Having Gained Possession, Almeyda Distributed His Men In
Several Quarters Of The Streets, With Orders To Keep Strict Guard, Lest
The Enemy Might Return; Which They Accordingly Did By Stealth In The
Night, In Order To Recover Their Wives, Children, And Goods.
In the
morning, the viceroy gave permission to his troops to plunder the town;
but this was speedily prevented by the houses taking fire, which in a
few hours reduced the whole to ashes, so that the booty did not exceed
150,000 ducats.
In fact the town was purposely set on fire by the
private orders of the viceroy, lest the men might have been so satiated
by the riches of the place as to retard his ulterior designs. The ships
in the harbour were likewise destroyed by fire, to the no small risk of
the Portuguese ships which were very near.
In fitting out for this expedition, the viceroy had not laid in any
considerable store of provisions, as he expected to have got supplies on
the coast; but on sending to the neighbouring villages none was to be
had, as the last crop had been utterly eaten up by locusts, many of
which were found preserved in pots for food by the natives, and being
tasted by the Portuguese were found palatable, and not unlike shrimps.
This made them conclude that there were land shrimps, as in some places,
particularly in the vineyards about Rome, there are crabs found not
unlike those of the sea.
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