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



For the debt of a prince is not wiped out by the incapacity 

 of the creditor, unless he may be in office or publicly em- 

 ployed, in which case his post should be filled up by the 

 worthiest. It is then that he has to look for personal merit. 

 The heirs only remain serving merely out of regard and 

 consideration, their substantial qualities being required for 

 the armies. 



Despondency did not take away from Constantino de Sa 

 his desire for the profession of war, and his own inclinations, 

 rather than any prospect of new aspirations or hopes, made 

 him determined to go to India. It was an extraordinary, or 

 rather a fatal resolution, for it was condemned by his rela- 

 tions and deplored by his wife and children, of whom he had 

 already four, and a fifth coming : it seemed as if the fates 

 were summoning him to " the common sepulchre of the De 

 Sas," as India was called by the knights of that race. But 

 although this was the common complaint of the nobility of 

 this kingdom, there was no doubt that numbers bearing this 

 name had died in those parts occupying great posts more for 

 glory than for wealth. 



This example Constantino de Sa was forced to folloAv 

 out of necessity, and because of the straits in which his 

 family had been placed for many years. Leaving the court 

 at last in March, 1614, he embarked for India on board 

 the ship Almiranta, in which were other noblemen, and 

 whose Captain was Paulo Rangel de Castel-Branco. But 

 leaving Lisbon late in the season (a common mistake of the 

 Government, and an old and almost irremediable error of its 

 officials, whose mistakes and carelessness caused so many 

 grave losses), they could not arrive at Goa that year ; for when 

 they reached the latitude of Socotra they had as a last 

 resource to put back to Mombaga, an island on the African 

 coast, close to the Ethiopian main. For a short time before the 

 end of this long voyage the continual tempestuous weather, 

 the want of provisions and putrefaction of the water, the con- 

 tagious diseases which are produced on these coasts, with other 

 disorders which usually accompany such disasters, might 



