304 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. XIX. 



son* as interpreter, left Cochin in a vessel belonging to Nine 

 Mercar,f and, keeping north of Ceylon, proceeded to the 

 port of " Cholomender," between which and Malacca there was 

 then a regular trade. J The mission was a failure, however ; 

 and, having to escape for their lives, the Portuguese took 

 refuge at " Cony mate, "§ whence they returned to Cochin on 

 8 November 1506. || 



* His name was Baltesar (see B 1, infra). In a letter from Gaspar da 

 India printed in Cartas iii. 197, and written apparently in December 

 1507, the king's favour is begged for this Baltesar, whom his father 

 describes as a young man of 28, as good a man as himself (!), and 

 acquainted with more languages. 



| See A 13, infra. He was now resident in Cochin. 



% See A 18 and B 2, infra. 



§ The editors of the Cartas put a query after this name. Gaspar da 



India describes " Conymate " as "a port on the other side of 



Cholomender, as far in advance as Ceylao," which seems to show that 

 Conimere, between Pondicherry and Madras, is meant (see Hobson- 

 Jobson s. vv. " Canhameira, Conimere ") ; though it is quite possible 

 that the place Inhere the Portuguese lay perdus was Adrampatam near 

 Point Calimere. (Cf. Bar. I. ix. i., where Conimere is called Conho- 

 meira, and Cape Calimere Canhameira, a fact that seems to have 

 been overlooked by Yule, who does not register " Calimere " in his 

 valuable book. See also Bar. IV. vm. xiii. ) 



I! This expedition and its failure are referred to by the viceroy in his 

 letter to the king of 27 December 1506, from which it appears that 

 Dom Manuel had requested or advised that Cide Barbudo should be 

 sent to Malacca. The summary (Cartas ii. 391) reads : — " Item : 

 the cause why he did not send Cyde Barbudo to Malaca, and how 

 Francisco Pereira went in the ships of the Moors, and what passed 

 in Charomondel, and how he escaped and returned. Item : that 

 Malaca must not be discovered on rounding the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and he says that there [Charomondel] will be had the things thereof 

 and cheaper, and that by that coast must go whoever shall go there." 

 The " cause why he did not send Cyde Barbudo " to Malacca does not 

 appear ; but it was probably connected with the state of affairs at 

 Sofala and the non-arrival of the cargo fleet from Portugal. As to the 

 route to be taken by the person sent to " discover " Malacca, it will 

 be seen from the document given below (A 21) that, when Dom Francisco 

 wrote this, a letter was already on its way to him from the king, in 

 which he was commanded to go in person to Malacca and erect a fortress 

 there. Why this command was not obeyed is explained by Dom 

 Francisco in his long letter to the king, written at the end of 1508,. 

 in which he says (Cor. i. 907) : — " As to your commanding me to occupy 



