  abolished.  They  specially 
complained  of  the  extra  cinnamon  they  had  to  collect 
for  their  Durayas  under  the  name  of  Duraroba  and  of 
the  Huwandiram.  The  peelers  employed  in  the  Three 
Korales  struck  in  sympathy  with  them.  The  Com- 
pany appealed  to  the  King  to  bring  his  authority  to 
bear  on  the  men,  and  at  the  same  time  tried  to 
appease  them  by  removing  the  Cinnamon  Captain 
from  office.  The  infection  however  spread  to  the 
peelers  in  the  Galle  and  Matara  districts,  and  in 
consequence  no  collection  was  possible. 

But  others  besides  the  peelers  had  their  griev- 
ances. The  regulations  made  for  the  protection  of 
wild  cinnamon  had  interfered  seriously  with  the 
chena  cultivation  on  which  the  villagers  largely 
depended  for  food ;  the  fines  imposed  for  non-atten- 
dance at  School  had  become  a  source  of  oppression ; 
a  half  of  their  lands  for  which  no  documentary  title 
could  be  produced  had  been  claimed  for  the  Com- 
pany and  the  owners  compelled  to  purchase  them  at 
an  appraised  value ;  though  all  coconut  trees  were  liable 
to  the  pol-aya  of  a  tenth,  a  further  exaction  called 
the  watubadda  had  been  introduced.  Many  hard- 
working villagers  were  thus  converted  into  vagrants, 
while  the  forcible  seizure  of  their  cattle  to  supply 
food  to  the  officials  aroused  passionate  resentment 
among  people  who  could  not  be  bribed  by  money 
payment  to  part  with  them  for  slaughter. 

In  a  short  time  the  entire  country  to  the 
North  of  the  Bentara  river  was  in  a    riotous    con- 


60  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

dition.  The  coffee  garden  which  the  company  had 
opened  at  Peliyagoda  was  destroyed,  the  arrack  in 
the  Company's  stores  was  emptied  on  the  ground, 
and  the  Lascarins  in  charge  removed  as  prisoners.  A 
detachment  of  soldiers  was  sent  in  pursuit,  and  near 
Malwana  shot  down  several  rioters  who  tried  to 
resist  with  clubs  and  knives. 

The  Council,  however,  decided  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  concede  nearly  all  the  demands  of  the  rebels, 
and  the  Duraroba,  Huwandiram,  and  Watubadda  were 
abolished ;  but  though  the  bulk  of  the  people  returned 
to  their  homes,  the  condition  of  things  in  the  Siyane, 
Hewagam  and  Salpiti  Korales  which  had  declared 
themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  King,  was  so 
serious,  that  an  urgent  application  for  three  hundred 
Malay  troops  was  despatched  to  Batavia.  An  appeal 
was  also  made  to  the  King ;  but  he  was  not  sym- 
pathetic, and  replied  that  as  the  result  of  his  inquiries 
he  had  ascertained  that  the  trouble  was  due 
entirely  to  the  misrule  of  the  Company's  officers. 

In  the  meantime  the  rebellion,  for  such  it  had 
become,  spread  into  the  Galle  and  Matara  districts, 
and  the  gravity  of  the  situation  was  daily  increas- 
ing. A  military  force  was  sent  to  Attanagalla  to 
over-awe  the  Siyane  Korale,  but  the  rebels,  now 
openly  supported  by  Lewke  Rala,  the  masterful  Disawa 
of  the  Three  and  Four  Korales,  attacked  them  with 
such  effect  that  they  abandoned  their  two  pieces  of 
cannon  and  fled  precipitately  to  Malwana.  The  rebels 
followed  in  hot  pursuit  and  they  retired  to  Colombo, 
being  chased  by  the  excited  Sinhalese  as  far  as  Peli- 
yagoda, three  miles  from  the  Castle  of  Colombo. 
The  Council  could  think  of  no  better  course  to 
adopt  than  to  send  an  embassy  with  presents  to 
appease  the  King.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  turmoil 
Van  Domburg,  who  should  never  have  left  his  desk  at 
Galle,  died  in  1736;  his  successor  Gustaaf  Willem 
Baron  Van  Imhoff,  arrived  in  July,    and  in  the  inter- 


Death   of  the  King  61 

val  the  Council  at  Colombo  did  what  it  could  to 
control  the  situation,  at  the  same  time  anxiously 
demanding  military  assistance  from  Batavia. 

Van  Imhoff  took  matters  firmly  in  hand.  The 
peelers  were  pacified ;  Navaratna  Mudaliyar,  son  of 
the  great  Basnayaka,  was  banished  to  Tutucorin  ;  and 
a  disavowal  of  any  sympathy  with  the  rebels  was 
obtained  from  the  King.  It  is  true  that  the  ring- 
leaders found  an  asylum  within  his  dominions,  but 
an  embassy  which  was  sent  to  him  in  1738  with 
valuable  presents  was  cordially  received.  The  King 
however  was  in  poor  health,  and  a  Doctor  was  sent 
up  from  Colombo  to  attend  on  him  ;  but  early  in  the 
following  year  Narendra  Sinha,  or  Kundasala,  as  he 
was  popularly  known  among  his  subjects,  died. 


CHAPTER  V. 


With  the  death  of  Narendra  Sinha  the  Sinha- 
lese Dynasty  came  to  an  end.  Following  the  custom 
which  Wijayo  had  commenced,  he  had  obtained  his 
Consort,  Udumale  Devi,  from  Madura.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  Pitti  Nayaker,  described  as  being  of  the 
Wadegai  caste,  and  the  King  had  subsequently  mar- 
ried her  two  sisters  as  well.  None  of  them  had 
borne  him  an  heir,  and  therefore  at  his  death  he 
nominated  their  brother,  who  was  known  as  Hangur- 
anketa  from  his  usual  place  of  residence,  to  succeed 
him  on  the  Throne. 

This  nomination  was  not  acceptable  to  all ; 
the  King  had  left  by  his  Yakada  Doliya,  a  Goigama 
lady,  a  son  named  Unambuwe  Bandara,  who  had  at 
G)urt  a  strong  following  which  pressed  his  claim  to 
the  succession.  On  the  other  hand  there  was  a  feel- 
ing of  jealousy  among  some  of  the  courtiers,  who 
feared  that  the  accession  of  Unambuwa  would  place 
too  much  authority  in  the  hands  of  his  relatives. 
Matters  remained  in  a  state  of  suspense  for  nearly 
a  year,  and  then  the  wishes  of  Narendra  Sinha 
prevailed  and  his  brother-in-law  assumed  the  Sword 
under  the  name  of  Sri  Wijaya  Raja  Sinha.  Unambuwa, 
it  is  pleasant  to  record,  was  left  unmolested  at 
Court. 

The  administration  of  Van  Imhoff  and  his  three 
immediate  successors  ended  with  the  promotion  of 
the  last  of  them,  Julius  Valentyn  Stein  Van  Golle- 
nesse,  to  be  Director  General  at  Batavia,  whither  he 
started  in  March  1751.  Van  Imhoff  himself  was  dis- 
tinguished by  greater  breadth  of  view  and  liberality 


The  Company's  Policy  63 

of  mind  than  was  usual  among  the  men  whom  the 
Company  selected  as  its  chief  representative  in  Cey- 
lon. He  fully  realised  the  value  of  the  Island,  and 
he  also  realised  that  ignorance  and  selfishness  had 
brought  the  Company  into  extreme  danger. 

For  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  advantages  which 
the  country  afforded,  the  exclusion  of  all  possible 
rivals  was  necessary,  but  even  more  necessary  was 
harmonious  co-operation  with  the  Court.  The  author- 
ities at  Batavia  were  not  prepared  to  face  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  problem,  and  however  much  against 
his  wish,  he  was  compelled  to  have  recourse  to  the 
tactics  of  his  predecessors  and  pacify  the  Court  with 
presents. 

It  was  impossible  to  believe  that  the  Sinha- 
lese would  acquiesce  in  the  existing  arrangements 
much  longer.  The  King  received  nothing  for  his 
cinnamon  but  an  annual  subsidy  of  a  few  thousand 
rix-dollars,  while  his  subjects  obtained  for  their 
arecanuts  a  sum  which  barely  covered  the  cost  of 
transport.  If  on  the  other  hand  the  King's  territory 
were  developed  and  produced  the  articles  which  the 
Company  wished  to  purchase,  both  sides  would  reap 
the  benefit  and  the  Sinhalese  would  recognise  before  long 
that  the  advantage  of  the  one  was  the  advantage  of 
the  other,  and  tliat  peace  was  for  the  benefit  of 
both. 

He  therefore  on  every  occasion  urged  this  point 
of  view  on  the  courtiers  ;  he  suggested  that  this  would 
be  of  greater  practical  advantage  to  the  King  than 
the  opening  of  the  port  of  Puttalam  which  they  were 
always  pressing  for  and  which  the  Company  had 
determined  to  refuse.  They  were  now  demanding 
the  restoration  of  Trincomalee  as  well,  and  Van  Im- 
hoff  was  determined  to  resist  this  even  by  force  if 
required.  He  however  recognised  with  serious  con- 
cern that  all  Sinhalese  looked  up  to  the  King  as 
Lord  Paramount,  and   that  it  was  very  easy  for  him 


64  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

to  stir  up  trouble  in  the  Company's  territories 
whenever  it  suited  his  purpose. 

In  Madura  the  last  of  the  Nayakers  died  in 
1732.  and  for  many  years  to  come  that  country  was 
the  prey  of  rival  factions  and  foreign  invasions.  Fin- 
ally in  1743  it  was  occupied  on  account  of  the  Great 
Mogul  and  entrusted  to  the  Nawab  of  Arcot,  who, 
supported  by  the  English,  took  up  his  residence  at 
Trichinopoly. 

Shortly  after  his  accession  the  King  married, 
"for  the  prosperity  and  improvement  of  the  world"  * 
a  lady  from  Madura,  the  daughter  of  Narenappa 
Nayaker,  who  was  probably  a  Polygar  or  nobleman 
of  that  country,  and  who  with  several  members  of 
his  family  accompanied  the  new  Queen  to  Court. 
There  Lewke  Rala,  a  member  of  one  of  the  leading 
Pata  Rata  families  of  the  Four  Korales,  was  the 
most  influential  Minister.  Another  experienced  courtier, 
Mampitiya  Rala,  who  was  now  in  charge  of  Sabaraga- 
muwa,  exercised  an  influence  which  was  almost 
as  great. 

The  succession  of  a  Dravidian  dynasty  did  not 
lessen  the  interest  of  the  people  in  their  religion, 
which  had  suffered  under  Narendra  Sinha,  who  had 
been  indifferent  on  the  subject.  The  old  scandals  had 
revived,  and  with  worldly  prosperity  the  priests 
themselves  had  become  worldly.  There  were  bitter 
complaints  that  they  who  were  vowed  to  poverty 
tried  to  rival  the  nobles  of  the  country  in  their 
manner  of  living ;  that  the  professed  mendicants  who 
should  beg  for  their  food  from  door  to  door,  were 
ashamed  to  be  seen  with  their  begging  bowl.  The 
King  sympathised  with  the  popular  feeling,  and  he 
was  warmly  supported  by  his  Queen. 

A  figure  which  in  the  depressing  mediocrity 
of  Sinhalese  life  in  the  eighteenth  century,  might 
be  considered  almost  as  great,    was    forthcoming  to 

*    Eheylepola  Sannas,  Lawrie,  p,  200. 


Literature  65 

direct  the  popular  feeling.  This  was  Saranankara, 
who  was  born  in  1698  at  Weliwita  in  Tumpane,  and 
had  joined  the  priesthood  as  a  Samanera  at  the  age 
of  sixteen  years.  In  a  short  time  his  religious  fer- 
vour was  noised  about  throughout  the  country.  His  life 
was  of  the  austerest  kind,  and  as  he  lived  on  the 
alms  of  the  charitable  he  was  known  as  Pindapatika. 
His  great  eloquence  and  charm  as  a  preacher  drew 
vast  crowds  to  hear  him  expound  the  Dharma;  and 
after  he  took  up  his  residence  at  Malwatta  Vihare,  he 
became  a  recognised  force  in  the  religious   world. 

In  addition  to  his  reputation  as  a  priest  he 
was  the  foremost  scholar  within  the  Kingdom.  The 
Kanda  Uda  Rata  had  contributed  little  to  the  fame 
of  Lanka  as  a  centre  of  learning,  and  during  the 
early  period  of  the  Company's  influence  in  Ceylon, 
the  whole  country  was  nearly  as  barren  of  literary 
fruit  as  it  had  been  in  the  Era  of  the  Portuguese. 
Kirimetiyawe  Mantri's  Maha  Hatane,  a  fine  panegyric 
of  Raja  Sinha,  was  the  only  writing  of  merit  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  while  a  prose 
work  in  Sinhalese,  named  the  Sara  Sangrahaya, 
appeared  in  1708.  The  Court  of  Narendra  Sinha 
produced  some  highflown,  Sanskritic,  and  often  erotic 
poems  in  honour  of  the  King,  but  Kundasala's  chief 
claim  to  remembrance  arises  from  the  fact  that  he 
had  the  judgment  to  patronise  the  one  man  who  was 
able  to  save  for  his  kingdom  such  fragments  of  learn- 
ing as  still  existed.  Saranankara  was  entrusted  by 
the  King  with  the  preparation  of  several  works  on 
religious  topics,  as  well  as  the  translation  of  a  Pali 
medical  work,  the  Bhesajja  Manjusa.  Round  him 
there  gathered  a  group  of  earnest  scholars  and  devout 
men  who  were  destined  to  leave  their  mark  on  the 
history  of  their  countrymen. 

Religious  deeds  were  greatly  in  fashion.  Indi- 
viduals planted  bo  trees,  repaired  temples,  and  dedi- 
cated lands  for  their  maintenance.     These  endowments 

9 


W  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

were  placed  in  the  charge  of  caretakers,  who  enjoyed 
their  produce  subject  to  the  duty  of  serving  the 
sacred  place.  Public  feeling  was  the  chief  protection 
against  neglect  and  dishonesty  on  the  part  of  these 
men,  and  at  the  same  time  the  King's  officers  were 
expected  to  deal  with  any  breach  of  trust,  while  the 
village  elders  would  meet  and  elect  a  new  guardian. 

When  a  new  temple  was  built  the  most  expensive 
item  was  the  images  and  painting  the  walls,  which  were 
done  by  members  of  the  Smith  caste.  These  men  would 
be  fed  and  clothed  while  engaged  at  their  task,  and 
after  the  dedication  of  the  temple  they  were  gener- 
ously rewarded,  usually  in  kind.  Their  remuneration 
often  included  lands  and  clothes,  household  fittings 
and  jewels,  farm  implements  and  cattle.  A  Pin 
wattoru  or  report  setting  out  the  nature  of  the  work 
done  was  then  prepared  and  submitted  to  the 
King,  and  he  would  be  invited  to  share  in  the  Merit 
of  the  pious  work ;  he  frequently  expressed  his  grati- 
fication by  a  substantial  addition  to  the  endowments. 

With  the  liberality  of  mind  which  characterised 
Buddhism,  Roman  Catholic  priests  had  been 
permitted  to  enter  the  Kingdom  freely,  and  to  minister 
to  the  Portuguese  who  were  settled  there.  In  1682 
the  Congregacao  of  the  Oratory  of  St.  Filippe  Neri 
had  been  started  by  some  Indian  Christians  at  Goa, 
and  was  joined  shortly  after  by  Joseph  Vaz,  an 
Indian  and  a  native  of  Salsete.  About  the  year 
1690  he  entered  Jaffna  as  a  missionary,  and  succeeded 
in  making  his  way  from  there  within  the  Kingdom. 
From  this  centre  he  organised  a  Roman  Catholic 
campaign  which  gave  much  trouble  to  the  Company, 
for  Vaz  was  a  man  of  singular  decision,  energy,  and 
resource,  and  appeared  to  be  ubiquitous.  A  Church 
was  built  at  Bogambra  and  a  few  priests  collected 
there  to  assist  Vaz. 

Among  them  was  another  native  of  Salsete, 
Pedro  Ferrao,  who  had  a  great  reputation  for  sanctity. 


Christianity  67 

It  was  asserted  of  him  that  he  once  had  a  personal 
conflict  with  the  Evil  One ;  at  any  rate  he  possessed 
some  of  the  quaHfications  which  in  mediaeval  times 
were  considered  indicative  of  piety,  for  it  was  extremely 
rarely  that  he  changed  his  clothes,  and  he  was  as 
verminous  as  Thomas  ^  Becket  or  the  Russian 
Rasputin.  The  success  of  these  men  now  began  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  Ministers.  It  was 
reported  that  their  activities  were  directed  towards 
the  destruction  of  the  religion  of  the  country,  and 
that  money  was  largely  employed  to  secure  so-called 
converts  among  the  poorer  classes  of  the  Sinhalese. 
The  result  was  that  the  King  issued  orders  for 
the  expulsion  of  the  priests  and  the  destruction  of 
their  places  of  worship,  though  these  orders  do  not 
appear    to  have  been  strictly  enforced. 

But  the  main  anxiety  was  to  restore  the  Buddhist 
priesthood,  and  the  Company  with  its  policy  of  humour- 
ing the  Court,  was  persuaded  to  convey  an  embassy 
to  Pegu  to  secure  a  fresh  Chapter  of  priests  from  there. 
The  deputation  started  in  1741,  but  all  the  members 
of  it  except  Doranagama  Rala  perished  in  conse- 
quence of  the  vessel  being  wrecked  off  the  Pegu 
coast. 

This  complacency  however  did  not  go  far  to 
assist  the  Company,  for  Van  Imhoff' s  successors  had 
not  the  ability  successfully  to  carry  out  his  policy. 
Complacency  on  the  one  side  was  met  by  increasing 
arrogance  on  the  other.  The  Dravidians  from  India  fully 
understood  the  importance  of  unhampered  trade,  and 
under  their  influence  the  Ministers  were  determined 
to  insist  on  the  removal  of  all  restrictions.  Leave 
was  refused  to  peel  cinnamon,  raids  were  carried  on 
along  the  boundaries  of  the  Colombo  Disawani,  the 
work  which  the  Company  had  commenced  at  Attana- 
galla  was  forcibly  stopped,  and  the  erection  of  a 
Church  in  the  Hapitigam  Korale  forbidden. 

The  Company  meekly   submitted     to    all    this, 
with  the  inevitable  result ;  and  a    large    portion    of 


68  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

the  Siyane  Korale  was  soon  after  taken  possession  of 
on  the  King's  account.  An  extensive  system  of 
smuggling  was  organised  in  co-opsration  with  the 
Coast  Moormen,  who  boldly  conveyed  the  produce  of 
the  King's  territory  in  their  boats  from  the  creeks 
and  backwaters  between  Negombo  and  Puttalam.  An 
urgent  remonstrance  addressed  to  Court  was  met  by 
the  contemptuous  reply  that  the  smuggling  was  very 
profitable  to  the  King,  and  that  unless  the  port  of 
Puttalam  was  opened  the  Company  might  find  its 
loss  even  greater.  Armed  vessels  therefore  had  to 
be  kept  patrolling  up  and  down,  but  the  Moormen 
were  the  more  experienced  in  these  dangerous  waters 
and  little  could  be  achieved  in  checking  their  enter- 
prise. 

Narenappa  Nayaker  now  appeared  on  the  scene 
and  attempted  to  take  his  own  vessel  by  force  past 
Kalpitiya.  The  refusal  to  allow  him  to  do  so  exas- 
perated the  haughty  Indian,  and  he  vowed  that  the 
Company  would  find  him  a  veritable  firebrand.  He 
was  as  good  as  his  word  ;  he  arrested  the  Company's 
officers  in  the  neighbourhood:  detained  the  Gajana- 
yaka  who  was  taking  its  elephants  to  Jaffna  ;  stopped 
the  despatch  of  provisions  to  Jaffnapatnam ;  and 
drove  away  the  Lascarins  who  were  placed  on  guard. 
Things  looked  very  threatening,  for  a  protest  addressed 
to  Court  secured  no  redress  ;  a  company  of  soldiers 
was  accordingly  sent  by  sea  to  watch  the  Nayaker, 
when  the  death  of  the  Queen  recalled  him  to  Court. 

But  the  troubles  did  not  end,  for  the  Chalias 
went  on  strike  again  and  refused  to  peel.  It  was 
well  known  that  this  was  done  at  the  instigation  of 
the  Court,  and  an  appeal  was  made  to  Lewke,  who 
supported  by  Mampitiya  and  the  Udagampahe  or 
Second  Adigar,  Samanakkodi,  headed  a  faction  which 
was  opposed  to  Ehelapola,  the  Pallegampahe  Adigar  ; 
Lewke  was  considered  to  be  favourably  inclined  towards 
the  Company,  and  the  latter  did  not  fail  to  make  it 
worth  his  while  to  continue  friendly.    None  the  less 


Kirti  Sri  Raja  Sinha  69 

incursions  were  made  into  the^  Siyane  Korale,  the 
King's  Wanniyas  plundered  the  Company's  lands  at 
Musali,  there  was  a  fresh  strike  among  the  peelers, 
and  the  messengers  who  were  sent  to  talk  them 
over  were  soundly  flogged  ;  while  in  the  East  the 
watch  houses  which  the  Company  maintained  near 
Trincomalee  were  burnt  to  the  ground. 

Nevertheless  in  1747  the  obsequious  Company 
once  again  won  back  the  favour  of  the  Court  by 
placing  a  vessel  at  the  disposal  of  another  religious 
embassy  which  was  despatched  to  Siam  by  way  of 
Batavia.  As  a  result  numerous  presents  were  sent 
to  the  Governor  by  the  King,  who  in  the  same  year 
married  a  second  time.  An  Ambassador  was  sent  to 
convey  the  good  wishes  of  the  Company  on  the 
occasion  ;  he  was  received  with  much  kindness,  but 
in  the  month  of  August  while  the  Ambassador  was 
still  at  Court,  the  King  fell  ill  and  died. 

When  Narenappa  Nayaker  accompanied  his 
daughter  to  Court,  he  brought  with  him  his  two 
sons ;  the  elder  of  them  was  now  about  sixteen  years 
of  age  and  was  nominated  by  the  late  King,  who 
had  no  children,  as  his  successor,  and  the  Ministers 
acquiesced  in  the  recommendation.  The  administra- 
tion remained  in  their  hands  till  1751,  when  the  new 
King,  whose  great  physical  beauty  was  a  source  of 
delight  to  his  subjects,  assumed  the  Sword  with  the 
name  of  Kirti  Sri  Raja  Sinha, 

Lewke  still  continued  in  power,  and  friendly 
relations  were  maintained  with  the  Company,  which 
was  anxiously  watching  events  in  India.  There  the 
French  and  the  English  were  at  war,  and  the  English 
Admiral,  Boscawen,  opened  a  confidential  correspon- 
dence, couched  in  the  most  flattering  terms,  with  the 
Governor,  and  attempted  to  persuade  him  to  assist 
the  English  Company ;  but  the  Hollander  was  too 
shrewd  to  allow   himself  to  be  drawn  into  the  fight. 

In  1749     the    King    married    the    daughter  of 
Nadukattu  Sami  Nayaker,  the  bride  being   conveyed 


70  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

to  Ceylon  in  a  vessel  belonging  to  the  Company, 
and  with  her  there  came  her  parents  and  other 
relatives  who  all  settled  down  in  Court.  The  King 
appreciated  the  fact  that  only  a  Buddhist  could  be 
the  King  of  the  Sinhalese,  and  devoted  himself  enthus- 
iastically to  the  religion  of  his  people.  Though  there 
were  no  ordained  priests  available,  novices  were 
collected  and  encouraged,  temples  were  repaired, 
preaching  halls  established  and  religious  books  copied 
and  distributed.  The  sacred  shrines  of  antiquity  were 
visited  by  the  King,  elephants  and  horses  were  offered 
to  the  Great  Bo,  and  a  festival  was  celebrated  at 
Mahiyangana.  The  Esala  Perahera  which  was 
"regarded  by  all  the  people  as  conducive  to  prosperity"* 
was  observed  with  great  pomp,  the  King  himself 
taking  part  in  the  procession. 

Parakrama  Bahu  the  Great  was  the  model  which 
Kirti  Sri  set  before  himself ;  he  visited  Polonnaruwa, 
and  came  back  with  the  resolution,  "I  also  will  walk 
in  the  excellent  path  of  the  duties  of  Kings."  * 

The  people  were  intensely  stirred ;  religion 
was  in  the  mouth  of  everyone.  Samanta  Kuta— Sri 
Pada,  the  Sacred  Foot  Print,— had  been  taken  from 
the  custody  of  the  Priesthood  by  Raja  Sinha  of  Sita- 
waka,  and  entrusted  to  the  Indian  Andi,  "who  rub 
ashes  all  over  their  bodies,  thus  foreshadowing  that 
they  will  be  reduced  to  ashes  by  the  fire  of  the 
most  horrible  hell."  *  The  insult  had  been  bitterly 
felt  and  never  forgiven,  and  now  the  King  took  it 
back  from  the  Andi  and  appointed  as  its  custodian 
the  most  respected  man  in  his  Kingdom,  Saranan- 
kara.  At  the  same  time  the  great  village  of  Kutta- 
pitiya  in  the  Navadun  Korale,  once  the  Nindagama 
of  Simao  Pinhao,  the  doughty  Portuguese  husband  of 
Raja  Sinha's  grand  daughter,  was  dedicated  to  the 
service  of  the  Foot  Print. 

The  ambassadors  sent  by  the  late  King  in  1747 
had  reached  Batavia,  and,  leaving  behind  the  presents 

♦    Mahawansa. 


Mission  to  Siam  71 

they  had  brought  with  them,  had  continued  their 
journey  to  Siam,  to  ascertain  if  the  Maha  Vihare 
succession  was  available  there.  They  returned  from 
their  quest  only  to  learn  that  their  King  was  dead. 
The  Company's  officers  therefore  advised  them  to 
take  no  further  action  till  the  wishes  of  the  new 
King  were  known,  and  accordingly  they  started  back 
home ;  few  of  them  however  lived  to  see  their  country, 
for   the  majority  perished  on  the  voyage. 

These  repeated  misfortunes  did  not  damp  the 
ardour  ot  the  religious  party.  Ehelapola  was  the 
staunch  supporter  of  Saranankara,  and  as  the  result 
of  their  exertions  a  fresh  mission  consisting  of  five 
ambassadors  and  sixty-one  attendants,  started  in 
August  1750  from  Trincomalee  with  a  letter  for  the 
King  of  Siam.  After  narrowly  escaping  destruction 
in  a  storm  they  arrived  at  Batavia  where  adverse  winds 
compelled  them  to  remain  for  six  months.  When  at 
last  they  reached  Siam  they  were  received  by  the 
King  with  the  most  gratifying  kindness,  and  a  vivid 
account  of  their  experiences  has  been  preserved. 

A  Chapter  of  priests  headed  by  Upali  Maha 
Thero  accompanied  them  on  their  perilous  voyage  back, 
and  on  the  night  of  Saturday  the  Full  Moon  day  of 
the  month  of  Esala  in  the  2299th  year  after  the 
death  of  the  Buddha,  in  the  presence  of  the  King, 
Kobbyakaduwe  Unanse,  Saranankara,  and  four  others 
were  solemnly  admitted  into  the  Upasampadawa. 
"And  thus  after  many  years  this  solemnity  of  the 
Great  Ordination,  which  so  long  had  been  neglected 
in  Lanka,  was  established  once  more  amidst  the 
rejoicings  of  the  populace,  the  triumphant  noise  of 
drums,  chanks,  and  the  five  kinds  of  music,  and  the  roar 
of  cannon."* 

Within  three  years  seven  hundred  priests  had 
been  ordained  and  several  thousand  youths  of  good 
family  had  entered  the  temples  as  Novices.  Saranan- 
kara  was  raised  to  the  high  dignity  of  Sangha  Raja, 

♦    R.  A.  S.  Cey.  Vol,  xviii  p.— 38 


72  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

or  Chief  over  the  entire  priesthood,  an  office  which 
seems  to  have  been  in  abeyance  since  the  death  of 
Sri  Rahula,  and  placed  in  charge  of  the  rehgious 
estabUshment  of  the  country.  When  at  length  the 
Siamese  priests  returned  home,  the  ambassadors  who 
escorted  them  back  took  with  them  a  model  of  the 
Tooth  Relic  as  a  present  from  the  Sinhalese  King 
to  the  pious  King  Dharmaka  of  Siam.  The  present 
was  gratefully  accepted,  and  a  fresh  Chapter  of 
priests  set  out  for  Ceylon  in  October  1755.  They 
brought  with  them,  as  their  predecessors  had  done, 
numerous  religious  books  and  rich  offerings  for  the 
Sacred  Tooth. 

Early  in  1751  Lewke  died  suddenly  after  return- 
ing from  an  embassy  to  Colombo,  and  was  succeeded 
in  office  by  Dumbara  Rala.  Van  Gollenesse  left  in 
March,  and  six  months  later  Joan  Gideon  Loten  arrived 
as  Governor.  The  policy  of  peace  with  the  Court 
was  rigidly  adhered  to  and  Lienderan  de  Saram,  a 
persona  grata  with  the  Ministers,  was  appointed 
Maha  Mudaliyar,  with  the  name  of  Karunaratna.  He 
was  the  nephew  of  Wijaya  Sriwardhana  Maha  Muda- 
liyar, who  till  1736  had  been  of  great  service  to  the 
Company  in  their  negociations  with  the  Court.  A 
magnificent  jewelled  medal  was  presented  to  Karu- 
naratna, and  its  Latin  inscription  bore  evidence  not 
only  to  the  Company's  appreciation  of  his  loyalty 
and  zeal,  but  also  to  the  scholarship  of  the  new 
Governor,  who  had  some  reputation  as  a  student  of 
Natural  History. 

Loten  was  not  fortunate  in  the  circumstances 
his  administration.  Plague  broke  out  in  the  country 
and  played  havoc  among  the  population.  This  was 
followed  in  May  1755  by  a  cyclone  which  ruined 
valuable  plantations.  In  consequence  the  inland 
revenue  was  seriously  affected,  and  there  was  much 
restlessness  among  the  people.  Moreover  there  was 
friction  with  the  Hoofd  Administrateur,  the  official 
entrusted  with  the  supervision  of  the  Company's  Trade 


The  Crisis  73 

and  Commerce.  He  was  charged  before  the  Council 
with  neglect  of  duty  and  peculation,  and  there 
followed  a  violent  scene,  embittered  by  personal 
recrimination.  The  accused,  who  defied  the  Gover- 
nor to  do  his  worst,  and  in  violent  language  swore 
that  he  was  prepared  to  risk  everything,  finally  had 
to  be  removed  from  office. 

The  anxieties  of  the  Governor  were  increased 
when  a  formal  demand  was  received  from  the  Court 
for  a  share  in  the  elephant  trade.  Evasive  replies  were 
given,  but  the  Ministers  refused  to  be  put  off  in 
this  fashion,  and  time  after  time  repeated  their 
demand  ;  they  ended  by  insisting  further  on  the  opening 
of  the  port  of  Puttalam.  The  Batavian  authorities 
were  applied  to  for  instructions.  They  hesitated  and 
finessed,  but  at  last  plucked  up  courage  to  give  a 
decided  answer.  Early  in  1757  Jan  Schreuder,  a 
native  of  Hamburg  who  had  risen  from  the  ranks 
of  the  army,  arrived  as  successor  to  Loten,  and  the 
two  of  them  conveyed  to  the  Sinhalese  ambassadors 
then  at  Colombo,  the  final  decision  refusing  to  con- 
cede either  request. 


10 


CHAPTER    VI. 


"The  pitcher  which  had  gone  so  often  to  water 
became  leaky  by  degrees  and  broke  to  pieces  in  my 
hand  at  a  wrathful  push  of  the  displeased  Court" 
wrote  Schreuder  as  he  left  the  country  in  March 
1762.  The  shrewd  van  Imhoff  had  foretold  the  probable 
result  of  the  Company's  policy,  and  it  was  the  mis- 
fortune of  Schreuder  that  the  catastrophe  took  place 
during  his  administration.  A  hundred  years  had 
passed  since  the  expulsion  of  the  Portuguese,  and 
before  narrating  the  incidents  which  led  up  to  the 
approaching  crisis,  it  is  convenient  to  pause  a  moment 
and  to  inquire  whether  the  Netherlands  Company 
had  justified  its  existence. 

The  Hollander  declared,  as  unctuously  as  is 
usual,  that  God  had  entrusted  him  with  a  special 
mission  to  conquer,  and  incidentally  to  exploit,  the 
heathen,  and  it  might  well  be  that  some  Hollanders 
really  did  believe  in  this  profession.  The  exploiting 
of  the  country  was  the  main  object  of  the  Company ; 
this  object  rendered  it  necessary  that  there  should 
be  peace,  and  that  the  people  should  have  the  oppor- 
tunity of  developing  on  certain  lines  the  latent  resources 
at  their  disposal;  and  the  result  was  a  degree  of 
peace  and  well-being  which  formed  a  satisfactory 
contrast  to  the  state  of  things  which  prevailed  under 
the  Portuguese.  No  oppression  or  violence  of  an 
exceptional  nature  was  permitted  save  what  was 
dictated  by  the  requirements  of  a  Company  of  Merchants 
who  desired  heavy  dividends. 


The  Company's  Administration  75 

Naturally  enough  the  Company  preferred  to 
have  Europeans  in  all  lucrative  posts,  and  nearly 
every  race  of  Europe  v^as  represented  in  its  service 
and  w^ere  known  to  the  natives  by  the  common  name 
of  Hollanders.  Only  people  born  in  Europe  were 
officially  classed  as  European.  The  children  of  a 
European  father  born  in  the  country  were  called 
pusties,  and  the  children  of  pusties,  named  casties, 
were  classed  as  natives.  It  was  recognised  that  such 
natives  were  less  competent  than  Europeans,  and  as 
no  question  of  returning  home  could  arise  with  them, 
they  were  paid  at  a  lower  rate  than  Europeans.  The 
Mestici  were  the  offspring  of  mixed  marriages  with 
the  Asiatic  races.  The  men  of  all  these  classes,  as 
well  as  the  Tupasses  and  the  descendants  of  freed 
slaves,  dressed  alike;  while  among  the  women  the 
Mestici,  Tupasses  and  freed  slaves  had  a  costume  of 
their  own,  which  differed  from  that  worn  by  the  rest. 

As  there  was  no  recognised  body  on  the  spot 
authorised  to  check  the  actions  of  the  Executive,  it 
is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  acts  of  nepotism  were 
notoriously  common.  For  instance  a  scullion  from 
Europe  who  had  been  house-steward  to  the  Governor, 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  fort  of  Negombo,  while 
an  ex-tailor  was  appointed  to  a  similar  position  at 
Trincomalee.  The  son-in-law,  actual  or  prospective, 
of  an  influential  official,  was  sure  of  preferment,  and 
excuses  were  easily  found  for  new  appointments. 
The  public  service  was  overstaffed,  and  the  allowances 
of  cash,  rice  and  other  rations  granted  to  all 
the  Company's  servants  were  a  heavy  drain  on  its 
resources.  The  system  of  perquisites,  a  legacy  from 
the  Portuguese,  had  a  depressing  effect  on  trade ; 
everyone  selling  to  the  Company  was  expected  to 
allow  an  overcharge,  which  in  the  case  of  pepper 
amounted  to  12%  per  cent,  and  this  excess  was  divided 
among  certain  favoured  officials. 

