Of the spoil taken from the Moors, of how the King burned all the dead,
and of what Christovao de Figueiredo did.
The King being thus in the camp, he commanded the spoil that
remained of the Moors to be collected, and there were found five
captains who were taken prisoners (those of highest rank were found
amongst the dead); the chiefest of them was Salabatacao,[559] who
was captain-general of all the troops of the Ydallcao He had taken
for his guard in the battle five hundred Portuguese of the renegades
who were with the Moors; and as soon as this Salabatacao saw that his
army was defeated, he strove to collect and form a body of men, but
could not do it because there was not one amongst them who thought of
aught but to save himself. And thinking it worse to be conquered than
to die, he threw himself amongst the King's troops, slaughtering them,
and doing such wonderful deeds that ever after he and his Portuguese
were remembered, so much were their terrible strokes feared, and the
deeds they did; so that they let them pass on, and they penetrated
so far amongst the troops that they found themselves close to the
King's bodyguard. There the horse of Salabatacao was killed. In
order to succour him the Portuguese did great deeds and killed so
many men that they left a broad road behind them which no one dared
to enter, and they fought so well that they got another horse for
Salabatacao. As soon as he was on its back he seemed like nothing
but a furious wolf amongst sheep; but since already they were all
so exhausted, so wounded all over, and so encircled by the enemy
(for they were attacked at every point), Salabatacao was at length
overthrown, and his horse with him. And as the Portuguese who tried
to succour him were all killed, not one escaping, and he himself was
wounded in many places, he was taken prisoner.
The spoil was four thousand horses of Ormuz, and a hundred elephants,
and four hundred heavy cannon, besides small ones; the number of
gun-carriages for them was nine hundred, and there were many tents and
pavilions. I take no account of the sumpter-horses and oxen and other
beasts, for they were numberless, nor of the numbers of men and boys,
nor yet of some women, whom the King ordered to be released.
Here the King stayed till all the dead had been burned, and the
customary honours had been paid to them; and here he gave much
alms for the souls of those who had been killed in battle on his
side. These numbered sixteen thousand and odd. These things done,
he turned again upon Rachol and pitched his camp as he had done before.
During this return of the King there came to meet him Christovao
de Figueiredo,[560] who was at that time in the city of Bisnaga
with horses, and he took with him twenty Portuguese musqueteers,
he also himself having his musquet. The King took much pleasure in
his company, glad that he should see the war and his great power;
and he ordered some tents to be given to him of those taken from
the Ydallcao, and commanded that he should be lodged close to his
own quarters. One day Christovao de Figueiredo told the King that he
wanted to go and see the city, but the King said that he should not
set his heart upon that because he did not want any disaster to befall
him. But Christovao de Figueiredo replied that the whole business of
the Portuguese was war, and that this would be the greatest favour
that he could do him, namely that His Highness should permit him to
go and see the Moors. So the King gave him leave and sent some people
with him. Christovao de Figueiredo went close to the trench before
the walls, keeping himself as much concealed as possible, and seeing
how fearlessly the Moors exposed themselves on the wall, began, with
the musqueteers whom he had brought, to open fire on them in such a
way that he slew many, the Moors being careless and free from fear,
as men who up to then had never seen men killed with firearms nor with
other such weapons. So they began to forsake the wall (at this point),
and the king's troops found an opportunity of coming in safety to it,
and they began to destroy much of the masonry; and so many people
collected on this side that all the camp was put in commotion,
saying that Christovao de Figueiredo had entered the city with his
Portuguese. This was told to the King. Those in the city could not
understand what was going on, nor how these people came to be in the
King's service, until they recollected how on the day of the other
fight the Portuguese had come, and then they considered themselves
lost. For by the aid of those men the King's people came without fear
to the wall, where already it was damaged in many places, because the
city had its cannon so high up that these could do no injury to the men
who were at the foot of the wall. The wall also was filled up inside
with earth, and there were no cannon in the breaches. The people of
the city whom up to that time they had killed had been supplied with
stones which they had flung on the besiegers from the top of the wall,
and with musquets and arrows, so that even if the King's men were able
to reach the wall at all they were at least wounded; but as Christovao
de Figueiredo with the Portuguese prevented the enemy from appearing
at all on the wall, the Hindus were enabled to reach it at their ease.
Here you would have seen how the King's captains begged Christovao
de Figueiredo to permit them one day to attack the Moors in his
company, and he, in order to content the more honourable of them,
went with them on those days. One day he divided his musqueteers
into three companies and began to kill several amongst the Moors
who showed themselves, insomuch that none durst be seen; and then
the King's troops began, in these three divisions, to attack the
wall with many pickaxes and crowbars,[561] and he sent to tell the
rest that they should attack on their own account; and such was the
result that the defenders of the city began to abandon the first
line of fortification, and the women and children took refuge in the
citadel. The captain of the city, seeing the dismay that had spread
amongst his people, began to turn them back with encouraging words,
and with some of them betook himself to that part of the wall which
he saw was most severely pressed, begging them that they would come
back to the wall and not be afraid. He was answered by some that at
that point were those Franks[562] who were helping, and that as soon
as any one showed himself he was a dead man; and he, wishing to see
for himself where the Portuguese were, reached over with his body in
front one of the embrasures and was killed with a musquet-shot that
struck him in the middle of his forehead. It was said by the Moors that
Christovao de Figueyredo had killed him, and they took notice of him
(DERAO SYGNAES D ELLE). As soon as the captain was thus killed there
was great lamentation in the city, and soon the wall was deserted,
so that the men from the King's camp were left to do as they pleased
with it; and they noticed the outcry that arose within and saw that
there was no one defending the wall. They therefore retired to see
what should happen, and left off fighting for that day.