Volume 2 / Part 2 / Book 1 — CHAPTER VI. (continued 5)

[11] The rajah or king of Cochin has already been named Triumpara, or Trimumpara, on the authority of De Barros, De Faria, and other ancient authors; yet De Faria, in other instances, calls him Uniramacoul--Astl. I. 52. b.

[12] It is difficult to say what may have been meant by this last article. In old French writings Rouge comme Sendal means very high red, or scarlet; from which circumstance, this may have been a piece of scarlet satin or velvet.--E.

[13] Of the animal called bulgoldolf in the text we have no knowledge, nor of this stone of wonderful virtue; but it may possibly refer to the long famed bezoar, anciently much prized, but now deservedly neglected.--E.

While the ships were taking in their cargoes at Cochin, a message was brought to the admiral from the zamorin, engaging, if he would return to Calicut, to make a complete restitution of every thing that had been taken from the Portuguese, and that a treaty of friendship and commerce would be immediately arranged between them. After considering this message, the admiral ordered the messenger to prison, meaning to take revenge on him in case the zamorin should prove deceitful in this instance as he had already been in many others[14]. After this precaution, he went to Calicut, more for the purpose of endeavouring to recover the merchandize, than from any expectation of procuring the friendship of the zamorin. For this reason he took only his own ship[15], leaving Stephen de Gama in the command at Cochin in his absence. The captains of the fleet were much averse to this rashness; yet could not persuade him to take a larger force, as he said he would be sufficiently protected by the squadron of Vincente Sodre, which was cruizing on the coast, whom he could join on any emergency. On his arrival at Calicut, the zamorin immediately sent notice that he would satisfy him next day for all the goods which had been taken from Cabral, and would afterwards renew the trade and settle the factory on a proper footing. But as soon as he understood that the admiral had come with so small a force, he commanded thirty-four paraws to be got in readiness with all expedition, for the purpose of taking his ship. And so unexpectedly did these assail him, that the admiral was forced to cut one of his cables and make out to seaward, which he was fortunately enabled to do, as the wind came off from the land. Yet the paraws pursued him so closely, that he must infallibly have been taken, if it had not been for the squadron of Sodre making its appearance, on sight of which the paraws gave over the chase and retired to Calicut.

[14] According to De Faria, this messenger was a bramin, who left his son and nephew at Cochin as hostages, and accompanied De Gama to Calicut, where he carried various messages between the zamorin and the admiral. --Astl. I. 53. b.

[15] De Faria says he was accompanied by a caravel.--Astl. 1.53. b.

On his return to Cochin, die admiral immediately ordered the messenger of the zamorin to be hanged[16]. The failure of this treacherous attempt against De Gama gave much concern to the zamorin; who now resolved to try if he could induce the rajah of Cochin to refuse a loading to the Portuguese, and to send away their factory from his port. With this view he transmitted a letter to that prince, in the following terms:

[16] The son and nephew of the messenger, according to De Faria.--Astl.I. 53. c.

"I am informed that you favour the Christians, whom you have admitted into your city and supplied with goods and provisions. It is possible you may not see the danger of this procedure, and may not know how displeasing it is to me. I request of you to remember the friendship which has hitherto subsisted between us, and that you now incur my displeasure for so small a matter in supporting these Christian robbers, who are in use to plunder the countries belonging to other nations. My desire is, therefore, that for the future you may neither receive them into your city, nor give them spices; by which you will both do me a great pleasure, and will bind me to requite your friendship in whatever way you may desire. I do not more earnestly urge these things at the present, being convinced you will comply without further entreaty, as I would do for you in any matter of importance."

The rajah of Cochin answered in the following terms: That he knew not how to expel the Christians from his city, whom he had received as friends, and to whom he had passed his word for trade and amity. He denied that his friendly reception of the Christians could be construed as any offence to the zamorin, as it was the custom in the ports of Malabar to favour all merchants who resorted thither for trade; and declared his resolution to maintain his engagements inviolate to the Portuguese, who had brought great sums of gold and silver, and large quantities of merchandize into his dominions in the course of their trade. The zamorin was much offended by this answer of the rajah of Cochin; to whom he wrote a second time, advising him earnestly to abandon the Portuguese if he had any respect for his own welfare. The rajah of Cochin was not to be moved, either by the persuasions or threatening of the zamorin, and sent a reply to his second letter, in which he declared he should never be induced to commit a base or treacherous action by fear of the consequences, and was resolved to persist in maintaining his treaty of trade and amity with the Portuguese. Finding that he could not prevail on the rajah of Cochin to concur with him, he commanded twenty-nine large ships to be fitted out in order to assail the Portuguese fleet when on its return homewards, expecting that he should be able to destroy them with more ease when fully laden.

The rajah of Cochin gave no intimation to the admiral of the letters and messages which had been interchanged between him and the zamorin, until he went to take leave; at which time, he declared he would hazard the loss of his dominions to serve the king of Portugal. The admiral, after many expressions of gratitude for his friendly disposition and honourable regard for his engagements, assured him that the king his master would never forget the numerous demonstrations he had given of friendship, and would give him such assistance as should not only enable him to defend his own dominions, but to reduce other countries under his authority. He desired him not to be in fear of the zamorin, against whom there should henceforwards be carried on so fierce war, that he would have enough of employment in defending himself, instead of being able to attack others. In this the general alluded to the aid which the rajah might expect from the ships that were to remain in India under the command of Vincent Sodre. All this conversation took place in presence of many of the principal nayres, of which circumstance the rajah was much pleased, as he knew these people were in friendship with the Moors, and had opposed the grant of a factory to us at Cochin[17].

[17] In addition to the narrative of Castaneda, De Barros, Maffi, and De Faria relate, that ambassadors came to De Gama while at Cochin from the Christian inhabitants in Cranganore and that neighbourhood, who they said amounted to 30,000. They represented, that they knew he was an officer of the most Catholic king in Europe, to whom they submitted themselves; in testimony of which, they delivered into his hands the rod of justice, of a red colour, tipped with silver at both ends, and about the length of a sceptre, having three bells at the top. They complained of being much oppressed by the idolaters; and were dismissed by De Gama with promises of a powerful and speedy assistance.--Astl. I. 53. d.

Having completed the loading of ten ships, the admiral sailed from Cochin on his homeward-bound voyage; and when about three leagues from Pandarane, he descried the Moorish fleet of twenty-nine large ships coming towards him. After consulting with the captains of his fleet, and the wind being favourable for the purpose, he immediately bore down to engage them. The ships commanded by Vincente Sodre, Pedro Raphael, and Diego Perez, being prime sailers, closed up first with the enemy, and immediately attacked two of the largest ships of the Moors. Sodre fought with one of these alone, and Raphael and Perez assailed the other. Almost on the first onset, great numbers of the enemies were so dismayed that they leapt into the sea to escape by swimming. On the coming up of De Gama with the rest of the fleet, all the enemies ships made off as fast as they could towards the shore, except those two which were beset at the first, and were unable to escape, which were accordingly taken possession of. De Gama, considering that all his ships were richly laden, would not pursue the flying enemy, being afraid he might lose some of his ships on the shoals; but our men went in their boats and slew about 300 of the Moors who had endeavoured to save themselves by swimming from the two captured ships. These vessels were accordingly discharged of their cargoes; which consisted of great quantities of rich merchandize, among which were six great jars of fine earthen ware, called porcelain, which is very rare and costly and much admired in Portugal; four large vessels of silver, and many silver perfuming pans; also many spitting basons of silver gilt: But what exceeded all the rest, was a golden idol of thirty pounds weight, with a monstrous face. The eyes of this image were two very fine emeralds. The vestments were of beaten gold, richly wrought and set with precious stones; and on the breast was a large carbuncle or ruby, as large as the coin called a crusado, which shone like fire.

The goods being taken out, the two ships were set on fire, and the admiral made sail for Cananor, where the rajah gave him a house for a factory, in which Gonzalo Gill Barbosa was settled as factor, having Sebastian Alvarez and Diego Godino as clerks, Duarte Barbosa as interpreter, and sundry others as assistants, in all to the number of twenty. The rajah undertook to protect these men and all that might be left in the factory, and bound himself to supply lading in spices to all the ships of the king of Portugal at certain fixed prices[18]. In return for these favourable conditions, the admiral engaged on behalf of the king of Portugal to defend the rajah in all wars that might arise from this agreement; conditioning for peace and friendship between the rajahs of Cochin and Cananor, and that the latter should give no aid to any one who might make war upon the former, under the pain of forfeiting the friendship of the Portuguese. After this, the admiral gave orders to Vincente Sodre to protect the coast with his squadron till the month of February; and if any war should break out or seem probable between the zamorin and Trimumpara, he was to winter in Cochin for the protection of that city; otherwise he was to sail for the straits of the Red Sea, to make prize of all the ships belonging to Mecca that traded to the Indies.

