2-701-137 - Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images

The Murder of Mr. Koster by the Cingalese', Ceylon (Sri Lanka): battle between Negumbo tribesmen & Dutch troops of Don Philippo Mascarenas, from 'Beschreibung der Ost-Indischen Kusten Malabar und Coromandel... als auch der Insel Zeylon...', pub. 1672 (engraving). A True and Exact Description of the most celebrated East-India Coasts of Malabar and Coromandel and also of the Isle of Ceylon; Father Philippus Baldaeus (1632-1672) was a missionary and representative of the Dutch East India Company in Ceylon for 10 years; The image depicts a passage from the book that briefly recounts the fate of Commodore William Jacob Koster, who, after claiming an area known as the Gale 'by storm', was 'treacherously murder'd by some of Raja's People', along with four of his Guards.