334 



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



[Vol. XX. 



the 4th of September he set sail 1 : the captains who accom- 

 panied him were Dom Bernardo Coutinho, Dom Luis Mas- 

 carenhas, Gaspar de Carvalho de Menezes, Vasco de Carvalho, 

 Afonso Ferreira da Silva, and the same Belchior Nogueira. 

 They carried in these ships 250 men ; and without stopping 

 for anything they went pursuing their way, to whom we shall 

 presently return 2 . 



The viceroy went making great haste with the galleon that 

 was to carry provisions to Ceilao 3 , and collecting food, muni- 

 tions, and money to send thither; and presently, on the 12th 

 of September, there anchored at the bar of Goa four ships of 

 the five that left the kingdom in March past, 



The viceroy DomDuarte, seeing what the king commanded 

 him on that matter 4 , considered it in council with the officers 

 of revenue ; and the business having been debated, incon- 

 veniences were pointed out in the way of interfering with the 

 mines just then, the principal being, the small capital that the 

 king then had, and the need in which the state was because of 

 the sieges of Ceilao and Malaca, by the succours of which it was 

 so indebted, that the viceroy was engaged in asking money of 

 the peoples of India, and other things that we leave for a 

 future occasion. And the chief ensign replied to the king on 

 that matter, that he -would be very happy to order in due 

 season an alteration in the affairs of those fortresses, and that 

 the redemptions should be placed to the account of his revenue, 

 for which he was quite ready, because he held him for a king 

 so Catholic, and of such justice, that he would not deny it to 

 him when he required it of him : and so those things remained 

 for the present without interfering with them, because the 

 viceroy had respect for the chief ensign, who was a fidalgo of 

 merits, and was in the middle of his time of service. And as 

 every day there came urgent messages from the siege of 

 Columbo, the viceroy, desiring to have a resolution on these 

 things, assembled the captains in council, and read the letters to 

 them, and set forth the needs and straits in which that fortress 



1 Linschoten says (ii. 196-7) : — " At the same time the Fort called 

 Columbo, which the Portingales held in the island of Seylon, was be- 

 sieged by the king of Seylon, called Ram, and in great danger to be lost : 

 which to deliver, there was an armie of fustes and gallies sent from Goa : 

 whereof was Generall Barnaldin de Carvalho." 



2 See infra, chap, vii., at beginning (p. 335). 



3 The annual galleon, which left for Ceylon in September or October 

 (c/. supra, X. iv. v., p. 264 ; X. v. ix., pp. 267-8). 



4 The profits from the mines of Sofala and Cuama, which the captain 

 of Mocambique appropriated (see Linsch. i. 30-3). 



