Page 66 - INDIANNAVYV1

34 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.

sagacity showed liim would place the whole trade with India
at his mercy. But his designs had been anticipated, and he
found that the city was defended by a large fleet and army,
the former said to consist of four hundred vessels, sixty being
of great size, the latter of thirty thousand men. To a haughty
summons to pay tribute to the King of Portugal, the Persian
governor, Khoja Attah, who had not completed the fortifica-
tions of the city, made a temporizing reply; but Albuquerque
was not to be cajoled, and, after some further negotiations,
commenced a heavy cannonade, which is said to have inflicted
terrible losses on the garrison and population. At length, having
sunk or burnt all the ships, he received the submission of the
governor, who agreed to pay £2,000 a-year annual subsidy to
the King of Portugal, and to permit the erection of a fort. But
the force at the disposal of Albuquerque, was only four hundred
and sixty men, and Khojah Attah, seeing his weakness, and
availing himself of a mutinous feeling that manifested itself
among the Portuguese commanders, made preparations to renew
hostilities. Albuquerque, thereupon, quitted Ormuz for Socotra,
which had fallen to his arms, but returned in the following year,
when the governor informed him that the stipulated tribute
would be paid, but that he would not be permitted to build the
fort. Albuquerque would, probably, have repeated the lesson of
the previous year, but being apprized of his nomination to the
Viceroyalty in succession to Almeida, proceeded to Cochin,
and, after some opposition from his rival, who refused to
deliver up the insignia of office, and even threw him into
prison at Cannanore, he was installed Viceroy on the arrival
of a large Portuguese fleet from Europe.
In 1510, Albuquerque attacked Calicut, where he was re-
pulsed, and captured Goa, which he made the capital of the
Portuguese possessions. From thence he turned his victorious
arms against Malacca and Aden, where he suffered defeat,
and, in 1514, made his third attempt against Ormuz. His
name was now so dreaded over the East, that when he renewed
his request to build a fort, the King complied ; and Albu-
querque, not only completed the works, but forced him to
lodge his cannon within its walls, thus establishing Portuguese
supremac}^ in the Persian Gulf ; and they maintained their
position in the island, in spite of an extensive and determined
conspiracy to oust them.*
* The following is a description of the present appearance of Ormuz, from the
pen of Lieutenant A. W. Stiffe, I.N., who visited the place in 1873 —
:
" The island, which is rather more than four geographical miles across, and
roughly circular in sliape, presents a mass of hills from 300 to 700 ft. in height,
occupying a space of about three miles each way on the south and south-west
sides, the shores of which part are quite precipitous, the north and east sides
presenting a low plain. Its surface is, therefore, pretty equally divided between
hills and plains.
" The hills are of somewhat remarkable geological character. There are