[18] De Faria alleges that the persons who were appointed to settle matters relative to trade at this port, differed much upon the price of spices: on which occasion many threatening messages were sent to the rajah, who at length through fear complied with all the demands of the Portuguese. He says that the rajahs of Cochin and Cananor were as refractory and adverse at first as the zamorin; and that when De Gama arrived at Cochin, the three princes combined to make him winter there by fraud, and joined their fleets to destroy him. That on the failure of this combination, a durable peace was made with Trimumpara; and the rajah of Cananor, fearing the Portuguese might not return to his port, sent word to De Gama that he was ready to comply with all his demands, --Astl.I. 54, a.

All these matters being properly arranged, De Gama departed from Cananor for Portugal on the 20th December 1502[19]; with thirteen ships richly laden, three of which had taken in their cargoes at Cananor, and the other ten at Cochin. The whole fleet arrived in safety at Mozambique, where the ship commanded by Stephen de Gama having sprung a great leak, was unladen and laid on shore to be repaired. Seven days after their departure from Mozambique, the ship commanded by Lewis Cotinho sprung a great leak, and they were forced to endeavour to return to Mozambique to repair her; but, the wind being contrary, they had to do this in a creek on the coast. Continuing their voyage, they were assailed by a sudden tempest off Cape Corientes, in which the ship commanded by Stephen de Gama had her sails all split by the storm, owing to which she was separated from the fleet, and no more seen till six days after the arrival of the admiral at Lisbon, when she came in with her mast broken. The storm having abated, during which the fleet took shelter under the lee of Cape Corientes, the admiral prosecuted his voyage to Lisbon, and arrived safe at Cascais on the 1st September 1503. All the noblemen of the court went to Cascais to receive him honourably, and to accompany him to the presence of the king. On his way to court, he was preceded by a page carrying a silver bason, in which was the tribute from the king of Quiloa. The king received him with great honour, as he justly merited for his services in discovering the Indies, and in settling factories at Cochin and Cananor, to the great profit of the kingdom; besides the great fame and honour which redounded to the king, as the first sovereign who had sent to discover the Indies, of which he might make a conquest if he were so inclined. In reward for these brilliant services, the king made him admiral of the Indies, and likewise gave him the title of Lord of Videgueyra, which was his own.

[19] In Castaneda this date is made 1503; but from an attentive consideration of other dates and circumstances in that author, this must have been a typographical error.--E.

Note.--As De Gama did not return again to India till the year 1524, which is beyond the period contained in that part of Castaneda which has been translated by Lichefild, we shall have no occasion to notice him again in this part of our work. For this reason, it has been thought proper to give the following short supplementary account of his farther services in India.

"In 1524, Don Vasco De Gama, now Count of Videgueyra, was appointed viceroy of India by John III. king of Portugal, and sailed from Lisbon with fourteen ships, carrying 3000 fighting men. Three were lost during the voyage, with all the men belonging to two of them. While in the Gulf of Cambaya, in a dead calm, the ships were tossed about in so violent a manner that all onboard believed themselves in imminent danger of perishing, and began to consider how they might escape. One man leapt over-board, thinking to escape by swimming, but was drowned; and such as lay sick of fevers were cured by the fright. The viceroy, who perceived that the commotion was occasioned by the effects of an earthquake, called aloud to his people, courage my friends, for the sea trembles from fear of you who are on it . To make some amends for the misfortunes of the voyage, Don George de Meneses, one of the captains, took a large ship belonging to Mecca, worth 60,000 crowns, a large sum in those days. After his arrival at Goa, the viceroy visited some forts, and issued the necessary orders for regulating the affairs of his government; but he had not time to put any of his great designs into execution, as he died on Christmas eve, having only held the government of Portuguese India for three months. De Gama is said to have been of middle stature, with a ruddy complexion, but somewhat gross. His character was bold, patient under fatigue, well fitted for great undertakings, speedy in executing justice, and terrible in anger. In fine, he was admirably fitted for all that was entrusted to his conduct, as a discoverer, a naval and military commander, and as viceroy. He is painted with a black cap, cloak, and breeches, edged with velvet, all slashed, through which appears the crimson lining. His doublet is of crimson satin, over which his armour is seen inlaid with gold. He was the sixth successive governor of India, and the second who had the rank of viceroy."--Astl. I 54. b.

SECTION VI.

Transactions of the Portuguese in India, from the departure of De Gama in December 1502, to the arrival of Alonzo de Albuquerque in 1503.

As soon as the zamorin was assured of the departure of De Gama for Europe, he determined on putting his threats in execution against the rajah of Cochin, for which purpose he gathered an army at the village of Panani, not far from Cochin[1]. This was soon known to the inhabitants of Cochin, who were exceedingly afraid of the great power of the zamorin, and were much dissatisfied with their sovereign for incurring the displeasure of that prince out of respect to the Christians, whom they inveighed against with much bitterness on all occasions, and openly insulted wherever they were seen. Some that were in high credit with the rajah said openly, that as the zamorin was much more powerful than their state, our men ought to be delivered up to him, as the war was entirely on our account, for whom the kingdom ought not to be put in hazard. But the rajah, much offended at these people, declared that he was resolved to defend the Portuguese against the zamorin, trusting that God would favour him in so just a cause. Yet many of his subjects were much inclined to have seized the Portuguese belonging to the factory, but durst not, as the rajah gave them a place of considerable strength to dwell in, and appointed a guard for their security.

[1] This army is said to have amounted to 50,000 men. Panani is six leagues from Cochin.--Astl. I. 54.

At this time Vincente Sodre arrived with his squadron in the bay of Cochin, after having done much damage on the coast of Calicut, both by land and sea. The Portuguese head factor sent Laurenzo Moreno to inform Sodre of the preparations which were making by the zamorin for the attack of Cochin, and requiring him in the name of the king of Portugal to land with his men for its defence. But Sodre answered, that his orders were to defend the sea and not the land; for which reason, if the zamorin had prepared to attack Cochin by sea, he would certainly have defended it; but as the war was to be carried on by land, he could not interfere, and the rajah must defend himself. The factor sent a second message, entreating him, in the name of God and on his allegiance to the king of Portugal, not to abandon the factory in this state of danger, as the power of the rajah was inadequate to defend Cochin against the zamorin; and as the sole object of the war was for the destruction of the factory and the ruin of the Portuguese trade, it certainly was his duty, as captain-general for the king of Portugal in these seas, both to defend the factory and to give every assistance in his power to the rajah. But Sodre was immoveable, pretending that he had been ordered to discover the Red Sea, where he expected to make many rich prizes, and set sail from Cochin for Cape Guardafui, preferring the hope of riches to his duty in defending the factory of Cochin.

The zamorin collected his army, as already mentioned, at the village of Panani, where, besides his own subjects and allies, several of the principal subjects of the rajah of Cochin joined his standard, deserting their own sovereign, and carrying along with them all the power they were able to muster: Among these were the caimalls or governors of Chirapipil and Cambalane, and of the large island which is opposite to the city of Cochin. At this place, the zamorin made a long speech to his assembled chiefs, in which he endeavoured to justify his enmity to the Portuguese, whom he represented as thieves, robbers, and pirates, and as having first commenced hostilities against him without cause. He contrasted the quiet and friendly conduct of the Moors, who had traded for 600 years with Malabar, having never done injury to any in all that time, and had greatly enriched the country, and had raised his city of Calicut to be the greatest emporium in all the Indies: Whereas the Portuguese had taken and destroyed his ships, made his ambassadors prisoners, insisted on having their ships laden before those belonging to the Moors, had taken a ship of the Moors, burnt ten of his ships in his own harbour, had destroyed his city and forced him to escape for safety from his palace; taking law and vengeance for pretended grievances into their own hands, instead of applying regularly to him for redress. And, since the rajah of Cochin was fully informed of all these things, yet persisted in favouring the Portuguese in despite of all remonstrances, he had resolved to make war upon him, to deprive him of his dominions, and to drive these Christian intruders out of India.

This address gave much satisfaction to all the assembled chiefs, and most especially to the lord of Repelim, who entertained a rooted enmity against the rajah of Cochin, who had dispossessed him of an island called Arrnuul. The only person who opposed the zamorin on this occasion was Nambeadarin[2], who was brother and next heir to the zamorin. He strongly urged the impolicy of driving the Christians from Malabar, to which merchants resorted from all places of the world, seeing that the Portuguese had made richer presents to the zamorin, than he had ever received before, and had brought much gold and silver into the country for the purchase of commodities, which was not usually done by such as came to make war. He represented the attempt of the hostages to escape who had been given for the safety of the Portuguese chief, and whom the zamorin was pleased to call ambassadors, as the first cause of jealousy and distrust; yet they were afterwards reconciled, and took the large Moorish ship at the desire of the zamorin, to whom they presented the great elephant. He said their conduct in trade and otherwise while in Calicut was quite satisfactory to all except the Moors, who were envious against them for interfering in their trade, and accused them falsely of taking pepper against the will of the owners, which in fact they had done themselves to prevent the Christians from loading their ships; nay that this was so evident that even the zamorin had licensed the Portuguese to take the pepper from the Moorish vessels. After which the Moors had risen against them, slaying their men and seizing all their goods. Yet, after all these outrages, they had given the zamorin a whole day in which to offer reparation, and had not sought revenge of their injuries treacherously like the Moors. That he saw no cause of going to war against the rajah of Cochin for receiving the Portuguese into his city like any other merchants who might frequent his harbour, as had likewise been done by the rajahs of Cananor and Koulan, who would not have done so if they had been robbers and pirates. And if the zamorin meant to drive the Portuguese from the Indies, besides making war on Cochin, it would be necessary for him to do the same against Canauor and all the other princes on the coast.