There  was  much  dishonesty  prevalent,  and  van 
Gollenesse  had  to  order  the    prosecution,  of    several 


76  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

prominent  public  servants.  "Who  loves  the  truth" 
wrote  Schreuder  when  referring  to  them,  "cannot 
deny  that  the  greater  part  had  been  awaked  by  me 
as  it  were  from  the  sleep  of  laziness  and  carelessness, 
and  I  kept  them  awake  by  continual  inciting,  earnest 
admonitions,  threats  and  fines."  Indeed  it  is  known 
that  one  Commandeur  at  Jafanapatnam  saved  him- 
self the  trouble  of  thinking,  by  passing  over  to  his 
Secretary  a  blank  sheet  signed  by  himself  at  the  bottom, 
to  be  filled  in  with  such  orders  as  the  Secretary 
thought  fit. 

The  Company  in  Ceylon  strangely  failed  to 
live  up  to  the  reputation  of  the  United  Provinces 
for  legal  instinct.  It  was  still  possible  for  the 
Governor  in  1751  to  complain  that  the  officers 
of  the  Chief  Court  had  no  knowledge  of  law,  and 
that  as  a  consequence  their  decisions  were  frequently 
upset  on  Appeal  at  Batavia.  Intermeddlers  and 
unlicensed  Proctors  exercised  as  evil  an  influence  in  the 
Courts  as  they  do  now. 

"If  there  is  any  point  of  administration  as 
regards  the  natives  of  Ceylon  that  may  be  called 
intricate  and  almost  infeasible,  it  is  that  concerning 
the  possession  and  mortgaging  of  land.*  "  This  opinion 
was  expressed  by  van  Imhoff  in  1740,  and  no  Govern- 
ment has  yet  faced  the  situation  with  courage.  He 
found  that  the  Landraad  had  ceased  to  exist  save 
at  Matara,  and  the  hardworked  Merchant  who  held 
the  office  of  Disawa  was  expected  to  deal  with  this 
extremely  complicated  subject  in  addition  to  his 
numerous  other  trade  and  administrative  duties. 
The  result  was  that  land  disputes  were  usually 
referred  to  native  Commissioners,  and,  just  as  it  had 
been  under  the  Portuguese,  it  was  soon  found  out 
that  the  Disawa's  Interpreter  or  Attapattu  Mudaliyar, 
was  the  real  umpire   in  these  cases. 

*  Van  Imhoff 's  Memoir,  p.  20. 


The  Company's  Administration  77 

Those  abuses  which  always  must  be  expected 
as  long  as  public  officers  are  incompetent  to  carry- 
on  public  business  in  the  language  used  by  the 
public,  prevailed  in  all  directions.  In  addition  there 
was  that  delay  of  justice  which  is  not  less  hurtful 
than  injustice,  and  lands  which  were  the  subject  of 
dispute  lay  uncultivated  for  many  years  pending  a 
decision.  Van  Imhoff  therefore  urged  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  Landraad  both  at  Galle  and  Colombo, 
and  his  recommendation  was  accepted.  Two  new 
Courts  were  opened,  and  sat  for  two  days  in  the 
week  to  dispose  of  land  suits,  monthly  reports  being 
sent  to  the  Governor  of  the  work  done.  These  Courts 
weie  strictly  enjoined  to  bring  to  the  notice  of 
Government  any  case  in  which  the  instructions  laid 
down  for  their  guidance  were  opposed  to  the  custom 
of  the  country. 

The  Jaffna  Tombo  had  been  kept  up  and  renewed 
every  fifteen  years,  the  last  revision  being  in  1754; 
a  Head  Tombo  was  prepared  for  the  Manar  District ; 
but  in  the  South  the  condition  of  things  was  not 
satisfactory.  It  was  an  early  discovery  that  one  of 
the  surest  ways  to  secure  the  peace  of  a  harassed 
official  was  to  refuse  the  public  access  to  public 
registers  ;  accordingly  de  Heere  "of  blessed  memory" 
had  ordered  the  Portuguese  Tombo  of  Colombo,  over 
which  Antao  Vaz  Freire  had  toiled  for  so  many 
years  a  century  before,  to  be  burnt.  No  systematic 
effort  had  been  made  since  to  prepare  a  new  Tombo, 
though  various  local  Rolls  dealing  with  minor  matters 
such  as  Arecanut  and  Cinnamon  were  in  existence, 
till  in  1739  the  work  was  started  in  the  Matara 
Disawani. 

The  Tombo  now  prepared  was  a  register  showing 
all  persons  and  landed  property  in  the  country, 
arranged  according  to  provinces  and  districts.  An 
examination  of  this  shewed  at  a  glance  the  complete 
extent  of  the  occupied  territory,  the  number  of  the 


78  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

population,  the  services  the  inhabitants  were  liable 
to  perform  to  the  Company,  the  duty  they  had  to 
pay  for  their  lands,  the  denominations  under  which 
the  lands  were  assessed,  the  title  of  parties  thereto, 
what  badawedili  and  other  privileges  they  enjoyed, 
and  what  unoccupied  lands  were  available  for  disposal. 

In  the  case  of  lands  belonging  to  the  Company 
which  had  been  planted  with  its  consent,  a  third  of 
the  produce  was  claimed  for  the  Company,  and  a 
half  where  there  had  been  no  consent.  Where  no 
documentary  title  could  be  proved,  they  were  treated 
as  Company's  land  planted  without  consent.  There 
were  various  classes  of  Paraveni  land,  which  formed 
the  nearest  approach  to  tenure  in  fee  simple ;  where 
there  were  documents  to  show  that  all  the  Company's 
claims  had  been  paid,  or  that  the  lands  had  been 
given  free  of  all  dues  in  reward  for  services  rendered, 
no  duty  was  levied.  The  largest  group  of  this  class 
consisted  of  the  Service  Paraveni  lands  which  were 
held  subject  to  Rajakariya  or  service  to  Government 
in  accordance  with  caste  and  birth.  Such  lands  descended 
to  a  man's  heirs  with  the  same  liability  attached 
thereto  and  could  not  be  mortgaged  or  sold.  Where 
the  tenant  received  promotion  to  a  higher  grade  as 
by  appointment  to  a  Mudaliyarship,  the  services  in 
connection  with  these  lands  had  to  be  performed  by 
a  substitute,  or  a  duty  paid.  Malapala  lands  were 
those  which  had  lapsed  to  Government  on  failure  of 
heirs,  and  Nilapala  those  which  were  abandoned 
either  because  of  their  lack  of  fertility,  an  out-break  of 
small-pox,  or  some  similar  reason.  All  such  were 
again  at  the  disposal  of  the  Company,  which  re-allotted 
them,  usually  as  Badawedili. 

As  for  the  rice  fields,  those  from  which  the 
Company  derived  a  profit  consisted  of  the  ancient 
royal  Muttettu,  which  the  inhabitants  had  to  cultivate 
for  its  benefit  free  of  charge,  and  the  Ande  and  Otu 
fields  on  which  the  cultivators  paid    a    half    and    a 


The  Native   Ofiicials  79 

tenth  of  the  crop  respectively  as  the  Company's  share. 
Both  van  Gollenesse  and  Schreuder  urged  the  advant- 
ages to  be  gained  by  transplanting  the  paddy  plant, 
but  without  the  slightest  effect. 

The  preparation  of  the  Tombo  was  a  matter 
of  much  labour  and  delay ;  opposition,  mostly  passive, 
was  encountered  on  every  side :  the  Council  was 
kept  busy  with  resolutions  for  compelling  registration, 
and  the  free  transfer  of  property  was  greatly  hampered. 
The  Colombo  Tombo  which  was  begun  in  1742  was 
completed  by  August  1759,  when  an  immediate 
revision  was  ordered.  Three  years  later  the  Galle 
Tombo  was  nearly  complete ;  while  that  of  Matara, 
which  was  begun  first  of  all  and  which  caused 
most  trouble,  came  to  an  untimely  end,  as  will  be 
seen  later. 

The  efficient  administration  of  the  country 
depended  on  the  efficiency  of  the  native  chiefs  and 
headmen,  through  whom  all  administrative  acts  had 
to  be  carried  out.  Over  every  Korale  there  was  a 
Mudaliyar  who  was  in  charge  of  the  Lascarins  of  the 
Korale,  as  well  as  a  Korale  Vidane,  now  called  Korala, 
who  looked  after  the  revenue  interests  of  the  Com- 
pany, supervised  the  cultivation  of  lands,  and  collected 
dues.  The  Korala  was  assisted  by  Atu  Koralas,  and 
Vidanes  were  appointed  over  groups  of  villages. 

There  had  set  in  a  tendency  to  increase  to  an 
unreasonable  extent  the  number  of  these  officials, 
and  all  of  them  had  to  be  provided  for.  The  chief 
defect  in  the  system  of  appointments  arose  from  the 
acknowledged  fact  that  bribery  was  largely  instrumental 
in  securing  posts,  the  consequence  being  that  it  was 
not  always  that  the  best  men  were  selected,  while 
naturally  the  successful  candidates  expected  to  recoup 
themselves  for  their  expenditure  by  fleecing  the 
villagers.  The  unhealthy  craving  for  petty  titles  and 
distinctions,  entailing  as  it  must  always  do  the  destruc- 
tion of  independence  and  self-respect,  was  as  strong 


80  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

then  as  it  is  now,  and  everyone  who  was  connected 
with  parties  in  office  expected  to   be  remembered. 

Van  Imhoff  advised  the  reduction  in  the  number 
of  these  offices;  where  possible  he  combined  the 
office  of  Korala  with  that  of  Mudahyar,  and  he  also 
suggested  that  in  the  more  important  divisions  the 
Atukoralas  should  be  raised  to  the  rank  of  Mohundirams. 
He  was  anxious  that  complaints  against  them  should 
not  be  suppressed  but  carefully  inquired  into,  for  he 
realised  how  often  there  was  reason  for  the  complaint, 
and  how  difficult  if  not  impossible  it  was  for  the 
villager  to  prove  his  case  against  anyone    in  power. 

The  remuneration  given  to  these  officers  was 
considered  excessive.  There  was  no  fixed  rule  on 
the  subject,  and  the  amount  was  left  to  the  humour 
of  the  Governor.  A  Mudaliyar  who  received  an 
extensive  Badawedilla  did  not  trouble  to  have  the  less 
fertile  land  cultivated,  or  to  put  what  he  had  to  the 
best  use  possible.  It  was  not  unusual  to  allot  an 
entire  village  to  an  individual,  as  had  been  the  custom 
under  the  Sinhalese  Kings,  and  in  such  a  case  the 
grantee  became  entitled  to  receive  all  the  revenue 
which  the  Company  used  to  obtain  therefrom,  subject 
to  the  payment  of  a  small  quit-rent. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  the  Pasdun  and  Galle 
Korales  had  thus  been  given  away,  and  encroachments 
made  even  on  Gampaha  and  Weke,  the  two  ancient 
Gabadagam  which  were  of  such  value  for  provisioning 
the  garrisons  of  Negumbo  and  Hanwella.  The 
village  Mayorals,  the  real  husbandmen,  who  had 
heavy  duties  to  perform,  were  neglected,  with  the 
result  that  their  number  steadily  diminished,  as  people 
preferred  to  be  ranked  as  Lascarins,  when  they 
received  comfortable  badawedili  and  were  liable  to 
little  service. 

Van  Gollenesse  followed  the  principles  indicated 
by  Van  Imhoff  and  cut  down  the  number  of    offices 


Reforms  81 

with  a  ruthless  hand.  He  also  framed  a  scheme  for 
the  allotment  of  Badaivedili  lands,  laying  down  how 
much  each  public  servant  was  to  receive,  from  the 
20  amunams  of  the  Maha  Mudaliyar,  to  the  20  bera 
of  the  village  tom-tom  beater  or  Gam  berawaya. 
Moreover  he  took  action  to  get  back  for  the  Company 
or  to  levy  a  duty  on  all  lands  which  had  been  given 
away  without  sufficient  reason  or  at  an  undervalu- 
ation. It  was  at  the  same  time  enacted  that  in  future 
no  Sannas  conveying  land  was  to  be  written  on  palm 
leaf,  but  only  on  paper  signed  by  the  Governor 
himself,  an  exception  being  made  in  the  case  of  bada- 
wedili  given  to  Lascarins. 

The  old  body  of  Mudaliyars  with  their  extensive 
grants  had  died  away  by  the  time  he  left,  and 
only  the  aged  Anthonan  de  Saram  Mudaliyar,  father 
of  the  Maha  Mudaliyar,  and  Tilakaratna  of  Matara,  son 
of  the  renegade  Punchi  Appuhami,  still  remained; 
the  consequence  was  that  a  large  amount  of  valuable 
land  had  reverted  to  the  Company.  Orders  were 
also  given  to  reduce  the  number  of  Lascarins,  whose 
services  now  consisted  mainly  in  carrying  messages 
and  capturing  runaway  slaves;  in  1745  the  number 
of  ranchu  for  the  Colombo  Disavani  was  fixed  at 
one  handred  and  five.  Artisans  such  as  carpenters 
and  sawyers  who  received  pay  for  their  services,  were 
not  provided  with  badawedili. 

Schreuder  was  not  able  to  report  much 
improvement  in  the  difficult  question  of  the  native 
officers,  but  he  was  prepared  to  see  that  charges 
were  often  made  against  them  without  foundation 
by  parties  interested  in  creating  vacancies.  He  was 
at  one  time  inclined  to  recommend  that  these 
offices  should  be  made  hereditary  in  the  families 
of  the  more  deserving,  but  as  he  realised  that  this 
would  exclude  a  large  number  whose  claims  were 
entitled     to   consideration,  he  desisted  from  doing  so. 

Besides  the  payments  of  rice  already  referred 
to,    there    were  numerous  other  sources  of  revenue 

11 


82  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

which  though  not  of  much  pecuniary  importance, 
were  nevertheless  of  interest.  There  were  first 
of  all  the  Alphandigo  or  Customs;  the  Pol-aya, 
consisting  of  a  tenth  of  the  yield  from  all 
cuconut  trees;  and  the  decum  which  was  in  the 
nature  of  a  poll  tax.  The  toddy  and  arrack  rents 
never  yielded  very  much.  Then  there  were  the 
Bazaar  rents,  and  the  dues  from  the  fisheries,  fishing 
boats,  and  nets.  The  Company  had  various  gardens, 
including  a  tobacco  plantation  at  Negombo  and  a 
coconut  land  of  fifteen  thousand  trees  at  Galkissa, 
which  were  leased  out,  as  well  as  certain  gemming  rights 
in  the  Matara   District  and  in  the  Colombo  Disavani. 

The  gem  country  was  mainly  within  the  King's 
Dominions,  and  was  kept  jealously  guarded ;  no  mining 
was  permitted  without  his  special  order  and  every- 
thing found  was  reserved  for  his  use ;  all  trade  in 
gems  was  discouraged,  though  occasionally  fakirs 
would  smuggle  valuable  specimens  across  the  border. 
Gem  cutting  was  carried  on  by  the  Moors  of  Matara. 
In  Jaffna  there  were  moreover  the  stamping  of  cloth, 
and  brokerage  fees  on  tobacco  and  jaggery.  At  Manar 
the  feeding  of  cattle  under  the  tank  beds  was  a 
source  of  profit,  and  certain  dues  were  paid  in  ghi 
or  butter.  The  right  to  winnow  the  sand  at  the 
site  of  the  Fishery  was  also  sold.  Perhaps  as  interesting 
as  any  was  the  tax  levied  on  the  humble  Moor  and 
Chetty  who  desired  to  wear  the  loose  slippers  called 
Papus,  sandals,  or  any  other  footgear. 

Originally  the  majority  of  the  dues  were  collected 
on  behalf  of  the  Company,  but  it  was  found  more 
profitable  to  farm  out  the  right  to  recover  them, 
and  at  Colombo  this  was  done  every  August  by 
public  auction. 

Since  1732  there  had  been  no  pearl  fishery. 
It  should  be  realised  that  the  profits  which  the 
Company  derived  from  a  fishery  did  not  arise  directly 
from  the  oysters,  but  indirectly  from  levies    on  the 


The  Pearl  Fishery  83 

boats  engaged;  fees,  varying  according  to  religion, 
payable  by  the  divers ;  import  duties,  etc.  Indeed  as 
a  rule  the  Company  found  it  very  difficult  to  secure 
any  pearls  even  by  purchase,  in  consequence  of  the 
keen  competition  of  the  Indian  merchants.  Against 
these  profits  had  to  be  set  off  the  heavy  expense 
of  organising  the  fishery  and  maintaing  guards,  the 
chances  of  an  outbreak  of  illness  amongst  the  great 
assembly,  and  the  certainty  of  much  smuggling  and 
the  dislocation  of  the  usual   trade  of    the  Company. 

In  view  of  all  this  van  Imhoff  recommended 
that  the  right  of  fishery  should  be  sold  by  public 
auction,  and  this  advice  being  adopted,  the  right  to 
fish  for  thirty  days  with  600  men  was  sold,  and  for 
the  five  years  following  1746  the  Company  obtained 
a  large  profit  without  incurring  any  risk  whatever. 
This  created  much  interest  at  Court,  and  in  1750 
twenty-one  of  the  King's  vessels  appeared  ;off,Chilaw 
and  dived  for  oysters.  The  Company's  vessels  hovered 
about,  for  the  Hollanders  were  not  prepared  to  admit 
the  right  of  the  King  to  any  dominium  maris  or  to  any 
oysters;  fortunately  none  were  found,  and  thus 
complications  were  avoided.  There  was  no  fishery 
during  the  time  of  Schreuder. 

Among  other  sources  of  revenue  from  the  sea 
were  the  chanks  which  were  imported  to  India ;  the 
cowries  from  the  Maldives,  which  were  in  great 
demand  in  Europe  for  the  African  slave  trade;  and 
shark  skins  which  were  exported  for  covering  the 
sword-handles  of  Japanese  Daimios.  It  was  however 
recognised  that  the  wealth  of  Ceylon  lay  in  its 
agricultural  products.  The  increasing  demand  fc 
coffee,  which  had  been  introduced  among  Europear3 
in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  and  was  fast 
revolutionising  their  social  manners,  drew  the  attention 
of  the  Company  to  the  possibility  of  its  growth  in 
the  Island,  and  in  September,  1720,  Rumpf  issued  a 
proclamation  worded  with  all  the  skill  of  a    modern 


84  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

advertising  agent,  urging  the  people  to  take  up  its  culti- 
vation. The  advantages  of  the  new  product  were  soon 
realised,  and  the  terms  offered  by  the  Company  were 
more  liberal  than  were  usual  in  its  dealings :  for  the 
main  difficulty  experienced  in  persuading  the  natives 
to  take  up  any  new  cultivation  was  their  not  ground- 
less fear  that  it  would  entail  some  new  duty  to 
Government. 

Cultivation  was  rapidly  taken  in  hand,  and  once 
again  the  energetic  Wijayawardhana  received  from 
the  Company  on  a  plate  of  gold  an  acknowledgment 
of  the  zeal  displayed  by  him.  The  Mudaliyar  died 
shortly  after,  having  served  the  Company  for  forty 
six  years. 

A  special  officer  was  appointed  to  supervise 
the  cultivation,  but  he  soon  proved  a  source  of 
oppression  to  the  people,  who  had  to  supply  provisions 
for  him  and  his  attendants  during  his  frequent  tours. 
The  native  officials  therefore  unanimously  requested 
Pielat  to  abolish  the  office,  promising  an  increased 
quantity  of  coffee  if  they  were  relieved  of  his 
exactions;  the  office  was  abolished  and  the  supply 
from  Colombo  was  immediately  doubled,  till  in  1739 
a  hundred  thousand  pounds  were  exported.  The  output 
from  Java  and  the  West  Indies  had  in  the  meantime 
attained  such  dimensions  that  the  price  fell  heavily 
and  the  Company  began  to  discourage  the  cultivation . 
The  result  was  that  the  plantations  were  soon 
neglected,  and  the  berries  lay  uncollected  on  the 
ground,  for  the  people  had  not  yet  learnt  to  drink 
coffee.  Then  came  a  ruinous  war  in  Java  which 
lasted  from  1741  to  1758,  and  the  supply  was  so 
reduced  that  orders  were  received  by  Schreuder  to 
buy  up  all  the  coffee  available,  and  the  prospects  of 
the  enterprise  were  again  bright. 

Cardamoms  were  obtained  almost  exclusively 
from  the  King's  country,  by  way  of  Matara,  and  the 
troubles  with  the  Court  so  affected  the    supply  that 


Cardamoms  and  Pepper  K 

the  article  nearly  disappeared  from  the  trade  returns ; 

Versluys  therefore  attempted  to  persuade  the  people 

in  the  Galle  and    Matara  Districts  to  grow  the  finer 

but  smaller  Malabar  variety,  though  with  little  success- 

The  Company  then  increased  the  price  it  was  prepared 

to  pay  and  thus  succeeded  in  keeping  up    a    fairly 

satisfactory  supply.    Van  Imhoff   however  discovered 

some  of  the  Malabar  plants  growing  at  Hanwella  in 

the  garden  of  Paulo  Alvis   Mudaliyar,  the  able    and 

energetic  Chief  of   the    Hewagam    Korale,    and    the 

latter   was  instructed  to  open  up  a  plantation.    This 

was  done  and  van  Gollenesse  was   able  to  report    a 

large  increase,  though  white  ants  sadly  damaged  the 

garden  at  Eswatta.    The  cultivation  spread   into  the 

Siyane  and  Pasdun  Korales,  but  the  trouble    caused 

by  the  white  ants  was  so  great  that  in  1757  instructions 

were  received  from  Batavia  to  discontinue  the  attempt. 

Pepper  again  was  an  article    which    first    the 

Portuguese    and  after  them  the  Hollanders  had  made 

several  attempts  to  develop,  for    there    were    heavy 

profits  to  be   made  from  it,  and  a  large  quantity  was 

required  every  year  for  packing  with  the    cinnamon 

which  was  shipped.    Versluys  had  taken  much  interest 

in    the    matter,  and    van    Imhoff    tried    to  persuade 

the  Court  as  well  to  take    up    the    subject.     Many 

Sinhalese  availed  themselves  of  the  eagerness  of  the 

Company  to  obtain  for  themselves  large  tracts  of  good 

land  under  agreement  to    plant    the    vine,    and  these 

lands  were  then  utilised  for  other  purposes. 

In  spite  of  much  opposition  the  cultivation 
gradually  spread;  Don  Bastian,  the  Mitrigala  Vidane, 
opened  two  plantations  which  were  described  as  the 
two  most  beautiful  gardens  in  the  Siyane  Korale, 
though  the  Korala  who  was  jealous  of  his  success 
attempted  to  undo  his  work  by  removing  the  coolies 
who  had  been  placed  at  his  disposal.  The  excessive 
drought  of  1750  badly  damaged  most  of  the  planta- 
tions.   An  attempt  was  made  to  force  the  people  by 


86  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

plakaats  to  take  up  the  cultivation,  but  Schreuder 
pointed  out  that  he  did  much  more  to  increase  the 
supply  by  raising  the  price  moderately  and  treating 
the  producer  well  than  his  predecessors  had  done  by 
their  appeal  to  compulsion.  In  1753  the  export  nearly 
reached  the  figure  of  300,000  lbs. 

Arecanut  continued  to  yield  abundant  profits, 
and  in  1746  more  than  18000  amunams  were  exported; 
but  the  system  under  which  it  was  collected  and  the 
small  price  offered  by  the  Company  to  the  owners 
killed  all  desire  to  increase  the  supply;  on  the  other 
hand  very  often  everything  beyond  the  amount 
required  to  meet  the  Company's  duty  was  left  to  rot 
under  the  trees  as  not  worth  the  trouble  of  collecting. 
The  Company  therefore  had  recourse  to  some 
of  the  Moormen  of  Galle  and  Matara  and  entrusted 
the  collection  to  them  under  promise  of  handsome 
payment  for  any  quantity  delivered  beyond  the 
Company's  duty. 

The  profits  were  somewhat  affected  by  the 
competition  of  the  English  areca  from  Atchin,  but 
much  more  by  the  smuggling  which  was  still  carried 
on  boldly.  The  remedy  which  was  suggested  by 
some  was  to  abolish  the  monopoly  and  throw  open 
the  trade  to  everyone,  subject  to  a  duty  for  purposes 
of  revenue;  but  such  a  scheme  was  too  much  in 
advance  of  the  times  to  be  favourably  considered. 

The  cultivation  of  coconut  was  rapidly  increasing, 
not  only  along  the  sea  coast  to  the  South  of 
Colombo,  and  in  the  Peninsula  of  Kalpitiya,  but 
inland  as  well.  The  planting  with  coconut  of  forest 
which  might  contain  cinnamon  was  not  regarded 
with  much  favour,  for  the  revenue  derivable  from 
coconuts  was  small.  Indeed  Schreuder  complained 
bitterly  "where  one  saw  formerly  twenty  or  thirty 
peelers'  tents  pitched,  one  now  finds  nothing  but 
coconut  gardens."  The  owners  distilled  arrack  from 
the  produce  of  their  trees,  after  paying  a    small  fee 


Arrack  87 

to  the  toddy  renter,  and  the  shipping  and  the  garrisons 
were  supphed  with  this  spirit,  which  it  was 
beheved  "used  moderately  does  as  much  good  to  our 
people  as  it  does  harm  when  taken  in  large  quantities".* 
The  main  centre  of  distillation  was  along  the 
coast  from  Colombo  to  Matara,  and  extending  three 
miles  inland;  north  of  Colombo  "pot-stills"  v/ere  in 
use  as  in  the  time  of  the  Sinhalese  Kings.  The 
privilege  of  the  arrack  renter  to  demoralise  a  non- 
drinking  population  was  confined  to  the  limited 
rented  area  round  towns  and  military  stations;  and  the 
introduction  of  the  liquor  within  the  interior  was 
forbidden  and  the  headmen  were  expected  to  see  to  the 
prohibition  being  enforced.  As  a  rule  taverns  had  to  be 
closed  at  8  p.  m;  they  were  recognised  as  centres 
where  gamblers  and  vagrants  collected,  and  where 
stolen  property  could  conveniently  be  disposed    of. 

There  were  however  aspects  of  the  Company's 
activities  other  than  the  mercantile  which  have  to  be 
considered.  As  early  as  1685  the  Chief  Physician 
had  drawn  the  attention  of  the  authorities  to  the 
alarming  prevalence  of  a  disease,  described  as  leprosy, 
among  the  children  of  the  Hollanders  by  their 
native  or  Mestico  wives.  Steps  were  taken  to  segregate 
the  affected  persons  and  in  the  time  of  Simons  a 
spacious  Asylum  was  erected  at  Hendala?  which  is 
in  use  down  to  the  present  day. 

The  zeal  which  at  one  time  marked  the  Company's 
attempts  to  educate  the  people  and  to  convert  them  into 
the  "true  Reformed  Faith"  had  exhausted  itself,  and  the 
villager's  experience  of  the  blessings  which  the  religion 
of  the  foreigner  was  expected  to  bring,  had  not  been 
such  as  to  destroy  his  inherited  love  for  the  hoary 
religion  of  his  ancestors.  The  formulae  which  the 
Portuguese  priest  had  taught  as  the  one  true  reli- 
gion today  might  well  excite  a  smile.  But  that  priest 
was  inspired  by  a  passionate,  though  perhaps  not 
always   a  scrupulous,  devotion,  which  still  carried  him 

*  Zwardecroon's  Memoir  p.  73. 


88  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

within  the  territory  which  the  Company  now  admi- 
nistered. Repressive  measures  followed,  and  in  1699 
on  the  orders  of  van  Rheede,  all  Roman  Catholic 
Churches  and  secret  conventicles  were  closed;  but  it 
was  a  shock  to  the  officers  of  the  Company  when 
they  discovered  eight  years  later  that  the  bulk  of 
the  thirty  five  churches  in  Jaffna  were  well  stocked 
with  heathen  literature. 

It  was  impossible  to  blink  the  fact  that  the 
natives  were  at  heart  heathen.  The  Wannias  for 
instance  had  all  been  baptised,  but  they  were  more 
than  suspected  of  being  "devil-worshippers"  which 
probably  meant  Hindus,  and  their  resolute  refusal  to 
admit  Europeans  within  their  houses  aggravated  the 
suspicion.  Becker  tried  the  effect  of  legislation,  and 
in  a  proclamation  of  the  6th  of  June,  1711,  declared 
that  whereas,  "The  clear  instructions  which  we  have 
constantly  issued  to  dispel  the  darkness  that  surrounds 
the  people  of  this  country  are  to  our  immeasureable 
sorrow  and  great  displeasure  daily  disobeyed  and 
insulted,  we  find  it  expedient  to  awaken  that  attention 
which  our  blessed  religion  requires".  This  was  to  be 
effected  by  enacting  that  anyone  found  at  a  place  of 
heathen  worship  or  decorating  heathen  im^ages  or 
taking  part  in  Hindu  ceremonies  was  liable  to  be 
summarily  arrested  and  punished  corporally  as  well 
as  by  rigorous  imprisonment.  At  the  same  time  all 
priests  officiating  at  the  Deivalayas  were  ordered  to 
leave  the  Company's  territory. 

No  one  paid  much  attention  to  the  proclama- 
tion, which  was  supported  by  a  subsequent  order 
forbidding  Christians  to  marry  Buddhists.  This  too 
was  found  to  be  not  sufficiently  effective,  and  in  1760 
it  was  considered  necessary  to  disgrace  the  Statute 
Book  by  an  Ordinance  to  the  effect  that  if  a  Christian 
woman  lived  with  a  pagan  man,  the  two  of  them 
were  liable  to  be  flogged  till  blood  appeared,  to  be 
branded,   confined  in  chains    at  hard  labour  for   life 


Christianity  89 

to  have  all  their  property  confiscated,  and  their  children 
taken  for  slaves.  Yet  in  the  Nanayakkara  School 
at  Matara,  which  was  reserved  for  the  high-class 
Appuhamis,  none  of  the  desired  children  were  to  be 
found,  as  they  had  Buddhist  priests  at  home  to  instruct 
them. 

The  public  chastisement  of  headmen  for  allowing 
heathen  practises  had  little  effect  so  long  as  the 
higher  clergy  showed  little  energy.  The  Hollander 
lacked  the  zeal  of  the  Portuguese,  and  it  is  not 
possible  to  speak  of  him  as  a  missionary.  The 
clergyman  was  little  more  than  a  State  official;  his 
annual  visit  was  as  much  of  a  nuisance  and  source 
of  expense  to  the  villager  as  that  of  a  revenue  officer. 
Villages  with  a  reputation  for  fat  chickens  and 
good  mutton,  which  the  inhabitants  had  to  supply 
free  of  cost,  never  lacked  the  ministrations  of  these 
clergy,  who  frequently  took  their  wives  with  them, 
and  the  public  had  to  supply  the  necessary  palan- 
quin bearers;  at  the  same  time  they  often  went  to 
the  extent  of  refusing  to  visit  the  more  remote  and 
less  attractive  centres  of  population,  till  specific 
orders  were  sent  for  the  purpose.  Moreover,  clergy- 
men were  forbidden  to  baptise  slaves,  as  no  Christian 
could  be  a  slave;  the  consequence  was  that  to 
most  households  there  was  attached  a  group  of 
dissolute  men  and  women  who  exercised  a  profoundly 
evil  influence  on  the  children. 

Christoph  Langhansz,  a  native  of  Breslau  who 
was  in  Ceylon  Jn  1696,  expressed  the  opinion  that 
as  the  Portuguese  lost  the  Island  in  consequence  of 
their  excessive  pride,  so  the  Hollanders  might  some 
day  share  the  same  fate  as  the  result  of  their 
excessive  avarice  and  of  their  neglect  to  teach  Christ- 
ianity to  the  heathen„  It  seemed  that  they  excused 
themselves  for  their  negligence  in  this  respect  by 
suggesting  that  "the  Providence  of  the  great  God  could 
not  have  wished   it  otherwise."    Some    attempt    was 

12 


90  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

made  to  remedy  this  discouraging  state  of  things.  A 
fine  Church  was  erected  within  the  Fort  of  Jafana- 
patnam,  where  the  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Miracles 
had  been  pulled  down  in  1692,  and  another  ordered 
in  1723  at  the  ancient  capital  of  Kotte.  Seminaries 
were  opened  both  at  Jaffna  and  Colombo  for  training 
youths  of  good  family  for  the  Ministry;  the  first  of 
these  was  closed  before  the  lapse  of  many  years, 
while  the  second  continued  to  exist  as  one  of  the 
institutions  favoured  by  successive  Governors. 

The  students  trained  within  its  walls  were  very 
few  in  number  and  were  carefully  selected;  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council  were  usually  present  at  their 
examination- -indeed  in  one  year  the  responsible  clergy 
refused  to  hold  the  examination  because  the  Governor's 
carriage  had  not  been  sent  to  convey  them.  Van 
Imhoff  has  recorded  his  delight  at  seeing  the  dusky 
youths  who  knew  little  or  no  Dutch,  talking  in  Latin 
or  poring  over  Greek.  Annual  reports  were  sent  to 
The  XVII  in  Europe,  and  selected  students  completed 
their  course  at  the  Universities  of  Holland,  though 
The  XVII  had  in  1700  disallowed  the  proposal,  because 
a  similar  scheme  had  proved  a  failure  in  Batavia. 
Wijaya  Sriwardana  Maha  Mudaliyar  at  one  time 
taught  within  the  walls  of  the  Colombo  Seminary; 
and  Henricus  Philipsz,  the  son  of  van  Gollenesse's 
trusted  Maha  Mudaliyar  Panditaratna,  went  from  it 
to  Utrecht  and  Amsterdam,  and  returned  as  a 
Predikant  to  labour  among  his  own  people. 

Nevertheless  Christianity  made  but  small 
progress;  the  causes  which  operate  so  adversely  today 
acted  with  equal  force  under  the  Company,  and  Pielat, 
van  Imhoff,  and  van  Gollenesse  all  complained 
bitterly  that  clergymen  could  not  be  found  who  could 
preach  to  the  people  in  their  own  language.  The 
people  could  not  think  of  a  God  who  had  to  be 
addressed  in  a  foreign  tongue,  and  it  was  here  that 
the  far-seeing  Church  of  Rome,  which  was  quick  to 


Christianity  91 

establish  a  native  ministry  wherever  it  went,    found 
its  strength. 

In  spite  of  all  its  efforts  the  Company  could 
not  check  the  ingratiating  influence  of  that  Church. 
It  tried  to  extirpate  Popery  by  punishing  its  adher- 
ents, forbidding  baptism  by  priests,  and  rendering  the 
reception  of  a  priest  a  penal  offence.  As  in  the  case 
of  Mohammedans  and  the  heathen,  their  marriages 
were  not  considered  legal  if  they  did  not  conform 
to  the  regulations  of  the  Company.  But  the  persis- 
tence of  the  Mestico  priests  from  Goa  could  not  be 
stopped,  and  they  had  a  large  following  along  the 
coast  from  Jaffna  to  Matara. 

