Advice Being Sent To The Viceroy Of The Dangerous Situation Of Chale,
Diego De Menezes Was Sent With 18 Sail To Carry Supplies And
Reinforcements To The Besieged.
De Menezes got to Chale with great
difficulty about the end of September, at which time the besieged were
reduced to great extremity, having not above 70 men able to bear arms
out of 600 persons then in the fort.
The relief of the fort seemed
impracticable, as the mouth of the harbour was very narrow, and was
commanded on all sides by numbers of cannon on surrounding eminences.
Diego resolved however to surmount all difficulties. A large ship was
filled with sufficient provisions to serve the garrison for two months,
and carried likewise fifty soldiers as a reinforcement. One galley
preceded to clear the way and two others followed the large ship to
defend her against the enemy. By this means, but with incredible
difficulty and danger, the relief was thrown in, but it was found
impossible to bring away the useless people from the fort as had been
intended. Thus, by the valour and good fortune of the viceroy, this
formidable confederacy was dissipated, which had threatened to subvert
the Portuguese power in India, and their reputation was restored among
the native princes.
SECTION VII.
Portuguese Transactions in India from 1571 to 1576.
At this period Sebastian king of Portugal made a great alteration in the
government of the Portuguese possessions in the east, which he deemed
too extensive to be under the management of one person. He divided them
therefore into three separate governments, which were designated
respectively, India, Monotmotapa, and Malacca. The first, or India,
extended from Gape Guardafu, or the north-east extremity of Africa on
the Indian ocean, to the island of Ceylon inclusive. The second, or
Monomotapa, from Cape Corrientes to Cape Guardafu; and the third, or
Malacca, from Pegu to China both inclusive. To the command of the first,
or India, Don Antonio de Noronha was sent with the title of viceroy.
Francisco de Barreto was appointed to Monomotapa, and Antonio Moniz
Barreto to Malacca, both stiled governors. It will be necessary
therefore to treat of these governments separately, though by this we
must necessarily in some measure neglect the consideration of regular
chronology in the distribution of events. We begin therefore with the
viceroyalty of Noronha.
Don Antonio de Noronha arrived at Goa in the beginning of September
1571, having lost 2000 men by sickness out of 4000 with whom he sailed
from Lisbon. Don Luis de Ataine, who surrendered to him the sword of
command, was a nobleman of great valour and military experience, and so
free from avarice that instead of the vast riches which others brought
from India to Portugal, he carried over four jars of water from the four
famous rivers, the Indus, Ganges, Tigris, and Euphrates, which were long
preserved in his castle of Peniche. After serving both in Europe and
Africa, he went out to India, where at twenty-two years of age he was
knighted on Mount Sinai by Don Stefano de Gama.
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