392 



JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XX. 



Meanwhile, in anticipation of an attack from Raja Sinha, 

 the Portuguese had erected a fort at Gannoruwa 1 , and 

 garrisoned it with as many troops as could be spared from 

 Kandy. Feeling, however, that their entire force was wholly 

 inadequate to withstand an assault from Raja Sinha, and 

 perhaps suspicious of the fidelity of their Sinhalese allies, 

 they sent Joao de Mello and some friars under convoy to 

 Mannar for reinforcements. Ere these could arrive D. 

 Filippe had died, his son D. Joao had been proclaimed king, 

 and Dom Joao d' Austria had taken advantage of the excep- 

 tional opportunity now offering to effect his purpose. He 

 therefore threw off the mask, declaring hostility to the Portu- 

 guese ; and the Kandyans, glad to be freed from both King 

 Stork (Raja Sinha) and King Log (D. Filippe). flocked to his 

 standard and hailed him as their leader. The Portuguese in 

 Gannoruwa were forced to vacate their fort ; and when Joao 

 de Mello and the reinforcements arrived they found Kandy in 

 the possession of Dom Joao d' Austria, and had to return to 

 Mannar, accompanied by such of their compatriots as had 

 not elected to serve under the new ruler 2 . At the same 

 time, or perhaps previously, the Franciscan friars escaped to 

 Mannar, carrying with them the boy king Dom Joao 3 , who 

 henceforward disappears from Ceylon history 4 . 



1 Bald. Ceylon iii. The C. P. Gaz. (276) says that the earthworks of 

 this fort are still well preserved. 



2 Col. de Trat. i. 220-1; Bald. Ceylon iii. A royal letter of 15 

 February 1593, printed in Arch. Port.-Or. iii (370), asks why Dom Filippe 

 was not succoured after being proclaimed king, adding, that from the 

 information sent it was impossible to understand what was the state 

 of affairs in the Kandyan kingdom. As no letters from India reached 

 Portugal in 1592 (see Arch. Port.-Or. iii. 367, 368), it is probable that the 

 events related above took place in 1590. 



3 Col. de Trat. i. 227 ; Hist. Seraf. iii. 542. 



4 His subsequent career is interesting. After being educated at the 

 College of the Kings in Goa, he and his cousin Dom Filippe of Sita- 

 vaka (see infra, p. 398, note 5 ) were sent to Lisbon and then to Coimbra 

 to complete their education. At the latter place D. Filippe died in 1611 

 or 1612, and was interred in the convent of S. Francisco da Ponte. 

 D. Joao returned to Lisbon, whence he went to Madrid and took priestly 

 orders. He was well received by the king, who, in consideration of 

 his renunciation of his claim to the throne of Kandy, made him a 

 grandee of Spain, and conferred upon him a handsome pension. In 