It  is  true  that  the  religion  of  the  converts  was 
described  as  sitting  lightly  on  them.  Jacob  Haafner 
of  Halle,  a  German  of  wide  experience  in  the 
Company's  Eastern  settlements,  who  was  in  Ceylon 
in  1782,  has  stated  that  they  knew  little  of  Chris- 
tianity save  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  to 
mutter  a  prayer,  the  very  criticism  which  had  been 
passed  more  than  a  hunderd  years  before.  Elias 
Paravacini  de  Capelle  of  Breda,  who  had  spent  more 
than  thirty  years  in  various  parts  of  Ceylon,  expressed  a 
similar  opinion  regarding  the  Mukkuwas  of  Puttalam. 
As  a  rule,  little  had  been  done  beyond  introducing 
new  incantations  and  new  ceremonies  in  place  of 
the  old. 

None  the  less  there  were  congregations  which 
were  prepared  to  take  up  a  bold  attitude  on  the 
question  of  freedom  of  conscience.  For  instance  in 
1750  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Negombo  presented  a 
memorial  written  in  Tamil,  in  which  while  declaring 
their  firm  adherence  to  the  religion  their  ancestors 
had  adopted  two  hundred  years  before,  they 
protested  against  their  children  being  compelled  to 
learn  at  the  schools  tenets  to  which  they  objected, 
and  they  further  complained  that  they  were  forced 
by  heavy  fines  to  send  their  children  to  such  schools. 


92  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

The  Consistory  to  whom  the  memorial  was  referred, 
recommended  the  strict  enforcement  of  the  existing 
regulations  against  Popery,  and  that  Romish  baptisms 
and  marriages  should  not  be  acknowledged,  while  it 
further  urged  that  none  but  Protestants  should  be 
appointed  as  headmen. 

The  Council,  which  did  not  always  work  in 
harmony  with  the  Consistory,  pointed  out  in  reply 
that  it  was  not  within  the  province  of  the  latter  to 
offer  advice  regarding  matters  of  administration  ;  it 
said  that  it  would  greatly  regret  if  it  were  compelled 
in  making  appointments  to  confine  itself  to  Protes- 
tants, and  in  turn  it  advised  the  clergy  to  learn  the 
native  languages  sufficiently  well  to  be  able  to 
influence  the  people  against  Popery. 

The  Roman  Catholics  thereupon  grew  more 
aggressive ;  in  Puttalam  and  Kalpitiya  one  priest 
obtained  a  great  reputation  by  exorcising  the  locusts 
and  beetles  which  damaged  the  coconut  trees ;  at 
Kalutara  there  were  public  exhibitions  and  process- 
sions,  till  their  leader  was  arrested  and  banished. 
At  Negombo  they  insulted  the  clergy  and  resorted 
to  open  violence.  In  1757  on  the  report  of 
the  Scholarchal  Commission,  the  Council  ordered 
some  Chapels  which  had  been  built  there  to  be 
pulled  down,  when  the  people  who  were  sent  to  do 
the  work  were  opposed  by  a  crowd  of  women.  The 
Disawa  therefore  sent  some  Lascarins  to  enforce  compli- 
ance; near  Toppu  they  were  attacked  by  a  large 
body  of  fishermen  and  the  military  had  to  be  called 
out.  Some  of  the  ring-leaders  were  arrested,  but 
Toppu  and  Pallansena  were  found  deserted,  and  the 
inhabitants  collected  on  an  Island  on  the  borders  of 
the  Company's  territory  ;  they  would  not  be  persuaded 
to  return,  and  the  military  thereupon  pulled  down 
the  offending  structures  and  withdrew. 

In  the  same  year  a  youth  who  had  been  sent 
from  the  Seminary  to  Leyden  published  in     Holland 


Christianity  93 

a  pamphlet  which  created  a  great  scandal.  He  said 
the  ministers  worked  not  for  the  love  of  God  but 
merely  for  gain  ;  he  charged  them  with  apathy  ;  he 
declared  it  was  their  indolence  alone  which  prevented 
them  from  learning  the  native  languages;  and  asserted 
that  but  for  the  exertions  of  van  Imhoff,  the  Church 
in  Ceylon  would  have  been  as  good  as  dead.  This 
violent  attack  upon  them  occasioned  much  animated 
discussion  among  the  clergy,  who  bitterly  reproached 
the  outspoken  youth  for  his  ingratitude  in  casting 
such  aspersions  on  those  under  whom  he  had  learnt. 
Some  years  later  the  writer  returned  as  an  ordained 
clergymen,  when  he  retracted  his  observations  and 
brotherly  feeling  was  restored. 

Apart  from  the  indifference  of  the  clergy  the 
scandalous  lives  led  by  some  of  the  Europeans, 
including  men  in  high  places,  proved  as  much  of 
a  stumbling  block  in  the  way  of  conversion,  as  it 
had  done  in  the  time  of  the  Portuguese.  The  private 
Hfe  of  Van  Domburg,  when  Governor  designate,  was 
of  so  dubious  a  nature,  that  serious  reports  had  to 
be  sent  to  Batavia  on  the  subject.  Not  unnaturally 
the  natives  were  unable  to  understand  why  that 
which  was  a  penal  offence  when  committed  by  them, 
passed  unnoticed  when  done  by  a  Hollander.  So  lax 
was  the  European  congregation  at  Colombo,  which 
numbered  a  thousand  souls,  that  barely  fifty  could  be 
found  to  attend  the  Church  service  on  Sunday.  The 
completion  in  1749  of  a  noble  church  at  Wolvendahl 
did  little  to  remedy    matters. 

The  Scholarchal  Commission  was  in  charge 
of  the  education  of  the  country.  This  Board  had 
the  supervision  of  all  native  Christians,  dealt  with 
their  matrimonial  matters,  and  saw  to  the  proper 
preparation  of  the  School  Tombos.  These  were 
registers  containing  a  record  of  the  domestic  history 
of  each  individual;  they  showed  who  and  what  his 
parents  and  family  were  ;  when  he  was  born,  baptized 
and  married,  what  education    he  had,  when  he  died 


94  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

and  what  family  he  left  behind.  The  Board  appointed 
two  inspectors  who  visited  the  schools  once  a  year 
to  report  on  the  progress  made,  to  check  the  regis- 
ters, and  to  audit  the  fines  which  were  freely  imposed 
to  persuade  villagers  to  attend  school  and  church. 
They  moreover  baptised  the  children  and  performed 
the  marriage  service  of  Christians  whose  Banns  had 
been  duly  published  in  the  course  of  the  previous 
year.  Such  publication  even  came  to  be  regarded 
as  itself  an  informal  rite  which  entitled  the  parties 
to  live  as  husband  and  wife  pending  the  performance 
of  the  yearly  religious  service. 

It  was  not  always  that  the  Board  displayed 
energy,  and  for  the  five  years  prior  to  1703  it  never 
met  at  all.  The  schools  throughout  the  Island  were 
neglected,  the  buildings  in  many  cases  fell  into 
decay,  and  the  very  beams  were  stolen  from  them. 
After  a  period  of  fitful  energy  the  troubles  of  1735 
nearly  destroyed  all  school  operations.  Van  Imhoff 
however  took  an  active  interest  in  the  subject,  and 
the  establishment  of  a  printing  press  in  1736  was 
considered  likely  to  mark  the  commencement  of  a 
great  change  for  the  better.  Various  edifying  books 
and  tracts  were  issued  from  it,  but  there  was  little 
practical  improvement. 

In  1760  the  basis  of  education  at  the  Colombo 
Seminary  was  widened  so  as  to  enable  suitable  youths 
to  be  trained  there  to  be  chief  headmen  and  school- 
masters, and  caretul  regulations  were  drawn  up  anew 
for  the  purpose.  At  the  same  time  their  preparation 
for  the   ministry  was  discouraged. 

No  provision  appears  to  have  been  made  for 
the  education  of  girls,  but  what  was  even  more 
remarkable  was  the  negligence  of  the  Company  in 
regard  to  the  sons  of  its  European  servants. 
Eschelskroon,  a  German  with  much  experience  of  the 
East,  published  in  1784  a  short  account  of  Ceylon, 
in  which  he  drew  attention  to  this  omission.  The  East 
was  an  unhealthy  atmosphere  for  European  children; 


Education  95 

few  parents  were  in  a  position  to  send  them 
to  Europe  for  their  education,  while  the  very  large 
majority  allowed  them  to  grow  up  in  their  homes 
as  best  they  could.  Their  chief  companions  were  the 
numerous  slaves  who  surrounded  them,  and  it  was 
mainly  from  these  slaves  that  the  rising  generation 
of  Hollanders  imbibed  their  views  of  life. 

Flattery  and  adulation  were  their  daily  food, 
and  they  gradually  learnt  to  consider  themselves  so 
superior  to  those  around  them,  that  they  needed  not 
to  acquire  even  a  little  book  learning  or  adequately 
qualify  themselves  for  future  service.  In  the  few 
cases  where  a  proper  tutor  was  provided,  the 
influence  of  the  familiar  slaves  soon  destroyed  the 
effect  of  such  moral  teaching  as  he  conveyed  to 
them.  The  result  was  that  the  Ceylon-born  Hollander 
degenerated  rapidly,  and  his  ambition  did  not 
extend  much  beyond  eating  and  drinking.  Such 
masters  as  were  to  be  found  in  the  schools  were,  if 
Eschelskroon  is  to  be  trusted,  the  so-called  "chaplains 
that  come  with  the  ships  from  Europe,  or  more  usually 
still,  broken  mechanics,  such  as  bakers,  shoe-makers, 
glaziers,  etc." 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Kirti  Sri  Raja  Sinha  had  married  in  addition 
to  his  first  Queen  two  others,  the  daughters  of 
Gabbedature  Nayaker  and  Rama  Nayaker,  and  the 
relatives  of  the  new  Queens  had  accompanied  them  to 
Court  till  it  assumed  a  "novel,  namely  a  Malabar, 
countenance",  as  Schreuder  remarked.  It  is  true  that 
Sinhalese  noblemen  still  continued  to  be  the  King's 
Ministers,  but  the  real  force  behind  the  Throne 
consisted  of  his  Malabar  kinsmen.  Chief  among  them 
was  his  own  father,  Narenappa  Nayaker,  a  determined 
and  resourceful  man,  and  a  strict  disciplinarian. 
The  Sinhalese  officials  were  watched  with  the 
utmost  jealousy  by  the  King,  who  feared  any  com- 
bination among  them;  they  were  supervised  by  the 
Malabars  who  filled  the  most  lucrative  appointments 
and  for  whose  maintenance  a  large  revenue  was 
required. 

Mampitiya,  now  advanced  in  years  and  blind, 
wielded  great  influence  at  Court,  and  his  ripe  experi- 
ence and  sound  judgment  always  commanded  respect. 
The  King,  who  had  no  children  by  his  Queens,  had 
taken  as  his  Yakada  Doliya  the  daughter  of 
Mampitiya's  son,  the  late  Bintenne  Disawa.  She  had 
borne  him  a  son  and  two  daughters,  and  the  King's 
passionate  attachment  to  her  greatly  strengthened  the 
position  of  Mampitiya, 

Schreuder  had  made  repeated  attempts  to 
purchase  the  goodwill  of  the  leading  Ministers,  but  he 
was  obliged  at  last  ruefully  to  confess  that  with  one 
exception  their  moral  rectitude  had  been  proot  against 
his  blandishments.    The  exception  was  in  the  case  of 


Cinnamon  97 

Dumbara,  who  was  still  in  charge  of  the  Three  and 
Four  Korales.  All  communications  with  the  Ministers 
except  the  annual  letter  to  Court,  were  carried  on 
either  by  the  Disawa  of  Colombo  or  by  the  Maha 
Mudaliyar,  through  this  Disawa  of  the  King,  and  in 
consequence  his  goodwill  was  worth  a  great  deal  to 
the  Company.  Dumbara  Rala  therefore  received  from 
it  an  annual  allowance  of  six  thousand  rix  dollars, 
and  in  addition  valuable  presents  were  sent  to  him 
from  time  to  time. 

It  is  a  question  whether  Dumbara  merely  was 
trading  upon  the  gullibility  of  the  Company  or  not* 
for  when  matters  reached  a  crisis  he  showed  himself 
an  able  and  trustworthy  servant  of  the  King;  but  for 
the  present  he  was  hinting  that  the  allowance  might 
be   increased  with  advantage  to  both  sides. 

The  one  thought  which  engrossed  the  attention 
of  the  Company's  officers  who  desired  to  win  the 
approbation  of  the  Directors  in  Europe,  was  how  to 
secure  the  ten  thousand  bales  of  cinnamon  which 
were  required  every  year,  and  which  formed  the  main 
item  of  the  Company's  profits.  This  anxiety  created 
a  most  humiliating  state  of  things,  which  Schreuder 
felt  acutely.  "In  the  whole  of  India,"  he  wrote,  "no 
product  is  so  miserably  ill-conditioned.  ...  If  one  knew 
the  difficulties  and  inconveniences  it  occasioned,  how 
the  Company  from  time  to  time  humbled  itself  to 
the  whimsical  Court  for  that  small  bark,  and  what 
we  have  suffered  for  it,  one  would  acknowledge  that 
the  collection  of  the  cinnamon  finally  depended  on  a 
phantastical  Prince  and  the  whimsicalities  of  his 
covetous  courtiers." 

Every  year  a  special  embassy  had  to  be  sent 
to  secure  with  abject  genuflexions  the  right  to  collect 
it  in  the  King's  dominions,  and  every  year  the 
cinnamon  had  to  be  fetched  like  "a  firebrand  from 
the  fire"  with  heartburnings  and  anxiety  as  to  whether 
it  would  be  in  time  for  the  sailing  season. 

13 


98  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

No  sooner  was  one  difficulty  overcome  than 
another  was  raised  by  the  ingenuity  of  the  courtiers, 
till  the  stuff  finally  reached  the  Company's  territory. 
The  Chalias  served  as  a  convenient  tool  for  worry, 
ing  the  Hollanders ;  at  a  hint  from  Court  they  would 
disappear  into  the  King's  dominions,  where  it  was  not 
possible  to  reach  them,  and  without  them  there 
could  be  no  peeling.  Often  they  had  to  be  coaxed 
back  with  a  promise  that  even  the  ringleaders  would 
not  be  punished;  but  "a  Governor  would  rather  ven- 
ture everything  and  even  sacrifice  a  part  of  his  own 
possessions,  than  fail  in  sending  cinnamon." 

Similar  tactics  were  followed  in  the  case  of  the 
elephants;  each  year  leave  had  to  be  obtained  to  con- 
vey them  to  Jaffna  over  the  King's  territory,  but  the 
moment  they  reached  the  border  difficulties  would 
be  raised  by  the  petty  officials,  and  all  manner  of 
serious  delay  created  by  references  to  headquarters. 
Similarly  when  timber  had  to  be  felled  near  Batti- 
caloa,  where  it  was  abundant,  it  was  found  that 
permission  to  fell  was  not  the  same  as  permission 
for  the  woodcutters  to  enter  the  kingdom,  or  per- 
mission to  remove  the  timber  when  felled.  As  it 
took  four  weeks  for  a  letter  to  reach  Colombo  from 
Batticaloa,  the  seriousness  to  the  Company  of  these 
tactics  can  well  be  realised. 

Desertions  by  the  Company's  subjects  were  so 
frequent  that  military  men  were  forbidden  to  cross 
the  Kadawatu  without  a  pass;  a  reward  of  ten  rix 
dollars  was  promised  to  anyone  who  arrested  such 
deserters,  and  half  that  sum  where  the  deserter  was 
a  slave.  There  was  the  same  trouble  with  the  King 
over  these  men,  and  only  now  and  then  would  he  be 
persuaded  to  surrender  a  few  slaves  or  cinnamon 
peelers,  usually  on  the  condition  that  they  would  not 
be  punished;  this  naturally  encouraged  desertion. 

Often  the  King  would  capriciously  close  his 
Kadawatu  and  prohibit  the  export  of  grain  from  his 


Attitude  of  the  Court  99 

country  andi  thus  cause  much  distress  among  the 
Company's  subjects.  The  reason  for  all  this  was  not 
hard  to  find.  "The  Court  for  the  last  nine  years 
first  requested,  then  demanded,  next  insisted,  now  in 
a  most  insolent  manner  has  sought  to  compel  us,  to 
permit  it  to  share  in  the  most  substantial  and  con- 
siderable monopolies  and  branches  of  the  Company's 
trade,  viz.,  Areca  and  Elephants",  complained  Schreuder. 

The  change  was  very  great  from  the  days  when 
the  Company  thought  that  the  Court  was  being 
"hoodwinked  with  outward  pomp,  caresses  and  com- 
pliments." TheNayakers  at  Court  brought  with  them 
the  larger  experience  of  India,  and  the  Ministers 
were  no  longer  prepared  to  allow  their  country  to 
be  a  milch— cow  for  the  benefit  of  the  Company,  or 
to  permit  the  latter  to  control  the  entire    coast. 

Schreuder  could  see  the  reasonableness  of  their 
attitude;  he  admitted  that  where  it  was  rendered 
worth  the  while  of  the  Sinhalese,  no  difficulty  arose 
with  reference  to  the  supply  of  goods.  He  anticipa- 
ted that  if  the  cinnamon  which  was  taken  from  the 
King's  dominions  were  paid  for,  everybody  would  be 
satisfied.  He  could  see  even  further;  in  the  Company's 
own  territory  the  name  of  cinnamon  was  loathed.  It 
only  reminded  the  people  of  harsh  measures  against 
the  destruction  of  the  wild  plant,  restrictions  on  the 
development  of  valuable  lands,  incursions  by  the  rough 
Chalias  on  private  property,  and  generally  discomfort 
and  loss.  The  very  crows  which  served  to  distribute 
the  wild  seed,  might  not  be  killed,  in  spite  of  all 
the  damage  they  caused.  Everyone  therefore  took  a 
delight  in  destroying  the  hated  plant  whenever  they 
could  do  so  with  safety,  and  the  supply  obtainable 
within  its  territory  was  diminishing  at  a  rate  which 
caused  alarm. 

Schreuder  pointed  out  that  if  the  cultivation 
was  thrown  open  to  everyoae,  on  condition  that  they 
sold  the  produce  to  the   Company  at    a     reasonable 


100  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

fixed  rate,  there  need  no  longer  be  any  anxiety  about 
the  supply.  His  views  were  not  acceptable  to  the 
Batavian  authorities,  and  were  rewarded  with  a  private 
reprimand. 

The  next  best  policy,  indeed  the  only  other 
one  open  if  force  was  to  be  avoided,  was  that  of 
obsequiousness  to  the  King,  who  called  them  his 
"faithful  Hollanders,  the  guardians  of  his  coast." 
The  Sinhalese  view  of  the  relation  which  existed 
between  the  King  and  the  Company  is  thus  stated 
by  the  writer  of  the  Mahawansa  ....  "The  Hollanders, 
who  were  powerful  merchants,  had  been  appointed 
in  the  time  of  Raja  Sinha  to  defend  the  Island  and 
continued  to  perform  the  duties  of  messengers  to 
the  Kings  of  Lanka.  It  was  their  custom  to  bring 
presents  of  great  value  every  year,  with  much  honour 
and  in  great  procession." 

Schreuder  regarded  the  matter  from  a  different 
standpoint.  "We  cannot  stir,"  he  grumbled,  "much 
less  make  proper  profit  of  this  conquest,  if  we  do 
not  continually,  indeed,  nauseatingly,  flatter  and  caress 
the  Court;  and  though  this  is  commonly  called  by 
us,  keeping  the  Court  in  good  humour,  it  tends  to 
the  great  degradation  of  the  Honourable  Company, 
which  formerly  made  itself  so  feared  in  this  country, 
but  now  almost  continually  has  to  play  the  lying 
little  poodle." 

At  the  same  time,  he  pointed  out,  all  the  time- 
honoured  means  adopted  to  weaken  the  King  were 
to  be  followed;  all  dissensions  at  Court,  all  dis- 
satisfaction among  his  people,  were  to  be  encouraged 
and  utilised  for  the  benefit  of  the  Company.  It  was 
found  however  that  this  was  less  easy  now,  when  the 
Disawas  were  responsible  directly  to  the  Court,  than 
in  former  times  when  there  were  feudatory  Princes, 
but  slightly  controlled  by  the  King,  to  whom  they 
rendered  only  certain  nominal  services. 

The  King  had  two   brothers,    the   younger    of 
whom  was  born  in  Ceylon,  and  the   relations  which 


The  Company's  Subjects  101 

existed  between  them  were  of  the  most  affectionate 
kind.  They  had  received  the  status  of  sub-kings  and 
were  even  permitted  to  use  the  Royal  Parasol,  and 
estabhshments  which  were  almost  regal  had  been 
provided  for  them.  They  were  heartily  in  sympathy 
with  the  Buddhist  tendencies  of  their  brother,  and 
themselves  took  an  active  part  in  endowing  monasteries 
and  training  priests.  "These  three  brothers"  says  the 
writer  of  the  Mahawansa,  "having  obtained  and  divided 
among  themselves  a  kingdom,  contended  not  with 
each  other  for  greatness.  They  dwelt  together  in  one 
city  and  clave  to  each  other  like  their  own  shadows. 
This  I  say  is  a  marvellous  thing.  " 

Moreover  the  subserviency  of  the  Company 
created  a  dangerous  condition  of  things  among  its 
own  subjects.  They  were  filled  with  the  idea  that 
their  real  lord  was  the  King,  that  they  served  the 
Company  only  with  his  permission,  and  that  on  his 
orders  such  service  must  cease.  There  was  an  intimate 
correspondence  between  them  and  the  Court,  which 
was  kept  well  informed  of  everything  that  took  place. 
The  danger  of  such  intercourse  between  members  of 
one  race  was  recognised,  but  not  all  the  efforts  of 
the  Company  could  check  it.  Karunaratna  himself 
incurred  the  suspicion  of  Schreuder,  and  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  such  a  proceeding  was  likely  to  offend 
the  Court,  he  in  1758  was  arrested  suddenly  and 
banished  to  the  Cape  from  where  he  did  not  return 
ior  many  years.  It  was  realised  that  the  King  could 
with  the  greatest  ease  upset  all  the  plans  of  the 
Company,  and  that  if  the  latter  were  not  prepared 
"to  dance  according  to  the  King's  pipes,"  at  a  nod 
from  him  the  flame  of  revolt  would  run  from  Korale 
to  Korale. 

There  had  been  unrest,  especially  in  the  South, 
from  the  commencement  of  Schreuder's  tenure  of  ofiice ; 
this  had  been  checked  by  treating  the  chief  headmen 
with  sternness,  and  holding  them  responsible  for  any 


102  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

outbreak ;  Tennekon  Mudaliyar,  grand-son  of  the  great 
Disawa,  who  was  Gajanayaka  at  Matara,  was  banished 
at  the  same  time. 

However  the  feeUng  among  the  people  was 
growing  in  bitterness,  especially  as  the  result  of  the 
harsh  measures  adopted  by  Schreuder  to  reclaim  for 
the  Company  lands  which  had  long  been  possessed 
by  the  villagers,  but  for  which  no  documentary  title 
could  be  produced.  The  manner  in  which  the  most 
valuable  public  records  had  disappeared  should  have 
taught  the  Company's  officers  that  villagers  could 
not  be  expected  to  preserve  their  palm-leaf  scrolls 
for  any  length  of  time  in  huts  which  were  exposed 
to  the  inroads  of  termites.  The  ferocious  de  Azavedo 
himself  had  admitted  one  and  a  half  centuries  before 
the  reasonableness  of  the  plea  of  the  loss  of  such 
documents. 

Entire  districts  within  the  Company's  territory 
had  been  abandoned  on  the  orders  of  Raja  Sinha,  and 
the  inhabitants  withdrawn  among  the  mountains; 
these  men  were  now  coming  back  to  find  their  lands 
under  forest  or  in  the  occupation  of  others.  This 
was  the  cause  of  much  litigation  before  the  Land- 
raad,  and  of  much  opposition  to  the  Tombo.  Owing 
to  the  abject  poverty  of  the  villagers  they  could  not 
be  forced  to  purchase  back  that  share  of  their  lands 
which  the  Company  claimed,  and  accordingly  men 
accompanied  by  a  military  force,  were  sent  into  the 
country  to  cut  down  the  coconut  trees  which  they 
had  grown. 

Matters  were  so  bad  that  in  some  Iparts  of  the 
Colombo  ;Disawani  the  villagers  threatened  to  abandon 
their  homes  and  go  away,  rather  than  submit  to 
the  new  exactions.  There  was  also  much  discontent 
regarding  the  manner  in  which  the  dues  from  the 
rice  fields  were  collected  by  the  renters.  At  last  in 
1760  the  exasperated  inhabitants  rose  in  a  general 
rebellion  which,  spreading  with    rapidity    throughout 


A  Conspiracy  103 

the  Sinhalese    provinces,    was    so  determined  in    its 
character  that  the  Company  was  at  its  wits,  end. 

For  several  months  the  country  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  riotous  mob  which  burnt  down  the 
schools  and  rest-houses  and  destroyed  even  the 
Landraad  House  at  Galle.  To  aggravate  the  situation 
the  Chalias,  prodably  acting  on  a  hint  from  the 
Court,  set  fire  to  the  cinnamon  they  had  collected 
and  fled  within  the  King's  dominions.  The  Sinhalese 
appealed  to  the  King  for  redress  of  their  grievances, 
and  he  expostulated  with  the  Company.  At  the  end 
of  the  year  affairs  were  in  a  less  anxious  condition. 

Fortunately  for  the  Company  the  King  was 
busy  with  his  own  troubles.  Whether  as  the  result 
of  the  machinations  from  Colombo,  or  of  the  dislike 
of  the  courtiers  to  a  Dravidian  King,  a  conspiracy 
had  been  forrhed  to  kill  Kirti  Sri,  and  to  place  on 
the  throne  a  youth  said  to  be  of  the  royal  family, 
who  had  been  ordained  as  a  priest  in  Siam.  The 
conspirators  invited  the  King  to  hear  the  preaching 
of  Bana  at  the  Poya  Maluwa,  and  on  the  way  they 
hoped  to  entice  him  into  a  pitfall.  Everything  was 
ready,  the  pitfall  was  prepared  with  deadly  spikes 
of  kitul  and  arecawood,  and  concealed  under  the 
spathes  of  the  plantain  tree  covered  over  with  cloth, 
when  the  King  received  information  of  what  was  on 
foot. 

The  informant  was  Gopala  Mudiyanse,  a  member 
of  a  Mohammedan  family  of  doctors  residing  in  the 
Four  Korales,  which  had  been  prominent  in  the  time 
even  of  the  Portuguese,  who  seems  to  have  conveyed 
the  news  to  Galegoda  Rala.  An  inquiry  was  held  and 
the  conspirators  arrested.  Samanakoddy  the  Second 
Adigar,  and  three  of  the  ring-leaders,  were  executed 
at  Ampitiya.  The  Sangha  Raja,  and  Tibbatuwawa,  the 
Maha  Nayaka  of  Malwatta,  were  suspected  of  compli- 
city; the  former  was  placed  in  custody  at  Kehelella 
and  the  latter  deprived  of  his  office  and  imprisoned 


104  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

in  the  Bintenna.  Gopala  was  rewarded  with  the  lands 
of  Moladanda  Rala,  one  of  the  conspirators,  and 
Pilima  Talauwa  was  appointed  Second  Adigar,  as 
Galegoda  had  succeeded  Ehelepola  on  the  Latter's 
death  which  occured  about  this  time.  The  energy 
and  decision  with  which  Narenappa  Nayaker  acted 
during  the  crisis  greatly  added  to  the  strength  of 
his  position  at  Court. 

The  King  now  openly  took  the  part  of  the 
rebels  and  early  in  1761  armed  men  poured  across 
the  frontiers.  Schreuder  was  distracted.  The  one 
thing  which  the  Company  was  anxious  to  avoid  was 
war,  and  indeed  it  was  hopelessly  unprepared  for 
fighting.  Its  various  garrisons  consisted  of  men  who 
had  been  sent  out  from  Europe  under  the  name  of 
soldiers,  but  very  few  of  whom  had  ever  handled 
a  musket  before,  much  less  had  any  knowledge  of 
practical  warfare.  They  idled  away  their  time  with 
their  Sinhalese  partners,  who  exercised  so  strong  a 
hold  over  them  that  the  women  were  credited  with 
using  love  potions.  Though  a  soldier  could  rise  to 
the  position  of  a  Staff  Officer,  yet,  as  Schreuder 
complained,  "the  name  of  soldier  seems  to  many  to 
be  low  and  common."  The  artillery  was  in  charge 
of  eighty  men,  of  whom  the  Constables  knew  nothing 
beyond  a  few  figures  from  their  instruction  books, 
while  their  assistants  were  only  fit  to  apply  the 
match;  there  was  not  one  who  knew  how  to  set  a 
mortar  or  train  a  gun.  In  the  whole  country  there 
was  not  a  capable  engineer,  while  the  surveyors 
were  so  ignorant  that  the  country  was  still  unmapped 
and  the  various  routes  little  known. 

The  officials  at  Colombo  hesitated,  but  the 
Sinhalese  did  not  leave  them  much  time  for  deli- 
beration. Palingupana  Rala,  with  the  men  of  Uva, 
hurried  down  to  the  south.  Don  Constantyn  Ekan- 
ayaka,  whose  father  and  grandfather  had  been 
Mudaliyars   and    Adigars    of    Matara,    and    who    in 


War  with  the  King  105 

addition  had  the  great  influence  of  the  Wijayawar- 
dhana  and  Tennekon  families  behind  him,  deserted 
to  the  King.  The  fort  of  Matara  was  stormed,  its 
garrison  put  to  the  sword,  and  the  artillery  carried 
away  in  triumph.  Everything  which  was  there, 
including  the  new  Tombo  which  had  been  prepared 
with  so  much  trouble,  as  well  as  the  Portuguese 
Tombo  of  Matara,  was  destroyed. 

The  Sinhalese  then  went  and  encamped  at  some 
distance  from  the  town  ;  here  they  were  surprised  by 
a  force  which  had  been  sent  by  sea,  whereupon  they 
abandoned  the  captured  guns  and  withdrew.  Another 
body  of  men  attacked  Kalutara.  Dumbara  Rala  himself  led 
an  army  against  Hanwella  which  in  turn  was  stormed* 
and  the  entire  garrison  put  to  the  sword  with  the 
exception  of  two  officers  who  were  taken  away  as 
prisoners.  All  the  outlying  districts,  which  were 
seething  with  discontent,  were  occupied  on  behalf  of 
the  King,  and  Colombo  was  as  good    as    blockaded. 

The  two  Sinhalese  Generals  returned  to  their 
country  and  after  prostrating  themselves  at  the  feet 
of  the  King,  reported  to  him  what  each  had  achieved. 
Each  was  rewarded  with  a  tusked  elephant,  a 
gold-mounted  sword,  a  collar  of  gold,  and  extensive 
tracts  of  land. 

In  the  meantime  urgent  appeals  for  help  had 
been  sent  to  India  and  reinforcements  were  being 
hurried  across  from  Choromandel  and  Malabar.  The 
insult  to  the  Company  had  to  be  avenged,  and  it 
was  decided  to  attack  the  King  within  his  own  frontiers. 

The  Sinhalese  had  ceased  to  be  a  fighting  race; 
trained  soldiers  were  few,  though  about  a  thousand 
men  armed  in  the  European  fashion  were  available 
near  the  Court;  they  had  no  cannon  and  not  many 
Kodituwakku.  However  they  had  not  forgotten  what 
the  Portuguese  wars  had  taught  them,  that  the  finest 
strategy  was  to  inflict  the  maximum  of  loss  on  the 
enemy  with  the  minimum  of  loss  to  themselves.  They 

14 


106  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

knew  every  inch  of  their  forest-covered  country; 
every  path  was  familiar  to  them;  every  crevice  in 
the  rocks  where  a  man  could  shelter  himself  was  pre- 
pared for  defence.  Their  natural  instinct  for  guerilla 
fighting  again  asserted  itself. 

The  invading  army,  encumbered  with  baggage, 
ill  provided  with  guides,  with  little  experience  of 
warfare,  and  badly  officered,  reached  the  outskirts  of 
the  mountains  and  commenced  axe  in  hand  to  clear 
the  roads,  for  none  were  available  save  the  steepest 
footpaths.  Concealed  behind  trees  the  Sinhalese 
sharpshooters,  who  were  supplied  with  guns  of  their 
own  make,  and  their  archers,  began  to  worry  the 
men  with  little  danger  to  themselves.  The  drummers 
were  the  first  victims,  for  it  was  they  who  both 
inspirited  the  native  levies  and  also  conveyed  orders 
over  great  distances;  it  was  said  that  after  two  days 
in  the  forest  not  a  drummer  was  left.  Next  came 
the  officers  who  were  conspicuous  by  their  uniforms, 
which  they  were  soon  obliged  to  change  for  the 
dress  of  privates. 

Nightfall,  which  was  expected  to  bring  some 
relief,  only  made  their  situation  worse,  for  the  camp- 
fires  threw  the  harassed  troops  into  greater  promi- 
nence, while  deepening  the  gloom  of  the  forest  were 
the  Sinhalese  were  concealed.  Great  trees  which 
had  been  left  half  cut  through  came  crashing  down 
on  them  at  the  most  unexpected  places.  Boulders 
thundered  down  whenever  they  entered  any  of  the 
numerous  defiles.  The  baggage  and  stores  of  am- 
munition were  soon  cut  off.  One  half  of  the  invading 
army,  it  was  asserted,  was  destroyed,  and  the  demoral- 
ised survivors  precipitately  retreated,  defeated  by  an 
enemy  whom  they  had  never  seen. 

The  Batavian  authorities  were  in  dismay.  For 
a  hundred  years  they  successfully  had  avoided  war; 
they  were  willing  to  pay  almost  any  price  to  secure 
peace,  and  they  sent  their  instructions  accordingly. 
The  King  too  did  not  like  the  continuance  of  hostilities 


Obsequiousness  of  the  Company  107 

and  hints  were  given  that  an  armistice  would  be  not 
unwelcome. 

Petrus  Albertus  van  der  Parra  had  only  recently 

assumed  duties  as  Governor  General  of  Netherlands 

India,  and  on  the  8th    of    December    1761  a     letter 

addressed  by  him  to  the  King  reached    Colombo  in 

the  Company's  ship,  the  "Sparenryk".    In  honour  of 

the  occasion  all  the  vessels    in     the    harbour    were 

decked  with  flags  from    sunrise    to    sunset,    and    a 

number  of  the  highest  officials  were  sent    on  board 

to  take  charge  of  the  letter,  which    lay  there    in  a 

silver  tray  covered  with  gold  brocade.    As  they  left 

the  ship's  side  the    crew      manned  the    yards    and 

raised  three  cheers,  while  the    "Sparenryk"   fired   a 

salute  of  nineteen  guns,  which  was  taken  up  by  all 

the  other  vessels.    On  landing  a  procession  was  formed 

which  advanced   between  a  double  line    of    soldiers, 

under  triumphal    arches.     A    native    regiment    with 

colours  flying  led    the    way    and    was    followed    by 

drummers  and  trumpeters.    Then  came  dragoons  and 

grenadiers,  with  their  colours  and    music,     escorting 

the  Disawa  of  Colombo,  who  carried    the    letter  on 

his  head.    On  either  side  of  him  walked  two  officers 

bearing  lighted  flambeaux;    while   washermen  spread 

on  the  ground  white   linen  on    which    the     Disawa, 

and  the  bearers  of  the  linen-covered  case  of  presents 

which  followed,    should    tread.     Further   grenadiers, 

dragoons  and  lascarins  completed  the  escort. 

