• in CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY riHACA, N. Y. 14853 » * « \^i•r^ % 1! V HI' South Asia Collection "" ^"^'' KRo^ •'• CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 074 416 581 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924074416581 REPORT TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA IN COUNCIJ. ON THE PORTUGUESE RECORDS EELATINa TO THE EAST INDIES, CONTAINED IN THE AECHIYO DA TOREE DO TOMBO, AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES AT LISBON AND EVORA, BY F. 0. DANVBRS, Registrar and Superintendent op Kecokds, India Office, London. 1892. In compliance with current copyrigiit law, LBS Archival Products produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1984 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. 1989 60) REPORT. My Lord, In accordance with instructions contained in Council Minutes of the 7th August 1891 and of the 22nd March last, I have made two visits to Portugal for the purpose of inspecting the Records at Lishon and Evora relating to the early Portuguese possessions in the East Indies. On the former occasion I proceeded to Lishon by the Royal Mail steamer " Trent" which arrived there on the morning of the 12th October, and on the latter I embarked per steam- ship " Magdalena" from Southampton on the 7th April, and reached my destination on the 10th idem. On the occasion of my visit in October of last year I was introduced by Mr. Goschen, Her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires, to Count Valbom, the Minister for Eoreign Affairs, by whom I was most courteously received, and His Excellency kindly explained to me where I should find the records I desired to consult, and gave me a letter to Senhor Lino d'Assump9ao, Member of the Board of Management of the Public Libraries and State Paper OflBce, who afforded me every facility in his power, and for my further assistance introduced me to Senhores Jos6 and Raphael Basto, who hold respectively the positions of Director and Conservator of the Archivo da Torre do Tombo. On the 24th October I succeeded, with the kind assistance of Mr. Cowper, the British Consul at Lisbon, in procuring the services of Mr. Henriques, a most experienced linguist, who is repeatedly employed by the Consulate in that capacity. I am much indebted to this gentleman for the very able assistance he rendered me in searching through the Portuguese 22473. » u Hecords, many of which, owing to their antiquity, and to their being written in the old style, require an expert to decipher them. I cannot speak in too great praise of the admirable manner in which the Portuguese Public flecords are arranged and preserved. The systematic conservation of the records of the Portuguese nation commenced with the foundation of the monarchy in 1139, and a fixed place for their permanent custody was established in Lisbon during the reign of Dom Diniz, about the com- mencement of the 14th century. In India a Torre do Tombo* was established at Goa in 1617, and a similar institution at Salsette in 1620. Although arrangements were thus early made for the proper preservation of the public records, this duty does not appear to have been always performed with equal care and regularity. In the preliminary notice to Gaspar Oorrea's " Lendas da India,'' published in 1858, the writer lamented that not one of the treaties concluded with the Kings of Asia, and written upon gold leaf, was then (1858) to be found in the archives. He states ihat when Joao de Souza searched the archives for documents in Arabic, which the Academy of Sciences had ordered to be pubKshed, he only found 68 in a condition fit for that purpose. One of these, which must have disappeared, is spoken of by the son of AfPonso de Albuquerque in the " Commen- taries " of his father, of which he was the author, namely the treaty, written on gold leaf and sealed with three golden pendant seals, by which the King of Ormuz declared himself a vassal of the King of Portugal, and bound himself to pay tribute. Even in his own day Braz de Albuquerque evidently entertained some doubts as to the security of this important docu- ment, for, after narrating that the treaty, and a copy in the Persian language, enclosed in silver boxes, had heen * A " tombo " is an inventoiy of landed estates and revenues, or, perhaps more strictly, an account of the boundaries and extent of pvopertiee. Ill sent by his father to the King, who had ordered them to be placed in the National Archives, adds, " if by " carelessness this piece of antiquity, so worthy of pre- " servation, have not been already lost." Diogo de Couto also complains, in many parts of his " Decades," of the scandalous carelessness with regard to the title deeds which recorded the history of the achievements of his countrymen and secured rights to the Portuguese Crown. Early in the present century many miscellaneous loose