414 



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



[Vol. XX. 



that fortress, aldermen, officials of the chamber 1 , ouvidor 2 , 

 and prelates of St. Francis. And all being present, he com- 

 manded to say to them by the ouvidor Joao Homem da Costa, 

 that they all knew well that the king Dom Joao Perea Pandar, 

 lord of the whole of that island, had in his testament left 

 nominated as heir of all his realms the king of Portugal, 

 owing to his having no one else left to him who by right should 

 succeed him in that crown 3 ; and that since all were there, 

 both nobles and people, fidalgos and principal modeliares, they 

 should elect from amongst themselves the persons that they 

 desired in order in the name of all to swear to the said 

 lord as king, it not being possible for all to take the said oath. 

 And at once there were nominated by them the following 

 persons : Dom Antao, Dom Constantino, Dom Jorge, Dom 

 Joao, Dom Pedro Homem Pereira, fidalgos of the household 

 of the deceased king 4 ; Belchior Botelho modeliar, Domingos 

 da Costa arache, and Thome Rodriguez patangatim 5 , all of 

 whom and each one by himself kneeling round a table with 

 their hands placed on a missal took the following oath : — 



" We Dom Antao, Dom Constantino, Dom Jorge, Dom 

 Joao, Dom Pedro Homem Pereira, Belchior Botelho, Domin- 

 gos da Costa, and Thome Rodriguez swear on these holy 

 gospels, on which we place our hands, for ourselves and in the 

 name of all this people to acknowledge the king of Portugal, 

 whom thus by this present act we elect and swear to as our 

 king and lord, forasmuch as Dom Joao Perea Pandar, whom 

 God has in heaven, our lawful king, left him as his universal 



1 This is the first (and only) mention by Couto of the chamber of 

 Columbo, which, like that of Goa, consisted of aldermen elected 

 annually and other officials (see Rise of Port. Power in India 197-8). 

 When this municipal council was first constituted, I do not know : the 

 earliest reference to it that I have met with is that in the royal letter 

 of 25 February 1585 cited above, p. 268, note x , and it is frequently 

 mentioned in later documents (c/. C. A. S. Jl. xvi. 119 and note). 



2 Magistrate (see Pyr. i. 498, ii. 19). 



3 See supra, p. 258, note 2 , and X. i. vii. (p. 261). 



4 In a petition to the pope and the viceroy of India, dated in Columbo 

 10 December 1594, and printed in Arch. Port.-Or. hi., Dharmapala 

 speaks of " Dom Joao and Dom Constantino sons of the prince Dom 

 Paschoal my much loved and loyal vassal," and of " Dom Antao in 

 whom I greatly confide." The last of the fidalgos mentioned was 

 evidently a recent convert to Christianity, bearing, as he does, the 

 name of the late captain of Columbo. 



5 This man was probably the head of the Paravas who had migrated 

 from the " fishery coast" of Madura to Mannar and the west coast of 

 Ceylon (see supra, p. 393). For the origin of the title patangatim see 

 J. P. Lewis's Man. of the Vanni 30, note 3 . 