The  Governor,  accompanied  by  the  Council, 
awaited  the  procession  at  the  gate  of  the  Govern- 
ment House,  where  the  Governor  himself  took  charge 
of  the  letter  and  conveyed  it,  under  a  salute  from 
the  land  battery  and  all  the  vessels  in  the  harbour, 
within  the  reception  room,  where  it  was  locked  away 
in  a  special  chest,  which  was  guarded  day  and  night 
by  a  dragoon  and  a  lascarin  with  drawn  swords, 
till  its  removal  from  Colombo. 

In  view  of  this  attitude    ot  the     Company    it 
was  hardly  to  be  expected    that    the    Court    would 


108  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

abate  its  claims.  The  tension  was  not  relieved  when 
in  March  1762  the  highborn  Jan  Lubert,  Baron  Van 
Eck,  who  had  a  reputation  as  a  gallant  soldier, 
replaced  Schreuder;  for  he  was  -not  anxious  to  win 
unfamiliar  honours  on  the  field  of  diplomacy.  While 
he  was  hurrying  in  all  the  soldiers  who  could  be 
spared  from  India,  the  Court  itself  turned  in  the 
same  direction  for  assistance.  An  application  to  the 
Nawab  of  the  Carnatic  was  somewhat  contemptuously 
refused,  for,  as  he  afterwards  explained,  the  King 
was  merely  an  aldear  or  country  gentleman  from 
Madura.  On  the  other  hand  a  verbal  application  to 
the  Agents  of  the  British  Company  at  Fort  St.  George 
appeared  to  meet  with  a  different  reception,  and  on 
the  18th  of  May,  Pybus,  a  member  of  the  Council, 
appeared  at  Gannoruwa,  having  travelled  by  way  of 
Kottiar.  The  diary  kept  by  him  during  his  visit  has 
been  preserved,  and  is  full  of  interest  as  an  authentic 
record  of  Court  etiquette  at  the  time. 

Senkadagala  Sriwardhana  Pura  was  the  official 
name  of  the  capital  which  the  Portuguese,  confusing 
the  capital  with  the  principality — Kanda  Uda  Rata — 
had  generally  described  as  Candia.  Its  position,  situ- 
ated as  it  was  in  a  valley  overshadowed  by  ranges 
of  lofty  hills,  had  naturally  influenced  its  development. 
It  consisted  in  the  main  of  two  streets  each  a  mile 
in  length,  running  North  and  South,  and  connected 
by  cross  streets.  The  Palace  was  towards  the  South, 
resting  against  the  thick  woods  which  were  preserved 
as  a  place  of  refuge,  and  having  a  large  enclosure 
on  the  North.  The  majority  of  the  houses  in  the 
more  important  portion  of  the  town  were  tiled,  and 
built  as  they  were  at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  stood  as 
a  rule  at  a  height  of  several  feet  above  the  streets. 
Every  night  at  about  8  o'clock  a  bell  was  rung,  and 
after  that  time  no  one  could  appear  in  the  streets 
without  a  light. 

Pybus  was  lodged  at  Gannoruwa  at  the  Tana- 
yama  which  was  maintained  there  for  the  use  of  the 


Pybus  at  Court  109 

Company's  ambassador.  This  consisted  of  a  mudwalled 
and  thatched  house,  built,  according  to  the  Sinhalese 
fashion,  round  an  open  square,  containing  many  small 
apartments  as  well  as  stores  for  the  presents  which 
usually  accompanied  the  embassy.    In    the  middle  of 
the  square  was  a  kind  of  shrine   where     the    letter 
addressed  to  the  King  was  kept  under  white    cloth. 
On  the    24th  Pybus  was   received  in  audience 
by  the  King.    He  started  from  the     Tanayama  at  7 
p.  m.  amidst  much  firing  of     guns    and    beating    of 
drums,  the  letter  to  the  King,  which     rested    in     a 
silver  tray  between  several  folds  of  white  linen,  being 
carried  in    front    of    him     under    a    silken    canopy. 
Everybody  went  on  foot,  Pybus  and  the  Minister  who 
escorted  him  walking  hand  in  hand ;  and  it  was  not 
till  half  an  hour  before  midnight  that  worn  out  and 
hungry,  and  bespattered  with  the  mud  which  a  heavy 
downfall    of  rain  had     caused,  they    arrived    within 
sight  of  the  Palace. 

Here  the  procession  halted  till  permission  was 
received  from  the  King  to  advance,  which  it  did  till  it 
reached  the  outer  gate  of  the    Palace.      Pybus    was 
directed  to  stand  there  facing  the  gate  till  a  Minister 
arrived  to  lead  him  in,  when    he  took    off  his    hat 
and  entered.     A  second  gateway    led    them    into    a 
square  court-yard     where     some    richly    caparisoned 
horses  and  elephants  were  drawn     up  ;  Pybus     now 
had  to  take  off  his  shoes  and  was  received  by   the 
Pallegampahe  Adigar,  who  with  many  complimentary 
speeches  led  him  into  another  court.    Twelve  halber- 
diers  in  white  Kabayas,  or  long  coats     reaching    to 
the  knees,  occupied  this  court,   which    led  in     turn 
to  the  Audience  Hall,  the  entrance    to    which    was 
concealed  by  a  white  curtain.  Pybus  now  took     the 
silver  tray  in  his  hands  and  raised  it  above  his  head, 
and  then  the    curtain    was    drawn    aside,    revealing 
beyond  it  a  second  curtain  of  red. 

Six  curtains  in  succession  were  thus  raised  till 
a  doorway  was    seen    screened    by     another    white 


110  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

curtain.  At  last  this  too  was  drawn  aside  and  revealed 
the  King  seated  on  a  handsomely  carved  gilt  throne 
which  stood  on  a  dais  three  feet  in  height.  He  was 
dressed  in  a  rich  gold  worked  jacket  worn  over  a 
close-fitting  vest,  with  a  broad  gold-embroidered  belt 
round  his  waist.  On  his  head  was  a  scarlet  cap 
surmounted  by  a  small  jewelled  crown  ;  at  his  side 
was  a  jewelled  dagger,  while  a  large  broad-sword 
with  a  jewelled  handle  rested  against  the  throne. 
His  feet  were  protected  by  slippers  of  crimson  velvet 
and  gold,  and  above  him  was  suspended  a  canopy 
of  white  silk. 

As  soon  as  the  last  curtain  was  drawn  aside, 
the  courtiers  prostrated  themselves  six  times  on  the 
ground,  at  the  same  time  invoking  blessings  on  the 
King,  who  briefly  responded  to  their  salutation.  Pybus 
remained  standing  with  the  tray  on  his  head,  till 
he  was  pulled  down  by  the  skirts  of  his  coat 
and  compelled  to  kneel  on  one  knee.  This  ceremony 
was  repeated  four  times,  the  party  advancing  by 
degrees  till  they  reached  the  edge  of  a  large  Persian 
carpet  which  was  spread  in  front  of  the  throne. 
Pybus  was  then  led  up,  and,  kneeling  on  the  lowest  step 
of  the  dais,  offered  the  letter  to  the  King  by  whom 
it  was  received.  He  then  stepped  backwards  to  the 
edge  of  the  carpet  and  knelt  down  again  till  he  was 
given  permission  to  sit  down  as  was  convenient  to 
himself,  which  he  was  very  glad  to  do. 

The  large  dimly— lit  hall  in  which  the  reception 
took  place  was  entirely  hung  with  white  cloth,  while 
ornamental  arches  adorned  with  ruffs  of  white  and 
red  cloth  called  Reli-pallan  divided  its  length  and  formed 
aisles  on  either  side.  On  each  side  of  the  hall  sat 
three  people  holding  in  their  hands  the  Ran  Awuda 
or  Golden  Arms  of  the  King ;  a  narrow  strip  of 
cloth  hung  under  their  chins,  and  with  these  they 
covered  their  mouths  whenever  they  had  occasion  to 
approach  the  throne.  The  conversation  which  followed 
was  of  a  purely  formal  and   complimentary    nature. 


Failure  oj  Pybus'  Mission  111 

The  King's  words  were  addressed  to  the  Adigar,  who 
knelt  at  the  foot  of  the  Throne  ;  he  prostrated  him- 
self and  conveyed  the  question  to  one  of  the  Disawas 
who  was  near  Pybus.  The  Disawa  in  turn  delivered 
it  to  a  Malabar  doctor  who  was  in  attendance,  who 
addressed  it  in  Tamil  to  Pybus'  interpreter,  who 
repeated  it  to  Pybus  in  English.  Every  question 
which  was  put  and  every  answer  which  was  given 
were  recorded  immediately  by  a  Secretary  who  was 
seated  by  a  square  stool  on  which  a  wax  candle 
and  writing  materials  were  placed.  At  last  the 
audience  was  finished,  and  the  exhausted  ambassador 
was  permitted  to  withdraw,  reaching  the  tanayama 
as  the  sun  rose. 

The  negociations  which  followed  led  to  nothing ; 
this  is  hardly  surprising,  as  the  British  Company 
had  no  intention  whatever  of  assisting  the  King. 
Their  instructions  to  Pybus  were  first  to  obtain 
permission  to  establish  a  settlement  in  Ceylon,  and 
secondly  to  ascertain  what  concessions  could  be 
possibly  forced  out  of  the  King.  The  courtiers  however 
proved  as  expert  as  Pybus  ;  they  pointed  out  that 
the  King  had  asked  for  British  assistance,  and  they 
wanted  to  know  what  the  price  of  that  would  be. 
Thereupon  Pybus  drew  up  a  long  statement  of  their 
demands,  which,  if  conceded,  would  have  given 
them  the  same  privileges  as  the  Hollanders  enjoyed. 
After  these  demands  had  been  duly  considered,  the 
question  was  put  to  Pybus  whether,  if  they  were 
complied  with,  the  British  would  come  to  the  assis- 
tance of  the  King;  he  was  unable  to  give  a  definite 
reply,  and  there  the  matter  ended,  Pybus  being  sent 
back  to  his  ship  with  all  ceremony. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


In  the  meantime  hostilities  had  not  ceased.  It 
was  true  that  the  Directors  in  Europe  were  earnestly 
anxious  for  peace  and  sent  instructions  accordingly, 
but  van  Eck  was  not  suited  for  carrying  through  a 
delicate  negociation.  The  King  on  his  side  would 
not  lightly  surrender  the  territory  he  had  occupied, 
and  war  became  inevitable.  Chilaw  and  Puttalam 
were  attacked  by  sea  and  occupied  without  much 
trouble,  and  in  1763  a  large  army  started  again  for 
the  mountains.  With  it  there  went  a  body  of 
Moors  who  bad  been  attracted  by  heavy  pay  and 
the  promise  of  exemption  from  half  the  Uliyam 
or  menial  service  which  they  had  to  render  to  the 
Company. 

The  whole  expedition  was  mismanaged.  The 
season  was  badly  chosen  ;  torrential  rains  rendered 
all  advance  through  the  forest  belt  a  matter  of  extreme 
difficulty ;  little  provision  had  been  made  for  the 
conveyance  of  baggage  and  ammunition,  or  for  main- 
taining the  line  of  communications.  The  vanguard 
of  the  army  did  succeed  in  reaching  the  hills, 
only  to  be  driven  down  with  heavy  loss.  It  fell  back 
on  the  main  army,  but  the  condition  of  things  was 
so  hopeless  that  they  were  glad  to  beat  a  hurried 
retreat  to  Colombo. 

The  result  was  mortifying  to  the  Hollanders, 
and  the  Sinhalese  were  exultant  over  this  repetition 
of  their  success.  While  the  Company  was  busy  with 
the  unfamiliar  task  of  fighting,  foreign  merchants 
took  the  opportunity  to  encroach  on  its  trade,  and 
forty     four     of    their    vessels    had    been     allowed 


Prepayations  for  War  113 

entry  in  the  course  of  twelve  months.  It  was  impos- 
sible to  leave  the  disgrace  unavenged,  and  very 
reluctantly  the  Directors  gave  their  consent  to  a  new 
expedition  being  prepared.  All  necessaries  were 
brought  over  from  Batavia  ;  the  Wannias  of  Katuku- 
1am  Pattu  and  of  Kottiar  were  won  over  to  declare 
themselves  on  the  side  of  the  Company.  Two  hundred 
men  occupied  Venloos  Bay  against  any  assistance  from 
outside  ;  and  the  native  levies  were  carefully  organ- 
ised. 

In  1762  a  more  liberal  spirit  had  been  shewn 
in  dealing  with  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  the  legality 
of  their  baptisms  and  their  right  to  marry  before 
special  Commissioners,  had  been  recognised.  As  a 
consequence  the  priests  exerted  themselves  to  secure 
coolies  for  the  proposed  expedition,  which  some  of 
them  accompanied  in  person.  Don  Joan  Illangakon, 
the  inheritor  of  another  great  name,  had  been  ban- 
ished to  the  Cape  for  suspected  complicity  in  the 
disturbances  at  Galle,  but  after  two  years  the 
Batavian  Government  had  directed  his  recall.  His 
birth  as  well  as  his  wealth,  which  was  believed  to 
be  immense,  gave  him  much  influence,  which  van 
Eck  was  anxious  to  secure  on  the  side  of  the  Com- 
pany. He  therefore  appointed  Illangakon  to  be  Field 
Maha  Mudaliar,  hoping  that  self  interest  at  least 
would  keep  him  faithful.  The  expedition  was  not 
regarded  without  some  degree  of  despondency,  and 
Don  Simon  Disanayaka,  who  was  in  charge  of  the 
Lascarins  from  Galle  and  Matara,  made  his  Will 
before  starting  on  the  2nd  of  December  1764,  leaving 
his  two  swords  and  the  gold"  chain  which  he  had 
received   from  the  King,  to  his  three  infant  sons. 

At  last  everything  was  ready,  and  on  Sunday 
the  13th  of  January,  1765,  van  Eck  set  out  from 
Colombo  at  the  head  of  an  army  which  included  a 
large  force  of  Malays.  A  second  army  started  by  way 
of  Puttalam,    and    by     the  12th    of    February     the 

15 


114  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

advanced  guard,  consisting  of  1200  men  including 
cavalry  and  artillery,  drove  the  Sinhalese  back  and 
occupied  Weuda.  It  was  whispered  about  that  the 
King  had  been  betrayed  by  his  Commanders  ;  and 
soon  after  the  Adigar  and  some  other  courtiers 
came  and  had  an  interview  with  van  Eck.  However, 
this  did  not  check  his  advance.  The  Galagedera  Pass 
which  was  defended  by  six  batteries  and  a  small 
fort  of  masonry,  was  occupied,  and  on  the  16th  of 
February  the  invading  army  pushing  forward  rapidly 
reached  the  Kingss'  pleasure  garden  at  Katugastota 
on  the  banks  of  the  Mahaweli    Ganga. 

Repeated  and  urgent  messages  now  arrived  from 
the  King,  whose  great  anxiety  was  that  the  invaders 
should  not  enter  his  Captial.  So  delighted  was  van 
Eck  with  the  success  he  had  achieved  that  he  wrote 
to  Colombo  to  announce  that  the  Kingdom  was 
conquered,  and  that  the  defeated  Sinhalese  were 
compelled  to  beg  for  peace  and  receive  it  as  a  gift 
from  the  Company ;  he  therefore  requested  that  a 
special  service  of  prayer  and  of  thanksgiving  to 
Almighty  God  for  the  favour  he  had  shewn  to  the 
arms    of  the  Company,  might  be  held. 

Indeed  the  King  was  prepared  to  make  the  most 
liberal  concessions,  if  only  his  capital  were  not 
desecrated  by  a  hostile  occupation.  Unfortunately 
the  favourable  terms  he  offered  were  not  agreed  to, 
for  Johan  Gerard  van  Angelbeek,  the  Political  Secretary, 
urged  the  importance  of  re-establishing  the  prestige 
of  the  Company,  which  recent  events  so  badly  had 
tarnished.  Acting  on  his  advice  van  Eck  insisted 
among  other  conditions  that  the  king  should  pay 
a  war  indemnity  of  two  hundred  thousand  pagodas, 
with  an  annual  tribute  of  elephants,  and  that  in 
addition  he  should  lay  down  his  crown  and  be 
crowned  again  as  the  vassal  of  the  Company, 

Needless  to  say  these  terms  were  rejected,  and 
the  King  prepared  to  continue  the  struggle    to    the 


The  Capital  occupied  115 

bitter  end.  The  precious  Tooth  Relic  guarded  by  its 
loyal  attendants  had  already  been  removed  to  a  place 
of  safety.  The  King's  brothers,  with  the  Queens,  their 
younger  sister,  and  the  most  valuable  of  the  royal 
treasures,  disappeared  into  one  of  those  mysterious 
hiding-places  which  were  kept  prepared  for  occasions 
of  great  emergency.  It  was  not  possible  to  take 
away  the  Company's  officers  who  were  prisoners,  nor 
could  they  be  permitted  to  rejoin  their  friends.  In 
consequence  the  Captain  of  Matara  was  put  to  death, 
while  the  two  other  officers  were  allowed  to  shoot  them- 
selves. The  King  then  withdrew  to  Hanguranketa, 
and  the  enemy  crossed  the  river  in  spite  of  the 
advice  of  the  military  commander  Colonel   Feber. 

Van  Eck  proceeded  straight  to  the  palace,  where 
he  established  his  headquarters. 

This  magnificent  structure  had  been  built  in 
the  last  reign  and  three  days  were  spent  in  sacking 
it.  There  was  much  booty  consisting  of  gold  and 
silver,  precious  stones  and  rich  fabrics ;  and  the 
wooden  doors  were  stripped  of  the  silver  plates  which 
covered  them.  The  Company  however  obtained  little 
benefit  from  all  this  wealth,  which  mainly  went  to 
enrich  the  officers.  The  Palace  of  Kundasala  was 
next  ransacked,  and  on  the  24th  nine  hundred 
men  were  sent  to  Hanguranketa  in  pursuit  of 
the  King,  They  were  in  time  only  to  see  the 
Sinhalese  disappearing  over  the  mountains  with  their 
laden  elephants,  for  the  King  had  retreated  to  Badulla ; 
thereupon  they  sacked  and  set  fire  to  the  Palace, 
after  which  they  started  to  return. 

The  Sinhalese  however  had  been  patiently 
watching  ;  every  passage  and  pathway  was  beset ; 
from  every  thicket  arrows  and  bullets  came  flying 
from  an  unseen  foe ;  and  soon  the  Hollanders  were 
reduced  to  a  disorderly  rabble  fleeing  for  their  lives. 
At  last  half  dead  of  fatigue  and  hunger  and  with 
heavy  loss  they  reached  their  headquarters,  and  van 
Eck  realised  that  he  had  committed  a  grievous  mis- 


116  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

take.  He  accordingly  sent  three  messages  in  suc- 
cession to  the  King,  offering  to  accept  the  terms  which 
the  King  had  proposed,  but  his  letters  were  returned 
unread.  In  the  meantime  everything  was  done  to 
devastate  the  country.  Everything  with  life  that  bore 
the  name  of  Sinhalese  was  killed;  everything  that 
could  be  set  on  fire  was  burnt;  and  whatever  could 
be  destroyed  was  destroyed.  The  temples  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  Capital  were  the  special  objects 
of  the  enemy's  greed;  fortunately  the  priests  headed 
by  the  Sangha  Raja  had  escaped  in  time,  taking  with 
them  their  precious  books  and  relics. 

The  Sinhalese  would  not  be  coerced;  not  a 
symptom  of  surrender  could  be  seen.  Sickness,  which 
in  the  past  had  so  often  proved  a  staunch  ally,  again 
came  to  their  assistance,  and  on  the  4th  of  March 
Van  Eck  was  glad  to  start  back  for  Colombo.  The 
Sacred  Tooth  was  beyond  his  reach,  but  he  took 
with  him,  as  memorials  of  his  Pyrrhic  victory,  the 
large  silver  Karanduwa  which  formed  its  outermost 
covering,  as  well  as  the  gold  howdah  in  which  it 
was  usual  to  convey  it  in  procession.  His  retreat, 
for  such  it  had  become,  was  not  carried  out  without 
much  trouble.  The  roads  were  infested  by  bands  of 
hostile  Sinhalese,  but  fortunately  Dassanayaka,  the 
Mudaliyar  of  the  Hapitigam  Korale,  knew  of  a  secret 
track  by  which  the  Hollanders  were  able  to  escape 
into  the  Seven  Korales. 

Van  Eck  left  behind  him  a  garrison  of  1800 
men  under  the  command  of  de  Feber,  pending  the 
arrival  of  Marten  Rein,  once  a  tailor,  who  had  been 
appointed  Commandant.  On  the  28th  de  Feber  him- 
self set  out  for  Colombo  and  on  the  road  he  received 
the  news  that  Van  Eck,  who  had  been  very  depressed 
since  his  return,  had  suddenly  died ;  it  was  believed 
by  many  that  he  had  killed  himself  in  despair. 

To  the  Sinhalese  the  mystery  of  this  unhappy 
end  to  a  promising  career  was  not  difficult  to  under- 
stand.   "There  fell  upon  that  most  foolish  leader  of 


The  Garrison  Blockaded  117 

the  enemy's  hosts  a  fearful  and  terrible  madness 
that  was  brought  about  by  the  power  of  the  gods 
and  also  by  the  power  of  the  King's  Merit,  so  that 
he  abandoned  that  fine  city  and  left  it  ingloriously 
and  was  consumed  by  the  fire  of  Death.  And  all  the 
enemy's  hosts  who  had  come  under  the  leadership 
of  that  foolish  man  became  powerless  and  helpless 
and  were  overtaken  by  calamities.  Some  fell  victims 
to  disease,  others  suffered  great  distress  from  famine 
and  sickness,  some  were  slain  in  battle,  and  others 
betook  themselves  to  mountain  fastnesses.  Thus  were 
these  enemies,  the  vilest  of  men,  destroyed  and  put 
to  flight." 

Such  is  the  stately  narrative  of  the  writer  of 
the  Mahawansa. 

Matters  were  looking  very  grave ;  the  Sinhalese 
appeared  to  be  in  every  place,  and  as  Feber  retired 
he  withdrew  the  garrisons  on  the  line  of  communi- 
cation as  far  as  Wisinawaya,  thus  leaving  Rein  and 
his  men  isolated  in  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country- 
These  were  ill  provisioned  and  soon  found  themselves 
completely  blockaded ;  it  was  realised  at  Colombo  that 
their  position  was  extremely  critical,  and  it  was  not 
possible  to  communicate  with  them  by  letter.  Rein 
himself  was  seriously  ill,  the  monsoon  rains  were 
close  at  hand,  and  by  the  11th  of  April  the  exasper- 
ated Sinhalese  had  come  as  far  as  the  boundary  at 
Sitawaka,  wreaking  their  vengence  on  everyone  and 
everything  which  belonged  to  the    Company. 

Plans  were  prepared  to  relieve  Rein  by  the 
ill-omened  route  through  the  Balane  Pass,  and  urgent 
messages  were  sent  to  the  aged  Anthony  Moyaart, 
who  was  at  Jafanapatnam,  to  come  and  take  charge 
of  affairs  at  Colombo.  Hostilities  however  did  not 
cease,  and  the  beleaguered  garrison  was  being  steadily 
killed  off  by  disease  and  lack  of  food,  for  the 
Sinhalese  realised  that  it  was  not  necessary  for  them 
to  incur  any  risk. 


118  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

In  August  Iman  Willem  Falck  arrived  as  Gov- 
ernor ;  he  was  at  the  time  only  twenty  nine  years 
of  age,  having  been  born  in  Colombo  in  1736,  while 
his  mother,  the  daughter  of  a  Governor  of  Malaca, 
was  a  native  of  Samarang.  The  young  casti  whose 
swarthy  complexion  earned  for  him  the  sobriquet  of 
The  Crow,  had  received  an  excellent  education  at 
Utrecht,  and  it  was  soon  clear  that  he  was  one  of 
the  ablest  Administrators  the  Company  had  yet  sent 
to  Ceylon.  The  difficult  situation  was  taken  firmly 
in  hand ;  negociations  were  entered  into  with  the 
Court ;  and  on  the  10th  of  August  a  concialtory  letter 
was  sent  to  the  Ministers.  Arrangements  were  made 
for  a  display  of  military  force  on  various  parts  of 
the  frontiers ;  and  rumours  were  spread  abroad  that 
the  Company  intended  to  dethrone  the  King,  and 
that  his  successor  had  already  been  selected  and  en- 
trusted to  the  care  of  the  Governor.  At  the  same 
time  efforts  were  made  to  secure  the  sympathy  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  coast,  and  in  October  Dassa- 
nayaka,  who  had  probably  saved  Van  Eck  and  his 
escort  from  destruction,  was  presented  with  a  medal 
and  chain  as  an  expression  of  the  Company's  gratitude, 
and  allowed  four  drummers  as  a  mark  of  distinction. 

Fortunately  for  his  designs  the  prolonged  hostili- 
ties had  seriously  interrupted  the  cultivation  of  the 
fields  in  the  King's  territory,  and  his  subjects  were 
on  the  verge  of  starvation.  In  December  an  Ambas- 
sador came  from  the  King,  and  Falck  increased  the 
pressure  he  had  brought  to  bear.  All  the  stores  of 
salt  were  searched  out  and  destroyed ;  while  the  Three, 
Four,  and  Seven  Korales  were  ravaged  from  end  to 
end.  The  garrison  of  Trincomalee  advanced  into  the 
Bintenne;  another  force  under  Major  Duflo  occupied 
Matale,  where  people  were  found  to  be  dying  of 
starvation.  A  palace  which  the  King  had  in  that 
district  was  burnt  to  the  ground;  a  store  of  15,000 
bags  of  saltpetre,  which  had  been  patiently  collected 


Treaty  of  Colombo  119 

for  many  years  from  the  deposits  of  bats,  was  found 
in  a  cave  and  destroyed. 

The  people  were  utterly  exhausted,  and  among 
the  Ministers  themselves  discontent  was  noticeable. 
Falck  now  adopted  a  conciliatory  attitude,  and 
sent  back  the  great  Karanduwa  and  the  golden  howdah 
to  the  King.  These  tactics  proved  effective,  the 
scanty  remnants  of  the  garrison  were  allowed  to 
return  to  Colombo,  and  five  Commissioners  headed  by 
Dumbara  Rala  arrived  from  Court  to  discuss  the 
terms  of  peace.  The  ragged  condition  of  their 
attendants,  who  carefully  saved  everything  which  they 
could  out  of  the  provisions  supplied  to  them  by  the 
Company,  proved  how  extreme  was  the  pitch  of  want 
to  which  the  King's  subjects  had  been  reduced.  The 
negociations  were  conducted  by  Van  Angelbeek  and 
Godfried  Leonard  de  Coste,  the  able  Disawa  of 
Colombo,  on  behalf  of  the  Company ;  and  after  much 
wrangling  the  draft  of  a  new  Treaty  was  signed  at 
Colombo  at  7.30  p.  m.  on  the  14th  of  February  1766. 

By  this  agreement,  which  contained  twenty  five 
Articles,  the  Company  was  ackowledged  as  sovereign 
over  the  districts  it  had  possessed  previous  to  the 
commencement  of  the  war.  Moreover  the  King  ceded 
to  it  the  whole  of  the  seaborde  which  had  remained 
to  him,  for  the  distance  of  a  gowwa  inland,  the 
Company  undertaking  to  pay  him  yearly  the  revenue 
which  was  collected  therefrom.  He  was  acknowledged 
paramount  over  the  rest  of  the  Island,  and  all  other 
territory  occupied  by  the  Company  during  the  war 
was  to  be  restored  to  him.  The  right  to  take  as 
much  salt  as  they  liked  from  the  Lewayas,  Puttalam, 
and  Chilaw,  was  reserved  for  his  subjects,  while  the 
Company  obtained  the  privilege  of  peeling  cinnamon 
from  the  whole  of  the  Low  Countries  belonging  to 
the  King,  namely,  Sabaragamuwa,  and  the  Three, 
Four,  and  Seven  Korales,  as  far  as  Balane.  The 
cinnamon  found  east  of  Balane  was  to  be  peeled  by 


120  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

the  King's  subjects  and  sold  at  a  fixed  rate  exclu- 
sively to  the  Company,  which  obtained  in  addition 
the  monopoly  of  the  trade  in  ivory,  pepper,  carda- 
mons,  coffee,  arecanuts,  and  wax. 

There  was  to  be  unrestricted  trade  between 
the  subjects  of  the  two  contracting  parties,  with  the 
right  of  entry  into  each  others,  territory  for  the  pur- 
pose, the  Company  undertaking  to  procure  for  the 
King  such  articles  as  he  required  from  foreign 
countries.  In  return  he  agreed  to  supply  the  Com- 
pany at  Batticaloa  and  Trincomalee  with  all  the 
timber  they  needed,  and  to  surrender  all  the  Hol- 
landers who  were  kept  as  prisoners  by  him,  together 
with  the  cannon  captured  at  Hanwella.  There 
was  also  provision  for  the  restoration  of  runaway 
slaves,  and  the  extradition  of  criminals. 

The  Company  pledged  itself  to  protect  the 
King's  dominions  from  all  external  aggression,  and 
to  make  no  agreement  with  any  foreign  power  which 
might  be  prejudicial  to  him  ;  while  the  King  promised 
not  to  enter  into  any  treaty  with  any  other  European 
power  or  Indian  Prince,  and  to  deliver  up  all  Euro- 
peans coming  within  his  territory.  The  humiliating 
ceremonial  which  the  Company's  ambassadors  up  till 
now  had  been  compelled  to  go  through  when  received 
in  audience,  was  at  last  abolished,  and  for  the  future 
the  same  ceremonies  were  to  be  observed  at  such 
receptions  on  either  side. 

Till  the  very  last  there  was  fear  that  the 
negociations  would  break  down;  the  parties  could 
not  agree  as  to  whose  name  should  have  precedence, 
but  a  compromise  was  arrived  at  by  which  it  was 
settled  that  the  name  of  each  party  should  be  placed 
first  in  the  copy  to  be  retained  by  that  party.  The 
Sinhalese  pressed  for  the  exchange  of  all  captured 
guns  and  deserters,  but  the  Hollanders  refused  to 
agree;  the  more  so  as  it  was  traitors  from  among 
the  King's  subjects  who  had  acted  as  guides  for 
their  army.     The  Sinhalese  translation  of  the  treaty 


The  Treaty  Ratified  121 

was  prepared  by  Illangakon  and  the  Predicant 
Philipsz,  and  was  examined  word  for  word  by  the 
Commissioners ;  the  original,  which  was  to  be  signed 
by  the  King,    was  engrossed  on  gilt  parchment. 

Falck  made  a  confidential  suggestion  to  the  Com- 
missioners that  a  clause  should  be  inserted  excluding  all 
Malabars  from  office  within  the  Kingdom ;  the  Commis- 
sioners expressed  their  delight  at  the  suggestion  but  said 
that  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe  for  carrying  it  out; 
they  significantly  added  that  they  thought  it  would 
come  soon  if  they  could  rely  on  the  assistance  of 
the  Company.  Falck  also  ascertained  from  them  that 
there  was  a  strong  secret  party  at  Court  which 
supported  the  pretensions  of  a  certain  Prince  of 
Kilakarai  to  the  Sinhalese  throne;  he  was  a  son  of 
the  sister  of  Kundasala's  Queens,  and  asserted  that 
his  mother  too  had  been  married  to  that  King. 

The  day  following  the  signature  of  the  draft 
the  Commissioners  started  back  accompanied  by  de 
Coste,  who  was  delegated  to  obtain  the  King's  ratifi- 
cation. Duflo  was  ordered  to  withdraw  from  Matale, 
which  he  was  glad  to  do,  as  every  European  with 
him  was  sick. 

The  King  signed  the  treaty  at  Hanguranketa. 
A  request  was  made  by  de  Coste  that  it  should  be 
countersigned  by  the  Ministers,  but  this  was 
peremptorily  refused :  the  King's  signature  was  all- 
sufficient,  and  the  treaty  of  Batticaloa  which  was 
produced,  bore  the  signature  of  Raja  Sinha  alone. 
De  Coste  returned  to  Colombo  with  the  perfected 
document  and  a  tusked  elephant  which  the  King  had 
presented  to  him.  He  was  followed  by  a  letter  in 
which  the  King  protested  that  it  was  only  his  love 
of  peace  which  induced  him  to  sign  an  agreement 
so  inequitable  as  the  present  Treaty ;  he  complained 
of  the  loss  of  his  sea-coast,  and  the  refusal  to 
return  his  guns  and  deserting  subjects,  and  declared 
that  further  representations  would  be  made  to  Batavia 

on  the  subject. 

16 


122  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

The  long-cherished  policy  of  the  Company  was 
at  last  achieved,  and  the  King  cut  off  from  all  foreign 
intercourse.  His  Kingdom  was  now  dependent  for 
everything  which  could  not  be  produced  locally,  on 
the  humour  of  the  Company's  officials,  and  the  trade 
of  his  subjects  had  to  be  regulated  by  its  demands. 
But  this  success  was  not  purchased  cheap.  It  was 
calculated  by  Burnand,  a  Swiss  who  was  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  servants  of  the  Company,  that  the 
war  had  cost  ten  million  florins  and  some  thousands 
of  lives ;  it  had  dislocated  its  trade,  and  greatly 
retarded  the  progress  of  cultivation  ;  but  above  all 
it  had  roused  the  hatred  of  the  Court  and  rendered 
necessary  the  maintenance  of  a  military  force  which 
swallowed  up  a  great  part  of  the  revenue.  However 
for  the  moment  the  Company's  prospects  appeared 
to  be  bright,  and  it  was  able  to  settle  the  trouble- 
some questions  affecting  South  India  which  had  been 
a  source  of  anxiety  for  a  long  time. 

Even  before  the  arrival  of  van  Gollen esse  there 
had  been  disagreements  with  the  Thever,  and  the  Com- 
pany had  been  forced  to  pull  down  its  factory  at 
Kilakarai.  The  quarrel,  which  was  largely  connected 
with  the  question  of  the  smuggling  of  areca,  was 
patched  up  about  1747,  and  the  factory  was  restored. 
Eleven  years  later  the  Thever  again  attacked  the 
factory  and  seized  the  Company's  vessels  on  his  coast, 
and  the  embarrassments  of  Schreuder  were  increased 
by  these  hostilities,  which  were  however  concluded 
in  March  1759  by  the  restoration  of  what  had  been 
seized.  Falck  was  fortunate  enough  to  find  a  child 
ruling  in  Ramnad,  and  on  the  24th  of  January  1767, 
he  entered  into  an  agreement  with  Thamotharam 
Pillai,  the  Thever's  Guardian  and  Regent,  by  which 
the  Pamben  passage  was  sold  to  the  Company, 
subject  to  the  right  of  the  Thever's  people  to  its 
unrestricted    use. 

