At Length He Was Admitted To Audience; And On Seeing
Diaz With His Present, The King Asked Him What He Wanted In So Stern A
Manner That He Was Afraid Of Being Killed.
After delivering the message
from the general and wishing to deliver the present, the king refused to
see it, and commanded that it should be delivered to his factor.
The
answer he gave to the message was, that since the general wished to
depart he might do so, but must first pay him 600 _serasynes_[63],
according to the custom of the country.
Diaz, on his return to the factory with the present intended for the king,
was accompanied by many of the nayres, which he thought was from respect:
but immediately on entering the house, the nayres remained at the door,
forbidding him or any other person to go out. After this, a proclamation
was made through the city, forbidding any boat or almadia to go on board
our fleet on pain of death. Yet Bontaybo went off secretly, and gave
warning to the general not to venture on shore or to permit any of the
people to land; as he had learned from the Moors, that any who might do
so would surely lose their lives. Bontaybo said farther, that all the
fair words of the king proceeded from dissimulation, that he might entice
the general and his people on shore to kill them all; all which evil
intentions were occasioned by the Moors, who made the king believe that
the Portuguese were thieves and pirates, who had come to Calicut to steal
such merchandize as should be brought there; and who had come to spy out
the land, that they might return with a great armament to invade his
dominions. All this was confirmed by two Malabar idolaters, and the
general was in great uncertainty how best to proceed on the present
emergency. That same night, after dark, a Negro slave belonging to Diaz
came off, with the information that Diaz and Braga were made prisoners,
and with an account of the answer which the king had given to his message,
what he had ordered to be done with the present, and of the proclamations
which were made through the city. Diego Diaz, being anxious to have these
things communicated to the general, had bribed a fisherman to carry this
man on board, as he could not well be recognized in the night owing to
his colour. The general, though much offended at these injurious
proceedings, was unwilling to depart till he might see the end of these
things, and therefore waited to see whether anyone might come off to the
ships. Next day, being Wednesday the 15th of August, only one almadia
came off, in which there were four boys, who brought fine precious stones
for sale. Although the general believed they were spies, he received them
kindly, and gave no hints of having heard that Diaz was made a prisoner;
expecting that others of more importance might come on board through whom
he might procure the enlargement of Diaz and Braga.
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