Though Not
Mentioned By De Faria, It Appears That The Siege Was Now Raised; As At A
Subsequent Period, After The Natives Had Reduced Almost The Whole Of The
Island, The Kings Of Candy, Uva, And Matale Again Laid Siege To Columbo
With An Army Of 20,000 Men.
At this time five ships came from Goa to
carry off the cinnamon to Portugal, on which the enemy raised the siege,
believing these ships had come to relieve and reinforce the garrison.
The viceroy now appointed Don George de Almeyda to the command in
Ceylon, who sailed from Goa for that place on the 19th of February 1631,
in the great galley taken by Botello when he destroyed the fleet of
Acheen: But encountering a storm off Cape Comorin, the galley was ready
to founder, on which Almeyda took to the boat with 29 persons, and
reached one of the Maldive islands after four days of incredible
distress. Going over from thence to Cochin, he received a reinforcement
of some Portuguese troops, with 500 kafrs and 800 Canarin lascars, and a
supply of money, ammunition, and provisions. Having raised some more men
at Cochin, Almeyda sailed again for Ceylon, where he arrived on the 21st
October 1631, and landed at Columbo. He marched immediately against the
enemy, though then the rainy season, and was soon forced to desist, as
the country was mostly overflowed, and at this season the trees swarm
with _leeches_, which drop down upon the men as they pass, and bleed
them to death.
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