The Kafrs Came Accordingly To The Shore In Great Numbers, And
Began To Attack The Portuguese With Stones And Darts,
But were soon put
to flight by the fire-arms, and some of them slain, whose bodies were
hung upon
Trees as a warning to the rest, and one of their towns was
burnt.
[Footnote 16: In strict propriety, this expression is a direct
contradiction, is Kafr is an Arabic word signifying _unbelievers_; but
having been long employed as a generic term for the natives of the
eastern coast of Africa, from the Hottentots to the Moors of Zeyla
exclusively, we are obliged to employ the ordinary language. - E.]
Andrada carried away with him Don Jerome, the king's nephew, and a
brother of his who was made prisoner in a skirmish with the natives, who
was converted, and died at Goa. All the Jesuits agreed to desist from
the mission of Madagascar, and departed along with Andrada much against
his inclination; and thus ended the attempt to convert the natives of
Madagascar to the Christian religion.
SECTION XIV.
_Continuation of the Transactions of the Portuguese in India, from 1617
to 1640; and the conclusion of the Portuguese Asia of Manuel de Faria._
Towards the end of 1617, Don Juan Coutinno, count of Redondo, came to
Goa, as viceroy, to succeed Azevedo. During this year, three ships and
two fly-boats, going from Portugal for India, were intercepted near the
Cape of Good Hope by six English ships, when the English admiral
declared that he had orders from his sovereign to seize effects of the
Portuguese to the value of 70,000 crowns, in compensation for the injury
done by the late viceroy Azevedo to the four English ships at Surat.
Christopher de Noronha, who commanded the Portuguese ships, immediately
paid the sum demanded by the English admiral, together with 20,000
crowns more to divide among his men. But Noronha, on his arrival at Goa,
was immediately put under an arrest by the viceroy, for this
pusillanimous behaviour, and was sent home prisoner to Lisbon, to answer
for his conduct.
In the year 1618, the Moor who had been seen long before, at the time
when Nunno de Cunna took Diu, and was then upwards of 300 years old,
died at Bengal now 60 years older, yet did not appear more than 60 years
old at his death. In 1619, a large wooden cross, which stood on one of
the hills which overlook Goa, was seen by many of the inhabitants of
that city, on the 23d of February, to have the perfect figure of a
crucified man upon it. The truth of this having been ascertained by the
archbishop, he had it taken down, and got made from it a smaller cross,
only two spans long, on which was fixed a crucified Jesus of ivory, and
the whole surrounded by a golden glory; the rest of the cross being
distributed to the churches and persons of quality. Ten days after this
cross was removed, water gushed from the hole in which it was formerly
fixed, in which cloths being dipped wrought many miraculous cures. A
church was built on the spot to commemorate the miracle. At this time it
was considered, in an assembly of the principal clergy, whether the
threads, worn by the bramins across their shoulders, were a heathenish
superstition or only a mark of their nobility, and, after a long debate,
it was determined to be merely an honourable distinction. The reason of
examining this matter was, that many of the bramins refused to embrace
the Christian faith, because obliged to renounce these threads.
In November 1619, the count of Redondo died; and, by virtue of a patent
of succession, Ferdinand de Albuquerque became governor-general, being
now 70 years of age, 40 of which he had been an inhabitant of Goa, and
consequently was well versed in the affairs of India, but too slow in
his motions for the pressing occasions of the time. During his
administration, the Portuguese were expelled from Ormuz by the sultan of
Shiras, assisted by six English ships.
In July 1620, the Hollanders were desirous of gaining possession of the
city of Macao in China, and appeared before it in seventeen ships, or,
as some say, twenty-three, having 2000 soldiers on board, and were
likewise in hopes of taking the fleet at that place, which was bound for
Japan, having already taken several Portuguese and Chinese ships near
the Philippine islands. After battering the fort of St Francis for five
days, the Dutch admiral, Cornelius Regers, landed 800 men, with which he
got possession of a redoubt or entrenchment, with very little
opposition. He then marched to take possession of the city, not then
fortified, where he did not expect any resistance; but Juan Suarez
Vivas, taking post on some strong ground with only 160 men, defeated the
Hollanders and compelled them to return precipitately to their ships,
leaving 300 of their men slain, seven only with the colours and one
piece of cannon being taken, and they threw away all their arms to
enable them to swim off to their ships. In the mean while, the ships
continued to batter the fort, but were so effectually answered that some
of them were sunk and sixty men slain. After this the enemy abandoned
the enterprise, and the citizens of Macao built a wall round the city
with six bastions; and, as the mountain of _our Lady of the Guide_
commanded the bastion of St Paul, a fort was constructed on its summit
armed with ten large guns.
We have formerly mentioned the destruction of the Portuguese cities of
_Liampo_ and _Chincheo_, in China, through their own bad conduct. From
that time, they lived in the island of _Lampazau_ till the year 1557,
when they were permitted to build the city _Macao_, the largest
belonging to the Portuguese in the east after Goa. They had been in use
to resort to the island of _Sanchuan_, on the coast of China, for trade,
where they lived in huts made of boughs of trees, and covered with sails
during their stay.
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