TRINCOMALEE', a sea-port t. and magnificent harbor on the n.e. coast of Ceylon, in :8° 34' n., and 81° 12' east., The town is built on a bold peninsula, which divides the inner and outward harbors. It is a place of great antiquity, but its ancient renown was due more to religious than political or geographical considerations, for it was here that the Malabar invaders of Ceylon built one of their most sacred shrines—the " Temple of a Thousand Columns," to which pilgrims flocked from all parts of India. This cele brated shrine was demolished by the Portuguese, who fortified the heights with the materials derived from its destruction, 1622 A.D. It was next held by the Dutch; but in 1672. during the rupture between Louis XIV. and the 'United Provinces, the French took Trincomalee, which was abandoned by the Dutch in a panic. In 1782 the French admiral, in the absence of the British commander, took possession of the fort, and the English garrison retired to Madras. It was restored to the Dutch the following year, and they retained it until the capture of Ceylon by the British in 1795. The modern
town is in no way remarkable, and, with the exception of the official buildings, makes a poor appearance. There are Hindu temples in barbarous taste, and religious festivals and processions to which a similar epithet may be applied. The bay of Trincomalee is land-locked, and presents a scene of tranquil beauty; its fine expanse of water is still as an inland lake, and equally sheltered. " On comparing this magnificent bay," says sir J. E. Tennent, "with the open and unsheltered roadstead of Colombo, and the danger ous and incommodious harbor of Galle, it excites an emotion of surprise and regret that any other than Trincomalee should have been selected as the seat of government and the commercial capital of Ceylon. As a harbor, Trincomalee is renowned for its extent and security; but its peculiar superiority over every other in the Indian seas consists in its perfect accessibility to every description of craft in every variation of weather." The mean temperature for the year at Trincomalee is 81°.4. Pop. about 15,000.