But As Triumpara Had Abdicated In Favour Of His Nephew Nambeadora[72], Almeyda Thought Proper To Confer The Same Honour Upon Him, And He Was Accordingly Crowned With Great Pomp, As A Mark Of The Friendship Of The Portuguese, And A Terror To Others.

From this place Almeyda sent home six ships richly laden for Lisbon.

[Footnote 72: This name mast certainly be erroneous. In the former part of the history of the Portuguese transactions in India, Nambea daring is mentioned as brother to the zamorin of Calicut, whereas the prince of Cochin is repeatedly named Naramuhin. - E.]

SECTION III.

Some Account of the state of India at the beginning of the sixteenth Century, and commencement of the Portuguese Conquests[73].

As the viceroyalty of Don Francisco de Almeyda laid the foundation of the Portuguese dominion in India, once so extensive and powerful, it may be proper in this place to give a general view of its principal ports and provinces along the sea-coast. Asia is divided from Europe by the river Don, anciently the Tanais, by the Euxine or Black Sea, and by the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, or Straits of Constantinople. It is parted from Africa by the Red Sea, and a line drawn from Suez at the head of that gulf to the Mediterranean, across a narrow neck of land measuring only twenty-four leagues in breadth, called the Isthmus of Suez. Its principal religions are four, the Christian, Mahometan, Pagan, and Jewish. That portion of Asia which principally belongs to our present purpose, may be divided into nine parts, following the coast from the west to the east.

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