At Jiddah He Endeavoured To Take
The Sheikh, But Knowing His Tyrannical Character, He Escaped Into The
Interior.
At Zabid, after receiving a rich present, he put the sheikh
to death.
He did the same thing at Aden; and arrived at Diu about the
beginning of September 1538, losing six of his vessels by the way.
When Badar king of Guzerat was killed, one Khojah Zofar swam on shore
and was well received by the Portuguese, being the only one of the kings
retinue who was saved on that occasion. For some time he seemed grateful
for his safety; but at length fled without any apparent reason to the
new king of Guzerat, to whom he offered his services, and even
endeavoured to prevail upon him to expel the Portuguese from his
dominions, asserting that this might be easily done with the assistance
of the Turks. By his instigation, the king of Guzerat raised an army at
Champaneer of 5000 horse and 10,000 foot, to which Khojah Zofar added
3000 horse and 4000 foot in his own pay. Getting notice of these
preparations, Antonio de Sylveira who commanded in Diu, used every
precaution to provide against a long and dangerous siege. Khojah Zofar
began the war by attacking the town of the Rumes[209] near Diu.
Francisco Pacheco defended himself bravely in a redoubt at the place,
with only fourteen Portuguese, till relieved by Sylveira, and Zofar was
forced to draw off his troops, being himself wounded. Immediately
afterwards Ali Khan, general of the Guzerat army, joined Zofar with all
the army, and Sylveira thought proper to evacuate all the posts beyond
Diu, that he might be able to maintain the city and fort; but some
vessels and guns were lost in the execution of these orders. In
consequence of these losses, and because there were many concealed
enemies in the city who only waited an opportunity of doing all the evil
in their power to the Portuguese, Sylveira deemed it expedient to
evacuate the city, giving his sole attention to the defence of the fort.
Ali Khan and Zofar immediately took possession of the city, and began to
fire upon the fort with their cannon. Lope de Sousa, who guarded the
wood and water belonging to the garrison, had several rencounters, in
which he slew many of the enemy without any loss on his side, except
being himself severely wounded.
[Footnote 209: This must have been some town or village inhabited by
Turks. - E.]
Hearing that the Turkish fleet was approaching, Sylveira sent immediate
notice of it to Nuno de Cuna, who prepared with great diligence to go in
person to relieve Diu. Michael Vaz was sent to sea by Sylveira to look
out for the enemy, and falling in with their fleet came so near on
purpose to examine their force that several of their shot reached his
vessel. He got off however, and carried the news to the governor of Goa.
The Turkish fleet came at length to anchor in the port of Diu, where it
was formidable not only to the small Portuguese garrison in the fort,
but to the Moors even who had long expected their arrival.
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