No. 61. — 1908.] PORTUGUESE IN CEYLON. 



101 



condition of paying a rent which was to be subsequently 

 fixed, and several were held by mutiares and canacapules* 

 without any payment at all. This difficulty was settled by 

 fixing a temporary rent pending the completion of the thombo. 



A scheme for the distribution of the villages when available 

 was approved by the king ; some were to be allowed to the 

 captains in charge of stations occupied by Portuguese troops 

 for the maintenance of the garrisons,! due consideration 

 being had of the allowances and provisions granted to the 

 latter ; the chiefs of the native soldiers who did not have the 

 same allowances were to be treated with greater liberality ; 

 other villages were assigned to the captain- major, while a 

 few of the best, scattered throughout the country, were to be 

 set apart for the special use of the king, so that the captain- 

 general might have when required the means of provisioning 

 the troops in any district. The villages of Bolategdo% were 

 reserved for the royal use, in view of the importance of the 

 supplies of rice and areca available from them ; the right of 

 appointing the vidane over them was vested in the viceroy 

 himself, and failing him in the vedor. These villages had 

 been assigned by Don Hieronymo to Don Manuel de Azavedo 

 for his good services, but the cancellation of this grant was 

 ordered in 1617. Villages were also to be granted to Portu- 

 guese engaged in the work of conquest and to native 

 Christians who had displayed exceptional loyalty ; the culti- 

 vation of the lands was to be left in the hands of the 

 resident villagers ; where they were not available, native 

 Christians were to be given the preference, and failing these, 

 Christian settlers were to be invited over from St. Thome. 

 All those to whom villages had been granted were to be 

 compelled to reside within their holdings. The gdbada villages§ 

 were capable of yielding a considerable revenue, and it was no 

 longer to the interest of the Crown that they should be utilized 

 as they had been under the Sinhalese kings ; some were 

 to be rented out, others allotted to parties, and a few reserved 

 for the conduct of the war. 



* Mohottiars and kanakkapillais. f Ribeiro, p. 117. % Bulatgama. 

 § As oldeias da dispensa Real : villages of the royal stores, or 

 gdbaddwa ; hence the dispense villages of English times. 



