each of which had nine wheels.  Added to all which he had nearly 500 craft of different kinds.  Before proceeding upon this expedition, he deemed it proper to consult the idols respecting its success; and on this occasion he secretly placed men behind the idols, who answered to his supplications for a favourable termination to his great design, If you, would take Columbo you must shed innocent blood! The people were astonished at this familiar and direct intercourse between their idols and their prince; and he, pretending obedience to the divine commands which they had all heard, caused 500 children to be taken from the arms of their mothers, all of whom were sacrificed, and the idols sprinkled with their blood.

After all his preparations were completed, he marched with his prodigious army and invested Columbo, choosing the ground which he deemed most advantageous, as the garrison was not sufficiently strong to contend with him in the field.  Joam de Britto, who then commanded in Columbo, had sent intimation of his danger to the other Portuguese possessions, and had arranged every thing for defence as well as he could.  To defend the place against the vast army by which he was now assailed, he had only 300 Portuguese, a third of whom were useless, as being old men or children; besides whom he had 700 armed natives and slaves.  This incompetent force he posted to the best advantage around the walls, which were far too extensive, reserving 50 picked men to attend upon himself to give relief wherever it was most needed.  After the commencement of the siege, Raju spent a whole month in draining a lake which secured one side of Columbo from being assailed, and as the Portuguese had several boats on the lake, there were frequent skirmishes in which the enemy suffered considerable loss.  The side of the fort which had been covered by the lake was much weakened by the drawing off its water, which had been its chief defence on that side.  In consequence of the advices sent by Brito to the commanders of the neighbouring forts, reinforcements were prepared at different quarters.  The first relief, consisting of 40 men, was sent by Juan de Melo the commander of Manaar, under the command of his nephew Ferdinand de Melo, who likewise brought a supply of ammunition; and Ferdinand was posted with his men to strengthen the defence upon the side towards the drained lake.

On the 4th of August before day-light [406], Raju advanced in silence to give the first assault, but was discovered by the lighted matches of his musqueteers.  The enemy applied their scaling ladders at the same time to the three bastions of St Michael, St Gonzalo, and St Francisco, while 2000 pioneers fell to work below to undermine the works.  Many of the assailants were thrown down from their ladders on the heads of the workmen employed below, while numbers of the enemy who were drawn up in the field before the town were destroyed by the cannons from the walls.  Everywhere