Short notes

by Gerrit de Heere, Governor of the Island of Ceylon, on the chief points raised in these Instructions of Commandeur Hendrick Zwaardecroon, for the guidance of the Opperkoopman Mr. Ryklof de Bitter, Second in authority and Dessave of the Commandement, and the other members of the Political Council of Jaffnapatam. Where the notes contradict the Instructions the orders conveyed by the former are to be followed. In other respects the Instructions must be observed, as approved by Their Excellencies the Governor-General and the Council of India.

Alias.

Don Philip Nellamapane and Don Gaspar Ilengenarenne, for the Provinces of—

Pannegamo 17

Pelleallacoelan 2

Poedicoerie-irpoe 2

—— 21

Don Diogo Poevenelle Mapane, for the Provinces of—

Carrecattemoele 7

Meelpattoe 5

—— 12

Don Amblewannar, for the Province of—

Carnamelpattoe 4

Don Chedoega Welemapane, for the Province of—

Tinnemerwaddoe 2

Don Peria Meynaar, for the Province of—

Moeliawalle 3½

Total 42½

The accumulated arrears from the years 1680 to 1694, of which they were discharged, amounted to 333½ elephants. From that time up to the present day the arrears have again accumulated to 86¾ alias, namely:—

Alias.

Don Philip Nellamapane 57½

Don Diogo Poevenelle Mapane 23

Peria Meynaar Oediaar 4¾

Chedoega Welemapane 1½

Total 86¾

The result proves that all the honour and favours shown to these people do not induce them to pay up their tribute; but on the contrary, as has been shown in the annexed Memoir, they allow them to go on increasing. This is the reason I would not suffer the indignity of requesting payment from them, but told them seriously that this would be superfluous in the case of men of their eminence; which they, however, entirely ignored. I then exhorted them in the most serious terms to pay up their dues, saying that I would personally come within a year to see whether they had done so. As this was also disregarded, I dismissed them. Don Philip Nellamapane and Don Gaspar Ilengenarenne, who owed 57½ alias, made the excuse that these arrears were caused by the bad terms on which they were with each other, and asked that I would dissociate them, so that each could pay his own tribute. I agreed that they should arrange with the Dessave about the different lands, writing down on ola the arrangements made, and submitting them to me for approval; but as I have heard no more about the matter up to the present day, I fear that they only raised these difficulties to make believe that they were unable to pay, and to try to get the Company again to discharge them from the delivery of their tribute of 21 elephants for next year. It would perhaps be better to do this than to be continually fooled by these people. But you have all seen how tremblingly they appeared before me (no doubt owing to a bad conscience), and how they followed the palanquin of the Dessave like boys, all in order to obtain more favourable conditions; but I see no reason why they should not pay, and think they must be urged to do so. They have promised however to pay up their arrears as soon as possible, so that we will have to wait and see; while Don Diogo Poevenelle Mapane also has to deliver his 23 alias. In compliance with the orders from Colombo of May 11, 1696, Don Philip Nellamapane will be allowed to sell one elephant yearly to the Moors, on the understanding that he had delivered his tribute, and not otherwise; while the sale must be in agreement with the orders of Their Excellencies at Batavia, contained in their letter of November 13, 1683. The other Provinces, Carnamelpattoe, Tinnemerwaddoe, and Moeliawalle are doing fairly well, and the tribute for these has been paid; although it is rather small and consists only of 9½ alias (elephants), which the Wannias there, however, deliver regularly, or at least do not take very long in doing so. Perhaps they could furnish more elephants in lieu of the tithes of the harvest, and it would not matter if the whole of it were paid in this way, because this amount could be made up for by supplies from the lands of Colombo, Galle, and Matara, or a larger quantity could be ordered overland.

That the Master of the Hunt, Don Gasper Nitchenchen Aderayen, should, as if he were a sovereign, have put to death a Lascoreen and a hunter under the old Don Gaspar on his own responsibility, is a matter which will result in very bad consequences; but I have heard rumours to the effect that it was not his work, but his father’s (Don Philip Nellamapane). With regard to these people Your Honours must observe the Instructions of Mr. Zwaardecroon, and their further actions must be watched; because of their conspiracies with the Veddas, in one of which the brother of Cottapulle Odiaar is said to have been killed. Time does not permit it, otherwise I would myself hold an inquiry.

Elephants.

For 1690 4

1691–92 6

1692–93 5

1693–94 16

1694–95 13

Total 44

During the last two years he did not deliver a single animal, so that the Company lost on account of this Master of the Hunt, 131 elephants. He only appropriated the tithes of the harvest, and did not care in the least about the hunt, so that the Company is even prevented from obtaining what it would have received by the old method; and, I must say, I do not understand how these privileges have been granted so long where they are so clearly against the interest of the Company, besides being the source of unlawful usurpation practised over the inhabitants, which is directly against the said deeds of gift. The elephant hunters have repeatedly applied to be relieved of their authority and to be allowed to serve again under the Company. For these reasons, as Your Honour is aware, I have considered it necessary for the service of the Company to provisionally appoint the sergeant Albert Hendriksz, who, through his long residence in these Provinces, has gained a great deal of experience, Adigar over Ponneryn; which was done at the request of the elephant hunters. He will continue the capture of elephants with the hunters without regard to the Master of the Hunt, and Your Honour must give him all the assistance required, because the hunt has been greatly neglected. Your Honour may allow both the Don Gaspars to draw the tithes of the harvest until our authorities at Batavia will have disposed of this matter.

