166 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. XX. 



que nad podes haver, dd-o por tua alma " 1 . So this king, seeing 

 that he could not get what was due to him out of the hands of 

 the governors who succeeded down to Mathias d'Alboquerque, 

 bestowed liberal favours upon those that asked him 2 , which 

 were paid by means of secret agreements, which all had for 

 that purpose, — a very great injustice, much in use in India, nofr 

 to pay men for the money, the foist, the provisions, the coir, 

 and all the rest that is got for the fleet, but to pay others, with 

 whom they have agreed for the third part. But leaving this 

 matter, and others from which we derive little satisfaction, 

 let us return to our subject. The king continued to press the 

 governors and viceroys for his dues, without being able to get 

 them out of their hands, until the year 1558, when Francisco 

 Barreto being governor, and seeing how that king worried 

 him, brought the matter into court, after the king's proctor 

 had presented a libel against that king : by the judges it was 

 decided, that the king [of Portugal] was not under obligation to 

 pay him anything, because the state had spent much more on 

 fleets than he had sent in the way of help 3 . 



This decision appears to have been disapproved of by the 

 king Dom Filippe when he succeeded to the realms of Portugal, 



1 Literally, " The Moor that you cannot get, give for your soul." 



2 Of. infra, p. 241. 



3 In the Arch. Port. -Or. v. (No. 206) is printed an alvard issued at 

 Goa on 3 January 1558, by the Governor Francisco Barreto, which runs : 

 — " The Governor of India, etc. I do to wit all who shall see this my 

 alvard and whom it may concern that inasmuch as I am informed that 

 the king Dom Johao king of Ceilao on account of importunities and 

 untrue statements grants favours to many men without their deserving 

 it, and for just considerations that move me thereto, I think fit and com- 

 mand that henceforward no Portuguese person or any other person of 

 any quality or condition whatsoever receive from the said king any 

 favour of money that may be payable to him from the money that our 

 lord the king has to give to the said king of Ceilao , and may order to 

 be given and paid to him, nor likewise shah they sell him merchandise 

 or anything else in order to get payment from the said money, under 

 pain that whoever shall act contrary shall not have the said favour nor 

 the price of what he shall thus sell him, and shall lose the things that he 

 shall sell, and in addition he shall be given the punishment that I shall 

 think fit. I notify thus to all the judges, magistrates, officers, and 

 persons to whom this shall be shown, and command them thus to com- 

 ply with it and cause it to be complied with without any doubt or hin- 

 drance. x\nd this shall be proclaimed in Ceilao, and shall be registered 

 in the exchequer, so that it shall be notorious to all, the which shall 

 be valid though it may not pass through the court of chancery. The 

 secretary Quintino Martins did it in Goa the 3rd of January 1558/ 

 Francisco Barreto.'" 