Two  successful  fisheries  gave  Falck  a  good 
chance  for  restoring  order  in  Ceylon  after  the  unrest 


The  New  Territory  123 

created  by  the  late  war.  The  first  step  was  to 
organise  some  kind  of  administration  in  the  newly 
acquired  districts.  The  boundary  near  Chilaw  was 
cleared  and  marked  by  a  series  of  stout  posts  bearing 
the  Company's  device.  Orders  were  given  to  streng- 
then the  wretched  little  fort  at  the  town,  and  to 
repair  the  great  irrigation  bunds  of  the  Sinhalese  ;  for 
the  reputation  of  its  rich  fields  was  such  that  dhonies 
used  to  come  to  Chilaw  from  Kalutara  and  Welitara 
to  obtain  rice.  There  were  valuable  pepper  gardens 
belonging  to  the  King,  which  were  now  taken  over 
on  account  of  the  Company.  Udupenkarai,  once  the 
chief  nest  of  the  smugglers,  was  an  important  fishing 
centre  which  supplied  the  bulk  of  the  Sinhalese 
Kingdom  with  salt  fish,  and  good  tobacco  was  produced 
to  the  north  of  Kaymel.  At  Chilaw  itself  the  major- 
ity of  the  inhabitants  were  fishers  ;  they  were  divided 
into  two  rival  factions,  and  by  ancient  custom  one 
supplied  the  chief  official  at  the  fort  with  river  fish 
in  the  morning,  and  the  other  with  sea  fish  in  the 
evening.  The  distinction  was  maintained  even  in 
the  ranchus  of  Lascarins  which  were  raised  among 
them. 

In  Puttalam  there  were  few  Sinhalese ;  the 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  Moors,  while  the  Muk- 
kuwas,  who  had  settled  there  before  the  Moors,  ranked 
next  in  number,  and  were  either  nominal  Chris- 
tians, or  Mohammedans.  The  chiefs  of  the  district 
were  Wannias,  who  were  believed  to  be  Mukkuwas 
by  race.  There  were  originally  twelve  of  them  who 
formed  a  Rata  Sabhawa  presided  over  by  the  Kana- 
kapulle  and  the  Vidane  appointed  by  the  King's 
Disawa.  The  office  of  Wannia  was  hereditary,  and 
the  lands  belonging  to  them  were  exempt  from  Raja- 
kariya,  while  they  were  entitled  to  certain  duties 
from  the  crops  of  the  villagers.  They  had  no  special 
jurisdiction  of  their  own,  but  were  expected  to 
inquire  into  and  settle  small  disputes.  Falck  called 
upon  these    Wannias  and  the  chief  Moormen  to  pre- 


124  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

pare  a  statement  of  the  customs  which  prevailed  in 
the  country,  and  directed  that  the  Landraad  which 
he  now  estabhshed  should  administer  justice  in  accord- 
ance with  them.  Criminal  offences  were  to  be  pun- 
ished  according  to  the    Sinhalese  practice. 

The  most  important  industry  in  the  district 
was  the  production  of  salt,  chiefly  for  consumption 
within  the  Kingdom,  while  fishing,  both  in  the  lake 
and  on  the  high  seas,  afforded  a  means  of  livelihood  to 
many.  Eight  dhonies  were  employed  on  the  former 
branch,  and  there  were  well-defined  rules  regulating 
the  privilege  of  casting  their  nets,  etc.  The  deep- 
sea  fish  was  usually  salted  and  dried,  while  the  rest 
was  used  for  immediate  consumption.  There  was  a  fair 
local  production  of  cotton,  and  much  rough  cloth 
was  woven  by  the  women.  The  Commandant  at 
Puttalam  received  various  perquisites  from  the  tava- 
lams,  salt,  arrack  rent  and  judicial  fines. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Island  a  Landraad 
was  established  at  Batticaloa  where  there  was  also  a 
Council  of  Chiefs  similar  to  that  of  the  Wannias  at 
Puttalam.  A  tribute  of  elephants  was  levied  from 
various  petty  chiefs,  including  some  of  those  of  Tam- 
ankaduwa,  who  had  for  the  time  joined  the  Company. 
Great  hopes  were  entertained  of  the  possibilities  of 
Batticaloa,  with  its  rich  soil  and  industrious  popu- 
lation, but  Falck  realised,  as  van  Goens  had  pointed 
out  in  1671,  that  the  fort  should  have  been  built 
not  on  Puliyandivu  but  further  south  where 
there  was  a  safe  coast  and  deep  water.  The 
old  fort  of  Kottiar  was  now  of  little  value, 
while  the  increasing  power  of  the  British  in 
India  made  the  protection  of  the  inner  harbour  of 
Trincomalee    a  matter  of  urgency. 

At  Jaffna  the  weary  task  of  strengthening  the 
fort  was  still  going  on  in  accordance  with  a  scheme 
devised  by  a  certain  Brohier ;  in  consequence  the 
Uliam  service  to  which  the  people  were  liable 
had  been  doubled,  and  yet  but  little    progress  was 


Mutu  Raja  Wela  125 

made ;  for  the  Tamil  man  working  under  compulsion 
knew  very  well  how  to  produce  the  minimum  of 
result  in  the  maximum  of  time.  There  was  also 
difficulty  about  the  supply  of  lime  and  stone,  though 
the  stratum  of  rock  which  lay  under  the  moat  was 
blown  up  with  powder  to  supply  the  necessary  mat- 
erial. It  was  to  the  interest  of  the  Commandeur  to 
encourage  the  export  of  palmyrah  timber,  and  con- 
sequently there  was  still  great  anxiety  as  to  the 
effect  of  the  felling  of  the  trees  on  the  food  supply 
of  the  people. 

Schreuder  had  proposed  to  drain  the  Uppu 
Aru  in  Jaffna  and  bring  it  under  cultivation,  and 
with  this  object  he  had  caused  a  survey  to  be  made ; 
the  scheme  however  was  abandoned  in  view  of  the 
unfavourable  opinion  expressed  by  some  of  the 
authorities  consulted.  At  Colombo  de  Coste  devoted 
himself  to  the  improvement  of  the  great  tract  of 
Mutu  raja  wela,  estimated  to  contain  6000  acres,  the 
value  of  which  as  likely  to  ensure  a  sufficiency 
of  rice  for  Colombo,  was  long  recognised  by  the 
Company.  An  attempt  which  had  been  made  by  it 
to  improve  the  existing  Sinhalese  canal  had  led  to 
the  inundation  of  the  land  by  salt  water  and  the 
fields  now  lay  waste.  De  Coste  set  about  dealing 
with  this  problem  as  well  as  the  overflow  into  the 
tract  from  the  rivers,  and  the  stagnation  of  water.  He 
built  a  series  of  dams,  sluices  and  channels,  and  was 
so  far  successful  in  his  efforts  that  in  1767  he  was 
able  to  announce  that  the  work  was  complete,  and 
the  Governor  ordered  the  division  of  the  area  into 
allotments  and  the  appointment  of  a  special  Head 
of  the  Cultivation.  Under  him  were  placed  twelve 
Goi  Vidanes,  who  were  provided  with  silver-headed 
canes  as  a  badge  of  office.  The  cost  of  the 
improvements  was  to  be  met  by  a  second  tythe  on 
the  crops.  But  in  a  few  years  the  scheme  was 
found  to  be  a  failure,  and  the  land  was  again 
abandoned. 


126  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

A  canal  was  opened  to  connect  Negumbo 
with  the  Maha  Oya,  and  in  1771  another  was  opened 
from  Kotte  to  the  Moratuwa  Lake  by  way  of 
Nedimale.  The  completion  of  this  latter  was 
celebrated  by  the  presentation  of  a  medal  to  Daniel 
Alwis  Samarasinha,  the  energetic  Mudaliyar  of  the 
Salpiti  Korale,  who  was  mainly  responsible  for  the 
work.  Both  these  canals  had  to  be  cleaned  and 
deepened  yearly  by  a  certain  number  of  service 
tenants.  The  necessity  for  permitting  the  clearing 
of  henas  in  those  Korales  where  the  rice  fields  were 
less  fertile  was  recognised,  and  this  cultivation 
was  permitted  though  under  stringent  conditions.  No 
hena  could  be  cleared  without  special  permission, 
and  before  the  permission  was  granted  the  land  had 
to  be  inspected  by  Commissioners  assisted  by 
Chalias,  and  it  would  be  refused  if  six  peelable  cinnamon 
plants  v/ere  found  within  the  extent  of  a  morgen.  Wild 
cinnamon  grew  in  abundance  where  a  land  was  once 
sown,  and  therefore  the  same  spot  would  not  be 
cleared  oftener  then  once  in  fifteen  or  twenty  years. 
The  cultivation  of  Amu  was  forbidden,  as  this  grain 
was  considered  harmful  to  cinnamon.  Hena  crops 
paid  a  duty  of  a  tenth  to  the  Company. 

There  had  been  bitter  complaints  about  the 
regulations  for  the  protection  of  cinnamon  growing 
on  private  lands,  which  compelled  the  people  to 
leave  valuable  cultivated  lands  uncleared.  A  Commission 
was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  matter  and 
permission  was  given  to  clear  such  lands  provided 
the  cinnamon  found  growing  on  them  was  not 
damaged  in  the  process.  The  expectations  that  had 
been  formed  of  an  increase  in  the  supply  of  cinnamon 
as  a  consequence  of  the  new  Treaty  were  doomed 
to  disappointment,  for  the  King  was  not  prepared 
to  take  any  trouble  to  have  the  stuff  collected  in 
his  dominions  for  the  small  price  that  the  Company 
was  willing  to  pay,  and  the  supply  rapidly  decreased. 


Cinnamon  Cultivation  127 

Falck  accordingly  attempted  to  cultivate  the  plant, 
and  his  first  experiment,  which  was  carried  out  in 
the  Maradana  of  Colombo  in  1769,  was  so  successful 
that  all  native  headmen  were  directed  to  open 
similar  gardens,  a  medal  being  promised  to  the  most 
successful.  Samarasinha  again  distinguished  himself 
and  received  the  coveted  honour,  while  Wikramasinha 
of  Negumbo  was  presented  with  a  silver  sword  and 
created  a  Mudaliyar. 


CHAPTER  IX 


The  Disawa  continued  to  fill  a  large  space  in 
the  eye  of  the  villager.  The  Disawa  of  Colombo 
called  himself  Maha  Disawa  of  Sabaragamuwa,  the  Seven 
Korales,  and  Low  Country  of  Colombo,  and  was  escorted 
in  his  circuits  through  his  district  by  a  ranchu  of 
Lascarins  under  an  Arachchi,  with  its  colours,  five 
drums,  a  horn  and  a  trumpet.  He  and  the 
Commandeurs  of  Galle  and  Jaffna  alone  were  entitled 
to  have  their  drums  beaten  within  the  Kadawatu  of 
Colombo,  as  far  as  Kayman's  Gate  on  the  one  side, 
and  KoUupitiya  on  the  other,  and  within  the  Castle 
he  was  allowed  an  escort  of  six  Lascarins.  In 
addition  to  his  salary  and  table  allowance,  he  held 
the  important  Gabadagama  of  Mahara,  and  also 
received  certain  fines,  a  percentage  on  gratuities  paid 
to  certain  public  servants,  and  free  provisions  when 
on  circuit.  When  the  Commission  of  a  new  Governor 
was  read  to  the  public  he  received  an  entertainment 
allowance  of  seventy-two  bottles  of  sack,  one  barrel 
of  beer,  and  190  cans  of  "double  arrack"  from  the 
Company's  garden  at  Galkissa,  with  a  proportion  of 
sugar,  beef,  bacon,  spices,  and  wheat.  His  duties 
were  as  multifarious  as  formerly;  for  instance  no 
Mohammedan  could  marry  without  his  licence,  under 
pain  of  being  put  in  chains. 

The  superior  headmen  who  were  under  him, 
namely  the  Mudaliyars,  Koralas,  Maha  Vidanes,  and 
Mohundirams,  were  appointed  under  the  hand  of  the 
Governor  ;  but,  as  in  the  time  of  the  Sinhalese  Kings, 
the  petty  headmen  received  their  appointments  from 
the  Disawa,  and   he  had  authority  to    punish    them 


The  Disavo  129 

even  with  a  whip  or  rattan  or  by  putting  them  in 
chains.  This  extreme  power  had  to  be  exercised 
cautiously ;  as  the  experienced  de  Coste  pointed  out 
in  1770,  ''He  should  take  care  not  to  abuse  them 
in  a  passion  in  the  presence  of  the  people,  much  less 
beat  them,  for  by  such  treatment  they  lose  the  res- 
pect of  their  inferiors,  and  the  Disawa  himself  is 
despised  by  the  natives,  who  from  nature  abhor  all 
passionate  persons."  As  a  rule  a  Disawa  held  office 
for  a     term     of    five    years. 

The  Company  had  deliberately  set  itself 
to  destroy  the  power  of  the  Mudaliyars, 
and  as  a  general  rule  they  had  fallen  much 
from  their  original  position,  and  their  military 
responsibilities  been  largely  replaced  by  administrative 
duties.  They  had  to  see  to  the  disposal  of  the 
Lascarins  under  their  charge  among  the  various 
guard  stations,  supervise  the  removal  of  timber 
felled  on  account  of  the  Company,  and  repair  school 
buildings.  They  also  assisted  at  the  elephant  hunt 
which  was  held  in  the  Alut  Kuru  Korale,  attended 
to  the  proper  cultivation  of  their  districts,  and 
provided  Adukku  and  pehidun  for  ambassadors,  and 
officials,  including  clergymen,  on  circuit.  In  time  of 
war  they  supplied  men  for  the  conveyance  of 
ammunition-  Some  of  the  Mudaliyars  were  men  of 
wealth  and  great  influence,  and  in  consequence  were 
jealously  watched  by  the  Company.  A  new  register 
of  Lascarins  had  been  recently  prepared  and  an 
effort  made  to  reduce  the  number  of  these  men,  who 
had  little  work  to  do  in  time  of  peace.  The  duty 
of  Kodituwakku  bearers  was  abolished,  and  the 
Kodituwakku  men  were  expected  to  carry  the  guns 
in  future.  This  caused  much  discontent,  for  to  carry 
loads  was  considered  a  degrading  task ;  but  the 
sympathy  with  which  the  prejudices  of  the  natives 
had  once  been  regarded  was  fast  disappearing. 

Their  discontent  was  ascribed  to  a  false  pride, 
in   the  same  way  as  their  jealousy    with  respect  to 

17 


130  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

the  honours  of  the  white    cloth.     The    fixed   pohcy 
now  was  to  destroy  all  this  kind  of  feeling,  to  tear 
the  people  away  from    their    past,    to    denationalise 
them  as  much  as  possible:   it  might  have    been  all 
right  to  uphold  these  customs  so    long    as    it    was 
considered  necessary   to    flatter    and    hoodwink    the 
natives,  but   that  time  was  over,  and  they  must  now 
learn  that  their  chief  mission  in  life  was  to  secure 
dividends  for  the  Company.    "Common  sense  directs" 
said  de  Coste,  "that  all  these    country    pomps     and 
grandeurs  should  be  abolished,  in    order  to    remove 
from  the  natives  the  impression    that    the    customs 
of  the  Sinhalese  and  their  Kings     are    much    more 
venerable  than  ours." 

The  manner  in   which  natives    were  to    dress 
at  their  feasts  was     regulated    by     Placaat.     People 
who  were  bound  to  perform  duty  to  the    Company 
in  consequence  of  their  castes  often  adopted  European 
dress   and  passed  as    Burghers  in    order  to    escape 
the  liability,    and  it  was  therefore  enacted    that  no 
person  would  be    exempted     unless     he  produced    a 
Burgher  Act,  written  upon  a  stamped  paper-    Women 
of  the  seven  highest  castes  alone  were     entitled    to 
wear  jackets;  they  could  also  freely  adorn  themselves 
with  jewels;  but     those  who  had    to    serve    in    the 
houses  of  Goigama  people  were  expected  to  be  res- 
trained in  their  use  so  as  to  avoid    giving    offence. 
The  Nanayakkara  and  Nambukara  Appuhamis  of 
the  Goigama  caste  ranked  as  noble,  while  the  Safframado 
Appuhamis,  who  frequently    were  nominated  by  the 
Mudaliyars,    were    employed    to    mount    guard      at 
the  Governor's  and  the  Disawa's   Wasala    and    bore 
the  canopy  under  which  ambassadors    went  in    pro- 
cession.   The  fisher  people  of  Negombo  and  Kalutara 
were  liable  to  the  duty    of    loading    and    unloading 
vessels,  and  those  of  Moratuwa  and  Panadura  were 
attached  to  the  carpenters'  and     cartwrights'    estab- 
lishments.   The  village  blacksmith,  barber,  and  wash- 
erman  could     cause    as    much     annoyance    to     the 
Appuhami  by    refusing    to   perform    their    essential 


Internal  Administration  131 

services,  as  they  still  do  to  the  Wellala  of  Jaffna. 
Potters  from  places  so  remote  as  the  Hapitigam 
Korale  had  to  work  at  the  Company's  brick  kiln 
near  Kelaniya,  but  they  were  paid  for    their  labour. 

In  Colombo  there  were  licensed  cockpits,  the 
birds  employed  being  as  a  rule  fitted  with  metal 
spurs :  cockfighting  was  greatly  in  favour  with  the 
Malays,  with  their  strong  instinct  for  gambling  ;  in  the 
rural  districts  people  were  allowed  on  occasions  of 
festivity  to^  have  cockpits  in  their  own  gardens.  In 
consequence  of  the  increasing  number  of  robberies 
and  murders,  a  Placaat  was  passed  to  the  effect  that 
trespassers  found  after  nightfall  within  enclosed  land 
were  liable  to  be  shot  dead.  The  duties  of  under- 
takers at  funerals,  the  manner  in  which  relatives 
were  to  be  summoned  on  such  occasions,  and  the 
number  of  mourning  cloaks  and  hat  bands  which  could 
be  used,  were  as  much  a  matter  of  regulation,  as 
the  question  of  whether  a  barber's  daughter  might 
or  might  not  wear  stockings  when  she  got  married. 
After  1769  the  sale  of  firearms  and  ammunition  was 
placed   under  severe  restrictions. 

In  matters  of  religion  a  more  tolerant  attitude , 
the  result  in  part  of  indifference  and  in  part  of 
necessity,  had  begun  to  appear,  and  there  was  no 
longer  any  interference  with  the  worship  of  the 
Buddhists  at  Kelaniya,  Attanagalla  and  Warana. 
Mulgirigala  still  retained  its  ancient  sanctity  and  was 
visited  by  Falck  more  than  once.  He  was  broad- 
minded  enough  to  see  the  necessity  of  understanding 
the  religious  views  of  the  people  of  the  country, 
and  he  invited  the  priests  to  enlighten  him  on  the 
subject.  In  the  case  of  the  Mohammedans  religion 
and  law  are  closely  connected,  and  Falck  had  a 
statement  prepared  of  the  customs  of  the  Moors 
with  regard  to  inheritance,  and  directed  that  they 
should  be  observed  as  law.  As  for  the  Roman 
Catholics,  the  Goanese  influence  continued  to  be  so 
great  that  he  expressed  the  opinion  that  it  must  be 


132  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

destroyed  somehow,  and  he  agreed  that  in  order  to 
secure  this  desirable  end,  Protestant  natives  should 
receive  the  preference  in  appointments  to  office.  This 
really  made  little  difference,  for  the  bulk  of  the  native 
chiefs  were  secretly  staunch  Buddhists,  while  the  caste 
distinctions  observed  even  by  those  who  professed  Chris- 
tianity made  them  insist  on  separate  places  of  wor- 
ship being  provided  for  themselves. 

In  the  North  the  Tamils  were  not  worried  any 
longer  for  being  Hindus,  provided  they  did  not  openly 
maintain  temples  or  hold  religious  processions.  An  account 
of  the  condition  of  things  among  them  has  been  left  by 
Johannes  Christophel  Wolfs,  the  son  of  a  humble 
German  tradesman  of  Mecklenburg,  who  succeeded 
in  making  his  way  into  Ceylon  in  1749  as  a  youth 
of  nineteen  years.  He  remained  in  the  country  for 
nearly  twenty  years  more,  the  greater  portion  of 
his  time  being  spent  in  Jaffnapatnam,  where  his  per- 
severance, discretion,  and  capacity  for  bearing  without 
a  murmur  the  kicks  and  cuffings  of  his  superiors, 
secured  him  rapid  promotion  in  the  service  of  the 
Company.  In  1782,  after  his  return  to  his  own 
country,  he  published  in  German  a  brief  account  of 
his  experiences. 

He  always  regarded  with  sympathy  the  Tamils, 
at  whose  hands  he  had  received  much  simple  kind- 
ness in  his  days  of  obscurity,  and  whose  language  he 
strove  to  learn ;  indeed  he  was  one  of  the  few  European 
writers  who  understood  the  people  sufficiently  to 
have  a  good  word  to  say  for  them.  They  still  dressed 
in  the  primitive  style  of  their  ancestors,  both  men 
and  women  as  a  rule  being  bare  above  the  waist,  though 
people  of  quality  would  throw  a  piece  of  linen  over 
their  shoulders.  The  long  distended  ear-lobes,  which 
had  nearly  disappeared  among  the  Sinhalese,  were 
sedulously  cultivated,  and  caste  distinctions  rigidly 
maintained. 

That  petty  family  vanity  which  so  frequently 
characterises    small  and    isolated   communities    and 


The  Tamils  133 

is  still  so  marked  a  feature  of  Tamil  life,  was 
turned  by  the  Company  to  good  advantage.  The 
equivalent  of  a  patent  of  nobility,  signified  by  the 
tying  of  a  silver  nalalpata,  and  the  conferring  of  the 
title  of  Don,  could  always  be  purchased  from  it  at  a 
moderate  sum,  which  Wolfs  declares  finally  sank  as 
low  as  ten  rix  dollars.  Every  Wellala  who  could 
afford  the  money  got  himself  ennobled,  and  this 
gave  the  opportunity  to  the  Brahmins,  their  rivals,  to 
expose  their  pretensions  to  public  ridicule.  The  re- 
sult was  much  quarrelling  and  litigation. 

The  father  was  the  autocrat  of  his  family; 
the  marriage  arrangements  which  he  made  for  his 
son  had  to  be  acquiesced  in  without  question,  under 
risk  of  disinherison.  To  secure  a  husband  for  a 
daughter  or  a  sister  was  the  first  duty  of  a  citizen, 
and  with  that  object  often  the  bulk  of  the  property 
would  be  given  to  the  daughters  by  way  of  dowry. 
Such  dowry  could  not  be  touched  for  the  father's 
debts,  which  then  fell  on  the  sons,  though  impatience 
was  being  displayed  at  what  was  considered  an 
inequitable  rule.  Large  powers  of  adoption  were 
vested  in  the  head  of  a  family. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  missionary 
enterprise  the  Tamils  were  frankly  recognised  as 
being  merely  baptised  heathen.  The  clergyman 
visited  the  parishes  once  a  year,  but  only  to  marry, 
baptise,  and  check  the  school  registers,  while  the 
bulk  of  the  Churches  were  abandoned  or  used  as 
cattle  stalls.  There  was  the  same  desire  for  schooling 
as  still  distinguishes  the  Tamil  boy,  and  his  powers 
of  memory  and  mastery  over  figures  were  as  much 
remarked  by  Wolfs  as  the  calfless  legs  of  the  men. 
The  schoolmasters  acted  as  Notaries,  drawing  up  all 
formal  deeds,  and  preserving  copies  thereof.  The 
Brahmins  burnt  their  dead  and  buried  the  ashes  in  a  pot, 
while  the  other  Tamils  interred  the  bodies  in  shallow 
graves  in  the  Churchyards,  without  coffins  and  merely 
wrapped  in  a  sheet. 


134  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

In  the  meanwhile  with  the  conclusion 
of  peace  the  King  had  returned  to  his  Capital. 
Those  who  had  served  him  faithfully  during  the 
war  were  rewarded  generously,  while  the  treacherous 
Moors  who  had  repaid  the  hospitality  which  they 
had  received  in  his  country  by  assisting  the  enemy, 
were  expelled  from  several  districts.  He  next  sent 
four  ambassadors,  including  Kapuwatta  and  the  brave 
Palingupana,  to  Batavia  to  represent  to  the  authorities 
there  his  objections  to  the  recent  treaty;  they 
were  given  a  very  ceremonious  reception,  but  could 
obtain  no  modification  of  the  terms.  Both  Kapuwatta 
and  Palingupana  died  on  the  return  journey,  and 
a  diamond  ring  which  had  been  presented  to  the 
former  was  submitted  to  the  King.  He  thereupon 
ordered  the  gem  to  be  set  on  the  forehead  of  the 
beautiful  jewelled  Bird  ornament  which  was  being 
prepared  as  an  offering  to  the  Sacred  Tooth,  in 
order  that  Kapuwatta  might  reap  the  Merit  thereof. 
He  now  turned  with  passionate  enthusiasm  to 
the  encouragement  of  religion.  First  and  foremost 
the  Tooth  Relic  had  to  be  restored  to  its  proper 
place  in  the  new  Maligawa  which  he  had  built  for 
it  by  the  side  of  his  Palace.  For  three  years  it 
had  remained  concealed  within  the  cave  at  Kevulgama, 
in  the  charge  of  Rambukwelle  Unanse  and  its 
faithful  hereditary  attendants.  And  now  the  Karandmva 
which  the  touch  of  the  enemy  had  defiled  was  gilded 
with  refined  gold  and  set  with  gems,  the  whole 
city  was  cleaned  and  purified,  and  once  more,  with 
the  most  impressive  solemnity  and  all  the  pomp 
which  the  kingdom  could  display,  the  precious 
Relic  was  brought  back  on  the  head  of  the  King 
and    reinstalled  within  its  shrine. 

There  it  continued  to  be  the  object  of  his 
ceaseless  adoration  ;  nothing  that  could  give  pleasure 
to  the  mind  of  man  or  add  to  the  dignity  of  its 
surroundings,  was  refused  to  this  emblem  of  his 
people.    The    sweetest    smelling    flowers,    the   most 


The  Buddhist  Revival  135 

fragrant  of  ripe  fruit,  the  daintiest  food ;  gold 
and  silver  and  precious  stones,  horses  and  elephants, 
men  servants  and  maid  servants,  with  rich  villages, 
were  offered  to  it  with  a  lavish  hand.  It  was  not 
the  desire  of  the  King  that  the  happiness  and  Merit 
of  adoring  the  Relic  should  be  stinted  or  confined  to 
a  few ;  more  than  once  the  solemn  mystery  which 
surrounded  it  was  brushed  aside  and  it  was  exposed 
to  the  public  gaze,  held  aloft  in  his  own  hand  on 
its  lotus  of  gold. 

Gangarama  Vihare,  which  the  King  had  built 
and  Van  Eck  destroyed,  was  restored  with  great 
splendour ;  a  new  Vihare  was  erected  at  Kundasala ; 
Ridi  Vihare,  which  Dutugemunu  had  founded,  was 
rebuilt  on  a  scale  of  grandeur ;  and  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  not  only  of  his  own  Kingdom 
but  also  of  the  whole  of  the  Island,  the  zeal  of  the 
King  made  itself  felt. 

This  was  a  source  of  no  little  anxiety  to 
the  Company,  for  all  the  Nayaka  or  Chief  Priests 
within  its  territory  went  to  Court  to  receive  their 
appointments  as  such  from  the  King,  and  in  consequence 
they  were  his  warm  supporters.  The  influence 
which  they  exercised  over  the  most  powerful 
Mudaliyars  was  known  to  be  great,  and  therefore 
it  was  found  necessary  to  keep  a  strict  watch  over 
the  latter,  while  at  the  same  time  cultivating  the 
good-will   of  the  former. 

The  school  which  the  Sangha  Raja  had  gathered 
round  him  zealously  pursued  the  study  of  Pali,  and 
many  books  dealing  with  the  subject  were  produced. 
Attaragama  Bandara,  the  best  known  of  his  lay  pupils, 
is  still  quoted  as  an  authority.  Tibbatuwawa  was 
entrusted  by  the  King  with  the  task  of  collating  the 
Sinhalese  versions  of  the  Mahawansa  with  a  copy 
received  from  Siam,  and  bringing  the  narrative  up 
to  date  from  the  records  of  his  Court.  Accounts 
were  compiled  of   the  various    missions    which    had 


136  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

been  sent  to  Siam,  and  a  Katikaivata  or  Code  of 
Rules  was  prepared  for  the  guidance  of  the  conduct 
of  the  priesthood.  Moratota,  one  of  the  Sangha 
Raja's  pupils,  was  appointed  Tutor  to  the  King's 
brother,  who  afterwards  mounted  the  Throne  as  Raja 
Adhiraja  Sinha  ;  the  royal  student  proved  an  apt  pupil 
and  obtained  much  applause  by  his  work,  the  Asadrisa 
Jatakaya.  The  Sangha  Raja  died  in  1778 ;  a  small 
dagoba  at  Ampitiya  enshrines  his  ashes,  while  the 
story  of  his  life  was  recorded  in  verse  by  Munko- 
tuwe  Rala,  at  the  request  of  Moratota.  This  work 
is  the  Sangharaja  Vata,  and  was  completed  in  1782. 
The  only  other  literary  figure  of  interest  at  Court 
was  Dunuwila  Gajanayaka  Nilame,  who  was  the 
author  of  some  clever  erotic  verse,  as  well  as  of  the 
Dunuwila  Hatane. 

This  revival  of  literature  within  the  Kingdom 
was  accompanied  by  a  similar  and  more  fruitful 
movement  in  the  South  under  the  inspiration  of 
Sitinamaluwe  Dammajoti  of  Wehelle,  the  author  of  a 
valuable  commentary  on  the  Balawatara.  Matara  still 
contained  great  families  like  the  Ekanayakas,  Tenne- 
kons  and  Illangakons,  willing  to  play  the  part  of  the 
generous  Maecenas.  Some  members  of  these  families 
were  themselves  no  mean  scholars ;  they,  as  the 
Hollanders  so  frequently  complained,  were  educated 
at  home  by  Buddhist  priests,  through  whose  means 
the  literary  influence  of  the  Sangha  Raja  made  itself 
felt.  Tilakaratna  Mudaliyar,  grandson  of  the  renegade 
Punchi  Appuhami,  compiled  a  valuable  work  known 
as  the  Bhesajja  Nidana,  while  in  1768  Disanayaka 
Mudaliyar  wrote  his  Makaraddaja. 

Poetical  works  of  great  skill,  based  on  the 
Jataka  stories,  were  produced  by  priests,  such  as 
Dhammananda  of  Kirambe.  They  show  exceptional 
polish  in  preparation  and  skill  in  technique,  but  suffer 
from  a  defect  which  runs  through  all  later  Sinhalese 
art.  The  poet  felt  himself  constrained  to  follow  cer- 
tain venerable  conventions,  and  sacrificed    originality 


Sinhalese  Literature  137 

in  displaying  scholarship.  The  test  of  good  poetry 
was  not  only  whether  it  was  marked  by  those  graces 
which  are  considered  such  in  all  languages,  but  also 
whether  those  charms  were  expressed  in  certain  set 
forms  dictated  by  ancient  canons,  which  no  one  had 
the  courage  to  set  at  defiance. 

In  Sinhalese  poetry,  while  rich  imagery,  choice 
language  and  melody  of  sound  were  keenly  appreci- 
ated and  artistically  used,  there  were  also  other 
ornaments  which  appealed  to  the  intellect  of  the 
curious  and  received  perhaps  an  exaggerated  degree 
of  admiration.  The  best  exponent  of  these  latter 
was  Samarajiwa  Pattayame  Lekama,  a  dissipated 
genius,  whose  amatory  poems  published  in  1768 
brought  him  into  great  reputation.  Two  years  later 
Samarasekera  of  Katuwana  produced  the  Kav  Mini 
Maldama,  a  poem  based  on  a  Jataka  story,  which 
takes  rank  amongst  the  first  order  of  later  Sinhalese 
poetry.  The  invocation  to  Saraswati,  Patroness  of  the 
Arts,  which  opened  the  poem  so  offended  the  vain 
Illangakon,  to  whom  the  poet  had  presented  a  copy, 
that  he  curtly  referred  the  writer  to  the  goddess 
for  his  expected  reward.  Samarajiwa  hastened  to  take 
advantage  of  the  Maha  Mudaliyar's  displeasure  by 
offering  to  him  his  Kav  Mini  Kondala,  a  work  also 
based  on  a  Jataka  story  and  sparkling  with  brilliant 
jeux  d'  esprit.  For  instance  his  alliterations  consist  not 
only  of  letters,  but  of  syllables,  words,  and  even  of 
entire  lines,  as  when  a  verse  is  formed  of  the  same 
line  repeated  four  times,  each  repetition  bearing  a 
different  meaning.  Verse  after  verse  rhymes  not 
only  at  the  end  of  the  lines  but  also  at  the  middle. 
In  certain  couplets  the  second  half  of  the  line  is 
formed  by  writing  the  first  half  backwards.  The 
works  of  the  Pattayame  Lekama  are  a  store-house 
of  these  ingenious  devices. 

The  Kav  Mutu  Hara  of  Maniratna  of  Saliella, 
written  in  1784  as  a  memorial    to    a  child    of    the 

18 


138  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

Ekanayaka  family,  also  is  based  on  a  Jataka  story 
and  belongs  to  the  best  work  of  the  period.  Barana 
Ganitaya  who  wrote  the  Nilakobo  Sandesaya,  yet 
another  of  that  group  of  poems  which  followed  on 
the  lines  of  the  Mega  Dhuta;  and  Gajaman  Nona, 
the  best  known  poetess  among  the  Sinhalese,  com- 
plete the  list  of  the  chief  writers  of  the  Matara 
school  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

Besides  the  poetic  devices  mentioned  above, 
metrical  puzzles  were  much  in  favour.  These  were 
formed  by  arranging  letters  in  diagrams  which  could 
be  read  in  various  directions.  Perhaps  the  most 
famous  of  these  was  the  Baranama  Gabasaka,  which  was 
formed  by  Karatota  Dhammarama  Unanse  of  Wera- 
gampita.  This  priest  had  a  reputation  for  learning 
and  was  consulted  by  Governor  Falck  for  information 
regarding  Buddhism,  and  he  was  also  considered  an 
authority  on  astronomy.  The  Gabasaka  consisted  of 
a  Diagram  which  when  read  in  the  four  directions 
formed  sixteen  elaborately  polished  verses  in  praise 
of  the  Buddha.  This  was  presented  in  1786  to  Raja 
Adhiraja  Sinha  and  the  ingenious  author  was  rewarded 
by  the  gift  of  the  vast  desolation  of  Pallebeddegama 
in  the  Atakalan  Korale. 

