206 



journal, r;a.s. (ceylon). 



[Vol. XX. 



had to Cota, where was the king, with whom he discussed the 

 matters of the war. And learning that Madune was in the 

 tranqueira of Mapitigao 1 on the Calane river, he proceeded, 

 with all his forces and those of the king, to station himself on 

 the opposite bank, and continued the war, making assaults on 

 the enemy, in which he caused them much loss, and not 

 without some on our side, because there were also some 

 wounded. 



Thus this war continued, being so troublesome, dangerous, 

 and toilsome, and above all Dom Jorge so indefatigable 

 and so impatient with the soldiers, that they began to desert 

 him a few at a time and return to Cota. This fidalgo was a 

 very good knight, as we have several times said, but so hasty 

 and choleric, that he was held by all as very ill to brook ; and 

 besides this he was so vain, that he highly commended some 

 soldiers who addressed him as " your lordship," and said 

 that the courtesy looked very well. In connection with this 

 there is told a good story of a soldier named Antonio Nicolas , 

 a good horseman, who happened to be in his time in these Ceilao 

 wars : the viceroy Dom Constantino being in Cochim this 

 summer that is coming in due time, after the return from 

 Ja^anapatao (of which we shall presently give an account 

 further on 2 ), this Antonio Nicolas went to his galley to ask 

 some favour of him, and it happened to be at the time that 

 Dom Jorge Baroche was with him ; and the soldier in talking 

 to the viceroy on various matters, addressed him always as 

 "merce" 3 ; and referring to Dom Jorge as a witness to his 

 services, he said to the viceroy : " Here is his lordship," 

 pointing to Dom Jorge, " who knows this very well, and saw 

 me fight " : which highly amused the viceroy, because he already 

 knew about his acts of vanity and his nature. During the 

 war he uttered many very witty quips , some of which we have 

 related in the Sixth Decade 4 , and we must now not omit one 

 that was very neat ; it was as follows : — When he was sailing 

 as captain of a galley, going after certain paraos, it being the 

 breakfast hour, a soldier asked the steward for an onion ; 

 and Dom Jorge hearing him replied with much anger : " What 

 is this , soldier ? Do you ask for luxuries on my galley ? There 



1 Mapitigama, on the right bank of the Kelani river, south-east of 

 Malvana (c/. supra, p. 99, note 4 ). 



2 That is, of the events of the " summer " in which the return from 

 Jaffna took place. The incident here recorded occurred probably in 

 February 1561. 



3 Vossa merce is the ordinary polite term in Portuguese addressed to 

 persons of all classes. 



4 See VI. v. vi. and vii. 



