No. 60. — 1908.] cotjto : history of ceylon. 



125 



father's 1 , who favoured them in every way : so much so, that he 

 gave them a large piece of ground, and everything needful for 

 building a church, and houses for them to dwell in. There 

 they commenced to till that unfruitful and sterile soil, which 

 Yielded no other fruit but thistles and thorns of abominable 

 idolatries, sowing in their place the seed of life. And finding 

 disposition in the king to invite him to the marriage supper of 

 the Lord, they sounded him, conversing with him on matters 

 of our faith and law, showing him clearly the truth thereof 

 and the blindness and falsity of his idols ; and so much did 

 they succeed in softening him, that they conquered him, not 

 however so far as to receive baptism, because he had great 

 fear that his people would kill him 2 . And the fathers, not 

 wishing that sheep to perish from want, persuaded him to 

 write to the governor 3 of the wish that he had, and to beg him 

 for a captain with men to help him against his people, if they 

 should attempt any commotion on a change of the law. One 

 of those fathers went with his letter, and arrived at Goa a few 

 days after the triumphal procession of the governor Dom 

 Joao de Castro 4 . And having had an interview with him, 

 and given him an account of everything, when he had read 

 the letter, and understood from it the desire of that heathen 

 king, he did not wish to lose such a good opportunity ; be- 

 cause he knew that the chief spices and the richest gems that 

 the kings of Portugal sought for in this conquest of the East 

 were souls for heaven 5 . And moved thereto also by his 

 good zeal, he brought forward this matter in council, and 

 it was there resolved that they should send him a captain 

 with two hundred men to pass the winter and stay with 

 that king, until they had secured him in the faith and in his 

 kingdom. 



1 This should be " mother's " (see Rdjdv. 72, 75, for the connection). 



2 The Mahdvansa and the Rdjdvaliya are entirely silent regarding 

 the king's disposition towards Christianity. 



3 D. Joao de Castro (1545-8). 



4 This procession took place on 21 April 1547 (see Whiteway 314) : 

 it was to celebrate the relief of Dm. Correa (see C. Lit Reg. iii. 246), 

 by an extraordinary blunder, attributes the " conversion " of the king 

 of Kandy to Xavier. 



5 According to Freire de Andrade, in 1546 King D. Joao III. had sent 

 his viceroy in India a long letter impressing upon him the importance 

 of the conversion of the heathen, and ordering harsh measures for those 

 who would not become Christians ; but the authenticity of this letter 

 seems extremely doubtful (see J. Freire de Andrade's Vida de D. Joao 

 de Castro, edited by D. Fr. Francisco de S. Luiz, 51-8, 372-6). 



