To Secure And Repeople The City, Nuno Sent For A Nephew Of The
King Of Melinda, Who Came With 500 Men, Many Of Whom Were Of Some Rank;
And These Were Followed By The Prince Of Montangue With 200 More.
Many
likewise of the former inhabitants came in and submitted, so that the
island began to reassume an appearance of prosperity.
The expelled king,
sensible of the desperate situation of affairs, sent one of his
principal men to propose an accommodation, offering to pay a ransom to
preserve his city from destruction, and to become tributary. An
agreement was accordingly entered into to this effect, and the king
began to make the stipulated payments; but finding sickness to prevail
among the Portuguese of whom two hundred soon died, and many more were
incapacitated from service, he began to fall off from the completion of
the agreement, and as the prince of Melinda durst not undertake to
defend the place without a considerable force of Portuguese, Nuno
destroyed the city by fire and returned to Melinda, carrying with him
those he had formerly left sick at Zanzibar. Leaving Melinda, he left 80
of his men there sick, to be carried to India on their recovery by
Tristan Homem: who afterwards defended Melinda with these men against
the king of Mombaza, who endeavoured to revenge himself there for the
injury he had sustained from the Portuguese.
It has been formerly mentioned that Nuno de Cuna arrived at Ormuz in May
1529, into which he made a formal and pompous entry, to the great
admiration of the natives. He immediately issued a proclamation at that
place and its dependencies, "That all who had cause of complaint against
the Portuguese should appear before him for redress." Many complainers
accordingly came forwards, and the offenders were obliged to make
restitution, to the great astonishment and satisfaction of the Moors,
who had not been accustomed to see justice executed on their behalf. He
found that Reis Xarafo; great guazil[179] or rather arch tyrant over
the king and people of Ormuz, though restored to that situation by
Sampayo, was by no means clear of the great crimes he had been formerly
accused of, particularly of rapine and murder. On a representation of
this to the king of Portugal, Manuel de Macedo had orders to bring him
prisoner to Lisbon, and accordingly had him arrested by the assistance
of Nuno, who waited upon the king of Ormuz to justify this procedure.
The king readily acquiesced, and presented the governor with a rich
present of jewels and cloth of gold, together with a fine horse richly
caparisoned in the Persian manner. As the reigning king was implicated
in the murder of his predecessor Mahomet, Nuno imposed upon him a fine
of 40,000 Xerephines, in addition to the tribute of 60,000 which he had
to pay yearly; that crime being used as a pretence to overburthen him
with a tribute equal to a third part of the yearly revenue of
Ormuz[180]. Xarafo, or Ashraf, was sent to Portugal with examinations
respecting the crimes laid to his charge; but he carried such riches
along with him, that he was not only able to purchase a remission of
punishment, but was actually reinstated in his former employment. While
Nuno still remained at Ormuz, Tavarez de Sousa came there, who had been
with forty men to assist the king of Basrah against the lord of
Gizaira[181]; having been the first Portuguese who went up the rivers
Tigris and Euphrates. Basrah or Bazora, in about the lat. of 30 deg. N. is
about 30 leagues from the mouth of the great river Euphrates, and
received its name in commemoration of the more ancient city of Basrah,
eight leagues higher up, the ruins of which are said by eye-witnesses to
be twice as extensive as the city of Grand Cairo. The island of Gizaira,
or Jazirat, is formed by the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates, being
about 40 leagues in circumference, and is said to contain 40,000
archers. The river Tigris rises among the Curds in the greater
Armenia, and the springs of the Euphrates are in Turkomania. The king
of Basrah received Sousa with much state, and appeared greatly satisfied
at his assistance. Sousa accompanied him on his expedition against the
lord of Jazirat, the infantry of Basrah amounting to 5000 men, 600 of
whom carried firelocks, were conveyed up the river in 200 dalacs or
large boats, accompanied by seven vessels full of Turks with a
considerable number of cannon. The king went along with his infantry by
water, while his nephew marched by land at the head of 3000 horse. The
king established his camp on the right or Arabian side of the river,
opposite to the encampment of the lord of Jazirat, who was, posted on
the island with 12,000 men. By order of the king of Basrah, Sousa wrote
to the lord of Jazirat, saying that he was sent by the Portuguese
commander of Ormuz, either to make peace between the contending parties
on reasonable terms, or in case of refusal to take part with the king of
Basrah. The king of Jazirat made answer, that as this was the first
request of the captain of Ormuz, and as Sousa was the first Portuguese
who had come into these parts, he agreed to comply with the terms
demanded, which were merely the restoration of certain forts belonging
to the king of Basrah which he had taken possession of. Persons were
accordingly appointed on both sides to treat for an accommodation, which
was satisfactorily concluded. But the king of Basrah now refused to
perform what he had promised to Sousa for his aid; which was to deliver
up the seven Turkish vessels, and not to admit any more of that nation
into his dominions, because enemies of the Portuguese. Enraged at this
breach of compact Sousa after embarking with his men, took one of the
large barks belonging to Basrah, after which he landed with thirty-six
of his men and burnt a town of 300 houses on the Arabian side of the
river, and a smaller one on the Persian side.
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