_Portuguese Transactions in India from 1571 to 1576._
At this period Sebastian king of Portugal made a great alteration in the
government of the Portuguese possessions in the east, which he deemed
too extensive to be under the management of one person. He divided them
therefore into three separate governments, which were designated
respectively, India, Monotmotapa, and Malacca. The first, or India,
extended from Gape Guardafu, or the north-east extremity of Africa on
the Indian ocean, to the island of Ceylon inclusive. The second, or
Monomotapa, from Cape Corrientes to Cape Guardafu; and the third, or
Malacca, from Pegu to China both inclusive. To the command of the first,
or India, Don Antonio de Noronha was sent with the title of viceroy.
Francisco de Barreto was appointed to Monomotapa, and Antonio Moniz
Barreto to Malacca, both stiled governors. It will be necessary
therefore to treat of these governments separately, though by this we
must necessarily in some measure neglect the consideration of regular
chronology in the distribution of events. We begin therefore with the
viceroyalty of Noronha.
Don Antonio de Noronha arrived at Goa in the beginning of September
1571, having lost 2000 men by sickness out of 4000 with whom he sailed
from Lisbon. Don Luis de Ataine, who surrendered to him the sword of
command, was a nobleman of great valour and military experience, and so
free from avarice that instead of the vast riches which others brought
from India to Portugal, he carried over four jars of water from the four
famous rivers, the Indus, Ganges, Tigris, and Euphrates, which were long
preserved in his castle of Peniche. After serving both in Europe and
Africa, he went out to India, where at twenty-two years of age he was
knighted on Mount Sinai by Don Stefano de Gama. Returning to Portugal,
he went ambassador to the Emperor Charles V. and was present in the
battle in which that emperor defeated the Lutherans under the Landgrave
and the Duke of Saxony. He behaved so bravely in that battle, that the
emperor offered to knight him; but having already received that honour
on Mount Sinai, he could not again accept the offer, on which the
emperor declared in public that he envied that honour beyond the victory
he had just gained. On his return to Lisbon from administering the
government of India with such high reputation, he was received with much
honour by King Sebastian, yet was afterwards much slighted, as Pacheco
had been formerly by King Emanuel, as will be seen afterwards, when
appointed a second time to the viceroyalty.
The first attention of the new viceroy was bestowed for the relief of
Chale, to which Diego de Menezes was sent with 1500 men; but he came too
late, as the fort had been already surrendered to the zamorin upon
conditions. This surrender had been made by the commander Don George de
Castro, contrary to the opinion of the majority of his officers,
overcome by the tears and entreaties of his wife and other ladies,
forgetting that he who was now eighty years of age ought to have
preferred an honourable death to a short and infamous addition to his
life. Neither was this his only fault, for the provisions had lasted
longer if he had not committed them to the care of his wife, who
dissipated them among her slaves. Owing to this unforeseen event, Diego
de Menezes could only conduct the people who had surrendered at Chale to
Cochin. He then divided his fleet with Matthew de Albuquerque, and
cleared the seas of pirates.
When Norhonha accepted the viceroyalty of India, now so much lessened by
the division into three governments, his great aim was to acquire
riches, as he was poor, and had several children. With this view he
endeavoured to prevail on Antonio Moniz Barreto, the newly appointed
governor of Malacca, to be satisfied with a smaller force than had been
ordered for him on going to assume that government, alleging that India
was not then in a condition to give what was promised; but Moniz refused
to go unless supplied with the force agreed on, as the posture of
Malacca was then too dangerous to admit of being governed by a person
who considered his reputation, unless supported by a considerable force.
Moniz therefore wrote home to Portugal, complaining against the viceroy,
and malicious whispers are for the most part gratefully received by
princes and ministers: and the Portuguese ministry, on the sole
information of Moniz, committed the weakest act that ever was heard of,
as will appear in the sequel: _Unhappy is that kingdom whose sovereign
is a child._
About this time Akbar Shah,[381] emperor of the Moguls had acquired the
sovereignty of Cambaya or Guzerat. Sultan Mahmud the heir of the late
king had been left under the tuition of three great men, Ali Khan,
Itimiti Khan, and Madrem-al-Mulk, each of whom envious of the others
endeavoured to acquire the entire direction of the young king. He,
considering himself in danger, fled from Madrem-al-Mulk to the
protection of Itimiti Khan, the worst of all his guardians, who
immediately offered to deliver up the king and kingdom to the great
Mogul, on condition of being appointed viceroy or Soubah in reward of
his treachery. Akbar accordingly marched to _Amedabad_, where the
traitor delivered up to him the young king, and the Mogul was seated on
the musnud or throne of Guzerat without drawing a sword. Not satisfied
with this great acquisition, Akbar resolved to recover the town and
districts of Basseen and Daman, which had formerly belonged to Cambaya,
and were now possessed by the Portuguese; and as this intention became
known to Luis de Almeyda who commanded at Daman, he sent notice to the
viceroy, who immediately sent him succours and prepared to follow there
in person, going accordingly from Goa about the end of December 1571,
with nine gallies, five gallions, eight galliots, and ninety smaller
vessels. On his arrival with this large armament in the river of Daman,
the Mogul, who was encamped at the distance of two leagues from that
place, was so much dismayed by the power and military reputation of the
Portuguese, that he sent an ambassador to the viceroy to treat of peace.
