298 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIX. 



Anjadiva and to cruise up and down the Malabar coast in 

 order to prevent the sailing thence of any Moorish vessels with 

 spicery. After thus sending off Dom Lourenco, the viceroy 

 (says Castanheda) in February dispatched Joao da Nova and 

 Vasco Gomes de Abreu for Portugal in their ships (the Flor 

 de la mar and the S. Gabriel) , in one or other of which he loaded 

 the cinnamon brought by D. Lourenco from Ceylon, sending 

 also by Vasco Gomes as a present to King Manuel an elephant, 

 presumably from Ceylon.* That these two men sailed from 

 India for Portugal in February is confirmed by Barros (I.ix. v.) ,f 

 and that they carried cinnamon and an elephant is possible ;J 

 but these had absolutely no connection with any expedition 

 to Ceylon, none having as yet taken place. Only one of these 

 ships, the S. Gabriel, reached Portugal, at the end of 1506 or 

 beginning of 1507 ;§ the Flor de la mar was prevented by 

 storms from passing the Cape, and had to put back to Zanzibar, 



* Cor. also (see B 10, infra) mentions the sending of the elephant, 

 which, he says, was one of two brought from Ceylon by Dom Lourenco ; 

 but his statements are not to be depended upon. 



f Both Cast, and Bar. write as though their departure took place 

 in an ordinary way; but Cor. (i. 615-18) ascribes it to their dissatis- 

 faction at not being incharged with fleets to cruise at Cape Gardafu 

 and Cape Comorin respectively. I believe that Cor. is, to some extent 

 at least, correct ; for these two men had evidently gone out in the 

 expectation of being appointed to some commands at sea or on land 

 (see paragraph in Almeida's instructions, Cartas de Aff. de Alb. ii. 330). 

 In his letter of March or April 1506 (Cartas iii. 268-76), the king 

 requests that Joao da Nova be appointed captain-major of the fleet 

 to be left at Malacca, and that Vasco Gomes de Abreu succeed Manuel 

 Pacanha as captain of Anjadiva. 



J The only thing that we know they did carry was ninety quintals 

 of pepper of unknown ownership found in the fort at Cochin (see Cartas 

 ii. 396-97). 



§ I cannot find any record of the exact date (Fig. Falcao says "5 

 May 1508 " !). In a letter to the king, dated 22 December 1505, 

 Pedro Ferreira Fogaca, captain of Quiloa, mentions having sent 

 necessaries for the voyage to Vasco Gomes at Mozambique, but no 

 date is given in the summary printed in Alg. Doc. 157. However, 

 the S. Gabriel must have reached Lisbon not later than the beginning 

 of 1507, for in April of that year Vasco Gomes de Abreu sailed for 

 Sofala to assume the captaincy of that place, an honour he did not long 

 enjoy, a mysterious death soon overtaking him (see Theal's Beg. of 

 S. A. History 196-200). 



