246 POINTE DE GALLE book hi
the
anchor and the rudder were in a condition to serve us. To incite the
men to work it cost three or four cases of Shiraz wine, which was
distributed to all those who assisted in removing the goods and getting
out the anchor.
Eight
days afterwards we found that we were off Pointe de Galle, and we took
in some of our sails in order to gain the port, one of the worst in all
India, on account of the rocks, which are at a level with the water in
many places.1 For this reason as soon as a vessel is sighted
at sea the Governor-General sends two pilots to direct and bring her
into port. But as both weather and sea were sufficiently favourable,
the captain and pilots, who had never been there before, not realizing
that we had passed the reefs, which they thought were nearer land, and
seeing that no pilot came to bring the vessel into port, put out to sea
again ; this caused much surprise to the Governor and the pilots, who
did not come out because they saw that we had passed the danger. The
wind then beginning to change, drove us 9 or 10 leagues out to sea, and
consequently we were two or three days beating about before we could
regain the port. If the wind had driven us a little farther to sea we
should have been obliged to go to winter at Masulipatam, in the Gulf of
Bengal. At length the pilots of Pointe de Galle came out for us, and we
entered the port and landed on the 12th of May. I immediately went to
visit the Governor Madsuere,2 who is at present General at Batavia, and he did me the honour to invite me to dine with him during my sojourn there.
I
did not find anything remarkable in this town, and scarcely anything
remains but the ruins, and mines, and the marks which the cannons made
when the Dutch besieged it and drove away the Portuguese.3
The Company gave land and sites for building to those who wished to
dwell there, and had already erected two good bastions, which command
the port. If it had accomplished the design which it then formed, it
would have made this town a fine place.
1
' In addition to being incommodious and small, [it] is obstructed by
coral rocks, reefs of which have been upreared to the surface, and
render the entrance critical to strange ships' (Tennent, Ceylon, i. 52). ' ! In the edition of 1713 he is called Masudere. [Joan Maatsuiker, Governor 1646-50].
3 In 1640. See Tennent ii. 42 ff.