As the Manaar chanks are not in demand in Bengal, we have kept here a quantity of 36½ Couren of different kinds, intending to sell in the usual commercial way to the Bengal merchants here present; but they did not care to take it, and said plainly that the chanks were not of the required size or colour; they must therefore be sent to Colombo by the first opportunity, to be sent on to Bengal next year to be sold at any price, as this will be better than having them lying here useless.

Herein is not included the Fl. 167.15 which again has been paid to the weavers Tandua Moeti and Naga Chitty on account of the Company for the delivery of Salampoeris, while materials have been issued to them later on. It is not with my approval that these poor people continue to be employed in the weaving of cloth, because the Salampoeris which I have seen is so inferior a quality and uneven that I doubt whether the Company will make any profit on it; especially if the people should get into arrears again as usual on account of the thread and cash issued to them. I have an idea that I read in one of the letters from Batavia, which, however, is not to be found here at the Secretariate, that Their Excellencies forbid the making of the gingams spoken of by Mr. Zwaardecroon, as there was no profit to be made on these, but I am not quite sure, and will look for the letter in Colombo, and inform Their Excellencies at Batavia of this matter. Meantime, Your Honours must continue the old practice as long as it does not act prejudicially to the Company. At present their debt is 2,448.13 guilders, from which I think it would be best to discharge them, and no advance should be given to them in future, nor should they be employed in the weaving of cloth for the Company. I do not think they need be sent out of the country on account of their idolatry on their being discharged from their debt; because I am sure that most of the natives who have been baptized are more heathen than Christian, which would be proved on proper investigation. Besides, there are still so many other heathen, as, for instance, the Brahmin Timmerza and his large number of followers, about whom nothing is said, and who also openly practise idolatry and greatly exercise their influence to aid the vagabonds (land-loopers) dependent on him, much to the prejudice of Christianity. I think, therefore, that it is a matter of indifference whether these people remain or not, the more so as the inhabitants of Jaffnapatam are known to be a perverse and stiff-necked generation, for whom we can only pray that God in His mercy will graciously enlighten their understanding and bless the means employed for their instruction to their conversion and knowledge of their salvation.

It is to be hoped that the debt of the dyers, amounting to 8,539.6 guilders, may yet be recovered by vigilance according to the instructions.

I wish the deficiencies outside the fort could be remedied as well as those within it. The principal defect is that the moat serves as yet very little as a safeguard, and it seems as if there is no hope of its being possible to dig it sufficiently deep, considering that experiments have been made with large numbers of labourers and yet the work has advanced but little. When His Excellency the Honourable the Commissioner van Mydregt was in Jaffnapatam in 1690, he had this work continued for four or five weeks by a large number of people, but he had to give it up, and left no instructions as far as is known. The chief difficulty is the very hard and large rocks enclosed in the coral stone, which cannot be broken by any instrument and have to be blasted. This could be successfully done in the upper part, but lower down beneath the water level the gunpowder cannot be made to take fire. As this is such an important work, I think orders should be obtained from Batavia to carry on this work during the dry season when the water is lowest; because at that time also the people are not engaged in the cultivation of fields, so that a large number of labourers could be obtained. The blasting of the rocks was not undertaken at first for fear of damage to the fortifications, but as the moat has been dug at a distance of 10 roods from the wall, it may be 6 or 7 roods wide and a space would yet remain of 3 or 4 roods. This, in my opinion, would be the only effectual way of completing the work, provision being made against the rushing in of the water, while a sufficient number of tools, such as shovels, spades, &c., must be kept at hand for the breaking of the coral stones. It would be well for the maintenance of the proper depth to cover both the outer and inner walls with coral stone, as otherwise this work would be perfectly useless.

With regard to the high grounds northward and southward of the town, this is not very considerable, and thus not a source of much danger. I admit, however, that it would be better if they were somewhat lower, but the surface is so large that I fear it would involve a great deal of labour and expenditure. In case this were necessary, it would be just as important that the whole row of buildings right opposite the fort in the town should be broken down. I do not see the great necessity for either, while moreover, the soil consists of sand and stone, which is not easily dug. With regard to the horse stables and the carpenters’ yard just outside the gate of the Castle, enclosed by a wall, the river, and the moat of the Castle, which is deepest in that place (although I did not see much water in it), I think it would have been better if they had been placed elsewhere; but yet I do not think they are very dangerous to the fort, especially as that corner can be protected from the points Hollandia and Gelria; while, moreover, the roof of the stable and the walls towards the fort could be broken down on the approach of an enemy; for, surely no one could come near without being observed. As these buildings have been only newly erected, they will have to be used, in compliance with the orders from Batavia.

Thus far as to my advice with regard to this fort; but I do not mean to oppose the proposals of the Commandeur. I will only state here that I found the moat of unequal breadth, and in some places only half as wide as it ought to be, of which no mention is made here. In some places also it is not sufficiently deep to turn the water by banks or keep it four or five feet high by water-mills. Even if this were so, I do not think the water could be retained on account of the sandy and stony soil, especially as there are several low levels near by. Supposing even that it were possible, the first thing an enemy would do would be to direct a few shots of the canon towards the sluices, and thus make them useless. I would therefore recommend that, if possible, the moat be deepened so far during the south-west monsoon that it would be on a level with the river, by which four or six feet of water would always stand in it. With regard to the sowing of thorns, I fear that during the dry season they would be quite parched and easily take fire. This proposal shows how little the work at the moat has really advanced, in fact, when I saw it it was dry and overgrown with grass. So long as the fort is not surrounded by a moat, I cannot see the necessity for a drawbridge, but the Honourable the Government of India will dispose of this matter. Meantime I have had many improvements made, which I hope will gain the approval of Their Excellencies.