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



being educated at the College of the Kings at Goa being restored 

 to the Sinhalese king ; this offer, however, was not accepted, 

 and the desirability of sending back the youthful prince Don 

 Joao,* " grandson of Raju," who was also in the same college, 

 as a rival claimant to the Sinhalese throne, was suggested, 

 but the proposal was not adopted. 



The rest of Don Hieronymo's long administration in 

 Ceylon was occupied in the tedious and uphill task of recover- 

 ing the ground lost in 1603. A great opportunity occurred 

 when, at the death of Wimala Dharma in 1604, civil war broke 

 out among his subjects : the general was confident that with 

 three hundred more Portuguese he could bring the war to a 

 speedy termination, and urgent letters were despatched to the 

 viceroy from Portugal to render him every assistance. The 

 customs duties of Colombo, Galle, and the other ports, 

 estimated to yield e fifteen thousand cruzados ; the revenues 

 from Mannar and the other factories ; and the twelve thousand 

 cruzados of tribute paid by the Naiks of the neighbouring 

 coast, were ordered to be placed at his disposal for the expenses 

 of the war : for not only was the possession of a country of 

 such vast resources and of such great importance to the Indian 

 dominion and the pearl fishery at stake, but the souls of 

 thirty thousand professing Christians would be in jeopardy 

 should they fall into the hands of their infidel brethren or the 

 heretical Hollanders. At the same time all Portuguese officials 

 were strictly prohibited from engaging in mercantile pursuits, 

 whether directly or indirectly, as these were found to seriously 

 interfere with their legitimate duties ; while the bishop of 



* This is apparently the brother of Dona Catherina, whom Nicapety 

 Bandar subsequently personated (Ribeiro, pp. 156, 165) ; in 1606 the 

 two princes " Dom Fiiipe of Ceitavaca " and " Dom Joao of Candea " 

 applied to the king for permission to proceed to Portugal, where Don 

 Fiiipe died in 1612. An inquiry was ordered as to the heirs he had 

 left in the East, and " Dona Maria Pereira, heiress of Raju," who had 

 been married to Simao Pinhao and was a widow in 1614, was recognized 

 as one. " Dom Fiiipe" is no doubt the prince Raja Surya who, 

 according to one version of the Rdjdvaliya, escaped to Colombo when 

 his brother Jaya Surya was put to death by Mannam Peruma Mukeveti ; 

 he is described as the son of a Soli prince and the princess Menik Biso 

 Bandara of the ITdapola family, daughter of Raja Sinha. 



