The Christians who left Goa were for the most part skilled agriculturists who abandoned their irrigated fields in Goa to achieve freedom. The remainder were skilled carpenters, goldsmiths, artisans, and merchants. At the time of migration, Canara was ruled by the Keladi king Shivappa Nayaka (1540–60). He evinced great interest in the development of agriculture in his empire and welcomed these agriculturists to his kingdom, giving them fertile lands to cultivate. They were recruited into the armies of the Bednore dynasty. This was confirmed by Francis Buchanan, a Scottish physician, when he visited Canara in 1801. In his book "A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar" (1807), he stated that "The princes of the house of Ikkeri had given great encouragement to the Christians, and had induced 80,000 of them to settle in Tuluva." Later, this was identified as a probable mistake and should have read "8,000". This figure included the second emigration of Christians from Goa. The taxation policies of the Keladi Nayakas during 1598–1763 enabled the Goan Catholic migrants to emerge as prominent landowning gentry in South Canara. These migrants usually brought their own capital from Goa, which they invested in their new lands, thereby indirectly contributing to the prosperity of the Keladi kingdom.