The Principal
Booty Consisted Of 75 Pieces Of Cannon Of Extraordinary Size, A Vast
Quantity Of Ammunition, Many Horses, And Five Elephants.
Farate Khan
became a Christian before he died, as did his daughter, who was sent to
Portugal, but his wife was ransomed.
[Footnote 418: This unusual name seems from the context to be here given
to the Nizam-al-mulk or sovereign of the Decan. - E.]
SECTION XI.
Continuation of the Portuguese Transactions in India, from 1597 to
1612.
In May 1597, Don Francisco de Gama, count of Vidugueyra, grandson to the
discoverer, arrived at Goa as viceroy of India, but carried himself with
so much haughty state that he gained the dislike of all men. During his
government the scourge of the pride and covetousness of the Portuguese
came first into India, as in the month of September news was brought to
Goa that the two first ships of the Hollanders that had ventured to
navigate the Indian seas had been in the port of Titangone and were
bound for the island of Sunda. In a grand council held upon this
important event, it was ordered to fit out a squadron of two galleons,
three gallies, and nine other vessels to attack the intruders, and the
command was given on this occasion to Lorenzo de Brito, an ancient and
experienced officer. The two Holland ships did some small damage on the
coast of Malabar and other places, and when off Malacca fell in with six
ships bound from that place for India, commanded by Francisco de Silva.
They immediately engaged and fought the whole of that afternoon and part
of the night. Next morning the engagement was renewed, and was repeated
for eight successive days; till finding themselves too weak, the
Hollanders drew off and made for the port of Queda, many of their men
being slain and most of the rest wounded. At that place they quitted the
smallest of their ships for want of men, and the other was afterwards
cast away on the coast of Pegu.
In this same year 1597 the Hollanders fitted out a squadron of eight
ships at Amsterdam for India, with 800 men and provisions for three
years, under the command of the admiral Jacob Cornelius van Nec. The
object of this expedition, besides hostility to the king of Spain, was
that they might purchase the spices and other commodities of Asia at a
cheaper rate than they had hitherto been accustomed to in Portugal. The
fleet sailed from Amsterdam on the 13th of May 1598; arrived at Madeira
on the 15th, and at the Canaries on the 17th, where they both took in
wine. On the 29th they were in the latitude of 6 deg. S. and passed the line
on the 8th of June; a wonderful swiftness, to me incredible! On the
24th July they saw the Cape of Good Hope, where three of the ships were
separated in a violent storm and arrived at the island of Banda in
April[419]. The other four ships under the admiral discovered the
island of Madagascar on the 24th of August, coming to Cape St Julian on
the 30th of that month.
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