We
Shall Afterwards See Him Deceitfully Carried To Sofala, And There Sold
As A Slave.
About the end of February 1564, the viceroy died suddenly,
much lamented by all, being a great lover of justice, and so happy in
his witticisms that all pleasant sayings were fathered upon him.
SECTION VI.
Continuation of the Portuguese Transactions in India, from 1564 to
the year 1571.
On the death of the count of Redondo, Juan de Mendoza late governor of
Malacca succeeded to the command in India with, the title of governor. A
short while before his accession, some Malabar pirates had committed
hostilities on the coast of Calicut upon the Portuguese; and when
complaints were carried to the zamorin, he alleged that these had been
done contrary to his authority by rebels, and that the Portuguese were
welcome to punish them at their pleasure. The late viceroy had
accordingly sent Dominic de Mosquita to make reprisals, who took above
twenty sail of Malabar vessels, the crews of which he barbarously put to
death. Immediately after the accession of Mendoza to the government an
ambassador was sent to him from the zamorin, complaining of the conduct
of Mosquita; when the governor, in imitation of the answer given on a
similar occasion by the zamorin, said that it had probably been done by
Portuguese rebels whom he might punish if taken. As Mosquita came to Goa
while the Calicut ambassadors were still there, the governor thought it
expedient to apprehend him in their presence; but as soon as they were
departed, he released Mosquita and rewarded him. His conduct, however,
soon afterwards occasioned a long war with the zamorin. Mendoza only
enjoyed the government for six months, as, in the beginning of September
1564, Don Antonio de Noronha arrived at Goa with the title of viceroy.
It is the received opinion in India, that the apostle St. Thomas was
slain at Antmodur, a mountain about a league and half from Meliapour,
where were two caves into which he used to retire for prayer and
meditation. The nearest of these caves now belongs to the Jesuits, and
the other has been converted into a church dedicated to our Lady of the
Mount. According to the legend, the apostle being one day at prayers in
the former of these caves, opposite to a cleft which let in the light, a
bramin thrust in a spear at the hole and gave the saint a mortal wound,
part of the spear breaking off and remaining in his body. The saint had
just strength enough remaining to go into the other cave, where he died
embracing a stone on which a representation of the cross was engraved.
His disciples removed his body, and buried it in the church which he had
built, where the body was afterwards found by Emanuel de Faria and the
priest Antonio Penteado, who were sent thither on purpose by king
Emanuel. When, in the year 1547, the Portuguese were clearing out the
cave or oratory in which the apostle died, a stone was found which seems
to have been that he clung to at his death.
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