Soon Afterwards The Ethiopian Guards Revolted Under
Three Leaders Of Their Own Choice, Acala Khan, Armi Khan, And Delarna
Khan, The Last Of Whom Secured The Other Two And Usurped The Whole
Power.
About this time new instructions came from the regency of Portugal,
announcing that Philip II.
Of Spain had been admitted as king of
Portugal, and enjoining the governor and all the Portuguese in India to
take the oath of allegiance to the new sovereign.
At this period Mirazenam Pacha, a native of Otranto, and born of
Christian parents, was governor of all that part of Arabia which is
called Yemen by the natives, and resided in Sanaa or Zenan, a city
in the inland part of Yeman or Arabia Felix, 60 leagues north of
Mokha[402]. Sanaa stands upon a hill encompassed with a good wall, and
is thought to have been founded by Ham the son of Noah, and to have been
the residence of the famous queen of Sheba. The fruitful province in
which it stands was called by the ancients Siria Muinifera, because it
produces frankincense, myrrh, and storax. Being desirous to plunder
Maskat near Cape Ras-al-gat, Mirazenam sent three Turkish gallies on
that errand under Ali Beg, who took possession of Maskat, whence most of
the Portuguese residents saved themselves by flight, leaving their goods
to be plundered by Ali Beg. The fugitives took refuge in Mataro, a
town only a league distant, whence they went to Bruxel, a fort about
four leagues inland, belonging to Catani the sheikh or chief of a
horde or tribe of Arabs. The Arab officer who commanded there received
the Portuguese with much kindness and hospitality, and protected them
till the departure of Ali Beg, when they returned to Maskat. On learning
the ruin of Maskat, Gonzalo de Menezes, who then commanded at Ormuz,
sent Luis de Almeyda with a squadron consisting of a galleon, a galley,
and six other vessels, with 400 good men, to attack Ali Beg. But Almeyda
neglected the orders of his superior, and sailed to the coast of the
Naytaques, intending to surprise and plunder the beautiful and rich
city of Pesani[403]. But the inhabitants got notice of their danger
and fled, after which Almeyda dishonourably plundered the city, to which
he set fire, together with near fifty sail of vessels which were in the
bay. He did the same thing to Guadel or Gader, a city not inferior
to Pesani, and to Teis or Tesse belonging to the barbarous tribe of
the Abindos who dwell on the river Calamen in Gedrosia[404], and
who join with the Naytagites in their piracies.
[Footnote 402: Sanaa is about 80 marine leagues, or 278 English miles
N.E. from Mokha, and 30 leagues, or about 100 miles nearly north from
Makulla, the nearest port of Arabia on the Indian ocean. - E.]
[Footnote 403: Perhaps Posino on the oceanic coast of Makran, one of the
provinces of Persia, is here meant, nearly north from Maskat, on the
opposite coast of the entrance towards the Persian Gulf.
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