"No. 51. -—1900.] CEYLON HISTORY, 1630. 



127 



Ceylan* that Ambrosio de Freitas did not get on with 

 ■Constantino de Sa e Noronha, and (about the end of 1624 

 apparently) sent in his resignation, which was accepted by 

 the Viceroy, the Captain-General undertaking the late 

 official's duties in addition to his own. The King, however, 

 did not approve of this arrangement, and ordered Ambrosio 

 Freitas to resume his office ; but this he does not seem to 

 have done until 1630, t the same year in which his report, 

 given below, was written ; and the fatal year, also, in which 

 Constantino de Sa and the flower of the Portuguese forces 

 in Ceylon were betrayed, defeated, and massacred in Uva. 

 Ambrosio de Freitas did not remain much longer in Ceylon ; 

 for in a royal letter to the Viceroy, dated February 4, 1634, 

 he is referred to as having been appointed for three years 

 to the important post of Secretary of India, and a letter from 

 him, dated December 25, 1634, is acknowledged, in which 

 he asks for payment of the sums owing to him when he was 

 ■vedor da fazenda in Ceylon. With regard to his report, I 

 may add that, writing on March 27, 1631, the King says 

 that he has seen the Viceroy's reply to his letter of 

 January 25, 1629 ; and orders him to write to the vicars and 

 parish priests of the villages referred to, enjoining on them 

 not to illtreat their parishioners. In another letter, dated 

 March 20, 1632, the King again refers to the laxity in religion 

 amongst native converts and excesses of officials in Ceylon, 

 resulting in the hindrance of the faith and insurrections 

 such as that in which Constantino de Sa was killed. On 

 January 7, 1634, the King acknowledges a letter from the 

 Viceroy, dated October 7, 1632, stating that the possessors 

 of villages did not hinder the natives from becoming Chris- 

 tians, but that those converted became like slaves of the 

 parish priests, who in the name of doctrine kept them con- 

 tinually employed in their private service, and the donees 

 of villages lost them, being without labourers. For this state 



* See C. A. S. JL, vol. XL, pp. 569, 591. — D. F. 

 t See 0. A. S. Jl., vol. XI., p. 541. — D. F. 



