316 



JOURNAL, B.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIX. 



September ;* for on the 25th of that month King Manuel wrote 

 letters^ to Pope Julius II. and the college of cardinals at 

 Rome announcing Dom Lourenco's " discovery " of Ceylon 

 and his victory over the Calicut fleet, J as also the " discovery," 

 by Tristao da Cunha and his companions, of another (and 

 far larger) island, to wit, that of Madagascar.§ 



The very fact of the king's writing to the pope and car- 

 dinals regarding the " discovery " of Ceylon argues the im- 

 portance he attached thereto ; and it is interesting to know 

 that on St. Thomas's day, 21 December 1507, a solemn 

 procession was made in Rome to celebrate the event (see 

 B 6), when the famous Frei Egidio de Viterbo, prelate -general 



* From the title of the collection of summaries quoted in a previous 

 note we know that Cide Barbudo arrived in Lisbon after Antonio de 

 Saldanha ; and as we also know (see note below) that the latter reached 

 Portugal in August 1507, we may safely conclude that the former's 

 arrival was in September. 



| See infra, B 3, B 4. 



% These two events, the news of which was brought by Cide Barbudo, 

 are the ones first related in his letter by Dom Manuel, the " discovery " 

 of Ceylon taking the first place as the most important. 



§ There appears to be some uncertainty as to when and by whom 

 Madagascar was discovered. According to Correa (i. 153) the first 

 Portuguese who sighted and landed on the island was Diogo Dias, one 

 of the captains of the fleet of 1500 under Lopo Cabral ; and he it was, 

 says Correa, who gave it the name of Sao Lourenco, on account of first 

 sighting it on St. Lawrence's day (12 August). Cor. also records 

 (i. 418) that Diogo Fernandes Peteira, one of the captains in the fleet of 



1503 under Antonio de Saldanha, wintered in a port in the island in 



1504 on his way to India. These statements are, however, not corro- 

 borated by the other historians ; and it is generally believed that, as 

 mentioned above, Fernao Soares, on his homeward voyage in 1506, was 

 the first European to discover and land on Madagascar (in February, 

 according to Cast. ii. c. xxi.), though he was then unaware of its identity 

 (c/. Hans Mayr's account in Bol. deSoc.deGeog. de Lisboa, 17ser., 1898-9, 

 p. 367). It was the chance landfall at a port in the south of Madagas- 

 car of Rui Pereira, one of Tristao da Cunha's captains, that led that 

 famous navigator, against Albuquerque's wishes, to go and " discover " 

 the island, an expedition that reflects disgrace on all concerned in it (see 

 details in Com. of Af. Dalh. i. 26-33, Cartas i. 1-4, and Whiteway's 

 sarcastic description in Rise of Port. Power in India 113). It was after 

 the disastrous failure of this enterprise, and on their return to Mocam- 

 bique in February 1507, that Tristao da Cunha and Albuquerque 

 found Joao da Nova under the circumstances I have mentioned already. 



