No. 36.— 1888.] 



CAPTAIN JOAO EIBEIRO. 



269 



and that it appears to him that what contributes most to its 

 goodness is that the Chingalas ' gather it before it is perfectly 

 ripe.' 



" In Book I., chap. XXII., Ribeiro says that 'the diver, as 

 soon as he rises [from the bottom of the sea] to the cham- 

 pana, is at liberty, until he who is at the bottom of the sea 

 ascends, to open with a knife as many oysters as he can, and 

 whatever he finds therein is his.' The translator says that ' if 

 the diver, during the time that he is Below the water, can 

 open an oyster and finds a pearl, it is his.' 



" We omit many other passages, and do not notice frequent 

 less serious errors, as, for example, Villa-ponga for Villa- 

 pouca, Gonde de Aveiro for Conde de Aveiras, Francisco 

 de Asiloca 1 for Francisco da Silva, fifteen hundred (quinze 

 cens) for five hundred, &c. 



" What has been said is more than enough to show that we 

 have not yet, at least, a translation of the work of Joao 

 Ribeiro, and that the Academy has done a real service, both 

 to literature in general and specially to Portuguese literature, 

 in publishing the work of a writer who, beside the truth 

 and sincerity which are evident in his manner of Avriting, 

 relates what he saw, observed, and heard from the natives 

 of Ceylon during the 16 \_sic] years that he lived there, 

 regarding the natural products of the Island ; the customs, 

 rites, religious opinions, and civil life of its inhabitants ; the 

 form of its government ; the possessions which we had 

 there ; the rights which our Kings obtained there ; and 

 finally, the manner and means by which we lost the Island, 

 and it passed into the power of the Hollanders, &c." 



The reference to Ribeiro's work made by Diogo Barbosa 

 Machado (Bibl. Lnsit, 1747, vol. II., p. 734) mentioned above 

 is as follows : — " load Eibei/ro, Captain in the Island of 

 Ceylon, which he described as an eyewitness in a clear and 

 truthful style in the year 1685. Fatalidade, &c. MS., 4to. It 

 consists of 2 parts ; the first has 24 chapters and the second 10. 

 It is preserved in the Library of his Excy. the Conde de 

 Castellomilhor. It was translated into French by Monsieur 

 le Grand under the following title : Histoire .... Paris, 

 1701. Trevoux, 1701." 



Barbosa Machado has also (vol. II., p. 68) the following 

 entry : — " Filippe Botelho, Priest, and native of the Island of 



1 This is hardly fair, for Le Grand corrected the error in his Errata. — D.F. 



B 2 



