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



a claim was advanced to one of them by a casado, and the 

 matter was referred to court. Before a decision was arrived 

 at, and in spite of the injunction of the vedor to the contrary, 

 the camara obtained forcible possession of the ferry. Com- 

 plaint was thereupon made to the king, but the camara 

 finally gave up its pretensions and the matter was amicably 

 settled. 



The camara also claimed under a grant of the same king 

 Don Joao fifty bahars of cinnamon a year, and it was 

 ordered to produce the documents on which the claim was 

 based ; at the same time it showed itself most obstructive 

 in regard to the registering of the lands it claimed in the 

 thombo, refusing to produce any title deeds, in spite of 

 repeated summons, without a special order of the king. Much 

 correspondence took place on the subject, and in 1617 peremp- 

 tory orders had to be sent to compel it into a more conciliatory 

 attitude. It also displayed considerable unscrupulousness in 

 claiming the lands of private individuals, and appeared to 

 regard all waste lands within the city as its property. But it 

 was not without good grounds for complaint : the general and 

 captains of the city interfered with its legitimate functions 

 and its attempts to improve the condition of the city, with 

 the object of gain to themselves, thus inviting the severe 

 reprimand they received from the king in 1616. For years 

 it urged in vain the immediate importance of repairing the 

 fortifications of Colombo; nothing was done, though De 

 Meneses had begun a rampart on the sea side to protect a 

 third of the city, the task being carried out by the service 

 tenants without any expense to the king. 



In 1616 permission was granted to Antao Vaz Fereira, the 

 vedor, whose health had given way under the strain 

 of continuous work, to return home for a holiday. He had 

 laboured long and honourably at his difficult post, in spite of 

 the obstacles thrown in his way by the highest officers of the 

 king; indeed, Don Hieronymo himself as viceroy had to be 

 reminded that the king expected him to support his faithful 

 vedor with all loyalty, and to point out to the general that 

 the vedor took his orders from the viceroy direct. He had 

 frequently to complain of the delay in the payment of his 



