When I was at the Maldives, the king of Mangalore, an idolater, once upon a time sent to the king of the Maldives a galley fully laden with rice as a present, and to renew and confirm their ancient friendship through an ambassador who accompanied the gift. The Maldive king received him well, and sent in return a present of the rarest and choicest things to be found in his kingdom.

About the same time the Hollanders were guarding Point de Galle, in the island of Ceylon (of which I shall speak more fully hereafter in its proper place), with two or three ships only, it happened that two large vessels passed there on a voyage from Achen in Sumatra, and other places in Sunda, laden with the produce of China and other countries, and were on their way to Arabia. The Hollanders soon made them lower their sails, but seeing they were not friends of the Portuguese, they received them kindly, and they were for two or three days enjoying good cheer together. The larger of the two ships was going, as they said, to Mogor, Surrate, and Cambaye, the other was going to the opposite coast. The captain of the large vessel was quite young, and a native of the Mogor country. The king of Achen had killed his father in order to acquire his wealth, for he was the richest man in all the Indies, and was called Chamy.