Next Morning Early The Troops Were
Landed Under Pedro Vaz, Brother To Nuno, Who Carried All Before Him, And
Planted The Portuguese Colours, After Killing Many Of The Moors And
Driving The Rest From The City, Without Losing A Single Portuguese
Soldier.
To secure and repeople the city, Nuno sent for a nephew of the
king of Melinda, who came with 500 men, many of whom were of some rank;
and these were followed by the prince of Montangue with 200 more.
Many
likewise of the former inhabitants came in and submitted, so that the
island began to reassume an appearance of prosperity. The expelled king,
sensible of the desperate situation of affairs, sent one of his
principal men to propose an accommodation, offering to pay a ransom to
preserve his city from destruction, and to become tributary. An
agreement was accordingly entered into to this effect, and the king
began to make the stipulated payments; but finding sickness to prevail
among the Portuguese of whom two hundred soon died, and many more were
incapacitated from service, he began to fall off from the completion of
the agreement, and as the prince of Melinda durst not undertake to
defend the place without a considerable force of Portuguese, Nuno
destroyed the city by fire and returned to Melinda, carrying with him
those he had formerly left sick at Zanzibar. Leaving Melinda, he left 80
of his men there sick, to be carried to India on their recovery by
Tristan Homem: who afterwards defended Melinda with these men against
the king of Mombaza, who endeavoured to revenge himself there for the
injury he had sustained from the Portuguese.
It has been formerly mentioned that Nuno de Cuna arrived at Ormuz in May
1529, into which he made a formal and pompous entry, to the great
admiration of the natives. He immediately issued a proclamation at that
place and its dependencies, "That all who had cause of complaint against
the Portuguese should appear before him for redress." Many complainers
accordingly came forwards, and the offenders were obliged to make
restitution, to the great astonishment and satisfaction of the Moors,
who had not been accustomed to see justice executed on their behalf. He
found that Reis Xarafo; great guazil[179] or rather arch tyrant over
the king and people of Ormuz, though restored to that situation by
Sampayo, was by no means clear of the great crimes he had been formerly
accused of, particularly of rapine and murder. On a representation of
this to the king of Portugal, Manuel de Macedo had orders to bring him
prisoner to Lisbon, and accordingly had him arrested by the assistance
of Nuno, who waited upon the king of Ormuz to justify this procedure.
The king readily acquiesced, and presented the governor with a rich
present of jewels and cloth of gold, together with a fine horse richly
caparisoned in the Persian manner. As the reigning king was implicated
in the murder of his predecessor Mahomet, Nuno imposed upon him a fine
of 40,000 Xerephines, in addition to the tribute of 60,000 which he had
to pay yearly; that crime being used as a pretence to overburthen him
with a tribute equal to a third part of the yearly revenue of
Ormuz[180]. Xarafo, or Ashraf, was sent to Portugal with examinations
respecting the crimes laid to his charge; but he carried such riches
along with him, that he was not only able to purchase a remission of
punishment, but was actually reinstated in his former employment.
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