The  Company's  yearly  embassies  to  the  Court 
still  continued,  though  the  ambassadors  were  no 
longer  expected  to  go  through  all  the  humiliating 
antics  to  which  Pybus  had  been  subjected  ;  and  in 
1769  it  assisted  to  convey  the  King's  fourth  Queen 
to  the  Island  from  India.  In  the  meantime  it  was 
exposed  to  a  new  unpleasantness;  for  the  powerful  Nawab 
of  the  Carnatic,  who  had  reduced  the  Thever  and 
was  supported  by  the  British,  was  advancing  a  claim 
to  a  share  in  the  Pearl  Fishery.  The  Company  was 
indignant,  but  was  not  in  a  position  to  give  effect 
to  its  indignation,  and  entered  into  long  haggling 
negociations,  without  in  any  way  persuading  the  Nawab 
to  abate  his  demands. 


The  Supply  of  Salt  139 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  King  received 
secret  encouragement  from  the  same  quarter,  for  it 
was  well  known  that  the  British  still  had  their  eyes 
fixed  on  the  Island ;  and  he  appears  to  have  sent  an 
embassy  to  Tanjore  in  1772.  At  any  rate  in  1775  a 
request  was  received  from  the  Court  for  a  share  of 
the  Fishery,  and  the  demand  was  renewed  the  next 
year  with  a  further  request  for  the  restoration  of 
a  portion  of  the  coast.  Both  demands  were  sharply 
refused. 

The  Company  had  not  kept  its  agreement  to 
allow  the  Sinhalese  free  access  to  the  salt  pans, 
in  a  liberal  spirit.  For  two  hundred  years  the  control 
of  the  salt  supply  had  been  an  object  on  which  the 
Europeans  on  the  coast  had  set  their  hearts,  and 
the  Company  having  at  last  secured  it  was  determined 
to  put  it  to  the  best  use  possible.  It  was  true 
the  Sinhalese  were  allowed  to  remove  the  salt,  but 
they  were  not  permitted  to  take  away  more  than 
was  just  sufficent  for  their  current  needs,  for  fear 
that  they  would  store  it  up  in  their  country.  To 
prevent  this  the  bulk  of  the  salt  which  was  formed 
used  to  be  thrown  back  into  the  sea. 

Successive  bad  harvests  in  the  North,  which 
reduced  the  people  of  Jaffna  to  the  verge  of  famine, 
increased  the  troubles  of  the  Company.  Moreover 
the  Wanniyas  had  become  gradually  more  and  more 
independent  and  defiant  in  their  attitude,  till  at  last 
nothing  could  be  done  in  the  Wanni  without  their 
consent.  The  Company  therefore  resolved  to  bring 
the  district  under  its  direct  administration,  and  Lieut- 
enant Nagel,  who  had  previous  experience  at  Manar, 
was  entrusted  with  the  task.  This  was  not  accom- 
plished without  much  trouble,  especially  from  the 
adherents  of  two  Wannichchis,  Nella  Nachchi  and 
Chinna  Nachchi.  The  former  of  these  had  been 
placed  in  1765  over  the  important  division  of  Panan- 
gaman  in  succession    to  her  mother's    brother    Don 


140  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

Caspar  Nalla  Mapane,  who  had  been  removed  from 
office  three  j^ears  before  on  a  charge  of  disobedience. 
Chinna  Nachchi  fled  to  the  King  but  returned  not  long 
after  and  settled  down  at  Mullaitivu,  while  the  Wanni 
was  handed  over  to  Nagel  to  be  administered  on  his 
own  account,  subject  to  the  payment  of  an  yearly 
tribute  in  rice  to  the  Company.  He  was  allowed  to 
maintain  a  small  military  force  for  Police  purposes, 
and  his  administration  of  this  desolate  region  was 
considered  a  success.  He  left  behind  an  important 
report  on  the  history  and  resources  of  the    district. 

In  the  meantime  war  broke  out  between  Eng- 
land and  her  American  Colonies  which  in  February 
1778  entered  into  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance 
with  France.  They  were  soon  joined  by  Spain,  and  a 
quarrel  with  the  Netherlands  on  the  question  of  the 
right  of  search  threw  the  fleet  of  the  latter  into 
the  scale  against  England.  The  struggle  spread  to 
India  and  the  Company,  which  under  its  constitution 
was  responsible  for  the  protection  of  its  territory,  was 
obliged  to  hire  three  regiments  of  mercenaries  from 
Europe  at  a  ruinous  rate.  It  was,  however,  too  late 
and  the  Company's  factories  in  the  Southern  coast 
were  rapidly  captured.  In  November  1781  Nagapat- 
nam  fell,  and  then  the  British  fleet  under  the  com- 
mand of  Sir  Edward  Hughes  proceeded  to  Trin- 
comalee,  where  it  arrived  on  the  4th  of  January 
1782. 

The  importance  of  fortifying  this  valuable  har- 
bour had  long  been  pressed  on  the  Company,  which 
could  never  bring  itself  to  sanction  the  necessary 
expenditure.  The  result  was  that  Trincomalee 
was  captured  without  trouble,  and  Fort  Ostenburg 
with  its  garrison  of  four  hundred  men  surrendered 
in  a  couple  of  days. 

The  plan  of  the  British  was  to  capture  Colombo 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  by  cutting  off  the  Company' s 
cinnamon  trade,  to  compel  it  to  surrender  all  its  terri- 


Death  of  the  King  141 

tory.  If  the  weather  did  not  permit  of  vessels 
sailing  to  Colombo,  their  intention  was  to  occupy 
Jaffna,  as  being  the  second  place  of  importance  in 
the  Island.  It  was  expected  that  the  King  would 
render  gladly  any  assistance  he  could  in  the  hope  of 
getting  back  what  he  had  lost  in  1766,  and  with  the 
fleet  there  had  come  as  ambassador  to  the  Court 
a  certain  Hugh  Boyd,  a  brilliant  but  impecunious 
Irishman,  who  was  at  one  time  believed  to  be  the 
author  of  the  Letters  of  Junius,  and  who  had  come 
out  as  second  Secretary  to  Lord  Macartney,  the 
new  Governor  of  Madras.  On  the  5th  of  February 
Boyd  set  out  from  Trincomalee  with  a  long  train  of 
followers,  but  before  that   date  the  King    had    died. 

Kirti  Sri  was  fond  of  horses,  and  proud  of  his 
skill  in  managing  them  ;  he  was  riding  through  the 
streets  of  his  Capital  on  a  spirited  animal  which  the 
Hollanders  had  presented  to  him,  when  he  met  with 
a  serious  accident  which  after  some  months  of  suf- 
fering, ended  fatally.  As  he  left  no  children  by  his 
Ran  doll,  he  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  by  his 
younger  brother  with  the  name  of  Raja  Adhiraja 
Sinha. 

Boyd's  mission  ended  in  failure.  It  was  true 
that  the  new  King  was  persuaded  with  much  diffi- 
culty to  agree  to  supply  the  British  forces  with 
provisions,  but  the  Ministers,  after  their  experience 
with  Pybus,  refused  to  discuss  the  question  of  a 
treaty  of  alliance,  or  of  hostilities  against  the  Company, 
save  with  an  ambassador  authorised  by  the  King 
of  England  himself.  Boyd,  finding  that  nothing  was 
likely  to  be  gained  by  further  delay,  therefore  started 
back  for  his  ship.  In  the  meantime  Hughes,  who  had 
returned  to  Madras  for  provisions  leaving  behind 
a  garrison  at  Trincomalee,  had  been  intercepted  by 
the  French  fleet  under  Admiral  Suffren,  and  on  the 
15th  of  February  a  long  but  indecisive  battle  was 
fought.  By  the  26th  of  March  Boyd  was  at  Trincomalee, 


142  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

where  the  garrison  had  been  strengthened  ;  as  his 
ship  had  already  departed  he  set  out  immediately 
in  a  small  vessel  which  he  chartered,  but  had 
the  misfortune  on  the  way  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  Suffren,  who  on  the  12th  of  April  again  engaged 
the  British  fleet  in  the  Bay.  Both  sides  suffered 
severely,  the  British  having  567  casualties,  and  then 
the  French  withdrew. 

The  British  however  received  little  assistance 
from  the  King  ;  they  were  in  such  difficulties  about 
provisions  that  their  Sepoys  were  kept  from  deser- 
ting with  great  trouble.  Nevertheless  their  vessels 
were  hovering  about  the  neighbourhood  of  Manar 
and  making  the  western  road  dangerous.  The  Com- 
pany therefore  anticipating  a  landing  at  Chilaw, 
where  the  fort  had  been  allowed  to  fall  into  ruins, 
sent  a  garrison  there  and  arrranged  beacon  lights 
all  along  the  coast  as  far  as  Colombo,  to  give  notice 
of  the  approach  of  the  enemy. 

At  Colombo  itself  elaborate  additions  to  the 
fortifications,  which  were  greatly  dilapidated  in  parts, 
were  commenced  under  the  supervision  of  an  ex-sur- 
veyor named  Rymers,  but  these,  it  was  suggested, 
were  merely  a  pretext  for  robbing  the  Company. 
The  suggestion  was  not  by  any  means  improbable  ; 
at  any  rate  a  singularly  lax  condition  of  discipline 
prevailed  among  the  military  forces.  The  forts  at 
both  Negumbo  and  Puttalam  were  in  a  ruinous 
condition  ;  the  garrison,  consisting  chiefly  of  Tupasses 
and  Malays,  were  permitted  to  quarter  them- 
selves among  the  neighbouring  villagers ;  and  the 
main  portion  of  the  Puttalam  fort  was  found  occu- 
pied  by  a   French  woman    and    her    daughter. 

On  the  27th  of  August  Suffren,  who  had  been  refit- 
ting at  Galle  and  Batticaloa,  appeared  unexpectedly 
before  Trincomalee  and  proceeded  to  land  men  and 
raise  batteries.  In  three  days  the  fort  surrendered, 
and  the  garrison  was  allowed  to  return    to  Madras. 


Death   of  Falck  143 

This  did  not  improve  their  condition  much,  for 
Suffren  with  his  head  quarters  at  Trincomalee,  was 
able  to  blockade  Madras  till  the  inhabitants  suffered 
from  all  the  horrors  of  famine.  The  British  plans 
had  completely  miscarried,  and  it  was  fortunate  for 
the  Hollanders  that  it  was  so.  The  Company's 
servants  were  not  to  be  trusted,  and  Raket,  the 
Commandeur  at  Jaffnapatnam,  was  in  correspondence 
with  the  enemy  ;  indeed  the  terms  of  surrender  were 
all  ready  in  his  hands,  and  only  the  failure  of  the 
British  to  arrive  saved  the  place  for  the  Hollanders 
for  a  few  years  longer.  Trincomalee  was  finally  restored 
to  the  Company  in  1784,  along  with  the  rest  of  its 
dismantled  factories  in  India. 

On  the  5th  of  February  1785  Falck  died  at 
his  country  residence  at  Malwatta  near  Nagalagama 
after  a  short  illness,  and  two  days  later  Wilhelm 
Jacob  van  der  Graaf,  an  officer  of  great  ability 
who  at  the  time  was  Commandeur  of  Galle,  took 
charge  of  the  administration.  The  following  month 
the  aged  Abayasinha  of  Galle  was  appointed  Maha 
Mudaliyar  ;  he  had  as  Mudaliyar  of  the  Galle  Guard 
come  into  prominence  during  the  troublous  times  of 
Schreuder,  who  had  gratefully  recorded  his  obliga- 
tions to  him  on  a  plate  of  gold.  Another  medal 
and  chain  were  now  presented  to  him,  and  till  his 
death  in  1794  he  continued  to  exercise  a  great  influ- 
ence on  the   Governor. 

Through  this  Maha  Mudaliyar's  hands  passed 
all  the  correspondence  with  the  Ministers,  for  the 
recent  trouble  with  the  British  had  created  a  difficult 
situation.  The  Court  successfully  insisted  on  the 
humiliating  ceremonies  which  had  been  abolished  in 
1766  being  resumed  by  the  Company's  ambasadors, 
and  pressed  for  the  restoration  of  the  western  coast. 
The  latter  the  Company  would  not  surrender,  and 
the  relations  between  the  parties  grew  more  and 
more  strained. 


144  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

The  attitude  of  the  Nawab  in  respect  of  the 
Pearl  Fishery  increased  the  difficulties  of  the  Governor ; 
an  abortive  treaty  was  entered  into  with  his  agent 
in  1785  but  was  repudiated  by  the  Nawab.  The 
consequence  of  this  trouble  was  that  no  fishery  had 
been  held  since  1768.  Fortunately  the  Governor  of 
Madras,  Sir  Archibald  Campbell,  was  a  personal  friend 
of  van  der  Graaf,  and  exerted  his  influence  with  the 
Nawab  with  such  good  effect  that  on  the  7th  of 
July  1788  a  Treaty  was  entered  into  at  Colombo 
between  the  Governor  and  the  Nawab's  Agent  James 
Buchanan,  by  which  the  Company  ceded  to  the 
Nawab  half  the  Tutucorin  fishery  and  the  right  to 
thirty  six  boats  in  the  Ceylon  Fishery.  Moreover 
his  representative  at  the  Fishery  was  allowed  to 
hoist  his  own  flag  and  to  maintain  a  separate  milit- 
ary guard,  so  long  as  he  complied  with  the  fishery 
regulations  of  the  Company.  The  concessions  were 
very  heavy,  but  the  Company  was  glad  to  arrive  at 
some  settlement  of  the  harassing  dispute. 

In  the  meantime  the  situation  in  Europe  had 
changed  in  a  remarakble  fashion.  On  the  15th  of  April 
1788  a  Treaty  had  been  entered  into  at  The  Hague 
by  which  the  British  undertook  to  assist  the  Settle- 
ments belonging  to  the  United  Provinces  in  case  of  hosti- 
lities with  France,  and  in  September  1789  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  wrote  from  Fort  William  to  assure  van  der 
Graaf  of  his  anxiety  effectively  to  carry  out  this 
promise.  The  friendly  feeling  thus  brought  about 
was  made  use  of  by  van  der  Graaf  to  obtain  rice 
from  the  British  settlements  for  the  relief  of  Ceylon, 
which  again  was  suffering  from  a  shortage.  The 
following  year  Lord  Comwallis  in  turn  appealed  to 
the  Governor  for  assistance  against  Tippu  Sultan  who 
had  attacked  the  Travancore  Raja,  an  ally  of  the 
British,  and  also  begged  him  to  keep  a  careful  eye 
on  the  proceedings  of  the  French. 

Negotiations  had  been  proceeding  between  these 
last  and  the  King,  who    had    applied  to    them    for 


Unrest  145 

protection  against  the  Company.  The  people  of  the 
Chilaw  District,  which  was  being  administered 
from  Colombo,  were  restless ;  they  insisted  on  nomi- 
nating their  own  chief,  and  van  der  Graaf  had  been 
obliged  to  acquiesce,  for  it  was  found  that  opposi- 
tion only  led  to  rioting  and  to  the  inhabitants 
fleeing  to  the  King.  There  were  serious  outbreaks 
in  the  Colombo  Disawani,  and  even  the  Giruwayas 
were  in  a  state  of  turmoil. 

It  was  realised  that  the  Sinhalese  in  the  Com- 
pany's territory  still  had  the  utmost  respect  for  the 
orders  of  the  King,  and  that  the  presence  of  his 
armed  forces  was  regarded  with  terror.  The  Lasca- 
rins  who  were  sent  to  guard  the  salt  pans  in  the 
west  were  found  to  have  fraternised  with  the  King's 
men  and  to  have  sold  their  ammunition  to  the  latter. 
The  Company  was  harassed  by  repeated  outbreaks 
of  small-pox  which  caused  much  loss  of  life  ;  the 
King's  country  fortunately  was  saved  from  infection 
by  the  great  forests  which  guarded  its  frontiers. 
There  was  a  lack  of  rice,  and  the  demand  for  fresh  meat 
to  feed  the  increased  military'-  forces  was  so 
great,  that  the  price  ^of  the  animals  which  were 
brought  from  the  Munesseram  District  was  nearly 
doubled. 

At  last  the  King  closed  his  Kadawatu,  and  it 
was  feared  that  hostilities  could  not  be  avoided  much 
longer.  Van  der  Graaf  appears  to  have  entered  into 
a  treasonable  correspondence  with  Pilima  Talauwa, 
son  of  Kirti  Sri  Raja  Sinha's  Adigar,  who  was 
now  a  Disawa.  The  details  are  obscure,  but  the 
Governor  seems  to  have  been  persuaded  that  he 
could  take  possession  of  Sabaragamuwa,  and  in  June 
1791  Colonel  de  Meuron  with  his  regiment  of  Swiss 
mercenaries,  which  was  in  the  service  of  the  Com- 
pany, supported  by  a  large  body  of  Hollanders, 
Malays,  and  Lascarins,  advanced  into  the  Disawani. 
Pilima  Talauwa  was  expected  to  join  him,    but    not 

19 


146  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

a  soul  was  to  ,be'  seen  in  the  country,  and  not  a 
morsel  of  food  could  be  found.  De  Meuron,  who 
had  pushed  on  to  Kendangomuwa,  found  himself  cut 
off  in  the  midst  of  a  morass,  exposed  for  three  days 
to  the  torrential  rains  for  which  the  District  is  well 
known.  There  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  beat 
an  immediate  retreat  to  Sitawaka,  at  the  same  time 
sending  word  to  van  der  Graaf,  who  was  awaiting 
developments  at  Hanwella,  to  send  him  assistance  ; 
only  an  accident,  it  was  said,  saved  his  force  from 
destruction. 


CHAPTER  X 


The  Council  at  Batavia,  whose  anxieties  with 
regard  to  the  finances  of  the  Company  had  been 
greatly  increased  by  the  intrusion  of  Danish  and 
American  vessels  within  Eastern  waters,  was  distracted 
at  the  threatening  condition  of  affairs ;  it  was  also 
worried  over  its  relations  with  the  Raja  of  Cochin, 
who  was  an  ally  of  the  British  ;  accordingly  in  1792 
it  sent  definite  instructions  that  whatever  happened 
war  with  the  King  was  to  be  avoided.  The  position 
was  humiliating,  when  fortunately  the  King  of  his 
own  accord  opened  his  Kadawatu.  The  season  for 
peeling  cinnamon  was  close  at  hand,  but  van  der 
Graaf  was  unwilling  to  send  the  usual  embassy  to 
obtain  permission.  The  Ministers  when  approached 
on  the  subject,  made  it  clear  that  permission  would 
not  be  granted  without  the  yearly  embassy,  and  for 
1793  the  Company  had  to  content  itself  with  the 
produce  of  its  own  territory. 

This  was  the  less  difficult  owing  to  the  grati- 
fying results  which  had  attended  its  attempts  to 
cultivate  cinnamon.  The  natives  had  taken  kindly 
to  the  work,  and  the  number  of  gardens  planted  for 
the  Company  increased  so  rapidly,  that  very  serious 
difficulty  was  encountered  in  keeping  them  free  from 
weeds.  Abayasinha  thereupon  suggested  that  the 
Chalias  should  be  placed  in  charge  of  allotments, 
from  the  produce  of  which  they  could  pay  their  duty  : 
this  plan  was  adopted  by  the  Council  in  1791,  and 
was  soon  a  brilliant  success.  Andris  Mendis  and  Dines 
de  Zoysa,  Mudaliyar  and  Maha  Vidane  respectively 
of  the  Mahabadda,  were     fouiid    ir.ost    helpful,  and 


148  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

received  warm  commendations  from  the  Governor. 
Everiyawatta  was  planted  by  Mendis  and  Kadirana 
by  de  Zoysa,  and  there  was  good  reason  to  expect 
that  very  soon  the  Company  would  be  independent 
ot  the  supply  from  the  King's  dominions. 

Others  besides  the  members  of  the  caste  inter- 
ested themselves  in  the  work ;  for  instance  the 
Second  Maha  Mudaliyar,  Wijayasekara  Abayaratna, 
nephew  of  Lienderan  de  Saram,  made  a  large  plant- 
ation at  Dematagoda,  and  also  planted  pepper  and 
coffee  in  the  important  Vidaneships  of  Kelaniya  and 
Ambatale.  The  Company  showed  its  gratitude  to  all 
these  by  presenting  them  with  gold  chains  and 
medals. 

The  Sinhalese  had  the  instinct  natural  to  men 
whose  knowledge  did  not  extend  much  beyond  their 
villages ;  their  craving  for  such  tokens  of  honour 
was  inordinate,  even  though  the  Fountain  of  Honour 
was  no  longer  a  semi-divine  King,  but  a  merchant 
on  a  monthly  salary  and  allowances.  A  gold  Sannas 
was  a  distinction  rarely  bestowed  even  among  those 
of  the  Royal  Blood,  and  something  of  its  glamour 
attached  itself  to  the  Medal,  which  had  the  further 
attraction  that  it  could  be  worn  about  the  person. 
The  Company  very  well  understood  how  to  turn  to 
its  own  advantage  this  amiable  weakness,  which  cost 
it  very  little.  It  is  curious  to  think  that  in  spite 
of  the  spread  of  Western  ideas  and  manners,  this 
craving  still  maintains  so  firm  a  hold,  that  instances 
are  not  unknown  of  private  individuals  presenting 
such  marks  of  their  esteem  to  their  friends,  who 
even  make  a  display  of  them  at  public  functions. 

A  similar  reward  had  been  given  by  Falck  to 
Bandaranayaka,  Mudaliyar  of  the  Siyane  Korale, 
whose  great  grandfather  Mohotti  Appuhami  had  been 
specially  recommended  by  van  Goens  in  1663  to  the 
consideration  of  his  successor.  Bandaranayaka  planted 
Siyambalape,  and  came  into  prominence  again  during 


Irrigation  149 

the  recent  troubles  with  the  Court ;  and  van  der 
Graaf  conferred  on  him,  at  the  same  time  as  on 
Abayaratna,  a  second  Medal  and  the  title  of  Maha 
Mudaliyar. 

Cultivation  was  encouraged  in  the  South  by 
inserting  in  the  appointments  of  Mudaliyars  a  con- 
dition that  they  must  plant  a  specified  acreage  within 
a  stated  time.  So  great  was  the  enthusiasm  displayed 
over  cinnamon  that  in  Colombo  the  supply  of  labour 
for  the  cultivation  of  rice  was  affected  adversely. 
An  embankment  however  was  raised  to  protect  a 
large  tract  of  fields  at  Grandpass,  the  cost  of  the 
work  being  charged  to  the  owners  who  were  bene- 
fited by  it.  A  dam  from  Ambatale  to  Panadura  was 
proposed  with  a  view  to  increasing  the  food  resour- 
ces of  Colombo.  Another  dam  at  Biagama  and  a 
Canal  in  the  Pasdum  Korale  were  suggested  in  1742 
by  Governor  Overbeek,  who  took  much  interest  in 
rice  cultivation. 

The  question  of  draining  the  important  village 
of  Diviture  had  been  raised  by  Pielat,  but  the  Bata- 
vian  authorities  were  unwilling  to  incur  the  expense  ; 
they  declared  however  that  if  the  inhabitants  would 
undertake  the  task  at  their  own  cost,  the  Company 
would  at  some  future  date  give  them  such  recog- 
nition as  they  deserved.  In  spite  of  this  discourag- 
ing attitude  some  progress  had  been  made  with  the 
work,  and  a  new  scheme  was  under  consideration 
to  drain  that  village  and  Gangaboda  Pattu  by  giving 
the  Gin  Ganga  a  fresh  outlet  near  Baddegama  into 
the  Hikkaduwa  Lake.  An  attempt  was  made  to 
reclaim  the  large  tract  of  lowlying  and  marshy  land, 
estimated  at  a  thousand  amunams,  which  lay  between 
Polatu  Oya  and  Matara.  With  this  object  in  view 
Canals  were  opened  and  dams  erected  at  great 
expense,  but  the  difficulties  encountered  at  Mutu 
Raja  Wela  again  presented  themselves,  and  it  was 
found  not  to  be  possible  to  exclude  the  salt. 


ir»()  Ct^ylott  iind  the  Ilollantlr'ts 

riu"  Ciiiuwayas  li.ul  Ucvn  mxMlly  bcnoitttxl  by 
IradiiiK  <lowu  ii\to  its  iW\\  lioUls  tho  wators  of  the 
Nilwal.i  (JanK^'.  'I'hI  litis  scrv'tnl  also  (o  pt\>tt\'l  ll»o 
lown  it'aohcs  t>t  tl»o  rivoi  troin  lliost-  ilisastrous 
llootis  whiih  arc  tlir  tcatuiv  ot  t topical  rivors,  Inii 
nam!  luul  oponod  a  canal  al  Ivittualoa,  and  (he  woik 
was  si>  siuvcsstul  thai  the  padily  ivvcmic  ot  the 
ilisttict  imivasod  lovn  loKl.  atul  m  aiKiitii»u  a  lari;o 
<'\lii»l  oi  iiKoiuil  land  was  icndcicd  availahlo  loi 
luUivalioii.  bill  llio  ivsl  ol  the  cast  was  badly  iic^ 
IccUhI.  lot  the  (."oiupany  could  never  bring  itselt  to 
si>end    the   moucy    which   was   ictiuittHl   lur   irriKalion. 

A   report   \v«s  prepaie<l   n\  \t\K\  on  Malta   Sen's 
meal   lank  oi  (laittalawa.   whivh  evtM\   in   its  ncKlccl 
tnl   state  couUl   iitiKatc   three  thi>iisand  f\intihs,  IhouKh 
the   supply    ot   walci    was   unceitant,       rainpalaKamam 
had   been   occupictl   ut    I /(»(»    anil    it>ntaini\l     a     lanlv 
latKC    lantil   populalion.   who   icKaided   lht>   lanU    wilh 
religious  awe.     The  district    ilsell   was     greatly     neg- 
ledeil.  ami   the  Company's   hall  heat  ted  attempts  to  set 
mallei's   itghl   wcic   inlet lupttHl   by   the  ivciipation  ot 
the   ncighboniluHul   liist    by    the   British   and     then   bv 
the  !''rench.    S<>me  armed   Kallits    who    havl    <'scap<Hl 
trom   the   latlei    toi    a   long   lime    pillaged     and    unit 
ileieil   Ihiough    the    Pisliicl.   aitvl    whoU*    villages    wimc 
abaiuU>tUHl    al     the   appioaih   ol     these    lepulctl    black 
cannibals    PistMsr   wa^   i  ite ;  smalliH»\  laged  liv>m  lime 
to  time  ;   and   llti-  o\\\\    icnuHly   was  to  lU>e   tixun  the 
infected  villages,   tot    Iheie   was  wo  medical  provision. 
The   headttUMi    wlm   had    hi>lped    [o   bung    the    nisliii'l 
iiiulet    ihe  C'ontpany.    were   U>ti    to  oppuvss  the   peopli* 
wilhonl   contix^l;  they   levied  heavy    lines    till   no  one 
ventntcil   tv>  ilisplay   at\y   signs  ol   wealth,    and   while 
Ihev   exadeil     compulsiMV     lalnini     liont     the     villagei 
without    anv    i<*lcieine   to   the   needs  ot  his  cullivalion. 
thev    gave   iiltK"   luMp     in     iUgamstng     that     combined 
etloit    which  was  essential    in   ilealiitii   with   tracts     ot 


fi<-l<l  III  llu'  loK'.l  \\\r  vill;i^^;cr  wlio  .r.  .1  iiilr  w;im 
lo.ulcd  Willi  <1('1)1,  vv.ii  iu)l  u't'liro  even  in  llic  Ifiiiin' 
of  his  laiidii ;  for  the  IickIiik'ii  would  i.ikf  llicm  lioiii 
one  :m(l  Kivt' lIuMM  lo  miioIIhi  .k  coidiiiK  ••»  Huii  own 
fancy. 

'I'lic  ri»  h  l.ind'.  ol  llic  K;ir.i«  h<  lii  li.id  Ix'c'n 
the  siil)j<'(  1  <»l  .iI)oilivt'  HchciiKvi  Mince  Ihc  Iiiik'  ol 
OvcrbccK,  while  v;m  (iot'iiM  liimsell  h;id  (h;iwn  ;ill<'n 
lion  lo  K;iltu  h.n.ii.  ( ii;inl';i  TanU.  Nolhinn  wan  done 
till  l''al(  k  made  .m  .illciiipi  lo  liave  Ihe  laiil^  lepaired 
hy  Ihe  laiiiil;;  ol  jalliia  who  weie  iil)|e<  I  lo  llic 
niiyani ;  Ihey  however  lioon  laii  away  and  llu  work 
was  ahandoned.  Van  dei  (iiaal  lia<l  a  hesh  ruirvey 
made,  and  proposed  lo  (k'velop  lh<'  lank  lands  hy  a 
|)rivale  C'oinpany,  hnl  on  inslnuiions  ie(<ived  from 
Halavia  in  \'I\)'.\  lliis  si  iK'ine  loo  was  ahandoned.  and 
Iweiily  yeais  lalei  a  Siore  ol  villages  ^ilill  «M(  iipi<'«| 
Ihe    hed    ol    IIk*    lank. 

Ihe  natural  hue  (>i  walei  comniiiiiK  alion  whi<  h 
was  availahle  on  ih(!  wesl<iii  eoanl  was  hkx  ked  (or 
■.eveial  mile',  htlweeti  Kaymel  and  Maiavila,  and  in 
COn^ie(|uen(  ('  ^oods  had  lo  he  transhipped  hy  < ooliciM 
at  \{n'.\\  expense  In  Ihe  ease  ol  Ihe  ("oinpany  IhiH 
waji  done  free  ol  <  har^e  hy  Ihe  I'adiiwo  as  IIkh 
Rajakariya.  There  was  a  pioposal  111  !/')()  lo  i('in<)ve 
the  ohsliiKlion,  hul  owinn  lo  Ihe  lioiihh  ,  willi  Ihe 
Kinj.;    Ihe   mallei    was   (hopped. 

C  hilaw  itself  wa-i  in  a  salishuloiy  (ondilion 
The  riee  fields  weie  llouiishiiiH;  valnahle  Kaidens  o( 
p(?pper,  coffee,  and  < oeonul  had  heen  opened  ;  leak 
plantations  were  mad*'  in  various  parts;  while  Ihe 
manioc,  introduced  hy  Van  der  (iraal  through  the 
he-lp  of  a  Calholic  l'ri<'st,  added  «reatlv  lo  I  Ik  (ood 
Kupply   ol    the   inhahitanls. 

In  I77H  Ihe  Company  ceaH<'d  lo  hny  anuaiiul 
dire<  I  from  lln'  pjodiucrs  ;  anyone  was  jiow  at 
hherly  lo  puK  ha se  Irom  Iheiii  provid«'d  he  sold  it 
anain  lo  the  Company  al  a  pric<'  whi(  h  was  fixed 
from   time   to   time.     'I'lic  Company    m   tuin    liold    tiic 


152  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

article  at  a  profit  of  nearly  200  per  cent,  and  during  van 
der  Graaf's  term  of  office  the  net  revenue  from 
areca  alone  averaged  79000  florins  a  year.  The 
King's  subjects  too  were  reaping  the  advantage  of 
higher  prices  from  the  Coast  merchants,  and  van  der 
Graaf  proposed  to  get  that  traffic  once  again  under 
the  Company's  control.  As  for  the  elephants,  in  view 
of  the  great  expenditure  involved  of  labour  which 
could  be  more  advantageously  employed  in  other  ways, 
he  considered  the  profits  of  the  hunt  to  be  more 
imaginary  than  real.  Moreover  the  troubles  with 
the  British  had  interfered  seriously  with  their  cap  - 
ture  in  the  North.  His  idea  was  to  purchase  them 
from  private  captors  in  the  Wanni  and  Batticaloa 
and  to  sell  them  outside,  and  a  contract  based  on 
this  scheme  was  entered  into  with  Vaitilingam  Chetty, 
the  wealthy  renter  of  Jaffna  who  for  several  years 
farmed  the  Chank  fishery.  The  Matara  Hunt,  he 
thought,  should  be  limited  to  the  object  of  keeping 
down  the  herds  when  they  began  to  prove  a  nuisance 
to  the  inhabitants.  The  publication  of  Buffon's  Natural 
History  led  to  much  interesting  correspondence  with 
experienced  natives  in  the  South  regarding  the  habits 
and  life  history  of  the  animal.  A  detailed  report  of 
the  tricks  performed  in  1786  by  a  trained  tusker  at 
the  King's  Palace  for  the  diversion  of  the  Company's 
Ambassadors,  has  been  preserved. 

Since  1758  the  paddy  duty  had  been  collected 
on  account  of  the  Company  direct,  but  it  was  found 
that  this  led  to  much  loss  in  consequence  of  the 
dishonesty  of  the  Commissioners,  who  had  to  appraise 
the  crops.  Van  der  Graaf  therefore  began  once  again 
to  farm  out  the  tax. 

Much  interest  was  taken  in  growing  and 
manufacturing  cotton,  and  in  1793  a  certain  John 
Vervyk,  who  claimed  to  have  experience  of  the  work 
in  South  India,  proposed  a  scheme  for  its  develop- 
ment at  Jaffna.  He  demanded  for  himself  ten  per 
cent  of  the  profits,  and  a  free  hand  in  dealing  with 


The  Public  Service  153 

the  labour  force  whenever  he  was  obHged  "to  act 
in  earnest  with  them  for  bad  conduct."  Weavers 
were  brought  and  settled  at  Chilaw,  Colombo  and 
Matara,  and  there  was  a  large  amount  of  cloth  made 
at  Batticaloa,  Manar  and  Puttalam,  but  the  bulk  of 
the  cotton  had  to  be  obtained  from  the  Seven  Korales 
and  Nuwara  Kalawaya.  A  sugar  plantation  was  opened 
at  Kalutara,  and  Colonel  de  Meuron  made  both 
sugar  and  rum  between  Colombo  and  Galkissa. 

Although  van  der  Graaf  reduced  the  number 
of  the  mercenary  regiments  to  two,  yet  the  increased 
military  expenditure  continued  to  be  a  serious 
handicap  to  progress.  The  Directors  pressed  for 
revenue  from  all  conceivable  sources,  but  the  expenses 
always  exceeded  the  income  obtained  locally,  and 
the  deficit  had  to  be  made  good  from  the  profits 
of  the  cinnamon  trade  in  Europe,  which  were 
earmarked  for  dividends. 

The  unreliability  of  the  Civil  Service  aggravated 
the  situation ;  the  evils  so  frequent  in  a  Colony  abounded 
under  the  Hollanders,  and  Ceylon  was  treated  as  a 
convenient  spot  where  blockheads,  libertines,  and 
bankrupts,  who  had  influence  with  the  Directorate, 
could  easily  be  dumped.  According  to  ancient 
Sinhalese  custom  a  headman  on  appointment  paid  a 
bulat  surulla  to  the  Mudaliyar  whose  influence  had 
secured  him  the  distinction.  This  practice  had  grown 
into  scandalous  proportions,  but  the  Governors  and 
Disawas  who  in  their  turn  expected  and  received 
from  the  Mudaliyars  tokens  of  gratitude  similar  in 
nature  but  proportionate  to  their  own  exalted  stations, 
found  it  convenient  to  wink  at  the  abuse. 
Fortunately  the  condition  of  things  had  not  yet  been 
aggravated  by  depriving  the  headmen  of  their 
badawedili. 

