440 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XL 



INTRODUCTION.* 



N this translation of the so-called Rebellion of 

 the Sinhalese against the Portuguese under the 

 I Government of Constantino de Sa y Norona, by 

 I his son Joao Rodriguez de Sa e Menezes, which 

 ended in the death of his father, — certainly one 

 I of the most gallant and devoted of the Portu- 

 guese commanders since the great Affonso d'Alboquerque, 

 — I ha^e endeavoured to adhere as closely as possible to the 

 original. But it is almost impossible to render adequately 

 into English the style of the old Spanish without appearing 

 at times constrained. The wearisome repetition of plati- 

 tudes and religious preamble in almost every chapter detracts 

 considerably from the interest of the narrative ; but much 

 can be gathered now and then, and there are at times 

 glimpses of interesting pictures which, if they had been 

 more worked out instead of digressing into sermons, the task 

 would have been far easier and much more entertaining. 



The author, Joao Rodriguez de Sa e Menezes, must have 

 been a man of no ordinary culture, and of wide liberal 

 ideas, notwithstanding his bigotry in religious matters, the 

 usual characteristic of almost all Spaniards and Portuguese 

 in those days ; he was fully aware of his countrymen's faults, 

 and speaks in bitter terms of the corruption and depravity 

 of some of the officials ; he is thoroughly sincere in his aim, 

 and has given an eloquent unvarnished account of the times 

 and the condition of the natives. 



The Portuguese had been over a hundred years in India 

 when the incidents related in this narrative occurred ; 

 corruption and dishonesty had taken the place of integrity 

 and valour ; they had been gradually weakened by long 

 intercourse with the natives, and an enervating climate 

 had given them over to licentiousness and depravity ; but, 

 like the last nicker of a candle, all their old energy seemed 

 to revive under a Commander like Constantino de Sa, who, 

 if he had been spared, might have changed the state of 

 things and rendered the task of conquest to the Dutch more 

 difficult and much more prolonged. 



* By Lieut.-Colonel H. H. St. George. — B., Hon. Sec. 



