On The West Coast Of That Island
There Are Six Moorish Kingdoms Of Which Pedier Was The Chief, And To
Which Those Of Achem And Daga Were Subordinate.
But in consequence of
war among themselves, Achem gained the superiority, and the king of
Pedier retired to the fort for the protection of the Portuguese[172].
On
coming to the city of Pedier with a great force, the king of Achem
endeavoured to inveigle the king of that place into his hands, and
prevailed on some of the leading men of the city to write their king
that he might come there in safety as his enemies were expelled, and he
might easily destroy them by the assistance of the Portuguese. He
accordingly went to the city, aided by eighty Portuguese soldiers and
two hundred Moors, which went by sea in small row boats, while the king
himself went along the shore with above a thousand armed elephants[173].
He was received at Pedier with feigned joy, but with a determination to
make him prisoner, which was only deferred till the arrival of the
Portuguese, that they likewise might be secured; but being apprized of
his danger, the king fled next day to the mountains with two elephants
and a few faithful followers. The Portuguese thus left on the shore
unsupported were attacked by the enemy with showers of darts and arrows,
when their commander Don Emanuel Enriquez and thirty-five soldiers were
slain, and the rest fled. Don Andres Enriquez, after this loss, found
himself unequal to defend the fort, and sent for relief to Raphael
Perestello who was at Chittigon the chief port of Bengal. Perestello
immediately sent a ship for this purpose under the command of Dominick
Seixas, who landed at Tenacari to procure provisions; but one Brito
who had succeeded Gago as captain of a band of thirty Portuguese
pirates, ran away with the vessel from that port after she was laden,
and left Seixas with seventeen other Portuguese on shore, who were
reduced to slavery by the Siamese. Such is the fate of those who trust
persons who have violated all human and divine laws[174]. Don Andreas
Enriquez, being reduced to great extremity, requested the
governor-general to send him a successor, who accordingly sent Lope de
Azevedo; but Enriquez changed his mind, as the situation was very
profitable, and refused to surrender the command, on which Azevedo
returned to India. In the mean time the king of Achem overran the whole
country with fire and sword, and took possession of the city of Pisang
with fifteen thousand men, summoning Enriquez to surrender the fort.
Enriquez having sustained and repelled these assaults, set sail for
India that he might save the great riches he had acquired, leaving the
command to Ayres Coello, who valiantly undertook the dangerous service.
[Footnote 172: At first sight this appears to have been the fort of
Pisang, but from the sequel it would rather seem to have been another
fort at or in the neighbourhood of Pedier. - E.]
[Footnote 173: It is hardly possible that the lord of a petty state on
the coast of Sumatra should have so large a number of elephants, more
perhaps than the Great Mogul in the height of the sovereignty of
Hindustan. Probably Capt. Stevens may have mistaken the original, and we
ought to read "With above a thousand men and several armed
elephants." - E.]
[Footnote 174: Though obscurely expressed in the text, these thirty
pirates appear to have been employed in the ship commanded by Seixas;
probably pardoned after the punishment of their former leader Gago. - E.]
While on his voyage to India, Enriquez met two ships commanded by
Sebastian Souza and Martin Correa, bound for the Island of Banda to load
with spices; who learning the dangerous situation of Pisang, went
directly to that place. Ayres Coello had just sustained a furious
assault with some loss; and on seeing this relief the enemy abated
their fury. Eight days afterwards, Andres was forced back by stress of
weather to Pisang. One night, above 8000 of the enemy surrounded the
fort, in which there were 350 Portuguese, some of whom were sick and
others disabled by wounds, but all much spent with continual watching
and fatigue. The enemy advanced in profound silence and applied seven
hundred scaling ladders to the walls, on which they immediately mounted
with loud shouts. The dispute was hotly maintained on both sides for
some time; but some ships being set on fire enabled the Portuguese to
point their cannon with such accuracy, that many of the enemy were
slain, and the rest obliged to desist from the assault. Next morning
above two thousand of the enemy were found slain around the walls, with
two elephants; while on the Portuguese side only one woman was slain in
her chamber by an arrow. The remaining six thousand of the enemy
immediately retired, leaving half their ladders and large quantities of
fireworks. Yet taking into consideration the difficulty and expence of
maintaining this port, it was resolved to ship off all the men and
goods, and to set it on fire, leaving the large cannons filled with
powder, that they might burst when the fire reached them. Greater part
of the fort was destroyed; but the enemy saved some of the cannon, which
were afterwards employed with considerable effect against the
Portuguese. Some goods were lost in shipping, as the Portuguese were in
a great fright, and embarked up to the neck in water. By this
abandonment of their post, the Portuguese lost more reputation with the
natives of Sumatra than they had gained by their former valiant defence.
They were fully sensible of this, as they met a powerful reinforcement
at sea under Azevedo; and learnt that the king of Aru was marching by
land to their assistance with 4000 men. The king of Achem followed up
his good fortune, and rendered himself all-powerful in Sumatra, beyond
even his hopes.
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