370 



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



C8. 



Commentaries of Afonso Dalboquerque iii. cap. xxx. 1 



[January (?) 1512.] 



And the ship Trindade making her way direct to Ceilam, 



in that crossing, as there were many people on board, 2 they 

 would all have perished for want of water and food if Our Lord 

 had not succoured them by means of two large Moorish ships that 

 they encountered on the voyage, bound from Qamatora and laden 

 with pepper and silk, sandalwood, and lignaloes. As soon as 

 Afonso Dalboquerque caught sight of them he gave orders to bear 

 down on them, and took them, and out of them he furnished 

 himself with provisions and water, which carried them to 

 Ceilam 8 



1 I translate from the first edition (1557). In the second edition 

 (1576) there are slight alterations in this passage, but the sense is the 

 same. 



2 For the foregoing words " And board," the 1576 ed. sub- 

 stitutes " In that crossing over to Ceilao." 



3 None of the other authorities states that after the foundering of 

 the Flor de la mar Affonso de Albuquerque, on leaving Sumatra for 

 India, called at Ceylon. Giovanni da Empoli (who accompanied 

 Albuquerque), Castanheda, Barros, and Correa, all say that Albuquer- 

 que made his first landfall at Cochin ; and as the son, in these Com- 

 mentaries, does not state that his father actually landed in Ceylon, 

 I imagine the above to mean simply that the island was sighted and 

 doubled. 



C 9. 



Letter of Affonso de Albuquerque to King Manuel. 1 



[September (?) 2 1512.] 



through this same weather 3 there was driven to land 



a ship of Adem, which had loaded cinnamon in Qeilam, and put 

 in to Batecalla 4 and there discharged ; I think that I shall have 

 all, and that it will not get past by any means. 



He * * * * * * 



but, sire, when it is winter here, it is summer on the 



coast of Choromandell, 5 and if there are westerly winds there, 

 they are along the coast, because the coast of Choromandell runs 

 north and south, and the westerly winds of India are for the most 

 part west-south-westers, the which westerly winds come overland, 

 and also the island of Qejlam and the [Maldive] islands, all of 

 which makes a shelter to the coast of Choromandell ; the easterly 

 winds of the coast are always fair winds, and at the time of the 

 easterly winds northerly winds blow along the coast of Choro- 

 mandell. 



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