He
Entertains In His Palace A Guard Of Three Hundred Women, Armed With Bows
And Arrows, Who Are Very Expert Archers, And They Bind Up Their Breasts
Very Tight With Bandages Of Silk And Linen, That They May Not Stand In The
Way Of Using Their Bows.
This rajah usually resides in a city named Calle,
and is generally at war with the king of Narsinga[10].
In the city of Coulan, which is governed by certain officers or aldermen,
there is a church which was built by the apostle St Thomas, who came here
to preach the Catholic faith, and made many converts both among the
idolaters and others, who have handed down the Christian belief from
generation to generation, so that there are at least twelve thousand
families of Christians scattered abroad in the country, in which they have
churches in many places. The king who then ruled in Coulan, being much
displeased at the numbers of his subjects who were converted to
Christianity, banished St Thomas from his dominions, who then went to a
city called Malapur or Meliapour, on the coast of the dominions of
Narsinga, and was followed by the Christians of Coulan, and even by many
of the idolaters. He is said to have retired into a solitude in the
mountains, where he died, and whence his body was removed for interment in
a vault of the church he had built at Coulan. This church is now deserted
and entirely overgrown with trees and bushes, and is kept by a poor
Moorish zealot, who subsists on alms which he receives from Christian
pilgrims, and even some of the idolaters give alms at this tomb.
On the arrival of Alonso de Albuquerque at the harbour of Coulan, the
governors of the city came on board to visit him, and settled a treaty
with him, in which it was stipulated that we were to have a factory in the
city, and that they should provide a loading with all possible dispatch
for the three ship he had along with him. While one of his ships was
taking in a lading in the harbour, the other two always kept out at sea
watching all ships that passed, and obliging every one they could descry
to come and give an account of themselves to Albuquerque as captain-
general under the king of Portugal. He offered no injury to any of these,
unless to such as belonged to the Moors of the Red Sea, all of which that
fell in his way were first plundered and then burnt, in revenge for the
injuries they had done to the Portuguese. When the house for the factory
was finished, and the ships laden, Alonso left there Antonio de Sola as
factor, with two clerks, Rodrigo Aranso and Lopo Rabelo, an interpreter
named Medera, and two friars to serve as chaplains, together with other
assistants, being twenty in all; after which he returned to Cochin.
About this time Francisco de Albuquerque received a message from
_Cosebequin_, a friendly Moor of Calicut who has been formerly mentioned,
giving him notice that the zamorin was determined to make another attack
on Cochin so soon as the Portuguese fleet had departed for Europe, and to
fortify it in such a manner as should prevent them from having any farther
intercourse with that country.
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