- E.]

[Footnote 404:

Gedrosia the ancient name of that province of Persia on the Indian Ocean between the mouth of the Persian Gulf and the Indus, now called Mekran or Makran. - E.]

SECTION X.

Transactions of the Portuguese in India, from 1581 to 1597 [405].

Don Francisco Mascarenhas, count of Santa Cruz, was the first viceroy sent out to India after the revolution by which Philip II of Spain acquired the sovereignty of Portugal. The honour and advantages conferred upon him on receiving this important office were greater than had ever been enjoyed by any of his predecessors. He well deserved all rewards of honour and profit, having served with great reputation in India, particularly in the brave defence of Chaul, with an incompetent garrison, and hardly any fortifications, against the power of the Nizam, who besieged it with 150,000 men. Yet his advancement on this occasion proceeded more from the policy of the king of Spain than the merit of Mascarenhas, to endeavour to gain the hearts of the Portuguese in India by his bounty. On his arrival at Goa in 1581, the new viceroy found that all the Portuguese had already submitted to the government of the king of Spain, so that he had only to attend to the usual affairs of his viceroyalty.

[Footnote 405: We have here omitted from de Faria several long and confused dissertations on subjects that will be treated of more satisfactorily in the sequel of this work, from better sources of information. These are, 1. Of the religion of Hindostan. 2. Of the empire of Ethiopia, or Abyssinia. 3. Of Japan. 4. Of China. 5. Of the traditions respecting the preaching of Christianity in India by St Thomas. Likewise, in the sequel of the Portuguese transactions in India from de Faria, we have omitted a vast deal of uninteresting events, confining our attention only to such as are of some relative importance. - E.]

Sultan Amodifar, the lawful king of Guzerat, after being long kept prisoner by the Mogul who had usurped his kingdom, made his escape by the assistance of some women and came in disguise to a Banian at Cambaya, by whom he was conveyed to Jambo, a person who had secured himself in a portion of the kingdom of Guzerat in the late revolution. Jambo not only acknowledged Amodifar as his legitimate sovereign, but procured the submission of many other chiefs and great men, so that he was soon at the head of a large army, in which there were above 30,000 horse, and in a short time Amodifar recovered possession of almost all Guzerat, either by force or consent. In hopes of profiting by these confusions, and in particular expecting to acquire possession of Surat, the viceroy went with 40 sail to Chaul, whence he sent some intelligent agents to Baroach, which was then besieged by Amodifar, the wife and children of Cotub oddin Khan having taken refuge in that place. These agents had instructions to treat secretly both with Amodifar and the wife of Cotub, without letting either of them know the correspondence with the other, that the Portuguese interest might be secured with the party that ultimately prevailed.

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