It Must Also Be
Observed That This Fortress Had No Flanks; And Being Built Upon A Rock,
They Had Made No Casemates, Only Erecting Embrasures On The Top Of The
Wall, Which Were All Ruined And Shaken.
The main safety of the besieged
consisted in their bravery.
Every day fifteen or twenty of them used to
sally forth like so many furious lions, killing all they met, which
struck such terror into the Turkish soldiers that they fled in confusion
as soon as they saw the Portuguese.
On the 25th of October, the Turks caused a great number of cotton sacks
to be got ready, covered with skins and bound with ropes, all of which
were thrown into the ditch, which they completely filled, reaching as
high as the wall. This being noticed by the besieged early in the
morning, before the Turks put themselves in order for the assault, sixty
of the Portuguese made a sally from the castle, forty of whom fought the
enemy with great gallantry, while the other twenty remained in the
ditch, each of whom carried a small leather bag full of powder and a
lighted match. These men cut open the cotton bales, into each of which
they put a handful of powder, which they fired, so that in a short time
several of the bags were set on fire; and the whole continued burning
for two days. Those who sallied out upon the enemy maintained the fight
for more than three hours, during which time they killed 190 Turks and
wounded as many more, losing only two of their own number.
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