[2] This person is named Naubea Daring by Astley, and is said to have been nephew to the zamorin.--Astl. I. 56.

The zamorin was a good deal staggered by the discourse of Nambendarin, who had much credit and authority with him; insomuch, that it is thought he would have desisted from prosecuting the war, if it had not been for the Moors and the caymals, who represented that it would be a great disgrace to his character to recede after the assemblage of so great an army, and that it was to be expected the rajah of Cochin might now agree from fear to do what the zamorin had desired him. The zamorin then desired his sorcerers to point out a fortunate day for marching forward with his army, which they did accordingly, and promised him an assured victory. With this assurance, on which he placed great reliance, the zamorin departed from Panani, and took possession of Repelim, which is four leagues from Cochin.

The rajah of Cochin had regular intelligence of all that passed in the camp of the zamorin by means of spies, and was in great trouble respecting the event, not having sufficient force for his defence, as many on whom he most relied had gone over to the enemy. Even those who remained served against their inclination, more especially the inhabitants of Cochin, who abhorred our people, and said openly that it were proper the rajah should either deliver them up to the zamorin or send them away from Cochin, to avoid the impending war. Many of the inhabitants of Cochin deserted the place for fear of the consequences. The members of the Portuguese factory were much alarmed by all these circumstances, and requested permission from the rajah to withdraw to Cananor, where they might remain in safety till the arrival of the next fleet from Portugal; hoping by this means to remove the cause of war, and to satisfy the subjects of the rajah. Trimumpara was displeased at this request, as not reposing sufficient confidence in his word, and declared he would rather forfeit his kingdom, and even his life, than deliver them up to the zamorin or any other who sought to injure them; and that, although he might lose Cochin in the war, there still were places of sufficient strength in which to keep them safe till reinforcements should arrive from Portugal. That although the zamorin had a great army, yet victory did not always follow numbers, as a few valiant men were often victorious over great odds, especially having justice on their side. He therefore desired the factory to remain, and to pray God to give him the victory. The Portuguese now offered to give him such aid as their small number would allow; but he declined allowing them to expose themselves to any danger on the present occasion, as his credit depended upon the preservation of their lives, that they might witness, for his faithful adherence to the treaty of amity which he had formed with their nation. Upon this he placed them under the safeguard of certain naires in whom he had confidence. After this, the rajah called all his nobles into his presence, together with the chief naires, who were the cause of all the murmurs against the Portuguese, and addressed the assemblage to the following effect:

"I am much concerned to find that truth and loyalty should be wanting among men of your quality. I do not wonder at the present misconduct of the lower orders, who are often constrained by their poverty and wretchedness to commit all manner of wickedness. But that naires, who have always been noted for fidelity, should desire me to forfeit the promise which I have made, to the captain-general in behalf of the Portuguese, to defend them to the utmost of my power against all violence as my own subjects, astonishes and distresses me beyond measure. Under these assurances of protection, which were given with your consent, these men were left in my city; and yet, because you see the zamorin coming against me with more men than I have, you would have me to break my promise. Were I so unjust, you of all men ought to abhor me. If you dwelt with any sovereign on the assurance of his word, how would you conceive of him, if he were to treat you as you would now have me to act by these Christians? Is it because you are afraid of the great power of the zamorin? Be assured it were better for us all to die in the discharge of our duty, and the preservation of our promise, than to live dishonoured. To me no evil can be greater than to break my word, nor can there be a greater dishonour to yourselves than to be the subjects of a false and treacherous king. These Christians have brought much profit to me and my country, and the zamorin might have kept them in his own city, if he had permitted their factory to settle there in peace. Were it his intention to drive the Christians out of India, and to make war on all who receive them into their dominions, he ought to have begun this war with the rajah of Cananor: But his cause of war is the envy he has conceived at seeing me benefited by the trade which he has lost through his own misconduct, and because he believes in his pride that I am unable to withstand. But I trust in God and the justness of my cause, that with your assistance, I shall obtain the victory, and shall be able to protect the Christians, and preserve my honour inviolate." This speech had great effect upon the assembled naires, who were astonished at the constancy and resolution of the rajah. They all therefore craved pardon for the fears they had entertained, and promised to live and die in his service. The rajah immediately called the factor and the rest of the Portuguese into his presence, to whom he gave an account of all that had taken place between him and the naires; and named before them the prince Naramuhin [3], his brother and next heir, as general of the army which was destined to act against the forces of the zamorin, commanding every one to obey him in every respect as if he were himself present. Naramuhin accordingly marched with 5500 naires, and entrenched himself at the ford which forms the only entry by land into the island of Cochin, and which is only knee- deep at low water.

[3] In Astley this prince is called the nephew of the rajah of Cochin.-- Astl. I. 55.

When the zamorin received notice of the army of Cochin having taken post at this ford, he was somewhat afraid, more especially as he knew Naramuhin was considered to be the bravest and most fortunate warrior in Malabar. He therefore made a fresh attempt to induce the rajah of Cochin to accede to his demands, of delivering up the Portuguese and their goods, otherwise threatening to conquer his dominions, and to put all the inhabitants to the sword. Although the rajah of Cochin was quite sensible of the inferiority of his military force, and was convinced what the zamorin threatened might readily happen, he yet determined to remain firm to his engagements, and sent the following answer:

"If you had required with civility what you have proudly commanded me, I should not have esteemed your valour lessened by your courtesy: For with men of wisdom and power there is no need for insolent vaunts. I have not as yet so sinned against God, that I should humble myself to vain boasting, or think that he should grant you the victory over me and those brave men who fight on my side. In spite of all your pride, I trust even with the small number I have to defend me in my just quarrel, that I shall be enabled to overcome you and all my enemies. However much you may have practised deceit and injustice, it has ever been my rule to avoid shame and dishonour, and I will never consent to deliver up the Christians or their goods, which I have engaged to defend."

The zamorin was much offended by this answer from the rajah of Cochin, and vowed to destroy his whole country in revenge: Leaving, therefore, the isle of Repelim on the last day of March, he entered on the territories of Cochin, yet refrained from doing any injury, as he now occupied those parts which belonged to the chieftains who had joined him against their own sovereign. On the 2d of March, the army of the zamorin made an attempt to force a passage by the ford which was defended by prince Naramuhin; yet, in spite of all his prodigious superiority of numbers, he was forced to retire with considerable loss. Disappointed in this first essay, the zamorin encamped close by the ford, and sent the lord of Repelim next day with a still stronger force than had been employed in the first assault, to attempt forcing the passage. He even joined several armed paraws in this attack; but Naramuhin made a resolute defence, in which he was bravely seconded by Laurenzo Moreno and several other Portuguese, and effectually resisted every effort of the zamorins troops, who were obliged to retreat with much loss. Several such assaults were made on the ford, in all of which the zamorin lost many men, and was constantly repulsed, insomuch that he became fearful of a sinister end to his unjust enterprise, and even repented of having begun the war. He sent, however, a fresh message to the rajah, requiring him to deliver up the Christians as a preliminary of peace. But the rajah replied, that as he had refused to do so unjust an action when he had some reason to dread the superior power of the zamorin, it was absurd to expect any such thing now, when the advantage in the war was evidently of his side. He then advised the zamorin to beware of continuing the war, as he would not now satisfy himself with defence, but even hoped to give him a signal overthrow. And this certainly had been the case, if the subjects of the rajah had not shamefully deserted him in this war and given assistance to the enemy. The zamorin almost despaired of success, and would have given over the enterprize, if he had not been advised by some of his chiefs to assail several other towns belonging to the dominions of Cochin, so as to distract the attention of Naramuhin, and to weaken his force by obliging him to send detachments for their defence. But that brave prince provided against every emergency, and made so judicious a disposition of his forces, that he repulsed every effort of the enemy, and slew many of their men.

Foiled in every attempt with severe loss, by the bravery and excellent dispositions of Prince Naramuhin, the zamorin corrupted the paymaster of the troops of Cochin, who changed the usual order of payment which had been daily made in the camp, and obliged the soldiers to come up to Cochin for that purpose. Naramuhin was obliged to submit to this arrangement, by giving leave to the naires to go for their wages, yet charged them punctually to return to the camp before day. But the treacherous paymaster kept them waiting till after day-light, by which means the prince was left with very few troops to defend the ford. Taking advantage of this concerted stratagem, the zamorin made an assault upon the ford with his whole force by sea and land, and constrained Naramuhin to retire with his small band into a grove of palm trees, where he was surrounded by the whole army of Calicut, yet fought the whole day against such terrible odds with the utmost resolution, several times throwing his enemies into disorder, of whom many were slain. But at length, overpowered by numbers, he and two of his cousins who fought along with him were slain, together with most of his faithful followers.

