Page:First Voyage Round the World.djvu/194

 of sugar, using gold spoons made like ours. In the place in which we passed the two nights there were two candles of white wax always burning, placed on high chandeliers of silver, and two oil lamps with four wicks each. Two men kept watch there to take care of them. The next morning we came upon the same elephants to the sea shore, where there were two prahus ready, in which we were taken back to the ships.

This city is entirely built on foundations in the salt water, except the houses of the king and some of the princes: it contains twenty-five thousand fires or families. The houses are all of wood, placed on great piles to raise them high up. When the tide rises the women go in boats through the city selling provisions and necessaries. In front of the king's house there is a wall made of great bricks, with barbicans like forts, upon which were fifty-six bombards of metal, and six of iron. They fired many shots from them during the two days that we passed in the city.

The king to whom we presented ourselves is a Moor, and is named Raja Siripada: he is about forty years of age, and is rather corpulent. No one serves him except ladies who are the daughters of the chiefs. No one speaks to him except by means of the blow-pipe as has been described above. He has ten scribes, who write down his affairs on thin bark of trees, and are called chiritoles. He never goes out of his house except to go hunting.

On Monday, the 29th of July, we saw coming towards us more than a hundred prahus, divided into three squadrons, and as many tungulis, which are their smaller kind of boats. At this sight, and fearing treachery, we hurriedly set sail,