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



377 



6 This refers to Albuquerque's projected expedition, which was 

 frustrated by his illness and death (see Com. of Af. Dalb. iv. 130 et seq.). 



7 Ram. corrects to " Mecca." Cf. Albuquerque's statement in C 10. 



8 The Maldives (see A 21, note 5 ). 



9 Ram. has " Zeila," but evidently Ceylon is meant. 



10 This statement is interesting, but I cannot substantiate the 

 truth of it. In his expedition to Malacca in 1511 Albuquerque did 

 not touch at Ceylon, nor on his disastrous voyage back in 1512 does 

 he appear to have landed on the island (see C 8, note 3 ). If, therefore, 

 Corsali is correct in his statement of Albuquerque's intentions, the 

 Fates had ordained that he should never set foot in Ceylon. 



C21. 



Couto IV. vi. vii. 

 [1515.] 



From there [Ormuz] we 1 went to India ; and the king 2 



(whom God keep), being cognizant of my good services, sent me 

 the offer of Ormuz or Ceilao, whichever I chose, which did not 

 take effect on account of my being in the kingdom, because I left 

 there in the year that Lopo Soarez went to India 3 



1 The speaker is Lopo Vaz de Sampaio, governor of India 1526-9, 

 who, having been sent home a prisoner, after an incarceration of two 

 years was brought before King Joao II. to make his defence and have 

 sentence passed upon him (see Rise of Port. Power in India 211). The 

 passage here quoted is from his lengthy speech in his defence : he is 

 speaking of the time when he accompanied Albuquerque on his last 

 expedition in 1515. 



2 Dom Manuel (died 1521). 



3 That is, in 1515. He must therefore have left India in one 

 of the homeward-bound ships at the end of that year, though the 

 fact is mentioned by none of the historians. The king's offer to him 

 of the captaincy of Ormuz or Ceylon must have been sent by the fleet 

 of 1516, and so crossed him on the way. In both cases the offer was 

 a prospective one : for the fortress at Ormuz was finished only at the 

 end of 1515, and the one at Columbo was not built by Lopo Soares 

 until the end of 1518 (see C 24, C 25, C 26). 



C 22. 



Description of the Coast of East Africa and Malabar, by Duarte 

 Barbosa. 1 



[1516 ?] 



Island of Ceylam. 



Leaving the islands of Mahaldiva further on towards the east, 

 where the cape of Comory is doubled, at thirty-eight leagues from 

 the cape itself, there is a very large and beautiful island which 

 the Moors, Arabs, Persians, and our people 2 call Ceylam, and the 



