No. 60. — 1908.] couto : history of ceylon. 



433 



for him to send help in that manner, knowing that in the port 

 of Goa was a ship of Thome de Sousa d'Arronches, captain of 

 Columbo 1 , he ordered to embark at once in it one hundred and 

 fifty soldiers, twenty thousand parddos in money, many pro- 

 visions, munitions, spears, and firelocks, and chose as captain 

 thereof to make this journey Dom Francisco de Noronha, 

 who made sail shortly about the 20th of April of this year of 

 1599 in which we are. And besides the soldiers that were paid 

 the count ordered to embark many that were in the jail sentenced 

 to banishment : and thus there embarked some fidalgos : 

 some that were going to serve, and others to fulfil their terms 

 of banishment, and report themselves 2 . And those of whom 

 I have been able to learn were Andre Pereira Coutinho 3 , 

 Luiz de Lacerda, Dom Manoel and Dom Rodrigo de Crasto. 

 both brothers and natives of Bagaim, whom they called in 

 India the Mangaritos, Rui Coadrado de Almadao, and others. 



And while this captain was pursuing his course, when he was 

 as far forward as Cananor, the banished men seized the boat 

 in order to escape. By which one sees what force the loss of 

 liberty has, that in what these men intended to do in fleeing 

 they considered it a lesser evil to risk themselves to such a 

 known evil as was the putting themselves into a boat in such 

 dangerous winter weather, than to go to Ceilao against their 

 will, it being a country where so many rejoiced to go and 

 serve the king of their own accord, on account of the prosperity, 

 coolness, and abundance that it possesses, and in which many 

 times there are occasions when men enrich themselves 4 . 



1 Rather, late captain of Columbo (see supra, XII. n. i., p. 428). 

 This is the last reference that Couto makes to this man. His signature 

 appears, amongst others, to the last document printed in Arch. Port.- 

 Or. iii., which is dated in Cochin, 15 December 1600. From a docu- 

 ment printed in the Arch, da Rel. de Goa (5), dated in Lisbon, 20 March 

 1601, it would appear that there was some judicial process against 

 Thome de Sousa ; but what was the complaint, and what the result, I 

 cannot find. He was vice-admiral of the fleet under Andre Furtado de 

 Mendoca that left Goa on 6 May 1601 against the Dutch. His subse- 

 quent history is unknown to me. 



2 See supra, p. 429, note 2 . 



3 See supra, XII. n. iv. (p. 428). 



* In Arch. Port.-Or. iii. (889) is printed an alvara, dated in Goa, 26 

 January 1598, in which the count viceroy states that he learns that 

 several persons who had been banished to Ceylon had not gone there, 

 but were going about with the Malabar armada : wherefore he orders 

 that they forthwith embark for Ceylon with D. Francisco da Gama, 

 captain of Guale (? Galle, or a galley), under pain of being sent in irons 

 and having their terms doubled. On page 899 is another viceregal 



2 v 36-08 



