Travels in India (Tavernier) 34.2.1648

34.2.1648

The drummer of the garrison, who was a Frenchman, and a merchant of Marseilles named Roboli, who was then in the fort, two days after the Governor of St. Thomé had entered it, offered him their services to aid him to escape, provided that they were well rewarded for it; this he promised them, and also that they should have a free passage on the first vessel which went from Goa to Portugal. The agreement being made, on the following day the drummer beat the reveille at an earlier hour than usual, and with great noise, and at the same time the merchant Roboli and the Governor, with their sheets tied together, let themselves down by the corner of the bastion, which was not high. The drummer at the same time left his drum and followed them nimbly, so that St. Thomé being only a good half league from Madras, they were all three inside it before anything was known of their departure. The whole population of St. Thomé made great rejoicings at the return of the Governor, and immediately despatched a boat to Goa to convey the news. The drummer and the merchant Roboli set sail forthwith, and when they reached Goa bearing the letters of the Governor of St. Thomé in their favour, there was not a convent nor a wealthy house which did not make them presents, and even the Viceroy himself, Dom Philippe de Mascarehnas, treated them kindly, and invited them to embark on his vessel in order to take them to Portugal with him; but all three, namely, the Viceroy and the two Frenchmen, died at sea.
I shall say in passing that there never was a Viceroy of Goa half so rich as Dom Philippe de Mascarehnas. He possessed a quantity of diamonds—all stones of great weight, from 10 to 40 carats; two notably, which he showed me when I was at Goa. One of them was a thick stone, weighing 57 and the other 67½ carats, both being fairly clear, of good water, and Indian cut. The report was that this Viceroy was poisoned on the vessel, and it was added that it was a just punishment for his having made away with many persons in the same manner, especially while he was Governor in the island of Ceylon. He always kept some of the most subtle poison to use when he wished that his vengeance should be prompt; and having on that account made many enemies, whom the fate of those he had murdered caused to fear for themselves a similar treatment, he was one morning hung in effigy at Goa, when I was there in the year 1648.