documents not hitherto properly arranged, or that had been taken out of their places and not put back again, were discovered and formed into separate col- lections by themselves. It would also appear that from time to time official documents have, for one reason or another, been taken from their proper places in the Torre do Tombo. Some of these have since found their way back again into the public archives ; such, for instance, as the Pomhal Collection in the Bibliotheca Nacional, and the collection of J. H. de Cunha Rivara at Evora, both of which contain invaluable documents of official origin. It would, however, seem from the gaps that occasionally occur in existing collections, that others may have been similarly removed, which have not yet been returned. The Archivo da Torre do Tombo^ together with the Bibliotheca Nacional, both of which are under the same management and direction, contain State Records of Portugal up to the year 1833 ; those of a subsequent date are kept in the several public departments to which they appertain. The Archivo da Torre do Tombo also contains the Chronicles of the Kings of Portugal, and the books from several monasteries, which were ordered to be deposited there on the sup- pression of those institutions in 1834<, besides the records of the Inquisition, municipal charters, Papal Bulls, and many other documents of a miscellaneous character, amongst which are several collections relating IV to the administration of India. These latter I now proceed to describe in fuller detail. The most important, from an Indian point of view, are the " Documentos remettidos da India" or " JOivros das Mbngoes." This series consists of 62 volumes, in which are bound up 12,465 miscellaneous documents received from India, bearing dates between the years 1600 and 1697, and thus covering the whole of the deeply interesting period during which the sovereignty of Portugal in India was being contested by the Dutch and English. This collection is replete with records of the greatest historical importance, and an examination of its contents is rendered easy owing to the existence of two volumes of most carefully prepared tables of contents, affording excellent indications of the subject matter of each document. The first nine volumes of this series, containing documents up to 1616, have been printed in extenso, and I have procured copies of these. Volumes 10 and 11 are in course of publication. The " Antigo Conselho Ultramarino " collection of papers may next be noticed. This is contained in the JBiblioiheca Nacional. It was for many years annexed to tlie records of the Minister of Marine, some of which documents have apparently got mixed up with these bundles. The Conselho Ultramarino to which these papers originally belonged, was founded about the time that the Spaniards were expelled from Portugal, the " Regimento" by which it was governed being dated the 14ith July 1642. These records are divided into two series, and amongst those in the second series are many important documents relating to India. They are all roughly catalogued and classified under the headings of the different places to which they refer; but there are some bundles still awaiting arrangement, and others merely referred to as " miscellaneous docu- ments." There appear, from the catalogue, to be, in this collectiou, some documents dated as early as 1544, ; and tliey go down to 1834. The Conselho TJltramarino was abolished by a decree of the 28th July 1834 documents of a subsequent date, relating to affairs of the foreign possessions of Portugal, have been distributed amongst the different Secretaries of State. The principal documents relating to India in this collection are the letters from the Viceroys, which extend from 1722 to 1833, and are contained in 33 bundles. There are also 32 other bundles of letters from various officers, Bishops, Camaras, &c., relating to India and Macao. The letters from the Viceroys are, unfortunately, not complete. I was unable to find any despatches earlier than 1735, or between the years 1759 and 1765 ; there are also none for the year 1773, and only one or two for each of the years 1771, 1772, and 1774 to 1776 inclusive, but for the year 1778 there are, in all, 108 despatches now in existence. This collection is, however, on the whole, extremely valuable from an historical point of view, as it contains voluminous records relative to the struggles of the Portuguese with the Mahrattas, and with the Bounsulo, Sunda, and Ponda, their neighbours in the vicinity of Goa, as well as to their alternate wars and negotiations with the once celebrated pirates known as " the Angrias." Perhaps the next in importance are those records known as " Corpo Chronologico." These consist of a miscellaneous collection of 64,376 documents on various subjects, and comprise, inter alia, a number of letters and papers relating to India.