Falck  and  after  him  his  successor    tried  hard 
to  cope  with  the  scandal,  but    the    weight    of  the 
entire  public  service  was  cast  into  the  scale  against 

20 


154  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

them.  Both  these  able  Governors  did  much  to  improve 
the  finances  by  insisting  on  probity  in  all  Departments, 
by  introducing  a  reasonable  amount  of  order  in  the 
administration,  by  suppressing  extravagance,  and 
simplifying  the  collection  of  revenue.  Their  efforts 
met  with  a  fair  share  of  success,  and  van  der  Graaf 
was  able  to  relieve  the  strain  caused  by  the  military 
expenditure;  it  was  asserted  that  he  increased  the 
local  revenue  by  one  half. 

Taking  everything  into  consideration,  the 
condition  of  the  Sinhalese  within  the  Settlements  had 
improved  since  the  expulsion  of  the  Portuguese.  The 
number  of  the  Company's  subjects  had  increased,  but 
was  still  almost  beyond  doubt  under  half  a  million. 
The  poverty  of  the  villager  was  still  very  great; 
money  was  scarce,  and  nearly  all  the  trade  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Burghers.  The  Company  no  doubt 
was  an  exacting  task-master,  but  it  assured  the 
infinite  blessing  of  peace.  The  terrible  stories  of 
Portuguese  times  were  now  a  memory  of  the  past, 
and  the  villager  had  the  certainty  that  some  portion 
at  least  of  his  labour  would  enure  to  his  own 
benefit  He  had  a  fair  measure  of  personal  security, 
and  a  reasonable  likelihood  of  even-handed  justice. 
His  children  had  the  chance  of  acquiring  some  slight 
knowledge  of  letters,  and  no  one  could  drive  him 
away  arbitrarily  from  his  tenement.  This  was  a  great 
deal  gained. 

In  the  case  of  the  upper  classes  the  effect 
had  been  greater.  Their  social  manners  and  customs 
were  changing,  but  not  with  the  same  rapidity  as 
under  the  Portuguese.  Intermarriage  which  was  so 
common  in  the  time  of  the  latter,  was  no  longer 
in  favour;  and  it  is  doubtful  if  a  dozen  Sinhalese 
of  position  took  wives  from  among  the  Hollanders. 
Since  the  beginning  of  the  century  intermarriage 
was  officially  discouraged,  for  it  was  thought  that 
the  two  generations  which  had  come  into  existence 
since  the  occupation  of  Galle  in  1640,  had  produced 


Social  Changes  155 

enough  daughters  with  European  fathers,  to  satisfy 
the  requirements  of  the  Hollanders.  No  respectable 
Sinhalese,  except  perhaps  the  one  or  two  who  had 
been  to  Europe,  wore  European  costume ;  indeed  in 
1741  two  high-born  maiden  ladies  disinherited  the 
young  man  who  was  their  next  of  kin  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  adopted  European  clothes  and 
manners.  The  Maha  Mudaliyar  still  appeared  bare- 
footed before  the  Governor,  and  never  presumed  to 
sit  down  in  his  presence. 

Substantial  houses  were  taking  the  place  of 
the  mud  walls  of  their  grandfathers,  and  this  was 
especially  the  case  in  towns  like  Colombo  and 
Matara.  Good  furniture  made  of  calamander  and 
ebony  was  to  be  seen  in  these  houses,  though  in 
limited  quantities;  good  porcelain  and  excellent 
Venetian  glass  of  these  times  still  attract  the  collector 
to  the  lumber  rooms  of  their  descendants.  The 
jewels  worn  by  ladies,  which  had  degenerated  under 
the  Portuguese,  were  now  replaced  by  remarkably 
skilful  copies  of  European  models,  set  with  diamonds 
and  emeralds.  A  betel  box  of  ivory  or  tortoise-shell 
inlaid  with  gold  was  as  necessary  to  a  great  lady  as 
a   silver    tea-service  is  today. 

Rice  fields  still  formed  the  most  important 
kind  of  landed  property ;  coconut  plantations  however 
were  increasing  rapidly  in  number,  though  the  size 
of  individual  lands  was  not  great ;  a  hundred  acres 
would  have  been  an  unusually  large  plantation. 
Since  1780  the  great  demand  for  arrack  had  led  to 
a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  distilleries  along 
the  coast  and  their  owners  made  much  money.  The 
price  of  nuts  rose  as  high  as  12  rix  dollars  a  thousand 
by  1796,  though  the  heavy  cost  of  transport  to 
Colombo  affected  the   profits. 

The  Hollander  loved    his     food  and   his    wife 
cooked  it  well,  and  the  wealthier  Sinhalese  followed 


156  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

him  in  this,  though  at  a  great  distance.  We  read 
of  a  Sinhalese  funeral  assembly,  when  according  to 
"the  Colombo  fashion",  the  mourners  were  served 
with  "wine,  beer,  bacon,  cheese,  butter,  bread,  gin, 
brandy,  other  kinds  of  wine,  and  sweetmeats."  Spoons 
and  forks  of  silver  were  to  be  seen  at  their  tables, 
and  their  rooms  were  lit  not  only  by  the  tall  brass 
lamps  which  are  still  in  use,  but  also  by  globes  of 
glass  suspended  from  the  roof,  and  containing  a 
wick  floating  in  coconut  oil.  Slaves  were  largely 
employed  as  domestics,  though  perhaps  not  to  the 
same  extent  as  among  the  European  officials ;  twenty- 
one  of  them  were  mentioned  by  name  in  the  Will 
of  Abayasinha. 

At  marriages  and  funerals  which  were  con- 
ducted according  to  Christian  rites,  the  customs  of 
the  Hollanders  were  generally  followed,  and  the 
koronchi  or  crowning  of  the  bride  on  her  return 
from  the  Church  to  the  parents'  house,  which  is 
still  in  use,  is  a  survival  from  these  times.  Among 
non-Christians,  however,  the  old  Sinhalese  marriage 
ceremonies  continued  ;  the  bride  and  the  bridegroom 
were  placed  on  the  white-covered  Mogul  Poruwa, 
which  was  sprinkled  with  rice,  and  after  the  groom 
had  presented  the  bride  with  a  gold  chain  and  a 
cloth,  their  thumbs  were  tied  together  with  a  thread, 
and  water  or  milk  poured  over  them.  As  a  rule 
rings  also  were  exchanged  between  them. 

Jaffna  alone  had  not  advanced  on  the  wave  of 
prosperity,  though  even  at  this  time  it  had  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  the  Province  were  Officials  made  the 
largest  and  most  rapid  fortunes ;  in  spite  of  the 
ceaseless  industry  of  its  people,  it  was  said  to  be 
getting  poorer,  and  more  lands  were  sold  there  in 
satisfaction  of  debts  than  in  any  other  part  of  the 
country. 

Probably  less  than  half  a  million  souls  formed 
that  remnant  of  the  Sinhalese  which  still  boasted   a 


The  Sinhalese  Kingdom  157 

nominal  independence  under  its  Dravidian  Monarch. 
Little  could  be  said  of  it  except  that  it  still  existed, 
for  the  struggle  of  the  East  against  the  intrusion  of 
the  West,  so  long  and  so  tenaciously  maintained^ 
was  nearly  over.  Laws  and  customs  had  not  altered 
since  Kotte  was  abandoned  and  Alagiyawanna  sang 
the  glories  of  the  Sitawaka  of  Raja  Sinha.  Stagna- 
tion, intellectual,  material,  and  moral,  oppressed  it  like 
a  nightmare ;  life  was  a  long  drudgery,  a  weary 
struggle  for  food  and  a  little  clothing,  relieved  only 
by  the  excitement  of  a  visit  to  the  temple,  with  its 
rich-toned  and  sometimes  beautiful  frescoes.  The 
comforts  and  refinements  of  life  were  unknown ; 
wealth,  as  it  was  found  along  the  sea  coast,  was 
not  heard  of.  Trade  was  of  the  scantiest,  and  the 
little  which  existed  was  monopolised  by  the  men  in 
power  ;  means  of  communication  were  of  the  most  prim- 
itive ;  manufactures  hardly  existed,  and  the  amount 
of  coin  in  circulation  was  strictly  limited  ;  the  money 
revenue  of  the  King  was  probably  less  than  that  of 
some  of  the  Mudaliyars  in  the  service  of  the  Com- 
pany. 

Public  works  were  nearly  unknown,  though 
much  was  done  for  religious  edifices.  The  Sinhalese 
man  had  little  to  hope  for,  nothing  to  aspire  to  ;  he 
was  discouraged  from  cultivating  more  than  was 
needed  to  supply  the  bare  necessities  of  life  ;  he  was 
full  of  gratitude  if  that  life  was  safe  and  his  plan- 
tation remained  unplundered  ;  he  was  exultant  if  he 
raised  a  little  coin  by  selling  his  arecanuts.  Beyond 
that  he  had  no  outlook.  It  is  a  depressing  picture, 
but  the  inheritance  of  a  great  past  preserved  in 
him  the  seed  of  future  possibilities. 

There  was  one  matter  which  militated  against 
the  general  prosperity  of  the  Settlements,  and  that 
was  the  question  of  exchange.  From  the  beginning 
a  variety  of  coins  had  been  accepted  as  currency  by 
the     Company.        Not     only    the      Sinhalese    silver 


158  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

ridi  or  laryn,  the  copper  massas  and  gold 
fanams,  together  with  the  various  Portuguese   issues 

of  Goa  and  Colombo,  but  even  Persian,  German,  and 
Spanish  coins  were  in  circulation.  The  most  popular 
were  the  thin  copper  duits  which  were  coined  by 
the  various  provinces  of  the  Netherlands,  and  imported 
into  the  country  in  large  quantities,  along  with  a 
small  proportion  of  silver  stivers,  schellings,  florins 
and  ducatoons.  Gold  pagodas  were  coined  at  the 
Tutucorin  mint  which  was  under  the  supervision  of 
Colombo,  and  the  various  other  pagodas  of  South 
India  were  accepted  according  to  their  metal  value 
compared  with  the  ducatoon.  The  local  copper  coin- 
age consisted  of  the  thick  stivers,  thirty  of  which 
weighed  a  pound,  which  were  minted  at  a  great 
profit  in  the  island,  along  with  the  two-stiver  pieces 
and  fractions  of  the  stiver.  A  few  silver  rupees  also 
were  issued  by  Falck  and  van  der  Graaf. 

Goods  required  for  the  Settlements  were  im- 
ported mainly  from  Holland  and  Batavia  in  the 
vessels  of  the  Company,  and  their  cost  was  met  by 
bills  on  those  countries,  on  which  the  Company  made 
a  profit.  The  imports  from  India  were  balanced  in 
part  by  exports  from  Ceylon,  but  there  remained  an 
excess  which    had  to  be  paid  for  in  gold  and  silver. 

The  quantity  of  the  precious  metals  in  the 
country  was  extremely  small,  and  in  view  of  the 
financial  embarrassments  subsequent  to  1780,  van 
der  Graaf  conceived  the  idea  of  issuing  a  paper 
currency  in  the  form  of  notes  called  Kredit  Brieven, 
payable  to  the  bearer  in  copper  at  a  fixed  rate.  All 
payments  from  the  Treasury  were  made  in  these 
notes  or  in  copper,  and  in  a  short  time  the  supply  of 
silver  and  gold  coin  available  for  export  to  India 
was  exhausted.  The  Governor  therefore  proceeded 
to  sell  these  coins  by  public  auction,  and  in  ten 
years  a  ducatoon  which  under  the  Company's  regul- 
ations was  worth  only  eighty  stivers,  was  sold  for 
a  hundred.    At  the  same  time  in  the  case  of  remit- 


The  Exchange  Problem  159 

tances  to  Holland  the  Treasury  insisted  that  at  least 
half  the  sum  should  be  tendered  in  silver. 

This  exchange  was  carried  on  at  the  original 
rate,  and  the  officials  who  remitted  their  salaries  to 
the  mother  country,  shared  in  the  profit;  whereas 
the  price  of  grain,  cotton,  and  similar  necessaries 
imported  from  India  rose  with  rapidity  and  the  local 
consumer  suffered  heavily.  It  was  the  value  of  the 
ducatoon  which  had  originally  fixed  the  rate  of 
exchange,  but  now  the  copper  coin  became  the  real 
standard,  and  exchange  was  adjusted  in  accordance 
with  the  actual  value  of  the  copper  contained  in  the 
stiver.  This  copper  was  much  depreciated,  and  in 
1787  the  coins  were  struck  from  the  old  brass  guns, 
which  were  melted  down  for  the  purpose,  thereby 
adding  to  the  complexity  of  the    situation. 

Disturbing  rumours  began  to  reach  Ceylon 
towards  the  end  of  1793  that  France  had  declared  war  on 
Holland  and  England,  and  with  a  heavy  heart  van  der 
Graaf  once  again  turned  to  those  military  questions  which 
were  so  repugnant  to  the  Company.  The  available 
forces  consisted  of  4000  infantry  including  the  de 
Meuron  and  Wurtemberg  regiments  of  mercenaries, 
with  700  Artillery.  There  were  also  two  small  bodies 
of  well  trained  Lascarins  in  charge  of  the  Maha 
Mudaliyar  at  Colombo  and  the  Atapattu  Mudaliyar 
at  Galle  respectively,  as  well  as  some  Moors  at  Bat- 
ticaloa.  Orders  were  given  to  have  the  forts  in  readi- 
ness against  possible  hostilities,  and  Trincomalee  was 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  British  war-ships. 
Karikal  and  Pondicherri  were  soon  occupied  by  Bri- 
tish troops,  but  French  frigates  were  cruising  about 
the  Indian  waters ;  and  van  der  Graaf  while  sending 
800  men  to  assist  in  defending  the  Indian  coast  had 
to  appeal  to  Fort  St.  George  for  effective  protection 
by  s:ea. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  received  his  appoint- 
ment as  Director  General  at   Batavia,    and    on    the 


160  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

10th  of  January  1794  his  father-in-law,  van  Angel- 
beek,  arrived  from  the  Choromandel  Coast  to  succeed 
him  in  office.  Van  der  Graaf  sailed  away  in 
August,  having  four  months  before  in  company  with 
van  Angelbeek,  accompanied  the  body  of  his  trusted 
Maha  Mudaliyar  to  the  grave.  Abayasinha  died  at 
the  age  of  seventy  five  years,  and  was  buried  with 
all  the  honours  usually  accorded  to  his  high  office  ; 
sixteen  of  the  Company's  Sergeants  carried  his  coffin 
to  the  grave,  over  which  a  company  of  soldiers  fired 
three  vollies  of  musketry.  On  the  following  day 
Abayaratna,  the  second  Maha  Mudaliyar,  was  appointed 
in  his  place. 

Hardly  had  van  der  Graaf  left  the  country 
when  unpleasantness  arose  with  the  British.  The 
latter  had  long  regarded  with  envious  eyes  the  rich 
trade  in  the  cotton  goods  of  South  India  which  the 
Hollanders  enjoyed,  and  now  made  a  bold  bid  to 
obtain  some  portion  of  this  trade  for  themselves. 
Thereupon  in  August  the  Hollanders  seized  a  British 
vessel  with  a  cargo  of  piece  goods,  claiming  a  mono- 
poly in  the  trade  under  a  series  of  treaties  dating 
from  1690,  and  by  prescriptive  right.  They  main- 
tained that  their  right  was  recognised  even  in  the 
treaty  which  Buchanan  had  signed  on  behalf  of  the 
Nawab,  and  that  the  treaty  was  brought  about  by 
the  active  interference  of  Governor  Campbell  himself. 
Therefore  they  insisted  that  all  vessels  trading  on 
that  coast  must  obtain  their  passport,  and  were  also 
liable  to  be  searched. 

Lord  Hobart  who  was  at  Madras  refused  to 
acknowledge  this  claim.  The  Nayaker,  he  argued, 
could  not  bind  his  successors  in  this  fashion ;  even 
if  he  could,  the  Nawab  who  had  succeeded  him  by 
right  of  conquest,  was  not  only  not  bound  by  his 
acts,  but  was  himself  barred  by  prior  treaties  from 
entering  into  any  agreement  with  a  European  power 
without  the  consent  of  the  British;  and  the  British, 


Hostilities  Threatened  161 

he  said,  declined  to  ratify  Buchanan's  treaty.  After 
much  wrangHng,  in  June  1795  van  Angelbeek  agreed 
to  Lord  Hobart's  proposal  to  refer  the  matter  to 
Europe. 

In  the  meanwhile  in  December  1794  of  the  French 
had  entered  the  Netherlands ;  the  Hereditary  Stadt- 
holder  fled  to  England  for  safety,  and  a  new  Bata- 
vian  Republic  was  established  over  the  United  Pro- 
vinces, in  alliance  with  France.  Barely  had  the  last 
dispatch  with  reference  to  the  Indian  dispute  left 
Colombo,  when  a  fresh  letter  arrived  from  Hobart. 
This  accompanied  one  from  the  late  Stadtholder, 
dated  Kew,  7th  of  February  1795,  in  which  he 
requested  Van  Angelbeek  to  admit  his  Britannic 
Majesty's  men  and  ships  within  the  Settlements  in  his 
charge,  and  to  treat  them  as  allies  coming  to  protect 
the  Settlements  from  the  French. 

On  the  strength  of  this  letter  Hobart  claimed 
the  immediate  possession  of  all  the  Settlements,  with 
an  assurance  that  they  would  be  restored  when  the 
independence  of  the  States  was  re-established  by  a 
general  Peace.  He  promised  to  maintain  the  existing 
laws  and  customs,  to  impose  no  fresh  taxes,  and  to 
leave  the  internal  trade  entirely  free ;  all  oflicers  would 
continue  to  serve  till  the  pleasure  of  the  British 
King  was  known,  and  the  men  would  be  taken  over 
on  the  existing  terms.  He  concluded  by  stating  that 
a  military  force  had  already  started  for  Trincomalee 
in  case  of  resistance  being  offered  to  the  proposed 
occupation. 

The  Council  replied  on  the  27th  of  July  that 
the  Stadtholder  had  said  nothing  about  handing  over 
the  Settlements  to  the  British  ;  but  it  was  ready  to 
give  all  assistance  to  their  vessels  and  to  receive 
garrisons  at  Colombo  and  Trincomalee,  provided  the 
Madras  authorities  would  defray  the  expenses  till 
such  time  as  matters  could  be  adjusted  in    Europe. 

21 


162  Ceylon  and  the   Hollanders 

Hobart's  messenger,  Major  Agnew,  and  two  Hollan- 
ders, started  at  once  with  this  reply  for  Trincomalee, 
where  the  British  fleet  under  Commodore  Rainer  with 
a  small  army  under  Colonel  Stuart  had  already 
arrived.  On  the  2nd  of  August  communications  were 
opened  with  Major  Fornbauer,  who  was  in  command  of 
the  forts,  when  Agnew  arrived  with  the  Governor's 
reply.  The  British  were  willing  to  accept  the  terms  offered 
but  Fornbauer  refused  to  agree,  on  the  ground  that 
the  letter  was  signed  not  by  the  members  of  the  Council 
but  by  Van  Angelbeek  alone. 

Stuart  thereupon  landed  his  men  at  a  point 
two  miles  from  the  Fort,  losing  in  the  process  a 
frigate  which  struck  on  a  sunken  rock.  The  small 
garrison  made  a  good  defence  ;  the  Malays,  employing 
their  Gurkha-like  tactics,  succeeded  in  entering  one 
of  the  British  batteries,  killing  the  artillery  men, 
and  spiking  the  guns.  The  fire  from  the  walls  caused 
some  loss  of  life,  but  at  the  end  of  three  weeks  a 
breach  was  effected,  and  Fornbauer,  one  of  the  few 
brave  officers  the  Company  possessed,  was  forced  to 
surrender.  According  to  the  terms  of  the  capitulation, 
which  was  signed  on  the  26th  of  August,  the 
garrison  was  allowed  the  honours  of  war.  Five  days 
later  Fort  Ostenberg  also  fell,  and  British  troops  were 
sent  to  occupy  Batticaloa. 

The  Court  was  watching  events  with  much 
satisfaction,  and  kept  the  British  well  supplied  with 
provisions.  Robert  Andrews,  a  Senior  Merchant  in 
their  Company's  service,  had  accompained  the  expedition 
to  Ceylon,  where  he  was  destined  to  leave  behind 
an  evil  name.  On  the  15th  of  September  he  started 
from  Trincomalee  with  a  letter  from  Lx)rd  Hobart 
to  the  King,  by  whom  he  was  received  in  audience 
on  the  29th,  with  the  same  ceremonial  as  had  been 
followed  in  the  case  of  Pybus. 

Pilima  Talauwa  and  Erawwawala,  the  Adigars, 
and  the    Council    of    Ministers    showed    themselves 


Andrews*  Mission  163 

capable  men  of  business.  Andrews'  first  request  was 
for  a  site  belonging  to  the  King,  where  his  Company 
could  erect  a  fort  and  build  a  factory ;  it  was 
imperative,  he  insisted,  that  this  should  be  a  spot 
to  which  the  Hollanders  could  have  no  title.  The 
Ministers  in  return  shrewdly  demanded  a  guarantee 
that  nothing  taken  from  the  Hollanders  would  at 
any  time  be  returned  to  them.  Andrews  was  unable 
to  comply  with  this  demand,  but  suggested  that  the 
inland  districts  taken  by  force  from  the  King  might 
be  returned  to  him  instead.  He  also  claimed  the 
same  trade  monopoly  as  the  Hollanders  enjoyed; 
but  the  Ministers,  while  agreeing  to  give  preference 
to  the  British,  reserved  to  themselves  the  right  to 
sell  to  any  other  nation  which  was  willing  to  pay  a 
higher  price. 

Andrews  tried  to  obtain  a  copy  of  the  arrange- 
ments existing  with  the  Hollanders,  but  was  curtly 
refused.  The  preliminaries  of  a  Treaty  were  signed 
on  the  12th  of  October  and  he  returned  to  Trin- 
comalee  with  Dumbara  Rala,  a  son  of  the  conqueror 
of  Hanwella,  and  another  who  were  authorised  to 
continue  negotiations  at  Madras. 

Meanwhile  a  British  force  had  landed  at  Point 
Pedro,  and  being  joined  by  fresh  men  from  Naga- 
patnam,  advanced  on  Jaffnapatnam.  On  the  28th  of 
September  Stuart  sent  to  the  garrison,  which  had 
been  reduced  to  a  few  Sepoys  and  some  invalid 
officers,  a  summons  to  surrender  ;  resistance  was  out 
of  the  question,  and  the  fine  fort,  on  which  so  much 
money  and  labour  had  been  spent,  yielded  without 
firing  a  shot. 

On  the  12th  of  November  Dumbara  Rala 
arrived  by  land  at  Jaffna,  from  where  the  Sinhalese 
Mission  consisting  of  over  a  hundred  souls,  took 
ship  for  the  Continent.  The  frankness  of  Lord  Ho- 
bart,    who  plainly  stated    that    the  question  of    the 


164  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

entire  exclusion  of  the  Hollanders  could  be  decided 
only  in  Europe,  caused  bitter  disappointment  to  the 
Sinhalese,  but  after  much  wrangling  a  Treaty  was 
signed  on  Friday  the  12th  of  February  1796.  This 
provided  among  other  matters,  for  the  site  of  a  fac- 
tory, preferential  trade,  the  restoration  to  the  King 
of  all  territory  occupied  by  force,  with  some  salt 
pans  and  a  limited  right  of  foreign  trade,  as  well 
as  for  the  protection  of  the  Buddhist  religion.  This 
Treaty  had  to  be  ratified  by  the  King  within  a 
fixed  period,  but  by  the  time  Dumbara  Rala  returned 
to  Court,  a  very   great  change  had  taken  place. 

With  the  fall  of  Trincomalee,  the  Council  had 
realised  that  hostilities  could  not  be  'avoided  any 
longer  and  active  preparations  were  made  to  defend 
Colombo.  The  artillery  was  rearranged  so  as  to 
command  all  points  from  which  danger  was  expected, 
fresh  batteries  were  raised,  the  surrounding  country 
was  cleared  of  the  trees  and  houses  which  might 
impede  the  action  of  the  guns,  and  the  Moors  were 
organised  into  three  companies  of  coolies.  The  tanks 
within  the  Fort  were  filled  with  drinking  water,  and 
all  private  wells  were  cleaned  out  and  put  into 
order.  A  large  quantity  of  live  stock  was  collected 
and  stores  of  dried  fish,  rice  and  arrack  laid  in, 
while  people  from  outside  who  sought  refuge  within 
the  walls  were  ordered  to  bring  with  them  provisions 
sufficient  for  six  months.  The  cinnamon  collected  at 
the  various  outstations  was  brought  to  the  stores  at 
Colombo,  though  much  had  to  be  abandoned  at 
Galle  for  lack  of  means  of  transport. 

About  this  time  two  vessels  arrived  from 
Batavia  with  official  information  of  the  Treaty  which 
had  been  entered  into  between  Holland  and  France, 
whereupon  all  effective  troops  were  ordered  back  to 
Colombo  from  Jaffna,  the  Wanni  and  Manar.  A  few 
days  after  the  surrender  of  Jaffna,  Agnew  arrived 
at  Colombo  with    another    letter    from    Hobart,    in 


Preparations  at  Colombo  165 

which  he  informed  van  Angelbeek  that  Count  de 
Meuron,  the  proprietor  of  the  regiment  which  bore 
his  name,  had  transferred  its  services  to  the  British 
by  an  agreement  entered  into  on  the  30th  of  March, 
and  demanded  that  the  men  should  be  handed  over 
to  him. 

Agnew  was  lodged  within  the  fort  and  was 
hospitably  entertained  by  van  Angelbeek  with  whom 
he  dined  every  day;  he  thus  had  the  opportunity 
of  observing  from  the  Governor's  balcony  all  the 
preparations  which  were  made  to  resist  the  enemy. 
In  spite  of  a  defiant  reply  which  van  Angelbeek 
promptly  despatched  to  Hobart,  his  attitude  towards 
the  regiment  was  noteworthy.  A  large  number  of 
the  men  were  French  or  Hollanders  and  had  no 
desire  to  take  service  under  the  British,  but  the 
Governor,  it  was  said,  urged  them  to  go.  Vessels 
for  their  transport  were  lacking,  and  the  sloops  of 
the  Company  were  placed  at  their  disposal  for  a 
small  consideration,  while  the  sick  who  could  not 
travel  were  kept  in  the  Company's  hospital  and 
looked  after  as  if  they  were  still  in  its  service. 

On  the  departure  of  this  regiment  the  Council 
decided  to  abandon  Galle,  and  the  artillery  and 
ammunition  were  removed  to  Colombo.  British  vessels 
were  cruising  about  the  coast,  and  even  landing 
men  to  obtain  provisions;  the  shore  batteries  were 
accordingly  manned  at  night,  but  strict  instructions 
were  given  that  no  gun  was  to  be  fired  without  the 
express  orders  of  the  Governor.  The  vessels  passed 
and  repassed,  approaching  Colombo  quite  close  at 
night,  but  the  order  to  fire  never  came.  A  French 
vessel  commanded  by  a  Hollander  entered  the  harbour, 
and  the  commander  offered  to  capture  the  British 
vessels  if  he  were  furnished  with  some  artillery  men 
for  the  guns,  but  this  offer  was  not  entertained. 

In  January  1796  Colonel  Stuart's  army  was 
collected  at  Rameswaram,    and  on  the  10th    started 


166  Ceylon  and  the  Hollanders 

from  there  in  open  boats.  Every  evening  the  men 
landed  for  rest,  and  no  opposition  was  encountered. 
The  Company's  officers  in  charge  of  Kalpitiya  and 
Chilaw  retreated  in  haste  to  Colombo,  and  a 
military  force  which  was  sent  as  far  as  Kaymel 
followed  their  example.  Not  a  soldier  was  seen 
within  the  square  fort  of  Negombo,  which  had  been 
built  with  the  special  object  of  protecting  the  chief 
cinnamon  district  of  the  Island.  The  British  occupied 
the  place,  where  they  were  joined  by  Wikramasinha 
Mudaliyar,  who  was  able  to  keep  them  supplied 
with  provisions. 

The  delightful  fertility  and  healthfulness  of  the 
country  charmed  the  newcomers;  beautiful  coconut 
groves  and  rich  fields  lay  on  every  side,  fish  and 
foodstuffs  were  abundant,  the  population  was  large 
and  industrious,  and  trading  vessels  frequented  the 
small  harbour.  A  fairly  good  road,  probably  the  best 
the  Company  had  formed  in  Ceylon,  connected  the 
town  with  Colombo.  No  attempt  was  made  to  bar 
the  advance  of  the  army,  and  Stuart  was  allowed  to 
reach  the  Kelani  Ganga  without  opposition. 

Dry  rot  had  set  in  among  the  Hollanders. 
That  retribution  which  so  surely  a  waits  the  commercial 
race  which  has  no  ideal  beyond  the  exploitation  of 
the  country  of  another  for  its  own  aggrandisement, 
had  fallen  upon  the  men.  The  one  aim  of  the 
Hollander  was  the  speedy  acquisition  of  wealth. 
The  indomitable  courage  which  once  defied  the  might 
of  Philip  of  Spain,  had  dissolved  in  the  ardent  heat  of  a 
tropical  sun.  If  Captain  Robert  Percival,  who  arrived  in 
Ceylon  in  this  very  year,  is  to  be  believed,  the  Hol- 
lander began  his  day  with  gin  and  tobacco,  and 
he  ended  it  with  tobacco  and  gin.  In  the  interval 
he  fed  grossly,  lounged  about,  indulged  in  the  essential 
siesta,  and  transacted  a  little  business.     The  women 


The  Enemy  before  Colombo  167 

folk,  who  spent  most  of  their  time  chewing  betel 
and  gossiping  in  Portuguese  with  their  slaves,  did 
not  come  up  to  the  somewhat  exacting  standard  of 
the  fastidious  Captain. 

In  spite  of  the  departure  of  the  de 
Meuron  Regiment,  over  2500  Europeans,  Malays, 
Moors,  and  Sepoys  were  still  available  to  defend  Colombo. 
There  were  in  addition  five  hundred  fierce  Chalias 
trained  to  work  among  forests,  and  the  Lascarins. 
So  strong  a  force  fighting  behind  walls,  could  well 
defy  an  invading  army  for  a  great  length  of  time. 
It  was  expected  that  the  passage  of  the  Kelani 
Ganga  would  be  stoutly  defended  by  the  batteries 
which  commanded  it  on  the  Colombo  side.  The 
Company's  troops  occupied  the  river  bank  from  Pas 
Betal,  the  scene  of  so  many  bloody  fights  between 
Sinhalese  and  Portuguese,  as  far  as  Nagalagama. 
Stuart  spent  two  days  in  making  his  preparations, 
till  on  the  9th  of  February  the  bulk  of  the  defend- 
ing force  withdrew  towards  Mutwal,  and  at  5  p.  m. 
the  British  began  to  cross.  A  few  shots  were  fired 
at  them  from  the  nearest  battery,  and  then  the  men 
threw  the  guns  into  the  water,  and  disappeared.  The 
British  hurried  across  on  bamboo  rafts  without  further 
hindrance,  and  occupied  a  strong  position  where  they 
could  be  supported  by  their  vessels  from  the  sea. 
It  was  known  that  the  King's  forces  too  were 
approaching  Colombo  from  the  East  so  as  to  assist 
them.  Within  the  fort  everything  was  in  confusion, 
discipline  had  ceased  to  exist,  the  officers  were  not 
anxious  to  expose  themselves  to  the  enemy's  bullets, 
and  the  men  had  lost  their  morale.  By  degrees  the 
various  detachments  in  the  field  retired  till  they 
assembled  at  Korteboom,  backed  by  the  forest  which 
then  existed  in  the  neighbourhood.  An  enemy  frigate 
approached  the  harbour  whereupon  some  of  the  bat- 
teries opened  fire,  but  the  officers  in  command  were 
immediately  placed  under  arrest  for  doing  so  without 
the  Governor's  orders. 


168  Ceylon  and  the   Hollanders 

On  the  12th  of  February  at  3  A.  M.  a  body  of 
Malays,  whose  tactics  and  sharp  krises  were  aUke  a 
matter  of  apprehension  to  the  British,  set  out  from 
Colombo.  They  were  joined  by  a  number  of  deserters 
from  the  de  Meuron  regiment,  as  well  as  a  gallant 
Frenchman,  Colonel  Raymond,  of  the  late  Luxemburg 
Regiment.  It  was  declared  that  some  of  the  Hollan- 
ders accompanied  the  Malays,  but  not  further  than 
the  outer  wall.  The  attempt  to  surprise  the  enemy 
which  followed  was  not  attended  with  much  success 
and  the  Malays  were  driven  back,  Raymond  himself 
being  mortally  wounded.  The  British  now  advanced 
to  Korteboom,  whereupon  Kayman's  Gate  was  closed 
and  all  the  military  retired  within  the  Castle,  leaving 
behind  a  few  Malays  in  charge. 

On  the  13th  the  British  approached  the  Gate 
and  encamped  near  the  ruins  of  a  Portuguese  battery. 
The  men  who  had  fought  in  1656  within  that  battery 
for  the  possession  of  this  beautiful  Island  had  indeed 
been  cast  in  a  different  mould  from  those  who,  skulk- 
ing behind  the  walls  of  Colombo,  still  claimed  that 
coveted  prize.  Van  Angelbeek  now  opened  secret 
negociations.  No  further  opposition  was  offered,  and 
the  only  excitement  was  that  caused  by  a  couple  of 
buffaloes  straying  within  the  British  lines ;  for  the 
alarm  was  given  and  the  guards  firing  wildly  had 
the  misfortune  to  kill  two  ot  their  own  men. 

At  one  P.  M.  on  the  14th  Major  Agnew 
appeared  at  Kayman's  Gate  and  van  Angelbeek's  carriage 
conveyed  him  to  the  Castle,  where  he  was  received 
by  the  Council :  after  a  long  interview  he  returned 
to  the  camp  in  the  evening.  There  were  wild  rumours 
of  an  immediate  suspension  of  hostilities,  and  the 
troops  were  mutinous,  for  they  feared  that  they  were 
going  to  be  betrayed.  Early  in  the  morning  of  the 
16th  firing,  all  directed  at  the  Governor's  house,  broke 
out  from  various  parts  of  the  Fort,  but  in  a  short 
time  the  announcement  was  made  that  hostilities  were 
ended.    At  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  Company's 


The  Surrender  169 

possessions  in  the  Island  were  surrendered  to  the 
British,  and  its  miHtary  forces,  with  undamaged  Hmbs 
and  uncrumpled  tunics,  marched  out    of  the    Castle. 

It  was  believed  both  at  the  time  and  also  after 
van  Angelbeek's  death,  that  he  had  sold  himself  to 
the  British.  That  might  well  be  the  case;  at  any 
rate  he  burnt  less  powder  in  defence  of  Colombo  than 
Jan  Schreuder  had  fired  in  honour  of  one  letter  to 
the  Sinhalese  King. 


THE  END 


22 


INDEX 


Abayaratna,     Maha    Mudaliyar. 

