Finding It Necessary To Land, He Was Opposed By 300 Horse And
800 Foot That Came To Defend The Makbars;
But after a sharp encounter,
in which 200 of the enemy were slain, they were constrained to abandon
the vessels,
Which were all burnt; after which Saldanna destroyed the
town of Gogo and eight ships that were in the port He afterwards
destroyed the towns of Belsa, Tarapor, Mail, Kelme, and Agasim, and
lastly Surat, which was beginning to revive from its former destruction.
Having thus ravaged the coast of Cambaya, he returned to Goa. About this
time a brother of the king of Cambaya, who was rightful heir to that
crown, came into the hands of Nuno; who expected through his means to
obtain what had been so long desired, the possession of Diu, and the
command of the trade of Cambaya.
[Footnote 185: On a former occasion, the name of Kami has been mentioned
as universally given in India to the Turks as coming in place of the
Romans. DeFaria therefore was mistaken in deriving it from the province
of Romania or Thrace. - E.]
[Footnote 186: Perhaps that now called Jaffrabad. - E.]
About this time the Portuguese cruisers had taken twenty-seven ships
belonging to the zamorin, all richly laden. Being perplexed by the great
losses he was continually sustaining through the Portuguese superiority
at sea, the sovereign of Calicut made overtures towards an
accommodation; and in a treaty of peace gave permission to the
governor-general to build a fort in the island of Chale, in a river
that falls into the sea about three leagues from Calicut, which is
navigable by boats all the way to the foot of the Gaut mountains.
Urinama, a heathen, was at this time rajah of Chale, and both he and
the neighbouring rajah of Tanore, who were subjects to the zamorin, were
anxious to throw off their subjection to that prince, and to enter into
alliance with the Portuguese, in hopes of becoming rich by participating
in their trade. Immediately upon procuring the consent of the zamorin to
construct the fort, Nuno set out from Goa with 150 sail of vessels, in
which were 3000 Portuguese troops and 1000 native Lascarines. So much
diligence was used in carrying on the work, even the gentlemen
participating in the labour, that in twenty-six days it was in a
defensible situation, being surrounded by a rampart nine feet thick and
of sufficient height, strengthened by towers and bastions or bulwarks at
proper places. Within the fort a church was built, together with a house
for the commander, barracks for the soldiers, and store-houses for
trade. Diego de Pereira, who had negotiated the treaty with the zamorin,
was left in command of this new fortress, with a garrison of 250 men;
and Manuel de Sousa had orders to secure its safety by sea, with a
squadron of twenty-two vessels. The zamorin soon repented of having
allowed this fort to be built in his dominions, and used ineffectual
endeavours to induce the rajah of Chale, Caramanlii, and Tanore to break
with the Portuguese, even going to war against them, but to no purpose.
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