When this melancholy event was announced to the rajah of Cochin, he fainted from extreme grief, and was for some time thought to have actually expired. At this time, the naires were much exasperated against our men, to whom they attributed the overthrow and death of prince Naramuhin, and the desperate situation of their country, and seemed much inclined to have put the Portuguese to death, or to have delivered them up to the zamorin. On the recovery of the rajah, and learning the designs of his people against our men, he called the Portuguese into his presence; he gave them assurance that even this reverse of his affairs should not alter his resolution of protecting them, both against the zamorin and his own subjects. He then addressed his assembled naires, urging them not to stain his honour and their own by injuring the Portuguese, whom he and they had sworn to protect. He exhorted them to persevere honourably and bravely in defending their country and preserving their honour inviolate to the Christians, and comforted them with the assurance that the Portuguese fleet would soon arrive with sufficient reinforcements to drive out the zamorin and to restore him to his dominions. In the meantime, he proposed that they should retire with what force remained, into the isle of Vaipi, which was of difficult access; and where they could defend themselves till the arrival of the Portuguese fleet, more especially as the winter was at hand, which would stop the progress of the war for some time. The naires were astonished at the resolution of their sovereign, and promised faithfully to obey his commands in all things.

The zamorin made a new attempt to shake the resolution of the rajah in his present adversity, by offering peace on condition of delivering up the Portuguese and their goods; which the rajah rejected with disdain as he had done all his former overtures. On this the zamorin gave orders to destroy the whole country with fire and sword, on which intelligence most of the inhabitants of Cochin withdrew to other places. There were at this time in Cochin two Milanese lapidaries belonging to the factory, named John Maria and Pedro Antonio, who had been brought to India by Vasco de Gama. These men deserted to the zamorin, to whom they conveyed intelligence of the consternation which reigned among the inhabitants of Cochin, and of the small number of men that remained with the rajah. These men also made offer to the zamorin to make ordnance for him resembling those of the Portuguese, which they afterwards did as will appear in the sequel of this history, and for which service they were highly rewarded. The zamorin now moved forwards with his army to take possession of Cochin, and was resisted for some time by the rajah, who was himself slightly wounded. But finding it impossible any farther to resist against such prodigious odds, he withdrew to the strong island of Vaipi, carrying all our men along with him and every thing belonging to our factory. The zamorin, on taking possession of the deserted city of Cochin, ordered it to be set on fire. He then sent a part of his army against the isle of Vaipi, which was valiantly defended by the rajah and his men and in which defence the members of our factory contributed to the best of their ability. But the winter coming on, and bad weather setting in, the zamorin was obliged to desist for the present season, and withdrew his army to Cranganor with a determination to renew the war in the ensuing spring, leaving a strong detachment in the island of Cochin, which he ordered to throw up entrenchments for their defence.

After his shameful desertion of Cochin, Vincente Sodre went with his fleet towards the kingdom of Cambaya; meaning to capture the rich ships of the Moors which trade to India from the Red Sea. He there took five ships, in which in ready money only was found to the value of 200,000 perdaos . Most of the Moors were slain in the battle, and the ships burnt. From Cambaya he sailed for Cape Guardafu; and as his ships were foul, he proposed to lay them aground to be careened at the islands of Curia Muria [4]. Sodre arrived there with his squadron on the 20th April 1503; and though these islands were well inhabited by Moors, he resolved to venture on land, considering that these islanders were by no means warlike, and stood in fear of our men. The islanders accordingly behaved in a peaceable manner, and sold our people such provisions as they had to spare. Sodre laid one of his caravels aground for repair, on which he was informed by the Moors that their coast was subject to violent storms in the month of May, during which no ships were able to keep the sea, but were unavoidably driven on shore and wrecked. Wherefore they advised him strenuously to remove to the other side of the island, which would then be a sure defence against the storm, after which had blown over he might return to their part of the coast. Sodre made light of their advice, conceiving they meant him some harm; and told them that the ships of the Moors having only wooden anchors, might be easily driven ashore, whereas his anchors were of iron and would hold fast. Pedro Raphael, Hernan Rodriguez Badarsas, and Diego Perez were convinced of the council of the Moors being good, and therefore quitted these islands on the last day of April; but Sodre would not listen to their advice and remained with his brother at Curia Muria. According to the prediction of the Moors, a violent storm came on early in May, by which the two remaining ships were driven from their anchors and dashed to pieces. Vincente Sodre and his brother, with many others lost their lives, and nothing whatever was saved out of these two ships. The loss of these two brothers was considered as a punishment of Providence, for basely abandoning the rajah of Cochin and the factory in their imminent danger.

[4] These are a cluster of islands, otherwise called Chartan and Martan, on the coast of Yemen, between the latitudes of 17° and 18° north.--E.

Those who were saved returned towards Cochin to succour our people, and chose Pedro de Tayde[5] as their general. In their passage from Curia Muria towards Cochin, they encountered several severe storms, and were often in great danger of perishing. Being unable to reach Cochin on account of the winds, they were forced to take refuge in the island of Anchediva. A few days after their arrival, a ship came there from Portugal, commanded by Antonio del Campo, who had left Lisbon alone some time after Vasco de Gama, and had been much delayed on his voyage in consequence of the death of his pilot. He had encountered severe weather on the coast, and was forced after much trouble and danger to take refuge in Anchediva. The united squadron wintered in this island, where they suffered severe hardships from scarcity of provisions.

[5] Of the four officers mentioned in the text, three are enumerated at the commencement of the former voyage of De Gama as commanders of separate vessels. The fourth, Badarsas, is not in that list of captains, and may have been appointed captain of Vincente Sodres flag- ship.--E.

SECTION VII.

Voyage of Alonso and Francisco de Albuquerque to India in 1503; being the fifth of the Portuguese Expeditions to the East Indies.

Is the year 1503, supposing that the admiral Don Vasco de Gama had quietly settled factories in Cochin and Cananor, the king of Portugal did not consider it necessary to send any great fleet to India. He therefore determined to send only six ships in two separate squadrons, under separate generals. Alonso de Albuquerque, who was afterwards governor- general or viceroy of India, commanded one of these squadrons, having under him as captains, Duarte Pacheco and Hernan Martinez Mascarennas, who is said to have died during the voyage. The other squadron, likewise of three ships, was under the command of Francisco de Albuquerque, cousin to Alonso, having as captains Nicholas Coello and Pedro Vas de la Vega, the former of whom sailed under De Gama in the first discovery of India. This latter squadron sailed from Lisbon fifteen days after the other, yet arrived first in India. Both squadrons encountered severe storms during the voyage, in which the ship commanded by De la Vega was lost. Francisco de Albuquerque, and Nicholas Coello, arrived at Anchediva in the month of August, where they found De Tayde and the other captains who had wintered there, as related in the former section. They here received notice of the war between the zamorin and the rajah of Cochin, and of the sinister events which had occurred at that place; for which reason Francisco stood over with the whole fleet, now consisting of six sail, to Cananor, where he expected to receive more exact intelligence of the state of affairs in Cochin. They were here received with great joy by the Portuguese factory; and even the rajah of Cananor came on board the generals ship in person, and gave him a distinct recital of what had happened at Cochin, and of the present situation of Triumpara.

Alonso de Albuquerque lost no time in going to Cochin, where he arrived on the night of Saturday the 2d of September 1503. Immediately on his approach, the troops of Calicut who guarded the entrenchments thrown up by the zamorin, abandoned their posts in the island of Cochin and fled to Cranganor, according to orders to that effect from the zamorin, who had received notice of the arrival of our fleet at Cananor. On Sunday morning Francisco came to anchor close to Cochin, when he was joyfully received by the inhabitants, playing on various instruments of music, and was soon afterwards visited by the Portuguese factor, who brought him a message from the rajah. On the Monday morning, leaving his ships in good order, Francisco took several boats well armed, and went to the island of Vaipi to visit the rajah, ordering two caravels to follow for security, in case of any of the Calicut paraws making their appearance. The rajah received our general with infinite satisfaction, greeting them with the exclamation, Portugal! Portugal! as soon as our boats were within hail; which was answered by our people shouting out, Cochin! Cochin! and down with the zamorin! On landing, the rajah embraced Francisco de Albuquerque with tears in his eyes, saying he only desired to live till restored to his dominions, that his subjects might be satisfied of his just conduct in suffering so much for the service of the king of Portugal. In the name of that sovereign, Francisco gave hearty thanks to Triumpara for his fidelity, and promised him ample revenge on his enemies. And as his finances were much reduced, he made him a present of 10,000 crowns from the chest belonging to the expedition, to serve his present necessities, until he might be again able to draw the rents of his own dominions. This gift was exceedingly acceptable to the rajah, whose affairs were then at a very low ebb; and gave much satisfaction to the natives, who were by it greatly reconciled to the protection which their rajah had given to our men.