148,  160  (Johannes  de  Saram, 

Wiiayasekera,  b.  1754,  d.    17th 

Nov.  1809) 

Abayasinha,      Maha    Mudahyar. 
143.    147,    160    (Nicholas  Dias, 
Amarasekara,  b.  8th  May 
1719,   d.  10th  May  1794) 
Accommodessan,  see    Badawedili 
Adam,  31 

Adam's  Peak,  seeSamanala 
Adigar.    31,  56,  68,  103,  104,  109, 
111,   114,   162,   163 

Administrateur,  Hoofd,  72 
Administration,  see  Company 

Adukku,  129 

Agnew,  Major,  162-168 

Agoa  de  Lopo,  33 
Agriculture,  see  Rice,    Pepper, 

Canal,  Tank,  etc. 

Alagiyawanna,  157 

Aldear,  108 

AUauwa,  26 

Almeyda,  Lourenco  de,  3 

Alphandigo,  82 

Alut  Kuru  Korale,  129 

Alvis,  Paulo  Mudlr.  85 
Alwis,    see  Samarasinha 

Ambanwela  Rala,  22,  24 

Ambatale,  148,  149 

America,  140,  147 

Ampitiya,  103,  136 

Amsterdam,  90 

Amu,  126 
Amunam,    see  Areca 

Andi  70 

Andrews,  Robert,  162,  163 

Angelbeek,    J.     G.  Van,  114.   119, 

162-169 

Anguruwatota,  1 


Ant, 

Anuradhapura, 

Appuhami, 

Arachchi. 

Arandora, 

Arcot, 


85 

28 

89.130 

128 

14,17.  26 

64 


Areca   13,  25,  40,  50.  52,  54,  57,  63 

77,  86,  99,   103,   120.    122,   151 

Aripo,  22, 55 

Arrack,20,  39,  60.  82.  86,  87,  124, 

128.155 

Arrakan,  43, 44 

Arrow,  115 

Artillery,        21,  104,  105,  114,  162 
Asadrisa,  Jatakaya,  136 

Aswala  Rala,  31 

Asylum,  see  Leprosy 
Astronomy,  138 

Atakalan  Korale,  138 

Atchin,  86 

Attapattu,  76, 159 

Attanagalla,  67,  131 

Attaragama  Bandara,  135, 

Atu  Korala,  79.  80 

Azavedo,    Dom  Jeronymo  de,  55, 

102 

Bacon,  128,  156 
Badawedili,    5,  50,  78,  80,  81,  153 

Baddegama  149 

Badulla.  115 

Balane  Kanda,  44,  117,  119 

Balawatara,  136 

Baldaeus,  Philip,  5 

Bana,  103 
Bandaranayaka  Maha  Mudlr,148, 

149,  (Don   Coenrad  Pieter  Dia« 

Wijayawardhana,     b.  1747,    d.) 

Barana  Ganitaya,  138 

Baranama  Gabasaka,  139 


172 


INDEX 


Barber,  130 

Basnayaka,  30,  31.  34,  35,  61 

Bastian,  Don  85 

Bat.  119 

Batavia,  1,  4,  12,  23,  52,  55,  56,  60, 

61,  63,  69.  71,  73,  76.  85,  93,  103, 

106,     113,   121,    147,    149,     164 

Batgan,  51 

Batticaloa,  17,  22,  43,  98.  120,  121, 

.     124,    142,    150,   152,    153,     162 

Bazaar,  82 

Becker,  Hendrik  48-56,  88 

Becket,  Tohmas  a,  67 

Beef,  29,  128 

Beer,  128.  156 

Beetle,  92 

Beligal  Korale,  21 

Bell,  108 

Bengal,  4,  43 

Bentara  River,  2.  59 

Bera,  81 

Betel,  52,  155 

Bevere  de,  53,  54 

Bhesajja  Manjusa,  65 

Bliesajja  Nidana.  136 

Biyagama.  149 

Bibilegama,  21 

Bintenne,  96,  104, 118 

Blacksmith,  130 

Bo,  28,  65,  70 

Bogambra,  66 

Boscawen,  69 

Botany,  24, 25 

Brahmin,  138 

Brand  mark,  3 

Breda,  91 

Breslau,  89 

Bribe,  15,  75,  79,  96,  97 

Brick.  131 

British  9,  10,  11,  12,  13,  14,  17, 
64,  69,  108,  111,  124.  138 
144,     147,     150,      152,    160-168 

Brohier,  124 

Broker,  see  Elephant, 

Buchanan,  James,       144,  160,  161 

Buddhism.  12.  28.  30,  36,  38.  43, 
44,  64,  66,67,70,  88,  89,  101, 
116,  131,    132,    136,    138,    164 


Bulat  Surulla,  153 

Buffon,  152 

Burgher,  6,  25,  130,  154 

Burnand,  122,   150 

Bystervelt,  Henricus  Van,     17-19 
Cabook,  34, 

Calamander,  155 

Camel,  55 

Campbell,  Sir  Archibald,     144.  160 
Canal,  125,  126,  149,   150,  151 

Candle  m 

Cane,  125 

Cannon.     44,  60,  71,  105,  120.  121 
Cape,  101,  113 

Capelle,  Elias    Paravacini  de,     91 
Cardamom,  84,  85,  120, 

Carnatic,  108,  138,  144,  160 

Carpenter,  15,  113 

Carpet,  no 

Carriage,  156 

Carron,  Francois,  14, 19 

Cartwright,  130 

Caste,  132 

Casti,  75.  118 

Cattle,  4, 59 

Cavalry.  114 

Chain,  18,  113,  129,  148.  156 

Chalia.  see  Cinnamon. 
Chank,  14,  71,  83,  152 

Changarapillai,  Don  Philip,  41,  43 
Charles,  II  9,  15,19 

Chatham,  15 

Chayaver,  43 

Chetty,  58,  82 

Chief.   Native,  79,  80,  124 

Chilaw.    13,  26.  55,  83,  112,  119, 
123,  145,  151,   153 
China,  47 

Chinna  Natchi.  139,    140 

Choromandel,  4,  20,  105.  160 

Christianity  2,  5.  15.  28.  37,  38,  66, 
67,  87-93,   113,  123,  131,  133,  156 
Cinnamon,  9, 17,  21-25,  35-39, 

44,  51,    55,  59,    63,  66,  67,     77, 
85,  86,  97-103,  119,  126,  147,  153. 

164 
Civil  Service,  2,  54,  75,  76, 153 
Cloth,  see  cotton,  129 


INDEX 


173 


Clothes  18,  42,  43,    75,    106,  130, 

131,  132,   155 

Cochin,  147 

Cockpit,  131 

Coconut,    39,  40,  59,  82,  86,  87,  92, 

102,  150,  151,  155. 

Coffee,         60,  83,  84,  120, 148.  151 

Coinage,  4,  157 

Collar,  24,  105 

Colombo,  3,    13-19,   22,  26-34,  45, 

50,  56,  60,  67,  77,  81,  86,  90-102, 

108,       125,      131,       140,     142, 

145,      153,    155,     156,      164-169 

Comet,  10,  12 

Commandeur,  2,  41,  128 

Commissioner,         12,  56,  120,  121 

Company,  1,  7,  13-16,  45,  49-53, 
60-70,  74-84,  97-104,  114,  122, 
123,  129,  139,  140,  144,  154. 

Conspiracy,  10.  12,  18,  26,  52,  53, 

121 
Consistory,  92 

Constable,  104 

Copper,  15,  159 

Costa,  Don  Joan  de,  10.  (Ma- 
amperi    Rajapaksa  Mudlr.) 
Coste,  Godfried  Leonard  de, 

119,  121,  125,   129,  130 
Cotton,  4,  25,  50,  82,  124,  152,   153, 

160 
Comwallls,  Lord,  144 

Council  Political,   2,  19,  60,  61,  73, 
90,  92.  107,   161,  164-167 
Councillor,   Privy,  54 

Cowry,  82 

Cremation,  31 

Crescentie,  40 

Crocodile,  33 

Crow.  99 

Crown,  110,  114 

Curtain,  109,  110 

Custom,  see  Justice,     Alphandigo 
Cyclone,  72 

Dagoba,  37, 38 

Daimio,  83 

Dam,  149 

Dane,  9,  19,  147 

Dassanayaka,  116,  118 

Debt,  3, 151 


Decum,  82 

Demetagoda,  148 

Dewale,  22.  53,  88 

Dhammananda,  136 

Dharmaka,  King.  72 

Dharmapala,  38 

Dhoney,  51,  124 

Digest,  see  Justice 
Director,  45,  112,    113,   159 

Dissanayaka,   Mudlr.  136 

Dissanayaka,  Don  Simon    Wikra 

maratna  113 

Distil,  see  arrack 
Disava,  2,  4,  5, 18,  26,  44,  45,  51,  76. 

97, 100, 107,  111,  123, 128, 130. 153 
Diver,  see  Pearl. 
Diviture,  149 

Dodanwala,  57 

Domburg,  Diederik    Van,    56,  59 

60,  93 
Don,  133 

Doranagama  Rala,  67 

Dover,  19 

Dragoon,  107 

Draak,  Hendrik,  17 

Dravidian,  64,  67,  103 

Drink,  6,  29,  87.  95 

Drought,  39.  40,  81 

Drum,  106,  128 

Duflo,  Major,  118.  121 

Dugganna  Rala,  45 

Dumbara  Rala,  72,  97,  105,   118, 

163,  164. 

Dunuvila,  136 

Dupon,  Pierre,  5,  12 

Duraroba,  59, 60 
Dutch,        see  Hollander 

Dutugemunu,  135 

Duty,  25 

Dye,  4,  43,  51 

Eat,  95 

Eck,  Baron  Van,  108,  112-116,  135 
Education,     2,  5,  65,  89,  90,  92-95, 

154 
Ehelapola.  68,  71,  104 

Ekanayaka,  Don  Constantyn,  104 

136,  138 


174 


INDEX 


Elephant,  3,  11,  13,  18,  23,  25.  26, 

39,  41,  45,  51,  52,  68,  70,   73,   98, 

99,  102-106,    114,   115,    121,  124, 

129,  135,  152 

Embassy,  11,  13,  14,  15,  17,   19,  20, 
23,  29,  31,  33,  34,  44,  48,   53,   54, 
57,  60,  63,  67,  69,  70,  72,   73,  104, 
119,  130,  138,  143 

Engineer,  104 

England,  see  British 

Erawwawala  Adigar,  162 

Esala,  70, 71 

Eschelskroon,  94, 95 

Eswatta,  85 

Etbandana,     see  Elephant 

Etiquette,  18, 20 

Europe,  10,  45,  49,  52,  75,  83,  88, 

93, 94,   104,  120,     121,    144,    155 
Eve,  37 

Everiyawatta,  148 

Evil  One,  67 

Exchange,  157-159 

Factory,  9.  15,  122,  143 

Fakir,  28,  82 

Falck,  Iman  Willem,  118,  121-127, 

131,    143,    148,      151,    153,    158 
Famine,  56,  139,  143 

Feber,  Colonel.  115,  116,  117 

Ferrao,   Pedro,  66,67 

Finance,  3,  25,  55,  154 

Fines,  5,  59,  94 

Fiscal,  58 

Fish,  28,  82,   123,  124, 

130 
Fishery,  see  Pearl,  Ch  ank 
Flambeau,  107 

Flood,  56 

Food  155 

Footprint,  48 

Fornbauer,  Major,  162 

Freire,  Antao  Vaz,  77 

French,     14,  20,  69,  140,   142,   144. 

150,  159,  16] 
Funeral,  131,  156 

Gabadagam,  70.  128 

Gabbedature  Nayaker.  96 

Gajaman  Nona,  133 

Gajanayaka,  see  Elephant 


Galagedera  Pass, 

114 

Galauda, 

11 

Galegoda, 

103,  104 

Galkissa, 

153 

Galle,  2.  3,  9,  17,  59,  60,  77.  80,  85, 
86,  103,  142,  154,  159,  165 

Gam  Berawaya,  81 

Gamble,  131 

Gampaha,  70 

Gangaboda  Pattu,  149 

Gangarama,  135 

Gannoruwa,  108 

Gantalauwa,  150 

Gem,  82 

George,  Fort  St,  159 

German,  24,  91,  94,  134 

Getambe,  44 

Ghi,  82 

Giants  Tank,  3 

Gin,  166 

Gin  Ganga,  149 

Giruwaya,  51,  145,  150 

Goa,  see  Christianity 
Goens,  Rycklof  Van,   Snr,    6,  7, 
12,  13,  15,  21,  124,  148,  151 

Jnr,  21,  24.  25,  26,  29 

Goigama,  62,  130 

Goi  Vidane,  125 

Gollenesse,  Julius  Valentyn  Stein 

Van,  62,  72,  75.   77.  80,   85,  90. 

122 
Gopala,  103,  104 

Governor,  2.  33,  45,  69,  75,  80,  81, 
90,  98,  107,  128,  153 
Gowwa,  119 

Graaf.  Wilbelm    Jacob,     Vander, 

143-160 
Grandpass,  149 

Greek,  55, 90 

Grimm,  25 

Gunaratna,  53,   (Don  Paulo  Dias 

Maha  Mudaliyar  in  1714) 
Haafner,  Jacob,  91 

Hague,  144 

Halberdier,  109 

Halle,  ^       24, 91 

Hamburg,  73 

Hang,  18,  58 


INDEX 


175 


Hanguranketta,  11, 17.  20.  23.  27,  ,  Jesuit.                                      1,  29 

28,  31,  56,  62,  115,  121  jewels.                                 130,  155 

Hanwella,  30.  80,  85,  105.  120,  146.  I  justice,   2,  4.  5,  46,  47,  57,   58,   76, 

163  77,  86,  88.  102,  124,  130,  131 


Hapitigam  Korale,     67,    116.   131 
Haye,  De  La,  19,  20 

Heere,  Gerrit  De,  45,  77 

Hena,  59.  126 

Hendela,  87 

Hermann.  Paulus,  24 

Hewagam  Korale,  60.  85 

Hikkaduwa.  Lake,  149 

Hindu,  88,  132 

Hippouros,  55 

Hobart,  Lord,  160.— 167 

Hollander.  1.  2.  8,  9, 10,  12,  14  16, 
24, 29,  83,  89,  90,  93,  95,  100,  111, 
112,  141,  154,  158 

Horse,  15.  20,  24,  27,  29,  47,  51,  56, 

70.  128,  141 

Hour  glass,  18 

Howdah,  116.  119 

Hughes,  Sir  Edward,         140,  142 

Hulftsdorp,  2 

Hulangomuwa,  56 

Humour,  23 

Huwandiram,  59, 60 

lUangakon,  Don   Joan  Abaya  Sri- 

wardhana  113,  121,  136,  137 
Image,  66 

Impale,  18,  26 

Imhoff,    Gustaaf  Willem    Baron 

Van,  60-67,  74,  76,    77,  80,  85. 

90,  93.  94 

India,  15, 49,  52,  68,  83,  99,  122,  124 

Indigo,  4 

Infanta,  9 

Infanticide,  8 

Inkstand,  18 

Irrigation,  123 

Isaakz,  Claas,  47 

Ivory,  120 

Jaffna,   1,  2,  3,  24.  40,  41,  43,  45, 

47,51,52,56,66.68,   76,   77,  82, 

90,  91,  98,  117,   124,   125,   131, 

139.  141,  152,  156,    163,   164 

Jaggery,  82 

Japanese,  83 

Java,  84 


Kabaya.  109 

Kadawatu,   8,  54,    57.  98.  128,  145, 

147 

Kadirana,  148 

Kaffir,  27,  150 

Kaila  Wannia,  7,  22 

Kalpitiya,  8.  9.   13,  17,  22.  43.  68, 

86,  92,  166 

Kalutara,  23,  30,  92,  105.  123,  130, 

153 

Kanakapulle,  123 

Kanda  Uda  Rata,   8,    26,  65,   108. 

124,  136 

Kandy,  see  Senkadagala 

Kankesanturai,  40 

Kapuwatta,  134 

Karachi,  151 

Karanduwa,                 116,  119,  134 

Karatota    Dammarama,  138 

Karikal,  158 

Karti  Mangalaya,  28 

Karunaratna,         72.83.   101,   148 

Katikawata,  136 

Kattakarai,  3,  151 

Katugastota,  114 

Katukulam  Pattu,  113 

Katuwana,  1,   137 

Kav  Mini  Kondala,  137 

Kav  Mini  Maldama,  137 

Kav  Mutu  Hara,  137 

Kayal  Pattanam.  14 

Kayman's  Gate,  128,  168 

Kaymel.  123,  151,  156 

Kehelella.  103 

Kelani  Ganga.  166» 

Kelaniya.               36.   38.  131,  148 

Kendangomuwa.  146 

Kevulgama,  134 

Kilakarai.  54.  121, 122 

Kiramba,  136 

Kirimetiyawe  Mantri,  65 

Kiriwavule  Rala,  52 

Kirti  Sri  Raja  Sinha,  96-103,    106. 
121,  134-14L 


176 


INDEX 


Kitchen, 

Kitxil. 

Knife, 

Knox,  Robert, 

Kobbyakaduwa, 

Kollupitiya, 

Kerala, 

Korale, 


18, 27     Load, 

103 

18 

9,  26,  29 

71 

128 


79,  128 
79 


Korales,  Three.   12,  24,  36,  59,  60, 


130 

London,  9 

Loten,  Joan  Gideon,  72,  73 

Louis  XIV,  14,  19,  25 

Luxemburg,  168 

Low  Country,     see  Pata  Rata 
Madapalli,  41 

Madras,  10,  13,  141.  142,  143,  159, 

163 


Korales,  Four,   1,60,64,  97,   103, 

118,  119. 

Korales,  Seven,  1,    59,  118,  119, 

128,  153. 

Koronchi,  156 

Korteboom,  167,  168 

Kottalbadda,  29 

Kotte,  2,  8,  90 

Kottiar,    8,  9.  17,  19,    20,   43,  44, 
108,  113,  124 

Kraal,    see  Elephant . 

Kredit  Brieven,  158 

Kundasala,  57,    61,65,    115,    121, 

135 

Kuttapitiya,  70 

Laan,  Van  der  13 

Lacham  40 

LanaroUe,    Count   de,  20, 21.   29, 

35 

Land,  50,59,79,  81,   102 

Landraad,    see  Justice. 
Langhansz,  Christoph,  89 

Language,  77 

Lanka,  31,  65,  100 

Larin,  40 

Lascarin,  5,  25,  44,  58  60,  68,  79, 
80,81,  92,  113, 
123,  128,  129,  159 

Latin.  72, 90 
Law,       see  Justice. 

Leprosy,  87 

Lewaya,  30,  39,  119 

Lewke  Rala,  60,  64.  68,  69,  72 

Leyden,  25,  92 

Lime,  125 

Linnaeus,  25 

Lion,  23, 29 

Literature,  65,  135-139 


97,  118,  119  I  Madura,  14.  16.  17.  48,   49,  62,  64, 


Maduwa, 
Macartney,  Lord, 
Maecenas, 
Maetsuycker, 
Maggelian,  Clement, 
Magul  Poruwa, 
Maha  Hatana, 


108 

37 

141 

136 

4 

21.22 

156 

65 


Maha  Mudaliyar.  72,  81,  97,   113. 
149,  155,  159,   160 
Maha  Nayaka,  35,  37,  103 

Maha  Oya,  1,  126 

Mahara,  128 

Maha  Sen,  150 

Mahastana,  see  Wimala   Dharma 
MahaVihare,  44,  71 

Maha  Wansa,       100,  101,  117,  135 
Maha  Weli  Ganga,  114 

Mahiyangana,  70 

Malacca,  118 

Malabar,     40,  85,  96,  105,  111,  121 
Makaraddaja,  136 

Malapala,  78 

Malay,  60,  113.  131,  142,  145,  162, 

168 

Maldives,  83 

Maligawa.  44,  57, 134 

Malwana,  24, 60 

Malwatta,  65,  103,  143 

Mampitiya,  64,  68,  86 

Manar,  2,  10, 16,  77 ,  82,  139,  142, 

153,  194 

Manioc,  151 

Maniratna.  137 

Maniyagar,  15, 16,  21 

Mantota,  3 

Mapane,  Don  Gaspar  Nalla,  140 


INDEX 


177 


Maradana, 

Marawila,  151 

Marriage,  5,  6,  33,  70,  75,  87,    88, 

91,  94,  104,   128.    133.   154.    156 

Mascarenhas,  Don  Philippe,       40 

Mask,  39 

Matale,  22,  118,  121 

Matara,  1,  2,  22,  26,  30,  37,  39,  50, 

59,  60,  76,  77,  79,  81-91,  102,  105, 

113,   115,  136,  149,  152,  153,  155 

Mattamagoda  Chetty,  31 

Mayoral,  80 

Mecklenburg,  132 

Medal,  30, 72,  84,    126,    127,   143, 

148 
Medicine,  25,  61,  65,  87,  136,  150 
Megadhuta,  138 

Mendis,  Anthony,  21 

Mendis,  Andris,   Mudaliyar,    147 
Merchant,  2,  100 

Merit,  66,  117,  134,  135 

Mestico,  33,  75,  87,  91 

Meuron,  de,  145,  146,  153,  159,  165, 

167,  168 
Meyden,  Van  der,  12,  14 

Mint,  4 

Mitrigala,  85 

Mogul,  Great,  64 

Mohammedan,  91,   103,   123,   128, 

131 
Mohottala,    see    Mohottiar 

Mohotti  Appuhami,    see  Ban- 

daranayaka. 
Mohottiar,  18,  21,  33,  44,  111 

Moladanda  Rala,  104 

Monopoly,  see  Trade 
Moor,  6,  52.  54,  68,  82,  86,  112.  123. 

134 
Moratota,  136 

Moratuwa,  126,  130 

Morgen,  126 

Moyaart,  Anthony,  117 

Mudaliyar,  4,  22,  31,  47,  50,   78-81 

104,  127-129,  135,   149,    153,   156 
Muhandiram,  44,  80,  128 

Mukkuwa,  91,  123 

Mulgirigala,  36,  37,  131 


127  !  Mullativu,  54,  140 

Munessarani,  145 

Munkotluwe  Rala,  136 

Musali,  3,  69 

Music,  71 

Muttetu,  40,  78 

Mutwal,  167 

Mutturaja  Wela,  125,149 

Nadukattusarai  Nayaker,  69 


Nagalagama, 

Nagapatnam, 

Nagel,  Lieut, 

Nalalpata, 

Nambukara, 

Nanayakkara, 


143 

4,  140,  163 

139,  140 

133 

130 

89,  130 


Narendra,     Sinha,  Sri  Wira,  49, 

52-65 
Narenappa  Nayaker,     64,  68,  69, 

96,  104 

Naturai  History,  72 

Navadun  Korale,  70 

Navaratna,  (Don  Laurens 

Madere  de  Basto,  Maha 

Mudlrd.  before    1699)   30,    34, 

35,36 

(Don  Simon  Wijayasun- 
dera  Mudlr)  61 

Nawab,  see  Carnatic 
Nayaker,    see  Madura 
Nedimale,  126 

Neduntivu,  51 

Negombo,  2,  13,  14,  68,  75,  80,    82, 
91,  92,  126,  127,    130,     142,    166 
Nella  Nachchi,  131 

Neri,  St.  Filippe,  66 

Net,  124 

Netherlands,  49,  54, 140,  161 


Nilakobo  Sandesaya, 

Nilambe, 

Nilapala, 

Nilwala  Ganga, 

Nimeguen, 

Nindagama, 

Notary, 

Nurenberg, 

Nuwara  Kalawaya, 

Oliveira,  de. 


138 

10 
78 

150 
25 
70 

133 
47 

153 
56 


23 


178 


INDEX 


Opium,  30 

Orange,       see  William 

Orphan,  2, 57 

Ordinance,     see  Justice 

Ostenberg,  Fort, 

Overbeek,  Govr., 

Paduwo, 

Painting, 

Palanquin, 

Pali, 

Palingupana  Rala, 

Pallebeddegama, 

Pallegampaha, 

Palansena, 

Palm  leaf, 

Palmyra, 

Pamben, 

Panadura, 

Panangamam, 

Panditaratna,  90,  (Philip  Philipsz 

Wijayakon,  b.  1686) 

Paper, 

Papus, 

Parakrama  Bahu, 

Parasol, 

Paraveni, 

Parawa, 

Parchment, 

Parra,  Pedrus  Albertus 
Vander 

Pas  Betal, 

Pasdun  Korale, 

Patangatyn, 

Pata  Rata, 

Pattiye  Bandar,-, 


140,  162 

149, 151 

151 

66 

53,89 

65,  134 

104,  134 

138 

68,  109 

92 

81 

41,  125 

49,  122 

140,  149 

7,  139 


81 
82 
70 

101 

78 

14,  16, 

121 

107 

167 

80,  85 

16 

8,  26  44,  64 

52,  53 

Pearl,  13,  22.  24,  38,  52,  55,  82,    83 
*^^     '  138,  139,  144 

Pedro.  Pt.  10 

Pegu,  66 

Pehidun,  129 

Peliyagoda.  60 
Pepper.    75,  85.  120,  123,  148,    151 

Perahera,  10.  28,  70 

Percival.Capt.  Robert,  166 

Persia.  24.  47,  110 

Pettah,  ^^ 


Philip,  Don,  24 

Philip  of  Spain,  166 

Philipsz,  Henricus,  90, 121 
Physician,    see    Medicine 

Pielat,  Jacob     Christian,  56-59, 

84,  90,  149. 
Pilima  Talauwa,  104,  145,  162 

Pindapatika,  65 

Pinhao,  Simao,  70 

Pin  Wattoru,  66 

Pipe,  101 

Pitfall,  103 

Pitigal  Korale,  25 

Pitti  Nayaker,  62 

Plague,  72 
Plakat,     see  Justice. 

Plantain,  39, 52 

Poddalgoda,  53 
Poetry,  see  Literature 

Poison,  18, 27, 

Polatu  Oya,  149 

Polaya,  59. 84 
Policy,    see  Company. 

Polygar,  64 

Polonnaruwa,  70 

Pondicherri  159 

Poodle,  100 

Population,  3,  156 
Port,    see  Trade 

Portuguese,  2,  7,  9,  10,  12,  14,  20, 

21,  26,  28,  29,  33,  37,  38,  40,   42. 

46,  47,  50,  65,  66.   70,  74,  77,   85, 

87,  89.    93,   103,   105.    154,   168 

Potstili,      see  Arrack. 

Potter,  131 

Poya  Maluwa,  103 

Predicant,  ^ 

Priest,    see  Buddhism 

Prmtmg,  ?,* 

Proctor,  '° 
Protestant,    see  Christianity 

Puliyantivu.  124 

Punaryn,  ^ 
Punchi  Appuhami,        26,  81,  136 

Pusti,  '^^ 


INDEX 


179 


Puttalam,  8,  38,  44,  54,  57,  63,  68, 
73.91.   92,    112,   113,    119,   123. 

124,    142 

Pybus,  108-111.  138,  141 

Pyl,    Laurens,        25,  29-38,  41,  43 

Queen  of  Raja  Sinha,    11,  17,  27 

Wimala  Dharma,  47 

Narendra  Sinha,      47,  62,  121 

Sri  Wijaya,  64,  68,  69 

Kirti  Sri,  69,  96,  115,  138 

Raad  van  Justitie,    see  Justice 

Rainer,  Commodore,  162 

Raja   Adhiraja    Sinha,   136,    138, 

141,  145 

Raja  Sinha,  7,  9-12,  17-32,    37,  43, 

45,  53.  65,  100,   102,  121 

of  Sitawaka.  70,  157 

Rajakariya,  123 

Raket.  143 

Rama  Nayaka,  96 

Rambukwele  Unnanse,  134 

Rameswaram,  14,  165 

Rammalaka  Rala,  52,  53,  56 

Ramnad,  14,   122 

Ran  Awuda,  110 

Ranchu,  8,  123,  128 

Ran  Doliya,  27,  141 

Rasputin,  67 

Rata  Sabhawa,  123 

Rattan,  129 

Raymond,  Colonel,  168 

Rebellion.  57,  59,  61,  103 

Reformed,     see  Christianity. 
Rein,  Martin,  114,  117 

Relipalan,  110 

Renigade,  24,  26 

Revenue,     55,  72,  82,  122,  153,  154 
Rhee,  Thomas  van,  38,  45 

Rheede,  Henrik  van,    15,   31,  35, 

38. 

Rice,  2,  3,  13,  25,  43,  50,  51,  56,  75, 

81,  124,  140,  144,  145,    149,   151, 

155 
Ridi  Vihare,  135 

Ring,  18 

Road,  42,  166 

Roman,    see  Christianity, 


Rosewater,  52 

Rum,  153 

Rumpf,  Augustin,  54,  55,  83 

Ruwan  Ella,  12,  13,  21 

Russian,  67 

Rymers,  142 

Sabaragamuwa,  1,  12,  14,  22,  64, 

119,  128,  144 

Sack.  128 

Safframado,  130 

Salpiti  Korale,  60,  126 

Sali  ella,  137 

Salsete,  66 

Salt,                  39,  51,  124,  139,  145 

Saltpetre,  118 

Samanakkody,  68,  103 

Samanala  Kanda,  28,  48,  70 

Samanera,  65 

Samantakuta,    see  Samanala. 

Samarajiwa  Lekama,  137 

Samarang,  118 

Samarasinha,    Daniel  Alwis,  126, 

I  127 

1  Sangha  Raja,    71,    103,   116,  135- 
i  138 

1  Sannas,  34, 35,  81 

j  Sanskrit,  65 

Saram,  Lewis  de,  see  Wijaya  Sri- 
wardhana, 

Anthonan  de,  Wirasinha 
Sriwardhana,  b.  circ  1685, 
d.  circ  1752,  81 

Lienderam   de,    Wijayasinha 

see  Karunaratna 
Johannes  de,  Wijayasekera, 
see  Abyaratna 
Saranankara,    see  Buddhism, 

Sangha  Raja 
Sara  Sangrahaya,  65 

Saraswati,  137 

Scholarchal  Commission,    see 

Education. 
School,  59,  133 

Schreuder,  Jan,  73,  74,   76,  79,  81- 
86,96-104,    108,    122,     125,   143, 

169 
Seminary,    see  Education 


180 


INDEX 


Senkadagala,  11,  18,    27,   57,   108,     Tampalagamam, 


Seven  Ports, 
Seventeen,  The, 
Shark, 
Shoe, 


114,  134 

14 

90 

83 

109 


Siam,  69,  71,  72,  103,  135 

Silk,  4 

Silver,  115,  127 

Simons,  Cornelis  Joan,  46,  47,  49, 

87 

Sinhale,  8,  9,  10,  19, 82,  84 

Sinhalese,  42-50,  60-63,  70,   72,  80, 

87,    96-100,    105,    106,     123-130, 

145,  154-157 

Sitawaka,  1,  17,  24,    70,  117,   146, 

157 

Sittinamaluwe  Dhammajoti,    136 

Siyambalape,  148 

Siyane  Korale,    24,  57,  60,  68,  69, 

85,  113,  148 


3,  43,  83,  89,  98 

109 

145,  150 

50,  68,  122.  123 

51 


Slave, 
Slipper, 
Small  Pox, 
Smuggling, 
Sowing  Master, 

Spain,  140 

Spice,  128 

Sparenryk,  107 
Sripada,     see  Samanala. 

Sri  Rahul  a,  72 

Stadtholder,  161 

Stamp,  129 
Statute,     see  Justice. 

Stocking,  131 

Stuart,  Colonel,  162-168 

Style,  18 

Suffren,  Admiral,  141-143 

Sugar,  152 

Surveyor.  104.  125 

Swede,  25 

Swiss,  122 
Sword,     18,  32,  33,  49.  58,  62,  105, 

110,  127 

Talavinna,  53 

Tamankaduwa,  124 
Tamil,  see  Jaffna 


Tanayama, 

Tanjore, 

Tank, 

Tavalam, 

Tavern, 

Tea, 

Tennakon,   22—24,    26,    102,   105, 

136 

Teuton,  2,  4,  6,  32 

Thamotharampillai,  122 

Thesawalame,  see  Justice 


150 
108,  109,  111 
139 
2,  42,  43 
7,124 
20,  29,  87 
47 


Thever, 

Tibbattuwawa, 

Tilakaratna, 

Timber, 

Tippu  Sultan, 

Title, 

Tobacco, 

Toddy, 


14,  49,  122 

103,  135 

136 

98,  129 

144 

79 

4,  82,  123,  166 

82,  87 


Tombo,  51,  77,  79,  93,  102,  105 

Tooth  Relic,  44,  57,  72,  115, 

116,  134 
Toppu,  92 

Torture,  12,  56,  58 

Trade,        8,  9,  11,  15,   16,   44,   48, 

55,  56.  57,  63,  67,  68,  86,  112,  120, 

122.  151,  157 

Travancore,  144 

Treaty,      9,  119,  121,  144,  163 

Trincomalee,   2,  12,  19,   43,  63,  69, 

71.  75,  120,  124,    140,    143,    159, 

161,  162 
Trumpet, 
Tumpane, 
Tuppas, 
Tutucorin, 
Tythe. 

Udagampahe, 
Udapalata, 
Udasiya  Pattuwa, 
Udawatukele, 
Udugoda, 
Udumale  Devi, 
Udupenkarai. 
Uliyam, 
Umbrella, 


128 
65 
75,  142 
U,  16,  61,  144 
7,  39,  125 
68 
18 
53 
52 
52 
62 
123 
112,  124,  151 
43 


INDEX 


181 


Unambuwe  Bandara,  62 

Upali  Maha  Thero.  71 

Upasampadawa,  71 

Uppu  Aru,  125 

Utrecht.  90.  119 

Vaitilingam  Chetty.  152 

Vandenberg,  Francois,  28 

Varnham,  Richard,  28 

Vaz,  Joseph,  66 

Veddah,  7, 53 

Venloos  Bay,  113 

Verghonce,  29 

Versluys,  56, 85 

Vervyk,  John,  152 


Vidane, 
Vuyst,  Petrus, 
Wadegai, 
Walawe  Ganga, 


21,  79,  123.  128 

55,  56 

62 

1,2 


Wanni,    1,  7,  22,  24.    41,  54,    69, 
88.   113,   123,   139,  140,  152,   164 

Warana,  131 

Wasala,  130 

Washerman,  107,  130 

Watubadda,  59,  60 

Wax,  120 

Weaving,  4,  15,  124 

Weke,  80 

Wehelle,  136 

Weligama,  34 

Well,  3 

Weliwita.  65 


Wellala, 

4,  41,  42,  131,  133 

Weragampita, 

138 

Weuda, 

.  114 

Wheat, 

128 

Wheel, 

58 

Whip. 

128 

Wig, 

56 

Wijayapala, 

22 

Wijaya  Raja  Sinha,  62—69 

Wijaya  Sriwardhana,  72,  90 

Wijayo,  62 

Wijayawardhana,  Don  Simon,  51, 

84,  105 
Wikeliya,  26 

Wikramasinha  Mudlr.,  166 

William,  Fort,  144 

William,  of  Orange,  19 

Wimala  Dharma  Suriya,     10,    12, 

33-48 
Wine,  29 

Winter,  Sir  Edward,  10,  13 

Wisinawaya,  117 

Wizard,  22 

Wolfs,  Johannes  Christophel,  132, 

133 
Wolvendahl,  33,  48,  93 

Wurtemberg,  159 

Yakada  Doliya,  27,  62,  96 

Yakdessa,  53 

Zoysa,  Dines  de,  147,  148 


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