The viceroy received the Mogul ambassador in his gallery with great
state, and after listening to his proposals sent Antonio Cabral along
with him to Akbar, on which a peace was concluded to the satisfaction of
both parties. The viceroy then returned to Goa, and the great Mogul
settled the government of his new kingdom of Guzerat, cutting off the
head of the traitor Itimiti Khan, a just reward of his villany.
[Footnote 381: Named by DeFaria, Gelalde Mamet Hecbar Taxa; probably a
corruption of Gelal 'oddin Mahomet Akbar Shah.--E.]
The king of Acheen was one of the Indian princes who had entered into
the grand confederacy against the Portuguese, and had agreed to lay
siege to Malacca, but did not execute his part of the league till about
the middle of October 1571, when he appeared before Malacca with a fleet
of near 100 sail, in which he had 7000 soldiers with a large train of
artillery and a vast quantity of ammunition. Landing on the night of
his arrival, he set fire to the town of _Iller_, which was saved from
total destruction by a sudden and violent shower of rain. He next
endeavoured to burn the Portuguese ships in the harbour; but failing in
this and some minor enterprizes he sat down before the city, intending
to take it by a regular siege, having been disappointed in his
expectations of carrying it by a _coup de main_. At this time Malacca
was in a miserable condition, excessively poor, having very few men and
these unhealthy and dispirited, having suffered much by shipwreck,
sickness, and scarcity of provisions, not without deserving, these
calamities; for Malacca was then _the Portuguese Nineveh in India_, I
know not if it be so now. In this deplorable situation, incessantly
battered by the enemy, cut off from all supplies of provisions, Malacca
had no adequate means and, hardly any hopes of defence. In this
extremity Tristan Vaz accidentally entered the port with a single ship,
in which he had been to Sunda for a cargo of pepper. Being earnestly
intreated by the besieged to assist them, he agreed to do every thing in
his power, though it seemed a rash attempt to engage a fleet of 100 sail
with only ten vessels, nine of which were almost rotten and destitute of
rigging. Among these he distributed 300 naked and hungry wretches; and
though confident in his own valour, he trusted only in the mercy of God,
and caused all his men to prepare for battle by confession, of which he
set them the example.
He sailed from Malacca with this armament about the end of November
1571, and soon discovered the formidable fleet of the enemy in the river
_Fermoso_. Giving the command of his own ship to Emanuel Ferreyra,
Tristam Vaz de Vega went sword in hand into a galliot, to encourage his
men to behave valiantly by exposing himself to the brunt of battle along
with them. On the signal being given by a furious discharge of cannon,
Tristan instantly boarded the admiral ship of the enemy, making great
havock in her crew of 200 men and even carried away her ensign.
Ferdinand Perez with only 13 men in a small vessel took a galley of the
enemy. Ferdinand de Lemos ran down and sunk one of the enemies ships.
Francisco de Lima having taken another set her on fire, that he might be
at liberty to continue the fight. Emanuel Ferreyra sank three vessels,
unrigged several others, and slew great numbers of the enemy. In short,
every one fought admirably, and the whole hostile fleet fled, except
four gallies and seven smaller vessels that were burnt or sunk. Seven
hundred of the enemy were taken or slain, with the loss only of five
men on the side of the victors. The Portuguese ships waited three days
in the river to see if the enemy would return, and then carried the
joyful news to Malacca, where it could hardly be believed[382].
[Footnote 382: Though not mentioned by De Faria, the king of Acheen
appears to Jave raised the siege of Malacca after this naval
victory.--E.]
Sometime in the year 1578, four ships arrived at Goa from Portugal,
under the command of Francisco de Sousa, who immediately on landing went
to the archbishop Don Gaspar, to whom he delivered a packet from the
king. The royal orders contained in this packet were read by a cryer in
the archiepiscopal church, and announced that Don Antonio de Noronha was
deposed from the dignity of viceroy, to whom Antonio Moniz Barreto was
immediately to succeed with the title of governor. By another order,
Gonzalo Pereyra was appointed to the government of Malacca, in default
of whom Don Leonis Pereyra was substituted, and accordingly succeeded as
the other was dead.
Advice was now brought to Goa that Malacca was again in danger, as the
king of Acheen was before it a second time, assisted by the queen of
_Japara_. On this intelligence, Moniz desired Leonis Pereyra to set out
for his government, and Leonis demanded of him to be supplied with the
same force which Moniz had formerly required from Noronha; yet Moniz,
without considering what he had himself wrote on that subject to the
king, and that India was now free from danger, refused his request.
