- E.]
[Footnote 403: Perhaps Posino on the oceanic coast of Makran, one of the
provinces of Persia, is here meant, nearly north from Maskat, on the
opposite coast of the entrance towards the Persian Gulf. - 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.
