NO. 50.— 1899.] LETTER TO RAJA SINHA II. 



35 



Text, 



Conde sobrinho am , — Eu el Rey vos envio muito saudar 

 como aquelle que m°. amo. Em companhia desta carta se 

 vos dara5 duas para os reys da Candia e Maca^a,* e porque 

 convem muito, segundo as inf ormagoens que tenho, ganhar 

 o de Candia, vos encomando que em comp a . da sua carta lhe 

 mandey de minha parte hum presente qual vos parega que 

 convem, e procurareis q t0 . vos for possivel conservar a ame- 

 tadef deste rey. — Escrita em Lisboa a 18 de Margo de 

 1652.— Rey. 



Translation. 



Friend, Count, and Nephew, — I, the king, send you all 

 greetings as one whom I greatly love. Together with this 

 letter will be given you two for the kings of Candia and 

 Macaga ; and as it is very important, according to the 

 information that I have, to gain him of Candia, I enjoin 

 upon you that with his letter you send him on my behalf a 

 present such as shall appear to you suitable, and you shall 

 seek as much as is possible to you to preserve the friendship 

 of this king.— Written in Lisbon, the 18th of March, 1652.— 

 The King. 



That the letter and present were ever sent to Raja Sinha, 

 is more than doubtful ; for shortly after the arrival of the 

 new Viceroy in India the Portuguese soldiers in Ceylon 

 mutinied, imprisoned the Captain-General Mascarenhas 

 Homem and his supporters, and elected as their commander 

 Gaspar Figueira de Cerpe, who immediately entered upon a 

 vigorous campaign against the King of Kandy, in which the 

 latter suffered a succession of disastrous defeats, which so 

 enraged him that not until after Colombo had fallen, in 

 May, 1656, and when he found that the Dutch were not 

 prepared to accede to his wishes with regard to that city, did 

 he show any signs of favour towards the Portuguese.^ 



4. The following Paper was read by the author : — 



* Macassar. — D. W. F. 



t A copyist's blunder for amizade." — D. W. F. 



% See Ribeiro, Fatal Hist., Book II., chapter XVII. et seq.-^—D. W. F. 



D 2 



