NO. 50. — 1899,] ANTIQUARIAN DISCOVERY. 



25 



stone cannot be properly called a padrao because it has not the shape 

 of a pillar. But the essential part of the padrao is not the shape, but 

 the fact of its containing the coat of arms, the cross, and the date, for 

 Vierya further explains padrao as " a monument, a memorial for after 

 ages, a pillar, &c, raised in memory of some famous action." Nor is it 

 historically true that Don Lourenco landed in Ceylon accidentally, for 

 he was purposely sent by his father, the Yiceroy of India, to discover 

 the Island of Ceylon.* Don Lourenco was sent to Ceylon for three 

 purposes : to discover the ships of the Moors, to obtain cinnamon, and 

 to conclude a treaty of peace and friendship with the King of Ceylon. 

 For carrying out this last object Don Lourenco sent to the King of 

 Ceylon an ambassador, Payo de Souza, who was accompanied by the 

 Secretary, Diogo Velho, and Fernao Cotrim and other persons, and 

 though this embassy was partly unsuccessful through the trick of the 

 Moors, yet we read (from Extract G) that Don Lourenco thought 

 himself justified in setting up thepadrao, a term applied by De Barros 

 himself to the one set up by Don Lourenco : — " Metteo hum padrao 

 de pedra em hum penedo " (p. 425), and again, " Onde achou que o 

 nossa padrao estava ja chamuscado de fogo," p. 429. 



The only difficulty is the puzzle as to why we have the date 1501 

 instead of the date 1 505, which was the date of Lourenco's visit to 

 Ceylon, according to both De Barros and Yalentyn, who says, " Don 

 Lourenco came to Ceylon in 1505, and was the first Portuguese who 

 came there." On mature consideration the difficulty disappears, for 

 1501 was the actual date of the discovery of Ceylon by the Portuguese. 

 Ceylon was first known to the Portuguese in 1501. It is not mentioned 

 earlier than 1501 in the long accounts of De Barros of the voyage of 

 Vasco de Gama. It was in 1501 that Pedro Alvares Cabral, while at 

 Cochin, first heard of Ceylon, for he saw a vessel from Ceylon with 

 elephants and heard of another from Ceylon laden with spices in 1501 

 (Extract D). It was in 1501 that a treaty of commerce between the 

 Portuguese and the King of Ceylon was made by Pedro Alvares 

 Cabral. It was in 1501, after the return of this Captain to Lisbon, 

 that King Don Manual of Portugal solemnly took the title of Lord of 

 Navigation, Conquest, and Commerce in Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and 

 India. For these reasons I conclude that the date 1501 was inscribed 

 upon the stone by Gonzalo Gonzalves deliberately to mark the date of 

 the first discovery of Ceylon, and not the date of Don Lourenco's 

 visit. Had Don Lourenco ordered the date 1505 to be inscribed as the 

 date of discovery, that would have been an historical mistake, for the 

 order of King Don John II. was that the time of discovery be 

 inscribed on the padrao. 



* O Viso-Rey como soube parte deste novo caminho que elles faziam, 



e assi da Ilha Ceilao, onde elles carregavam de canella e ter des 



cuberto aquelle Ilha, e assi as de Maldiva, determininon mandar seu 



filhoD. Lourenco a este negocio. Be Barros. Dec. I, lib. X. cap. V., p. 424. 