The rajah was immediately brought back in triumph to Cochin, amid the joyful acclamations of his subjects, who henceforwards treated our men with esteem and respect. The news of the rajahs return to Cochin, and of the money which had been given him by our general, was speedily communicated to the zamorin; who, in expectation of the renewal of the war, sent orders to his caymals or governors on the frontiers towards Cochin to make every preparation for defence. On the very day on which the rajah returned to Cochin, Francisco de Albuquerque resolved to commence hostilities by an attack on the island directly over against Cochin, where he found the inhabitants quite unprepared and off their guard, as they had no idea of being so soon attacked: In this unprepared state, a great number of the Calicut troops were slain, and several of the towns on the island destroyed, after which the Portuguese returned to their ships without loss. Next day Francisco made a fresh assault on the same island with six hundred men, and was opposed by the caymal or governor for the zamorin, with a force of two thousand nayres, part of whom were spearmen, but the greater number armed with bows and arrows, and some with swords and targets. After some resistance, but in which none of them were hurt, our people made good their landing, and galled the Indians so sore with their cross-bows, that they soon fled. The Portuguese pursued quite across the island, and forced their enemies to continue their flight across the water, leaving many of their men behind both killed and wounded. Having now no enemy to oppose them in the island, the Portuguese laid it entirely waste, and burnt all the towns and villages it contained.

Adjoining to this island there lay another, named Charanaipin [1], which belonged to a caymal who was subject to the rajah of Cochin, but had revolted to the zamorin at the commencement of the war. From some spies employed by the rajah of Cochin, it was understood that this caymal had a force of three thousand nayres, seven hundred of whom were archers, and forty were, armed with matchlocks[2]; besides which all their towns were well fortified with trenches. He had likewise several paraws provided with ordnance, with which he was supplied by the zamorin, and these were stationed in one of the harbours of the island, to defend it against the Portuguese. Notwithstanding all these preparations, of which he was well informed, Francisco Albuquerque went against this island the day after he had reduced the former, and commenced his attack against the harbour in which the paraws were stationed. The enemy were soon driven by our ordnance from their boats, yet many of them continued in the water up to their girdles to resist the landing of our troops, annoying them as much as possible with stones, spears, and arrows. They were at length driven from the water by our ordnance, but rallied again on the shore, and bravely resisted our people in landing for a long time. They were at length driven to take shelter in a grove of palm trees, in which they defended themselves for a short space, and were at the last driven to seek for safety in a disorderly flight, in which they were pursued by our men. In the pursuit, Pedro de Lares, who was constable to Francisco de Albuquerque, being separated from the rest, was attacked by three nayres all at once. One of these let fly an arrow which hit Pedro on his breast- plate but without hurting him; on which Pedro levelled his piece and shot him dead. The second nayre he likewise slew by another shot. The third nayre wounded him in the leg with a weapon called a gomya , and then endeavoured to run away, but Pedro killed him, with his sword. On the enemy being put to flight, Francisco divided his forces into three bodies, two of them Portuguese, and the third composed of nayres in the service of the rajah of Cochin, and marched all over the island plundering and burning the towns and villages without resistance.

[1] This seems to be the island named Chirapipil on a former occasion.--E.

[2] Thus I understand the expression in Lichefilds translation of Castaneda, "Forty were armed with, shot."--E.

While thus employed, a considerable number of paraws arrived with reinforcements from Calicut, from which a powerful body of nayres landed in that part of the island where Duarte Pacheco happened to be posted with a very inferior force, and had assuredly destroyed him and his men, but that Francisco de Albuquerque came very opportunely to his aid. Finding greater resistance than he expected, and fearing lest the caymal might attack him in the rear, while engaged in front with the nayres of Calicut, Francisco detached a part of his troops under Nicholas Coello, assisted by Antonio del Campo and Pedro de Tayde, to assault the residence of the caymal, who was slain bravely fighting in its defence. At this place one of our men was slain and eighteen wounded. In the mean time, Francisco de Albuquerque and Duarte Pacheco defeated the reinforcements from Calicut, and forced them to take refuge on board their paraws, leaving many of their men slain and wounded on the shore. After this signal victory, by which the greater part of the three thousand nayres belonging to the caymal and many of those from Calicut were slain, Francisco de Albuquerque conferred the honour of knighthood on several of his officers who had signalized themselves on the occasion. He then wasted the whole island with fire and sword.

Francisco determined in the next place, to attack the country of the lord of Repelim, for which purpose he departed with his troops by water from Cochin, and reached a town in that territory, four leagues from Cochin, about eight o'clock next morning. Near two thousand nayres, five hundred of whom were armed with bows and arrows, were stationed, on the beach of the isle of Repelim to repel this attack; but were soon forced by our ordnance to retire into a grove of palms, on which Francisco landed with his troops, the van being led by Nicholas Coello. The enemy resisted for some time under the shelter of the trees, and wounded some of our people; but were at length forced to take to flight, after losing a good many of their men, who were shot by our cross-bows and calivers [3]. Our troops followed the nayres, who took refuge in the towns of the island, in which much greater slaughter was made of the enemy than in the field, as they were crowded together and more exposed to our shot. On taking possession of the town, Francisco gave it up to be plundered by the nayres of Cochin, who assisted him on this expedition, that they might not consider the conduct of the Portuguese on this occasion proceeded from any inclination for plundering the country, but from a desire to revenge the injuries which had been done to their own rajah.

[3] Caliver is the old name of the matchlock or carabine, the precursor of the modern firelock or musket.--E.

On his return from this victory, Francisco was joyfully received by the rajah of Cochin, who desired him to desist from any farther operations against the enemy, as he considered himself sufficiently revenged. But Francisco requested his permission to continue the war, as he was still unsatisfied till he had taken effectual vengeance on the zamorin, and accounted it no trouble to fight in the service of the rajah. He seized, however, the present opportunity of the high favour in which he stood with the rajah, to solicit permission for constructing a fort at Cochin, for the protection of the Portuguese factory during the absence of the ships. This request was immediately complied with; the rajah even offered to be at the sole charge, and Francisco lost no time in proceeding to construct the intended fort. As there were neither stones, lime, nor sand to be procured, it was necessary to build the castle of timber; which the rajah ordered to be immediately provided for the purpose, and brought to the spot appointed, which was close to the river side, as best adapted for resisting the assault of the Calicut fleet in any future attempt against Cochin. The rajah sent likewise a great number of his subjects to carry on the work; saying that our people had already had enough to do in the operations of the war: But Francisco commanded our people to work in constructing the fortifications, the foundations of which were laid on the 26th September 1503. The inhabitants of Cochin were astonished at the diligence with which our people laboured at this work, saying there were no such men in the world, as they were equally good at all things.

On the 30th September, four days after the commencement of the fort, Alonso de Albuquerque arrived with his ships at Cochin, having been delayed on his voyage by severe storms and contrary winds, yet brought all his men with him in excellent health. Francisco was much pleased at his arrival; and a portion of the fort being allotted to those newly arrived, it was soon finished. Though built of timber, this castle was as strong and handsome, as if it had been constructed of stone and lime. It was of a square form, each face being eighteen yards, with bulwarks or bastions at each corner mounted with ordnance. The walls were made of two rows of palm trees and other strong timber, firmly set in the ground, and bound together with iron hoops and large nails, the space between the two rows of timber being rammed full of earth and sand, and the whole surrounded by a ditch always full of water[4]. The day after this fort was finished, which was named Manuel in honour of the king of Portugal, the captain- general with all his people made a solemn procession, in which the vicar of the fort bore the crucifix under a canopy carried by the captains of the fleet, preceded by trumpets and other instruments of music. The fort was solemnly blessed, and consecrated by the celebration of mass; after which friar Gaston preached a sermon, in which he exhorted his hearers to be thankful to God, who had permitted the inhabitants of the small western kingdom of Portugal to construct a fortress in this distant region, among so many enemies of the Catholic faith. He expressed a hope that this might be the forerunner of many other establishments of a similar nature, to the advancement of the true religion among the heathen, and the glory of Portugal. He likewise desired his hearers to keep always in mind the high obligations they owed to the rajah for the good service he had rendered to the king of Portugal on this occasion. A faithful report was carried to the rajah of this part of the discourse, who was much gratified, and gave thanks for the same to the two generals.

[4] A very ordinary precaution in India, to guard the passage of the wet ditch in fortified places, both against desertion and surprise, is by keeping numbers of crocodiles in the water.--E.

