This Grant Was Obtained By Philip Brito De Nicote, Who Proved False And Ungrateful To The King Of Aracan, Who Had Raised Him From The Lowest Rank To His Favour And Esteem.

By his persuasion, Xilimixa erected a custom-house at the entry to the river Siriam to increase his revenues;

Which Brito meant afterwards to seize, and to build a fort there, on purpose to give a footing for the Portuguese to conquer the kingdom. Xilimixa accordingly built the custom-house, which he gave in charge to one Bannadala who fortified himself and suffered no Portugeuse to enter there, except a Dominican named Belchior de Luz. Nicote, seeing his purposes likely to be defeated by Bannadala, determined to gain possession by force before the works were completed. He had along with him at this time three Portuguese officers and fifty men, whom he ordered to surprize the fort and turn out Bannadala, trusting to his great credit with Xilimixa to bear him out in this procedure. The Portuguese officers accordingly executed their orders so effectually, that they used to be called the Founders of the Portuguese dominion in Pegu, and Salvador Ribeyro their commander was like to have got the whole credit of the exploit, as some even affirmed that he was its author, though in reality all was due to Nicote. Bannadala being expelled from his fort, fortified himself with 1000 men in a neighbouring island of the river Siriam, and seized the treasures of the pagoda of Digan to maintain his troops. Xilimixa was much offended by the conduct of the Portuguese in this affair, and resolved to support Bannadala, but was dissuaded by the contrivances of Nicote, who represented that he was about to favour a sacrilegious robber, and offered to arrange matters with the Portuguese to his entire satisfaction. He accordingly went to Siriam, where he ordered every thing to his own mind; and when the fort was nearly finished, he went to Goa, where he offered to deliver up the fort to the viceroy, whence the Portuguese might easily conquer the kingdom of his master, to whom he represented his voyage to Goa as intended to procure an auxiliary force which would enable him to make a conquest of Bengal. At the same time Nicote negociated with all the princes in the provinces adjoining the dominions of Xilimixa, persuading them to confederate with the Portuguese viceroy, by which means they might easily conquer the kingdom of Pegu; and several of them sent ambassadors along with him to Goa for this purpose.

Hardly had Nicote set sail for Goa, when Xilimixa became sensible of his error in confiding in him, and sent a fleet of war boats down the river Siriam with 6000 men under Bannadala to expell the Portuguese from their fort. Salvador Ribeyra met this great armament with only three small vessels and thirty men, and, without the loss of one man, took forty vessels of the enemy and put the rest to flight.

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