1. The Portuguese came to Colombo, to obtain water and firewood. On the instructions of the Muslims, the people in Colombo started to harass them. The Portuguese knew that the Muslims were behind this and started firing shots from their cannon. This scared the people and they retreated. In the meantime, the king of Kotte got to know of the arrival of the Portuguese.

2. 'Rajavaliya' records this in the following manner. " In our Colombo harbour, some white-skinned, handsome people, dressed in metal jackets and metal headgear are constantly walking up and down. They eat some small white stones and drink blood. They pay us two to three silver or gold coins for just one lime. The sound that comes from their cannon, is worse than the noise of thunder that comes from the 'Sugandhara' mountain. The cannon balls shot from these cannons go for miles and come down crushing even stone."

3. In this description, the reference to stone and blood is really bread, currants, arrack and wine, which they consumed. As soon as the king heard this he convened his council of ministers.They started talking about these strangers. All agreed to meet the new white people.

4. The king sent a team of envoys, with gifts to the Portuguese. That was by way of welcoming the
newcomers to the country. Lorenzo de Almeida was simply thrilled to receive the king's envoys and he
treated them well. Along with these envoys, he sent one of his ambassadors to see the king. This
ambassador was Fernado Kutram.

5. Kotte was a city, not far from Colombo. The envoys of Kotte did not want the Portuguese to come to know about the closeness of the city, as it would be dangerous. So they took the Portuguese ambassador through a mountainous and rugged circuitous route.

In short, they took the Portuguese ambassador for three days to reach Kotte. But it wasn't an easy task to deceive these foreigners, who had left the city of Lisbon, crossed the seas and had arrived in India.

6. Don Lorenzo de Almeida kept a few of the king's men as security, till the return of the Portuguese
ambassador. He got the cannon to be fired every hour. When Kutram the ambassador heard the sound of the cannon, he understood that he was being taken through a circuitous route. But he knew it meant no danger for him and so he was not frightened.

7. Even after the Portuguese ambassador reached the palace, he heard the gun shots. He realized that the sound came from a place not so far away. However, he did not want to talk about it. He only spoke about why he was there.

Acting according to the orders of his naval commander, he offered his due respects to the king. He asked whether the king would like to enter into a treaty with them. He did not get a chance to see the king personally. All the negotiations were done with the ministers. He only got to know about the king's consent for an agreement.

8. After all this, Kutram returned in a procession, where there were even elephants. He took the king's message back. Lorenzo de Almeida did not much like the agreement entered into without meeting the king. So he ordered Payo de Souza to go and meet the king and then enter into a proper treaty.