After completing the fort, the Portuguese renewed the war, and made an attack on two towns belonging to the lord of Repelim on the coast, about five leagues from Cochin, having learned from spies that they were but slightly garrisoned. On this expedition the generals took a body of seven hundred men, and departing from Cochin about two hours before day, they arrived at their destination about nine o'clock next morning. These towns had a population of six thousand people, besides children, and were only defended by three hundred nayres, all bowmen. Alonso de Albuquerque with part of the forces landed at the nearest town, and Francisco with the remainder of the forces at the other, which was only about a cannon-shot distant from the former. In the first town the enemy was completely surprised and run away, and the place was set on fire without resistance. On seeing the people run away, our men pursued and slew many of the fugitives, and when wearied of the pursuit they plundered and destroyed the country. In the mean time the alarm was spread over the neighbourhood, and about 6000 nayres assembled, who made an attack upon our men as they were embarking, so that they were in great danger: In particular, Duarte Pacheco, not being able to find his boat in the place where he had left it, was closely pursued; and though he and his company defended themselves valiantly, and killed many of the enemy, eight of his men were wounded with arrows. So superior was the number of the enemy on this occasion, that Pacheco and his men had assuredly been all slain, if the rest of the troops had not again landed to his rescue; on which the enemy lost heart and run away, leaving the field of battle strewed over with their slain. After the defeat of the nayres, our men set fire to fifteen paraws, which were drawn up on the beach, and carried away seven which were afloat.

The lord of Repelim was much grieved at the destruction of his towns; and being afraid of our people making an attack on another about a league farther up the river, he sent a strong detachment of his nayres for its security. The generals, however, resolved to follow up their victory, and to do all the evil in their power to the territories of this lord. For this purpose, after allowing their men some time for rest, they departed about midnight, while it was still so dark that they could not see each other in the boats, expecting to come upon their enemies by surprise by dawn of next morning. The boats in which Alonso de Albuquerque and his party were embarked got considerably a-head of the rest, and arrived at the town which it was intended to attack a good while before day. Weary of waiting for the rest, he landed his men, and gave orders to set the town on fire. At first they were successful in this rash enterprise, as the ordinary inhabitants were a cowardly unarmed people. But the garrison of above two thousand nayres, having assembled on the alarm, attacked Alonso and his men with great fury and forced them to retreat to their boats, after killing one man and wounding several others of the party, which only consisted originally of forty men. Alonso and his soldiers would not have been able to make good their retreat, if the sailors who remained in charge of the boats had not fired off a falcon[5], or small piece of ordnance, on which the nayres gave over the pursuit. By this time day broke, and Francisco de Albuquerque approached with the rest of the boats; and seeing the perilous situation of Alonso, he commanded the ordnance in the boats to be played off against the enemy, on which they fled from the shore. At this time Pacheco, who was somewhat astern of the rest, observed a great number of armed nayres marching along a narrow passage to reinforce the others at the town; and brought his boat so near the pass, that he completely stopt their passage that way. The whole of our men were now landed, and soon constrained the enemy to take flight with considerable loss; after which they set the town on fire, but did not think it prudent to pursue the runaways, as they were not acquainted with the country.

[5] A falcon or faulcon is described as a small cannon of two pound shot. The following enumeration of the ancient English ordnance, from Sir William Monsons Naval Tracts, in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, is given in Churchills Collection, Vol. III. p. 803. I suspect the weight of the basilisk, marked 400 pounds in this list, may be a typographical error for 4000.--E. Names. Bore. Weight. Shot. Powder. Random inches. libs. libs. libs. paces. Cannon-royal 8-1/2 8000 66 30 1930 Cannon 8 6000 60 27 2000 Cannon-serpentine 7 5500 53-1/2 25 2000 Bastard cannon 7 4500 41 20 1800 Demi-cannon 6-3/4 4000 30-1/2 18 1700 Cannon-petro 6 3000 24-1/2 14 1600 Culverin 5-1/2 4500 17-1/2 12 2500 Basilisk 5 400* 15 10 3000 Demi-culverin 4 3400 9-1/2 8 2500 Bastard culverin 4 3000 5 5-3/4 1700 Sacar 3-1/2 1400 5-1/2 5-1/2 1700 Minion 3-1/2 1000 4 4 1500 Faulcon 2-1/2 660 2 3-1/2 1500 Falconet 2 500 1-1/2 3 1500 Serpentine 1-1/2 400 3/4 1-1/2 1400 Rabanet 1 300 1/2 1/3 1000

After this exploit, Duarte Pacheco and Pedro de Tayde went with their divisions to destroy another town at some distance, in their way towards which they fought and defeated eighteen paraws belonging to the zamorin, and then set the town on fire. From thence they stood over to the island of Cambalan , the caymal of which was an enemy of the Cochin rajah, where they destroyed a large town. From that place, Pacheco went with five armed paraws of Cochin to burn another town, where he met with considerable resistance, and slew a great number of the enemy, seven of his own people being wounded. After setting the town on fire, he retired towards Cochin, and was forced to fight with thirteen armed paraws of Calicut, which he defeated with the assistance of Pedro de Tayde and Antonio del Campo, who fortunately joined him in this emergency. On their defeat, the Calient paraws retired into a creek, where one of them ran aground and was taken by Pacheco; but our men being worn out with hard rowing, were unable to pursue the rest, and returned to Cochin. On receiving an account of these transactions, the rajah was much satisfied with the revenge which had been taken of his enemies, and requested of our generals to discontinue the war, to which, however, they were by no means inclined.

On account of the war, no pepper was brought from the country to sell at the factory in Cochin, neither dared the merchants to go out in search of that commodity, insomuch that the factory had only been able to procure 300 bahars [6], and the factor requested the generals to go in quest of some which was to be procured at a place about nine leagues from Cochin. For this purpose the two generals and all their captains set out from Cochin under night, that their intentions might not be discovered by the enemy. On the way Pacheco destroyed a whole island, in which he fought against six thousand of the enemy with his own company only, and the two generals put thirty-four paraws to flight. After this Pacheco and del Campo destroyed a town on the continent, where they defeated two thousand nayres, many of whom were slain, without any loss on their side. After this, the generals sent on the tony [7] for the pepper, which carried such merchandize as was meant to be given in exchange; and for its protection Pacheco and three other captains accompanied it with two hundred men, and five hundred Cochin paraws[8]. In passing a narrow strait or river, our people were assailed from the banks by a vast number of the natives armed with bows and arrows, but were defended by their targets, which were fixed on the gunwales of their boats. Leaving one of his captains with fifty Portuguese t protect the tony, Pacheco with the other two captains and the troops belonging to the rajah, made towards the shore, firing off his falcons against the enemy, whom he forced to quit the shore with much loss; after which he landed with his troops, most of whom were armed with hand-guns. The enemy, who were full two thousand strong, resisted for a quarter of an hour, but at length took to flight after having many slain. Pacheco pursued them to a village, where the fugitives rallied and were joined by many nayres, insomuch that they now amounted to six thousand men, and our people were in great jeopardy, as the enemy endeavoured to surround them, and to intercept their return to the boats. But our men defended themselves manfully, and fought their way back to the shore, where the natives divided on each hand, being afraid of the shot of the falcons, which slew great numbers of them, and our men re-embarked without having a single man killed or wounded.

[6] Two weights of that name are described as used in India for the sale of pepper and other commodities, the small and the large bahar; the former consisting of three, and the latter of four and a half peculs. The pecul is said to weigh 5 1/2 pounds avoirdupois: Consequently the smaller bahar is equal to 16 1/2, and the larger to 24 3/4 English pounds. A little farther on in the present work of Castaneda, 4000 bahars are said to equal 1200 quintals; which would make the bahar of Cochin equal to thirty Portuguese pounds.--E.

[7] This is a species of bark of some burthen, then used on the Malabar coast.--E.

[8] Such is the expression of Lichefild; which I suspect ought to have been 500 nayres of Cochin in paraws.--E.

The zamorin was much displeased at the successes of our people against his confederates, and by the loss of many of his paraws in these several actions, and was even afraid lest the Portuguese might eventually dispossess him of his dominions. He used every exertion therefore to prevent us from procuring pepper, being in hopes, if our ships were constrained to return to Portugal without loading, that they would come no more back to India. He used his influence therefore even with the merchants of Cochin to refuse supplying pepper to our ships, which they did so effectually, under pretence of the war, that, in spite of the influence of the rajah, and notwithstanding high offers of reward from Francisco de Albuquerque, the factory had only been able to procure 1200 quintals or 4000 bahars[9] of pepper; and even that was got with hard fighting, some hurt to our own men, and infinite loss of lives to the enemy. Unable to procure any more pepper in Cochin, Alonso de Albuquerque went to Coulan in search of that commodity, accompanied by Pedro de Tayde and Antonio del Campo, knowing that the government of that state was desirous of having one of our factories established in their city, and had solicited both Pedro Alvares Cabral and the lord admiral De Gama to that effect; and Alonso was determined to go to war with the people of Coulan unless they gave him loading for his ships.

[9] The quantity in the text is probably exaggerated considerably, as only a few pages before, the factory at Cochin is said to have only been able to procure 300 quintals.--E.

