No. 60. — 1908.] BARROS-COTJTO : HISTORY OF CEYLON. 59 



throne with the favour and help of the Qamorim, who had sent 

 him a great armada, whereby he held him in great straits. The 

 governor having considered these matters in council, it was 

 resolved that that king ought to be succoured with all haste : 

 for which purpose the governor dispatched the same Martim 

 Afonso de Mello 1 , with eleven 2 sail, among which was a 

 royal galley, and a galliot, and the rest rowing vessels, of 

 the captains of which we can find the names of only three 3 , 

 Thome Pirez, Duarte Mendez de Vasconcellos, and Joao 

 Coelho : the governor giving him instructions that he was to 

 cross over to Ceilao to succour that king, and from there was 



to go and winter on the coast of Choramandel, there 



embarked four hundred men 



Dec. IV., Bk. iv., Chap. x. 



This captain having left Goa 4 went and put in to the 



island of Ceilao, according to the instructions he bore, in 

 order to succour that king of Cota, who was already relieved 

 of the armada of Calecut ; because as soon as it received 

 warning of ours it at once withdrew, and Madune raised the 

 siege that he had laid to his brother. And as we give an 

 account of the cause of this war and the origin of these kings 

 further on at the beginning of the Fifth Decade, that appear- 

 ing to us a better place, we omit it now. That king of Cota 

 esteemed this succour much, and became more amenable to 

 the service of the king of Portugal, whose vassal he was. 

 Martim Afonso, having nothing more to do there, set sail, 

 and crossed the shoals to the other side , and went to winter at 

 Paleacate, 



******* 



1 Martim Affonso de Mello Jusarte, who, according to Castanheda, 

 was a relative of the governor's. 



2 Castanheda (u.s.) says " nine." 



3 Couto has evidently copied these from Castanheda, Barros gives 

 the full list. 



4 It was from Cochin, not Goa, that he had been dispatched by the 

 governor. 



