The People Of Patane Urged The King To Take These Ships
From The Portuguese; But He Decided That The 50,000 Crowns Should Be
Made Good To Them Of Which They Had Been Plundered At Pam; On Which The
Merchants Paid That Sum And Were Allowed To Continue Their Voyage.
About the same period, Pedro de Faria y Sousa sent his kinsman Antonio
de Faria y Sousa to treat of important affairs with the king of
Patane, and in particular to preserve peace with that prince.
Antonio
carried goods with him to the value of 12,000 ducats, and finding no
sale for them at that place, he sent them to the port of Lugor in the
kingdom of Siam, a place of great trade, where he was informed they
would sell to great advantage. He intrusted the charge of this valuable
cargo to Christopher Borallo, who was surprised while at anchor in the
mouth of the Lugor river by, Khodjah Husseyn, a Moor of Guzerat, who
commanded a vessel well stored with artillery, and manned with 80 Turks
and Moors. Borallo thought himself happy in escaping from these pirates
by swimming on shore, and brought the news of this disaster to Antonio
de Faria at Patane, who vowed that he would never desist till he had
destroyed Husseyn, in revenge for this loss. Husseyn was equally
inveterate against the Portuguese, ever since Hector de Silveyra had
taken a ship belonging to him in the sea of Guzerat, killing his father
and two brothers, and had continually exerted himself in robbing and
murdering the Portuguese. Owing to this loss and his determination of
revenge, Antonio de Faria was led to the performance of those brave
actions which I now mean to relate with all my usual sincerity, without
affection for my kindred.
Antonio accordingly fitted out a small vessel with 50 men, in which he
sailed from Patane on Saturday the 8th May 1540, and steered north-east
towards the kingdom of Champa or Tsiompa, to examine that coast. He
here saw the island of Pulo Condor, in lat. 3 deg. 20' N[355]. and then to
the eastwards rounded one six leagues from the coast of Cambodia.
Entering the port of Bralapisam, he found there a vessel of the
Lequii, having on board an ambassador from the prince of the island of
Lossa[356] in 36 deg. of north latitude, for the king of Siam. As soon as
this vessel espied the Portuguese ship, it weighed anchor and sailed
away. Faria sent after them a Chinese pilot with a civil message, who
brought back this remarkable answer, "We return thanks: The time will
come when our nation shall have commerce with that captain in real
friendship, through the law of the supreme God, whose clemency is
boundless, since by his death he gave life to all mankind, and remains
an everlasting faith in the house of the good. We confidently hold that
this will be when half the times are past[357]." The pilot also brought
back a rich cymeter in a scabbard of beaten gold, with a handle of the
same, splendidly ornamented with pearls of great value.
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