Coulan is twelve leagues from Cochin, and twenty-four from Cape Comorin. Before the building of Calicut, Coulan was the principal city of Malabar, and the port of greatest trade on that coast. Its buildings, more especially the temples and shrines of their idols, are larger and more splendid than those of Cochin. The haven is excellent, the country is well stored with provisions, and the condition of the people resembles in all things what has been formerly said of the inhabitants of Calicut. The inhabitants are idolatrous Malabars, having among them many rich Moorish merchants, more especially since the war broke out between us and the zamorin, as many of these merchants had left Calicut to reside at Coulan. They trade with Coromandel, Ceylon, the Maldive islands, Bengal, Pegu, Camatia, and Malava. The rajah or king of this state rules over an extensive kingdom, in which there are many rich cities and several good harbours; by which means he has a large revenue, and is able to maintain a great military force, but the men are mostly of a low stature: He entertains in his palace a guard of three hundred women, armed with bows and arrows, who are very expert archers, and they bind up their breasts very tight with bandages of silk and linen, that they may not stand in the way of using their bows. This rajah usually resides in a city named Calle, and is generally at war with the king of Narsinga[10].

[10] In Astleys Collection, I. p. 55. Coulan or Koulan is said to have been governed at this time by a queen or rana. By Narsinga Bisnagar is to be understood, which was one of the sovereignties into which the Decan or southern peninsula of India was then divided--E.

In the city of Coulan, which is governed by certain officers or aldermen, there is a church which was built by the apostle St Thomas, who came here to preach the Catholic faith, and made many converts both among the idolaters and others, who have handed down the Christian belief from generation to generation, so that there are at least twelve thousand families of Christians scattered abroad in the country, in which they have churches in many places. The king who then ruled in Coulan, being much displeased at the numbers of his subjects who were converted to Christianity, banished St Thomas from his dominions, who then went to a city called Malapur or Meliapour, on the coast of the dominions of Narsinga, and was followed by the Christians of Coulan, and even by many of the idolaters. He is said to have retired into a solitude in the mountains, where he died, and whence his body was removed for interment in a vault of the church he had built at Coulan. This church is now deserted and entirely overgrown with trees and bushes, and is kept by a poor Moorish zealot, who subsists on alms which he receives from Christian pilgrims, and even some of the idolaters give alms at this tomb.

On the arrival of Alonso de Albuquerque at the harbour of Coulan, the governors of the city came on board to visit him, and settled a treaty with him, in which it was stipulated that we were to have a factory in the city, and that they should provide a loading with all possible dispatch for the three ship he had along with him. While one of his ships was taking in a lading in the harbour, the other two always kept out at sea watching all ships that passed, and obliging every one they could descry to come and give an account of themselves to Albuquerque as captain- general under the king of Portugal. He offered no injury to any of these, unless to such as belonged to the Moors of the Red Sea, all of which that fell in his way were first plundered and then burnt, in revenge for the injuries they had done to the Portuguese. When the house for the factory was finished, and the ships laden, Alonso left there Antonio de Sola as factor, with two clerks, Rodrigo Aranso and Lopo Rabelo, an interpreter named Medera, and two friars to serve as chaplains, together with other assistants, being twenty in all; after which he returned to Cochin.

About this time Francisco de Albuquerque received a message from Cosebequin , a friendly Moor of Calicut who has been formerly mentioned, giving him notice that the zamorin was determined to make another attack on Cochin so soon as the Portuguese fleet had departed for Europe, and to fortify it in such a manner as should prevent them from having any farther intercourse with that country. With this view the zamorin had entered into treaties with all the rajahs and leading nayres or nobles of Malabar, and it was even rumoured that those of Cananor and Coulan had secretly entered into terms with him against the Portuguese and the rajah of Cochin[11]. He said farther that the Moorish merchants had promised large assistance for carrying on the war, as they were exceedingly desirous to exclude the Christians from trading to India. About the same time a letter came from Rodrigo Reynel to the same effect, saying that the zamorin was levying troops, and had caused a great number of cannon to be prepared for the war: Reynel likewise said that the Moors of Cochin were decidedly in the interest of the zamorin, and were therefore to be looked to with much jealousy. The rajah likewise informed Albuquerque, that from certain bramins who had come from Calicut he was informed of the intentions and preparations of the zamorin for reducing Cochin; and as he had little reliance on his own subjects, he requested some Portuguese troops might be left for his defence. Francisco gave the rajah assurance of protection, and even that the Portuguese would add to his dominions at a future period, in reward for his fidelity and friendship to their nation, and as a compensation for the injuries he had suffered in their cause.

[11] The western coast of India below the Gauts, is divided into three portions, the Concan in the north, after this the coast of Canara, and in the south, the country of Malabar, reaching from Mount Deli to Cape Comorin. At the present period, Malabar was divided into seven kingdoms or provinces: Cananor, Calicut, Cranganor, Cochin, Porka, Coulan, and Travancore; which last was subject to the kingdom of Narsinga or Bisnagar. Cananor, Calicut, and Coulan only were considered as independent rajahs, the others being less or more subjected to the authority of these three.--E.

The rajah was much pleased with this assurance; and as Francisco found he could have no more pepper at Cochin, he determined upon returning to Portugal, when he had appointed a fit person to remain as captain-general in India. He found this matter difficult, as none of his captains were willing to remain with the small force which he was able to leave behind. At length Duarte Pacheco willingly accepted the charge, and the rajah was much pleased with his appointment, having already sufficient proof of his valour. Pacheco was accordingly left at Cochin with his own ship and two caravels commanded by Pedro Raphael and Diego Perez, and a pinnace, with ninety men in health besides others who were sick.[12] As much ordnance and ammunition was likewise given him as could possibly be spared from the homeward bound ships. All these things being settled, Francisco de Albuquerque sailed for Cananor, where he proposed to endeavour to procure the liberty of Rodrigo Reynel and the others who were at Calicut. But the zamorin sent him word that there was no necessity to take this person away, who was desirous of remaining in India; and if the captain-general would remain he should have the pepper which was promised.[13] At this time Alonso de Albuquerque returned from Coulan, and joined Francisco at Cananor; and a letter was brought from Rodrigo Reynel, giving information that the zamorin was certainly resolved to attempt the conquest of Cochin, as soon as the Portuguese ships should leave the coast; and that his only intention in making an offer of pepper was with a view to prevent them from burning the ships which were then in the harbour of Calicut.

[12] According to Astley, his whole force consisted of 110 men. Vol. I. p. 65.

[13] This story of Reynel and the pepper promised by the zamorin, is so confusedly told in Lichefild's translation of Castaneda, as to be altogether unintelligible.--E.

All matters being arranged, the Portuguese fleet sailed from Cananor on the 31st of January 1504. Alonso de Albuquerque and Antonio del Campo came to Lisbon on the 23d of August, and presented to the king 400 weight of seed pearls, which are called Alhofer or Ragges , 144 pound weight of great pearls, and eight of the oysters from which the pearls are procured. [14] He gave likewise to the king a diamond as big as a large bean, and many other jewels; and two Persian horses of wonderful swiftness. Francisco de Albuquerque and Nicholas Coello, who left Cananor some time after Alonso, were cast away on the voyage and never more heard of. Pedro de Tayde was driven to Quiloa, where his ship was lost on the bar and most of his men drowned. From Quiloa he went to Mozambique in a zambucco , where he afterwards died; but left a letter in which he gave a particular account of the state of affairs in India, which he ordered to be, delivered to the first captain who might put in there from Portugal[15].

[14] In Astley the weight of the large pearls is reduced to 40 pounds. Even with that correction, the immense quantity of pearls in the text is quite incredible. There must be some error in the denomination, but which we are unable to correct.--E.

[15] The remainder of this section is taken from Astley, I. 56, being there appended to the abridgement of the voyage of the Albuquerques. It is an isolated incident, having no apparent connection with the history in the text, yet seemed proper to be preserved in this place. --E.

Antonio de Saldanna, the last of the three commanders who were sent to cruise in the north of the Red Sea, having lost Diego Fernandez Peteira, came to anchor at a place called St Thomas, on the east side of the Cape of Good Hope, which was made famous by the name of Aquada del Saldanna , or Saldannas watering-place, on account of his having lost several of his men there in endeavouring to land. At this time Ruy Lorenzo was parted from him in a storm which drove him to Mozambique, whence he held on his course for Quiloa, where he took some small prizes. Being ambitious to distinguish himself, he went to the island of Zanzibar, twenty leagues short of Mombasa, where he took twenty small vessels. After this he appeared before the town of Mombasa, the king of which place sent out a number of armed almadias or paraws to take his ship: But Lorenzo armed his long boat with a crew of thirty men, which took four of the almadias and killed a great many of the Moors. The king sent an army of 4000 men to the shore under the command of his son, who was killed with some others at the first volley; on which one of the Moors ran out from the ranks with a flag of the Portuguese arms, craving a parley. Peace was soon concluded, by which the king agreed to pay 100 meticals of gold yearly as a tribute to the king of Portugal[16].

[16] Mombasa belonged to the Portuguese for near 200 years. In 1698 it was very easily taken by the Muskat Arabs, who put twenty Portuguese to the sword.--Astl.

