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



289 



the profit possible out of the products of those countries.* 

 A year later we shall find the king urging on his viceroy a 

 still more ambitious scheme regarding Ceylon ; but we must 

 now follow Almeida to India, and see how he fulfilled his 

 instruction to " discover Ceylam."f 



On 25 March 1505, D. Francisco de Almeida set sail 

 from Belem for India with the largest fleet that had yet left 

 Portugal for the East. It consisted of some twentyf vessels 

 large and small, bearing some fifteen hundred men of arms, 

 among whom were many fidalgos, as well as several hundred 

 sailors, gunners, &c. Some of these vessels were to return 

 to Portugal the following year with the cargoes of spices ; 

 but the larger number, chiefly the caravels and smaller ships, 

 were intended to act as a defensive (and offensive) fleet in 

 Indian waters. The names of the captains, and of their 



* See A 19. I shall return to this important document later on. 



f It may be as well to say here, in view of certain foolish objections 

 that have been raised by writers on Ceylon to the Portuguese claim 

 to have " discovered " the famous island, that the verb " discover " 

 was used in this connection in the sense of " to bring into fuller know- 

 ledge, to explore," and not in that of "to obtain sight or knowledge of 

 (something previously unknown) for the first time " (see New Eng. 

 Diet. s.v. " Discover," senses 8 and 9). 



% Barros says 22 ( 1 2 to return with spices) , but names only 20 captains. 

 Castanheda says 15 ships and 6 caravels, but also names only 20 cap- 

 tains. Correa says 8 large cargo ships, 6 small ships, and 6 caravels, 

 but names 21 captains. The Relagdo das Ndos (quoted in Com. of 

 Af. Dalb. ii. xxix.-xxxi.) says 14 ships and 6 caravels; but in one 

 list names 22 captains, and in another 20. Figueiredo Falcao enumer- 

 ates 21 captains ; but he mixes up this fleet with the following one, 

 and his numbers are all wrong. Couto (X. i. xvi.) says 21 ships, of 

 which 6 were caravels to remain in India. Hans Mayr (who was factor 

 on the S. Rafael) says 20 sail, viz., 14 ships and 6 caravels ; while 

 Balthazar Sprenger (who was factor on the Lionarda) says " naves 

 xxx.," this number perhaps being an error for " xx." Leonardo Ca' 

 Masser says that Dom Francisco was in command of 30 sail great and 

 small, one of which, the Nuncid, was lost at the mouth of the Tagus ; 

 but when he comes to enumerate the different kinds of vessels in the 

 fleet he says that there were 14 ships of from 1,000 to 300 bote (tons), 

 71 {sic, for 7 ?) caravels of from 200 to 150 bote, and 7 other caravels 

 of from 80 to 100 bote. It is probable that these last two writers have 

 included the six ships under Pero da Nhaya, which were to have 

 accompanied D. Francisco's armada as far as Sofala, but were prevented 

 at the last moment by the sinking of the Sant-Iago (see Barros I. ix. vi.). 



