The Fort And All Other Works Were Levelled With The
Ground, And Furtado Returned With The Fleet And Army To Goa.
Cuneale was about 50 years of age, of a low stature, but strong and well
made.
He and his nephew Cinale, with other forty Moors of note, were
sent as prisoners on board the fleet, where they well treated; but as
soon as some of them were set on shore at Goa, they were torn in pieces
by the rabble; and Cuneale and his nephew were both publicly beheaded by
order of the viceroy, so that the government and the mob went hand and
hand to commit murder and a flagrant breach of faith. How can those who
are guilty of such enormities give the name of barbarians to the much
more honourable Indians!
In the year 1600, Ayres de Saldanna arrived at Goa as viceroy to
supersede the Count de Vidugueira, who was universally disliked by the
Portuguese inhabitants. The marble statue of the great Vasco de Gama,
his grandfather, stood over the principal gate of the city, fastened to
the wall by a strong bar of iron. At the instigation of some enemies to
the count, a French engineer named Sebastian Tibao applied to the iron
bar during the night a certain herb that has the quality of eating
iron, so that the statue fell down next night, and its quarters were
hung up in different parts of the city. On the day when the count was to
embark for his return to Portugal, a party of armed men went on board
before him, and hung up his effigy at the yard arm, made exactly like
him both in face and habit. Just as he was going on board they returned;
and on seeing the effigy he asked what it was, when someone answered,
"It is your lordship, whom these men have hung up." He made no reply,
but ordered the figure to be thrown into the sea and immediately set
sail; but two days afterwards had to return to port for a new stock of
fowls, as all these he took with him were poisoned. He was better
beloved by the elements than by those whom he had governed; for he went
all the way from India to Lisbon without once needing to furl a sail. By
the constant chafing of the yards on the masts, it was found impossible
to lower the yards in the usual way when the ship arrived at Lisbon,
insomuch that they had to be cut down. Sailing from Goa on the 25th
December 1600, he arrived at Lisbon on the 27th May 1601, having spent
only five months on the voyage.
During the administration of Ayres de Saldana, Xilimixa king of
Aracan, who had possessed himself of the kingdom of Pegu, gave the port
of Siriam to the Portuguese in grateful acknowledgment of their
services. That town and port is at the mouth of the river Siriam which
flows within a league of the city of Bagou, the capital of Pegu. This
grant was obtained by Philip Brito de Nicote, who proved false and
ungrateful to the king of Aracan, who had raised him from the lowest
rank to his favour and esteem. By his persuasion, Xilimixa erected a
custom-house at the entry to the river Siriam to increase his revenues;
which Brito meant afterwards to seize, and to build a fort there, on
purpose to give a footing for the Portuguese to conquer the kingdom.
Xilimixa accordingly built the custom-house, which he gave in charge to
one Bannadala who fortified himself and suffered no Portugeuse to enter
there, except a Dominican named Belchior de Luz. Nicote, seeing his
purposes likely to be defeated by Bannadala, determined to gain
possession by force before the works were completed. He had along with
him at this time three Portuguese officers and fifty men, whom he
ordered to surprize the fort and turn out Bannadala, trusting to his
great credit with Xilimixa to bear him out in this procedure. The
Portuguese officers accordingly executed their orders so effectually,
that they used to be called the Founders of the Portuguese dominion in
Pegu, and Salvador Ribeyro their commander was like to have got the
whole credit of the exploit, as some even affirmed that he was its
author, though in reality all was due to Nicote. Bannadala being
expelled from his fort, fortified himself with 1000 men in a
neighbouring island of the river Siriam, and seized the treasures of the
pagoda of Digan to maintain his troops. Xilimixa was much offended by
the conduct of the Portuguese in this affair, and resolved to support
Bannadala, but was dissuaded by the contrivances of Nicote, who
represented that he was about to favour a sacrilegious robber, and
offered to arrange matters with the Portuguese to his entire
satisfaction. He accordingly went to Siriam, where he ordered every
thing to his own mind; and when the fort was nearly finished, he went to
Goa, where he offered to deliver up the fort to the viceroy, whence the
Portuguese might easily conquer the kingdom of his master, to whom he
represented his voyage to Goa as intended to procure an auxiliary force
which would enable him to make a conquest of Bengal. At the same time
Nicote negociated with all the princes in the provinces adjoining the
dominions of Xilimixa, persuading them to confederate with the
Portuguese viceroy, by which means they might easily conquer the kingdom
of Pegu; and several of them sent ambassadors along with him to Goa for
this purpose.
Hardly had Nicote set sail for Goa, when Xilimixa became sensible of his
error in confiding in him, and sent a fleet of war boats down the river
Siriam with 6000 men under Bannadala to expell the Portuguese from their
fort. Salvador Ribeyra met this great armament with only three small
vessels and thirty men, and, without the loss of one man, took forty
vessels of the enemy and put the rest to flight.
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