I. 56. a.

From Mombasa, Lorenzo sailed for Melinda, the king of which place was much oppressed by him of Mombasa, on account of his connection with the Portuguese. On his way he took two ships and three small vessels called zambuccos , in which were twelve magistrates of Brava, who submitted their city to the king of Portugal, and engaged to give 500 meticals of yearly tribute. On his arrival at Melinda, he found that a battle had been fought between the kings of Melinda and Mombasa, in which neither could claim the victory. Antonio de Saldanna likewise arrived at Melinda about this time, and by his mediation peace was restored between these princes. Saldanna and Lorenzo went thence to the mouth of the Red Sea, where they defeated some Moors at the islands of Kanakani [17] beyond Cape Guardafu. On the upper coast of Arabia, they burnt one ship belonging to the Moors which was laden with frankincense, and they drove another on shore which carried a number of pilgrims for Mecca.

[17] No islands of that name are to be found on our maps. The islands of Socotora, Abdul Kuria, and los dos Hermanas, are to the eastwards of Cape Guardafu: Chartan Martan, or the islands of Kuria Muria, are a considerable distance N.N.E. on the outer or oceanic coast of Yemen.--E.

SECTION VIII.

Transactions of the Portuguese in India under Duarte Pacheco, from the departure of Alonso and Francisco de Albuquerque in January 1504, till the arrival of Lope Suarez de Menesis with succours in September of that year.

After the departure of the Albuquerques from Cananor, Duarte Pacheco, who was left with the command in India, remained there for some time to take in provisions, having along with him the caravel commanded by Pedro Raphael, while the other ship of his small squadron, under the command of Diego Perez, was repairing at Cochin. Pacheco anchored with his own ship off the harbour of Cananor, and dispatched Raphael along the coast to oblige all ships which passed that way to come to Cananor in acknowledgment of Pacheco as captain-general in the Indies. Several were brought in by Raphael, and were constrained to give a full account from whence they came, whither bound, and what they were laden with. In case of their containing any pepper, more especially if bound for Calicut, he used to take that commodity from them; and carried his command with so high a hand, that he became the terror of these seas. One night while thus at anchor, a fleet of twenty-five ships came suddenly to the anchoring-ground where he lay, which he suspected to have been sent from Calicut on purpose to attack him. Considering himself in imminent danger, he immediately slipped his cables, not having time to weigh anchor, and made sail to gain the windward of this fleet, upon which he directly commenced firing. They were mostly small ships laden with rice, and made off with all the haste in their power, though some of them ran aground. One of the vessels of this fleet was a large ship belonging to the Moors of Cananor, having nearly 400 men on board, who resisted for some time, shooting off their arrows, and even endeavoured to take our ship. When day was near at hand, and after having nine men slain in the action, the Moorish captain at length submitted, and told Pacheco that he belonged to Cananor.

After some time spent in this manner, Pacheco made sail for Cochin, and in the passage fell in with several ships belonging to the Moors, taking some, and burning or sinking others. On landing at the fort of Cochin, he learnt from the factor that the reports of the zamorin making preparations for the renewal of the war, were perfectly true, and even that the Moorish inhabitants of Cochin were adverse to the rajah for having taken part with the Portuguese against the zamorin. Being informed likewise that the Cochin rajah was in great fear of this new war, he went next day to visit him, carrying all his boats well manned, and fenced with raised sides of boards to defend his men from the missile weapons of the enemy. They were likewise furnished with ordnance, and all decorated with flags and streamers in a gallant manner, hoping thereby to inspire confidence in Trimumpara, who was much dejected at the small force which had been left for his defence. In a conference between them, the rajah said to Pacheco, that the Moors asserted he was left in the Indies for the sole purpose of removing the merchandize belonging to the Portuguese in the factory at Cochin to Cananor and Coulan, and not to defend him against the power of the zamorin; which he was even disposed to think were true, in consideration of the smallness of the fleet under his command. Pacheco felt indignant at the suspicion which the rajah entertained, and endeavoured to convince him that he had been imposed upon by the Moors out of enmity to the Portuguese, assuring him that he would faithfully exert himself in his defence. He pointed out to him the strength of the natural defences of Cochin, which were all narrow, and defensible therefore by a few valiant men against any number of assailants. The rajah was greatly relieved by these assurances, and Pacheco went to visit the different places by which the island of Cochin might be assailed, all of which he diligently fortified, more especially the ford, which he strengthened with a row of stakes, both to prevent the enemy from wading across, and to hinder any of their vessels from passing.

In the mean time he was informed by letter from Rodrigo Reynel, that a principal Moor in Cochin, in concert with several others, were contriving to quit that city; and had been twice secretly at Calicut to confer with the zamorin on this subject. Pacheco was a good deal concerned at this intelligence, and proposed to the rajah to have this Moor executed for his treasonable intercourse with the zamorin. But Trimumpara would by no means consent to this measure; saying that it would occasion a mutiny among the Moors, by whom the city was furnished with provisions in exchange for goods, and be thought it were better to dissemble with them all. Pacheco then said that he would have a conference with the Moors, meaning to use policy with them, since the rajah did not approve of violent measures; and to this the rajah consented, giving orders to his naires to obey the orders of Pacheco. In pursuance of this plan, Pacheco went to the dwelling of this chief Moor, named Belinamacar , close by the river, taking with him a guard of his own men well armed, and requested that person to send for some other leading men among the Moors, whom he named, saying that he wished to consult with them on a subject of great importance to them all. When they were all assembled, he made them a speech to the following effect.

"I sent for you, honest merchants, that I might inform you for what purpose I remain in the Indies. It is reported by some, that I mean only to remove the factory and the goods belonging to the Portuguese to Coulan and Cananor: But my sole purpose is to defend Cochin against the zamorin, and even if necessary I will die in your defence. I am resolved to meet him in Cambalan, by which way it is said he means to invade you; and, if he has the boldness to meet me, I hope to make him prisoner and to carry him with me into Portugal. I am informed that you intend to go away from Cochin, and to induce the rest of the inhabitants among whom you are the chiefs, to do the same; but I am astonished men of your wisdom should leave the country in which you were born, and where you have dwelt so many years, from fear of vain reports. Such conduct were even disgraceful for women, and is therefore much more so for you who are men of wisdom and experience. If you should be disposed to remove from hence when you shall actually be in danger, I should hardly blame you: But to do so before that danger is apparent, and even before a single battle has been fought, must proceed either from cowardice or treachery. You all well know, that only a very short while ago, a very small number of our Portuguese defeated thousands of those same enemies who now threaten to invade us. You may allege that we were then more in number than now, which was assuredly the case. But we then fought in the open field, where numbers were necessary; and we now propose only to fight in narrow passes, in which a small number will suffice as well as a multitude. You already know that I can fight, as it is I who have done the greatest injury to the enemy in the late war, which the rajah can well vouch. As for me I shall never yield, and I have more to lose, being overcome, than any of you. Put your trust therefore in me and my troops, and remain where you are till you see the event of our defence. Your sovereign remains in his port, and wherefore should you go away? I and the Portuguese who are with me, remain in this far distant country to defend your king, and you who are his natural born subjects: Should you then desert him and your country, you would disgrace yourselves and dishonour me, by refusing to repose confidence in my promise to defend you against the zamorin and all his power, were it even greater than it is. Wherefore, I strictly enjoin that none of you shall remove from Cochin, and I swear by all that is holy in our faith, that whoever is detected in the attempt shall be instantly hanged. It is my determined purpose to remain here, and to have the port strictly watched day and night that none of you may escape. Let every one of you, therefore, look well to his conduct, and be assured, if you do as I require, you shall have me for your friend; but if otherwise, I shall be your mortal enemy, and shall use you worse even than the zamorin."

The Moors endeavoured to clear themselves from what had been alleged against them, but Pacheco would not listen to their excuses, and departed from them in anger, and immediately brought his ship and one of the caravels with two boats, which he anchored directly opposite the city of Cochin, with strict charges to let no one leave the city by water. He likewise appointed a number of paraws to guard all the creeks and rivers around the city; and ordered every boat that could transport men or goods to be brought every night under the guns of his ships, and returned to their owners in the morning. In consequence of all these precautions, the people of Cochin were so much afraid of him, that not one of the Moors or Malabars dared to leave the city without his permission, and henceforwards continued quiet. Notwithstanding all these cares, Pacheco used to make nightly invasions into the island of Repelim, where he burnt the towns, slew the inhabitants, and carried away much cattle and many paraws; on which account the Moors of Cochin, astonished that he could endure so much fatigue, gave out that he was the devil.

Mean time the zamorin collected his forces in the island of Repelim, where he was joined by the lords of Tanor, Bespur, Kotugan, Korin, and many other Malabar chiefs, making altogether an army of 50,000 men. Four thousand of these were appointed to serve by water, in 280 vessels, called paraws , katurs , and tonys ; with 382 pieces of cannon intended to batter the Portuguese fort at Cochin; and the rest of the troops were appointed to force a passage across the ford of the river, under the command of Naubea Daring, nephew and heir to the zamorin, and Elankol, the lord of Repelim[1].

[1] This paragraph, enumerating the forces of the zamorin, is added to the text of Castaneda from Astley, Vol. I. p. 56.