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



335 



aliquando orbem existimatum, 2 quatuor dierum nauigatione 

 tantum ab oppidis nostris distantem, 3 sed etiam in intima 

 Arabici et Persici sinuuiii littora ac terras 



1 This letter is undated, but, as its contents are based on in- 

 formation brought by Fernao Soares, who returned to Lisbon on 22 May 

 1506, it was probably written within a few days of that date. The 

 extract here given is taken from the version of the letter printed in 

 Rome, 7 November 1506, under the title Gesta proxime per Portu- 

 galenses in India : Ethiopia : et aliis orinetalibus [sic] terris. The letter 

 describes the voyage of D. Francisco de Ahneida in 1505 — operations 

 on the African coast, erection of forts at Anjadiva and Cananor, 

 reception of envoys from the king of Narsinga, arrival at Cochin, 

 expedition against Coulam : and then, near the end, comes the passage 

 quoted above. 



2 Cf. B 3. 



3 Cf. A 21. 



A 23. 



Report of Lunar do da Cha Masser. 1 



[? June or July 1506.] 



In Silan are produced cinnamon, and rubies, and sapphires, 

 jacinths, and Syriam garnets 2 : the which Silan is an island ; 

 and its king is heathen ; its money is of silver, and is called 

 fanemini,* which are worth 72 to the ducat. Moreover the said 

 Portuguese have done a good trade in this place. 4 



1 This is printed in Archivio Storico Italiano, Appendice, ii. 13-48. 

 The writer was a secret agent of the Venetian republic, who had been 

 sent to Portugal to gain all the information he could regarding the 

 operations of the Portuguese in India. He arrived in Lisbon on 3 Octo- 

 ber 1504, and remained there until the summer of 1506. His report is 

 a valuable document, and describes briefly the first nine voyages of 

 the Portuguese to the East, giving also many details of the Indian 

 trade, &c. The document is undated, but must have been written 

 about June or July 1506. 



2 In original " granate suriane," which should mean " Syrian gar- 

 nets ;" but as the garnets of Syriam, in Pegu, are famous for their 

 beauty, I have translated the word thus. 



3 See Hobson-Jobson s.v. " Fanam." 



4 The original is : " Pur in questo loco hanno avuto recapito detti 

 Portughesi." What exactly the writer meant I do not know ; but 

 the Portuguese had not been to Ceylon when the ships that reached 

 Lisbon in 1506 left India. 



A 24. 



Report regarding the East Indies by Vincenzo Quirini. 1 

 [1506.] 



In which island of Anzidua 2 the Portuguese have 



recently built a fortress very well supplied with everything in 

 order to be able to receive the ships, and to be the permanent 



