8th we had sight of Ceylon, some eight or nine
leagues E.S.E. being in lat. 7 deg. N. At 4 p.m. we were close in with that
island, in thirteen, fifteen, and sixteen fathoms. The 1st of March, at
6 p.m. we were abreast of Columbo, the lat. of which is about 6 deg. 30' N.
[7 deg. 2']; having twenty-four and twenty-five fathoms three leagues off.
The 12th we stood in with the land, and anchored in twenty-four fathoms,
the wind being S.E. and S. I sent my boat ashore four leagues to the
north of _Punta de Galle_, and after some time a woman came to talk with
one of our Indians who was in the boat. She said we could have no
provisions: but by our desire she went to tell the men. Afterwards two
men came to us, who flatly refused to let us have any thing, alleging
that our nation had captured one of their boats; but it was the
Hollanders not the English. The 14th, in the morning, the southern point
of Ceylon, called _Tanadare_ [Dondra], bore E.S.E. of us, some five
leagues off. This point is in lat. 5 deg. 30' [5 deg. 54' N.], and is about ten
or twelve leagues E.S.E. from Punta de Galle. The 17th we were near one
of the sands mentioned by Linschoten, being two leagues from the land.
We had twenty-five fathoms water, and on the land, right opposite this
sand, is a high rock like a great tower. The land here trends E.N.E.[88]

[Footnote 88: Owing probably to careless abbreviation by Purchas, this
solitary notice is all that is given of the voyage between Dondra-head
in Ceylon and Acheen, in the north-west end of Sumatra, to which the
observation in the text seems to refer.--E.]

Sec.3. _Occurrences at Acheen, in Sumatra_.

At noon of the 12th April, 1613, we came to anchor in the road of
Acheen, in twelve fathoms, but ships may ride in ten or even eight
fathoms; the best place in which to ride being to the eastward of the
castle, and off the river mouth. I landed the merchants on the 13th; but
the king did not come to town till the 15th, when he sent me his _chop_
or licence to land, which was brought by an eunuch, accompanied by the
_Xabander_ and six or eight more, to whom I gave 120 _mam_. I landed
along with them, and two hours afterwards the king sent me a present of
some provisions, I having sent him on my landing a present of _two
pieces_;[89] the custom being to make the king some small present on
landing, in return for which he sends several dishes of meat.

[Footnote 89: These _pieces_, so often mentioned in the ear