About Midnight, His
Small Force Was Summoned Under Arms; When, After Confession And
Absolution, He Made A Speech To His Men, Exhorting Them To Behave
Themselves Manfully In The Approaching Conflict.
They all answered, that
they were resolved to conquer or die.
About two in the morning, some of
the most advanced vessels belonging to the Calicut fleet began to fire
off their ordnance, as they approached towards the pass. The zamorin was
himself along with the land army, which exceeded 30,000 men, accompanied
with many field pieces. Elankol, the lord of Repelim, who commanded the
vanguard, advanced to the point of _Arraul_, which in some measure
commanded the ford, at which place he began to throw up some ramparts or
defences of earth. Pacheco landed secretly at the point with a detachment
of his troops, on purpose to prevent the enemy from throwing up
entrenchments, and a sharp skirmish ensued, in which many of the enemy
were slain. On the appearance of day, Pacheco retired to his boats,
though with no small difficulty, owing to the vast numbers of the enemy
who thronged around; yet got off with all his people unhurt, having
effectually hindered the proposed intrenchments.
The land army of the enemy now brought their ordnance to the point, where
they began a furious cannonade upon; the caravels, yet without doing us
any harm, as our people were all effectually secured by means of high
wooden defences on the gunwales of their vessels; whereas every shot of
ours made prodigious havoc among the enemy, who were quite unsheltered.
The zamorin sent orders to his fleet to come on with all expedition, to
deliver him and his men from this imminent danger. The Calicut fleet now
approached in most formidable order, having several fire rafts in front,
intended for setting our caravels on fire. After them came 110 paraws,
full of men, and every one of them having ordnance, many of these being
fastened together by means of chains. After these came 100 _catures_ and
eighty _tonys_, each of which had a piece of ordnance and thirty men. In
the rear of all came the eight castles, which kept close by the point of
_Arraul_, as the _ebb was not yet altogether entered_.[7] The enemy came
on with loud shouts and the sound of many instruments, as if to an
assured victory, and immediately began a furious cannonade. Their fire
rafts advanced burning in a most alarming manner, but were stopped by the
_canizos_, or rafts of defence, formerly mentioned. By these likewise,
the paraws and other vessels of the enemy were prevented from closing
with our caravels and boats, which they seem to have intended. In this
part of the battle many of the paraws and other vessels of the enemy were
torn to pieces and sunk, and a great number of their men were killed and
wounded. On the turn of the tide, the floating castles put off from the
point, and were towed by boats towards the caravels. In the largest of
these castles there were forty men, in others thirty-five, and the
smallest had thirty, all armed with bows or matchlocks, besides ordnance;
and they seemed quite an irresistible force in comparison of ours, which
consisted only of two caravels and two armed boats.
When the largest castle came up to our floating defence, it immediately
commenced a tremendous fire of all its ordnance upon our caravels; and at
this time Pacheco ordered a _saker_ to be shot off, which seemed to do
very little harm even at a second discharge. The remainder of the castles
now came into their stations, and the battle raged with the utmost fury.
What with incessant flights of arrows, and the smoke of so many guns, our
people could seldom see the vessels of the enemy. In this extremity, the
saker was discharged a third time against the largest castle, which had
been somewhat shaken by the two former discharges. By this shot its iron
work was broken, some of its beams were forced from their places, and
several of the men on board were slain. By two other discharges of the
saker this castle was all torn in pieces, and was forced to retire out of
the battle. Still however the rest of the castles, and the numerous fleet
of small craft kept up the fight. Towards evening all the castles were
much injured, many of the paraws were sunk and torn in pieces, and great
numbers of the enemy slain; so that at length they were constrained to
retire. On our side not one man was even wounded: One only ball went
through the caravel in which Pacheco commanded, and passed among many of
his men without doing any hurt. On the enemy retiring, Pacheco gave chase
in the two boats and some paraws; and the caravels kept up a constant
fire upon point _Arraul_, whence they forced the zamorin and the land
army to retire, after having 330 of his men slain. After this great
victory, the inhabitants of Cochin became quite reassured, and were no
longer in dread of the power of the zamorin. Trimumpara came to visit
Pacheco, whom he embraced, and congratulated on his great prowess: Many
of the principal naires of Cochin went to compliment him; and even
numbers of the Moorish merchants brought him rich presents, hoping to
secure his favour.
The zamorin was greatly disheartened by the overthrow of all his mighty
preparations, and losing all hope of victory wished seriously to end the
war. In a council of his allies and great men, they represented the great
losses they had already endured in the war with the Portuguese, and
proposed to treat with them for peace. His brother Naubea Daring, who had
always been averse to the war, seemed to believe that Pacheco would
refuse any treaty, and advised rather to defer making an offer of peace
till the arrival of the next captain-general from Portugal.
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