Several Such Assaults
Were Made On The Ford, In All Of Which The Zamorin Lost Many Men, And Was
Constantly Repulsed, Insomuch That He Became Fearful Of A Sinister End To
His Unjust Enterprise, And Even Repented Of Having Begun The War.
He sent,
however, a fresh message to the rajah, requiring him to deliver up the
Christians as a preliminary of peace.
But the rajah replied, that as he
had refused to do so unjust an action when he had some reason to dread
the superior power of the zamorin, it was absurd to expect any such thing
now, when the advantage in the war was evidently of his side. He then
advised the zamorin to beware of continuing the war, as he would not now
satisfy himself with defence, but even hoped to give him a signal
overthrow. And this certainly had been the case, if the subjects of the
rajah had not shamefully deserted him in this war and given assistance to
the enemy. The zamorin almost despaired of success, and would have given
over the enterprize, if he had not been advised by some of his chiefs to
assail several other towns belonging to the dominions of Cochin, so as to
distract the attention of Naramuhin, and to weaken his force by obliging
him to send detachments for their defence. But that brave prince provided
against every emergency, and made so judicious a disposition of his
forces, that he repulsed every effort of the enemy, and slew many of
their men.
Foiled in every attempt with severe loss, by the bravery and excellent
dispositions of Prince Naramuhin, the zamorin corrupted the paymaster of
the troops of Cochin, who changed the usual order of payment which had
been daily made in the camp, and obliged the soldiers to come up to
Cochin for that purpose. Naramuhin was obliged to submit to this
arrangement, by giving leave to the naires to go for their wages, yet
charged them punctually to return to the camp before day. But the
treacherous paymaster kept them waiting till after day-light, by which
means the prince was left with very few troops to defend the ford. Taking
advantage of this concerted stratagem, the zamorin made an assault upon
the ford with his whole force by sea and land, and constrained Naramuhin
to retire with his small band into a grove of palm trees, where he was
surrounded by the whole army of Calicut, yet fought the whole day against
such terrible odds with the utmost resolution, several times throwing his
enemies into disorder, of whom many were slain. But at length,
overpowered by numbers, he and two of his cousins who fought along with
him were slain, together with most of his faithful followers.
When this melancholy event was announced to the rajah of Cochin, he
fainted from extreme grief, and was for some time thought to have
actually expired. At this time, the naires were much exasperated against
our men, to whom they attributed the overthrow and death of prince
Naramuhin, and the desperate situation of their country, and seemed much
inclined to have put the Portuguese to death, or to have delivered them
up to the zamorin. On the recovery of the rajah, and learning the designs
of his people against our men, he called the Portuguese into his presence;
he gave them assurance that even this reverse of his affairs should not
alter his resolution of protecting them, both against the zamorin and his
own subjects. He then addressed his assembled naires, urging them not to
stain his honour and their own by injuring the Portuguese, whom he and
they had sworn to protect. He exhorted them to persevere honourably and
bravely in defending their country and preserving their honour inviolate
to the Christians, and comforted them with the assurance that the
Portuguese fleet would soon arrive with sufficient reinforcements to
drive out the zamorin and to restore him to his dominions. In the
meantime, he proposed that they should retire with what force remained,
into the isle of Vaipi, which was of difficult access; and where they
could defend themselves till the arrival of the Portuguese fleet, more
especially as the winter was at hand, which would stop the progress of
the war for some time. The naires were astonished at the resolution of
their sovereign, and promised faithfully to obey his commands in all
things.
The zamorin made a new attempt to shake the resolution of the rajah in
his present adversity, by offering peace on condition of delivering up
the Portuguese and their goods; which the rajah rejected with disdain as
he had done all his former overtures. On this the zamorin gave orders to
destroy the whole country with fire and sword, on which intelligence most
of the inhabitants of Cochin withdrew to other places. There were at this
time in Cochin two Milanese lapidaries belonging to the factory, named
John Maria and Pedro Antonio, who had been brought to India by Vasco de
Gama. These men deserted to the zamorin, to whom they conveyed
intelligence of the consternation which reigned among the inhabitants of
Cochin, and of the small number of men that remained with the rajah.
These men also made offer to the zamorin to make ordnance for him
resembling those of the Portuguese, which they afterwards did as will
appear in the sequel of this history, and for which service they were
highly rewarded. The zamorin now moved forwards with his army to take
possession of Cochin, and was resisted for some time by the rajah, who
was himself slightly wounded. But finding it impossible any farther to
resist against such prodigious odds, he withdrew to the strong island of
Vaipi, carrying all our men along with him and every thing belonging to
our factory. The zamorin, on taking possession of the deserted city of
Cochin, ordered it to be set on fire. He then sent a part of his army
against the isle of Vaipi, which was valiantly defended by the rajah and
his men and in which defence the members of our factory contributed to
the best of their ability.
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