376 



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



C 20. 



Letter of Andrea Corsali to Juliano de Medici. 1 



[6 January 1515.] 



Near to Curumandel, anciently called Messoli, is another 



country called Paliacatti, also anciently known as Salaceni : 

 where is found a great quantity of gems of every sort, which come 

 partly from Pegu where are produced the rubies, and partly from 

 an island that lies over against the Cape of Commeri which is 

 called Seilon, 2 in the latitude on the south side of six degrees and 

 on the north towards the Gangetic Gulf of eight degrees. Here is 

 produced the greater quantity and more kinds of gems than in all 

 the rest of India, such as perfect sapphires, rubies, spinels, balasses, 

 topazes, jacinths, chrysolites, catseyes which are held in great 

 estimation by the Moors, and garnets. They say that the king 

 of this island has two rubies of such a colour and so lustrous that 

 they are like a flame of fire, and though they call them by another 

 name, I reckon them to be carbuncles 3 ; and this sort are rarely 

 found. Here also is gathered the cinnamon, which is carried by 

 ship to every part. It has a great quantity of elephants, which 

 are sold to divers merchants of India when they are small in order 

 to be domesticated ; and they are accustomed to sell them at so 

 much the span, the price increasing with every span according to 

 the size of the elephant. This island was not located by Ptolemy, 



whom I find deficient in many particulars He placed 



Traprobana wrongly, as can be judged by Y. H. from the sailing 

 chart that Don Michele 4 the king's orator 5 brought to Rome. 



In India at present there are four thousand Portuguese 



men, and within a month nine thousand are leaving Ormuz first 

 for the strait of the Red Sea, 6 in order that the ships may not be 

 able to go to Mure a 7 ; then they are going south to the islands 

 that are twelve thousand in number 8 to capture all the ships 

 that sail without a pass ; and then to the island of Sala 9 and 

 to Curummandel. 10 



1 This letter was written from " Concain terra de India," the 

 writer (a Florentine) being there in the Portuguese service ; and was 

 printed in Florence in 1516. Ramusio reprinted it, with numerous 

 alterations, in the first volume of his Navigationi (1550). 



2 " Zeilan " in Ram. 



3 Cf. Castanheda's statement in note 21 to C 22. The earliest 

 editions of Spilbergen's voyage contain a plate showing (natural size) 

 " the great carbuncle or ruby brought by the General Spilbergen 

 from Celon " (in 1602), — a gift from the king of Kandy, apparently. 

 It was probably a spinel ruby. 



4 Ram. inserts " di Selva." 



5 That is, ambassador (see B 6, note 3 ). Dom Miguel da Silva 

 went to Rome as ambassador for Portugal in August 1514, and con- 

 tinued to hold that office until July 1525, when he returned to Portugal, 

 the king conferring upon him the bishopric of Vizeu (see Corpo Diplo- 

 matic Portuguez i. 267, ii. 242-46, 264). The "sailing chart" referred 

 to by Corsali may be the tracing sent by Albuquerque to King Manuel, 

 taken from a large Javanese chart which was lost in the Flor de la mar 

 (see Cartas i. 64, Port. Capt. in Canton 3 n.). 



