No. 59. — 1907.] PORTUGUESE IN CEYLON. 287 



A third misstatement of Tennent's is contained in the 

 opening sentence of the paragraph that immediately follows 

 that given above, describing the landing of Dom Lourenco, viz. , 

 "Twelve years • elapsed before the Portuguese again visited 

 Ceylon." 



The inaccuracy of Tennent's conclusions on both points, 

 viz., the notoriety of Ceylon cinnamon at the beginning of the 

 sixteenth century, and the intercourse of the Portuguese with 

 Ceylon between 1506 and 1518, is abundantly demonstrated 

 by the extracts given in Appendices A and C respectively. 



The earliest accounts of Ceylon written after Vasco da 

 Gama's pioneer voyage are remarkable for the variety of spell- 

 ings of the name of the island and the differing estimates of the 

 distance at which the latter lay from Calicut. But they nearly 

 all agree in attributing to Ceylon the production of elephants, 

 gems, and the finest cinnamon. " Then," I hear the shade of 

 Tennent say, "the conduct of the Portuguese becomes still 

 more inexplicable. If they knew that the finest cinnamon was 

 produced only in Ceylon, why did they not go thither and 

 load their ships with the more costly spice rather than with 

 the cheaper pepper ? " Well, there were several very good 

 reasons why the Portuguese acted as they did. In the first 

 place, it must be remembered that, though they came 

 to the East professedly as peaceful traders, on finding the 

 hated ' ' Moors " in possession of the bulk of the Eastern sea-borne 

 trade, they set to work to oust them, not by competition, but 

 by the strong hand, piracy and brutal massacre being con- 

 sidered matters for self-gratulation on the part of their com- 

 manders. Naturally then, with their small fleets and limited 

 forces, they had to extend the field of their operations gradually. 

 In the second place, as will be seen from some of the extracts 

 I give, the Portuguese ships were able to get supplies of 

 cinnamon at Calicut and Cochin, brought thither by native 

 vessels from Ceylon. But the main reason is to be found in 

 the statement of Albuquerque in his letter of 4 November 

 1510, quoted below, viz., "The pepper supplies the loadings 

 of the ships ; all the rest of the other goods is superfluity." 

 One has only to consider for a moment the relative importance 

 pf the two spices as articles of consumption to understand why 



