Most Unfortunately At This Time The
Ship Of Don Lorenzo Ran Foul Of Some Stakes In The Bed Of The River, And
Let In So Much Water That She Was In Danger Of Sinking.
The brave
Lorenzo exerted himself to the utmost in this perilous situation, till a
ball broke his thigh; then ordering himself to be set up leaning against
the main-mast, he continued to encourage his men till another ball broke
his back and killed him.
His body was thrown below deck, where it was
followed by his page Gato, who lamented the fate of his master with
tears mixed with blood, having been shot through the eye by an arrow.
After a vigorous resistance, the Moors boarded the ship, and found Gato
beside his masters body. He immediately rose and slew as many of the
Moors as covered the body of Lorenzo, and then fell dead among them. At
length the ship sunk, and of above an hundred men who belonged to her
only nineteen escaped. In all the Portuguese ships an hundred and forty
men were slain, while the enemy lost upwards of six hundred. The other
captains got to Cochin, where the viceroy then was, and who received the
intelligence of his sons glorious death with wonderful resolution.
Soon after the defeat of the Portuguese fleet at Chaul, Almeyda received
a letter from Malek Azz. This man was born in slavery, being descended
of heretic Christian parents of Russia, and had risen by degrees to the
rank he now held. The origin of his advancement was owing to the
following trivial incident. One day a kite flying over the king of
Cambaya, muted on his head, on which the king was so enraged that he
declared he would give all he was worth to have the kite killed. Malek
Azz who heard this, was an excellent bowman, and immediately let fly an
arrow which brought down the kite. The king of Cambaya rewarded this
lucky shot so bountifully, that the archer soon rose to be lord of Diu,
a famous sea-port in Guzerat, seated on a triangular peninsula, which is
joined to the continent by so small an isthmus that it is generally
reputed an island. In this letter to the viceroy, Malek Azz craftily
endeavoured to secure himself at the same time both in the favour of the
king of Cambaya, and to conciliate the Portuguese, though he mortally
hated them for the injury they had done to the trade of Diu. While he
pretended to condole with the viceroy on the death of his son, whose
bravery he extolled in exalted terms, he sent him the nineteen men saved
from his sons ship, who had been made prisoners in the late battle;
endeavouring by this conciliatory conduct to appease his wrath for
having aided Mir Husseyn and occasioned the defeat of the Portuguese.
In this same year 1508, seventeen vessels sailed for India from Lisbon
about the beginning of April, which were all separated by bad weather,
but all rejoined at Mozambique, except one which was lost on the Islands
of Tristan de Cunna. These ships, with those of the former year, coming
all together to India about the close of the year 1508, greatly raised
the courage of the Portuguese, which had been much depressed by their
defeat at Chaul. By this fleet an order came from the king for Don
Francisco de Almeyda to resign the government of India to Don Alfonso de
Albuquerque, and to return to Portugal in one of the trading ships. But
Almeyda took upon him to suspend the execution of this order, under
pretence that he had already made preparations for taking revenge upon
Mir Husseyn, and the Rums or Turks[105] who had slain his son. Owing to
this a controversy arose between Albuquerque and Almeyda, the former
demanding possession of the government, which the latter refused to
demit; which became a precedent for succeeding governors to protract the
time of their command. Albuquerque, much offended by this conduct of
Almeyda, retired to Cochin, where he appears to have lived in private
till the departure of Almeyda from India.
[Footnote 105: The Turks, as having conquered the eastern Roman empire,
have succeeded in India to the name of Rums, Rumi, or Romans. The
Circassian Mamelukes of Egypt are here named Turks, because so soon
afterwards conquered by that nation. - E.]
Having dispatched the homeward bound ships under the command of Fernando
Soarez and Ruy de Cunna, who perished by the way, Almeyda sailed on the
12th of November, 1508 from Cananor towards Diu in pursuit of Mir
Husseyn. On this expedition he had nineteen vessels of different sizes,
with 1600 soldiers and mariners, 400 of whom were native Malabars. All
western India was alarmed at this armament, but chiefly the zamorin and
Malek Azz, who had used every precaution in his power to ward off the
danger. Having landed with his officers in the delightful island of
Anchediva, Almeyda called a council of war, in which it was unanimously
determined to attack Dabul in the first place. This city was one of the
most noted on the coast[106], seated on a navigable river at the
distance of two leagues from the sea. Its buildings were then
magnificent and stately, and it enjoyed considerable trade, the
inhabitants being a mixture of Pagans and Moors, subject to Sabay king
of the Decan. It was always defended by a considerable garrison, which
was at present augmented by 6000 men, being in fear of an attack from
the Portuguese, and new works had been raised for its defence, which
were planted with cannon. On the approach of the Portuguese fleet, the
inhabitants began to remove their families and goods into the country,
but were forbidden by the governor under pain of death; and the more to
encourage them he brought his own wife into the town, in which example
he was followed by many of the principal inhabitants, whose wives were
brought in from their country-houses.
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