Leonis, to leave the new governor no excuse for his conduct, would even
have been satisfied with a much smaller force than that formerly
required by Moniz, but even that was refused him, and he went away to
Portugal refusing to assume the government of Malacca. About the end of
this year 1573, orders came from Portugal for the trial and execution of
Don George de Castro for surrendering Chale to the zamorin. He was
accordingly beheaded publicly: Yet in the year following a commission
was sent out from Portugal for employing him in another command.
Scarcely had India begun to enjoy some respite after the late troubles,
when the queen of Japara sent her general Quiaidaman to besiege Malacca
with 15,000 chosen natives of Java, in a fleet of 80 large galleons and
above 220 smaller vessels. Tristan Vaz de Vega happened to be then at
Malacca, and was chosen by common consent to assume the command,
Francisco Enriquez the former commandant being dead. Tristan Vaz sent
immediate notice to Goa of his danger; on which Moniz issued orders to
all the neighbouring places to send succours, and began to fit out a
fleet for its relief. In the mean time the Javanese army landed and
besieged Malacca. Vaz sent Juan Pereyra and Martin Ferreyra with 150 men
to drive the enemy from a post. After killing 70 of the enemy, they
levelled the work and brought off seven pieces of cannon. Pereyra
afterwards burnt 50 of their galleons, and destroyed some great engines
which they had constructed for attacking a bastion. Two other officers
in a sortie burnt the pallisades which the enemy had erected for
straitening the garrison and defending their own quarters. After this,
Pereyra going out of the river with the Portuguese vessels, besieged the
besiegers, and at _Jor_ took a large quantity of provisions that were
going to the Javanese army. Upon these repeated misfortunes, the
Javanese embarked in great consternation, and withdrew under night; but
were pursued by Pereyra, who cut off many of their vessels in the rear.
Almost half of this great army perished by the sword or sickness in this
siege, which lasted three months.
Hardly was the army of the queen of Japara gone from Malacca when the
king of Acheen arrived before it with 40 gallies, and several ships and
smaller vessels, to the number of 100 in all, with a great train of
artillery. Tristan Vaz gave orders to Juan Pereyra in a galley,
Bernardin de Silva in a caravel, and Ferdinand de Palares in a ship,
having each 40 men, to go out of the harbour on purpose to protect a
convoy of provisions then in its way to Malacca, of which the city was
in great want. The fleet of the enemy immediately attacked them, and
soon battered all three ships to pieces. Seventy-five of the Portuguese
were slain or drowned on this occasion, forty were made prisoners, and
only five saved themselves by swimming. Only 150 men now remained in.
Malacca, of whom 100 were sick or aged. Being in want both of men and
ammunition Tristan Vaz was under the necessity of remaining very quiet;
but the enemy fearing he was preparing some stratagem against them,
raised the siege in a panic of terror when they might easily have
carried the city, after remaining before it from the beginning to the
end of January 1575. The priests, women and children of the distressed
city had implored the mercy of God with sighs and tears; and next to
God, the city owed its safety to the courage of Tristan Vaz, and to his
generosity likewise, as he spent above 20,000 ducats in its defence.
At this period Juan de Costa cruised upon the Malabar coast with two
gallies and twenty-four other vessels. The town of Guipar near Bracalore
being in rebellion, he landed there and set the town on fire after
killing 1500 of the inhabitants. He likewise cut down the woods[383] in
revenge for the rebellion of the natives. After this he destroyed an
island belonging to the zamorin in the river of Chale, and ruined the
city of Parapangulem belonging to the same sovereign, where the heir of
the kingdom was slain with 200 of his followers. At _Capocate_ 300 of
the natives were slain with the loss of two only of the Portuguese. The
town of _Nilacharim_ near mount Dely was destroyed by fire. In the
intervals between these exploits on the land, several vessels belonging
to the enemy were taken, by which the fleet was supplied with slaves and
provisions.
[Footnote 383: Probably the groves of cocoa-nut trees are here alluded
to.--E.]
At this period, after long petty wars occasioned by the injustice and
tyranny of the Portuguese, they were expelled from the Molucca islands,
and their fort in the island of Ternate was forced to surrender to the
king, who protested in presence of the Portuguese that he took
possession of it in trust for the king of Portugal, and would deliver it
up to any one having authority for that purpose as soon as the murder of
his father was punished[384].
[Footnote 384: A great number of trifling incidents in the misgovernment
and tyranny of the Portuguese in the Moluccas, have been omitted at this
and other parts the history of Portuguese Asia in our version.--E.]
In the year 1576, Antonio Moniz Barreto was succeeded in the government
of India by Don Diego de Menezes; but it may be proper to suspend for a
time our account of the affairs of India, to give some account of the
transactions in Monomotapa under the government of Francisco Barreto and
his successor Vasco Fernandez Homeiri.