MODEEN HISTORY. 



[Part VI. 



A.D. 



1505. 



A.D. 



1517. 



namon and elephants. Their owners, alarmed for their 

 own safety, attempted to deceive liim by the assertion 

 that Galle was the residence of Dharma Praki\ama IX., 

 the king of Ceylon, under whose protection they pro- 

 fessed to be trading ; and by whom, they further assured 

 liim, they were authorised to propose a treaty of peace 

 and commerce with the Portuguese, and to comphment 

 their Commander, by a royal gift of foiu" hundi^ed bahars 

 of cinnamon. They even conducted Payo de Souza, the 

 Heutenant of Almeyda, to an inter\'iew with a native who 

 personated the Singhalese monarch, and who promised 

 him permission to erect a factory at Colombo. Don Lo- 

 renzo, though aware of the deception, found it prudent to 

 dissemble ; and again put to sea after erecting a stone- 

 cross at Point de Galle, to record the event of his ar- 

 rival.^ 



Twelve years elapsed before the Portuguese again 

 visited Ceylon. In the interim, their ascendancy in India 

 had been secured by the captm^e of Ormuz, the fortifica- 

 tion of Goa, the erection of forts at various places in 

 Malabar, and the conquest of the spice country of Ma- 

 lacca. Midway between thek extreme settlements, the 

 harbours of Ceylon rendered the island a place of im- 

 portance^ ; and at length, in 1517, Lopo Soarez de 

 Albergaria appeared in person before Colombo, with a 

 flotilla of seventeen sail, and with materials and work- 

 men for the erection of a factory in conformity with 

 the promise alleged to have been made by the king 

 to Don Lorenzo de Almeyda, in 1505, and afterwards 



^ Dk Baeeos, dec. i. lib. x. ch. v. 

 Aol. i. pt. ii. p. 425 ; De Corio, dec. 

 V. lib. i. cb. T. vol. ii. pt. i. p. 58 ; San 

 Romano, lib. i. cb. xviii. p. lOG. 

 Camoens, in a passage in tbe Lu- 

 siacl, implies tbat tbe Portuguese 

 came provided witb tbese columns, 

 "padraos," to be erected in com- 

 memoration of tbeir expected dis- 

 coveries. 



" Hum padrao nesta tprra alevant &mos 

 Que para assipna ar lusa rs taes 

 Trazia alguns," &c. Canto v, st. 78. 



"^ Tbe importance of Ceylon, both 

 for tbe facility and security of Por- 

 tuguese commerce in India, bas been 

 ably discussed by Ratnal in bis 

 Histoirc des Estahlissementset du Com- 

 merce des Euroi)cens dans Ics Indcs, 

 V. i. cb. XV. vol. i. p. 160. 



