Page 28 - History of Portuguese in the Gulf_Neat

xlviii INTRODUCTION.
two Dutch [English]' ships in the port of Titangone,2 five leagues
from Mozambique, a little more or less, taking in water; and that
it seemed to him that they were going to set their course for
Sunda. At this news the Count was troubled, and all the city,
because of its being a new thing, those people having _
never
come round to these parts ;:i and he at once summoned a council
of the Archbishop, D. .Hr. Aleixo de Menezes, and all the old
captains, and showed them the letter, pointing out to them, that
if these ships went where they were said to be going they might
do great harm to our fortress at Malaca by stirring up the neigh­
bouring peoples against it, and by damaging the trade of those
parts, which was the largest in India, and by capturing the ships
from China and Japan, in which there always came more than
two millions of gold of all the inhabitants of the cities of India :l
that he was quite ready to do all that might be voted in that
council, because for that purpose he had much money, galleons,
galleys, foists, artillery, and everything else that might be neces­
sary ; and above all much spirit, zeal, and willingness to assist in
whatever should be for the service of the King; because he had
not come to India to rest, but to defend it, and to extend it, as
his predecessors had done: that he begged them to give him
their opinions in writing, in order that they might more freely
1. It will be seen that Couto persistently describes these ships as
“ Dutch,” although the Goa Chamber and Dos Santos correctly dcsig-
nate them English. I cannot account for Couto’s error, which has
the appearance of deliberate falsification.
2 Wood’s ships called at “Titangone” evidently on the advice of
Captain Lancaster, who watered here in 1591, as mentioned above.
5 An erroneous statement, whether it refer to the Dutch or to the
English. Faria y Sousa relates, and moralizes on, this event as
follows :—“ From this time there appears in India the vile and
unexpected scourge of Portuguese arrogance, and covetousness, and
carelessness. Yet were it imprudent not to expect it to be vile :
because rarely does God chastise any great people, but He does it by
a humble hand. In this month of September [j/V] there came news
to Goa, of there having been the year before [jzV] in the port of
Titangone the first two ships from Holland [j/V], bold to sound those
waters, which had remained in long possession through not being
ploughed by other keels than ours. It was understood that they hacl
their bows directed towards the Island of Sunda [sic: see Hobson-
fobson, s.v. 1 Sunda’]. It was at once recognised what a great con­
flagration this little spark portended to our navigation, and hopes, and
even possessions, because by this time they nearly all sustained them­
selves more by credit than by foresight: a thing common in those
that possess without caution and with covetousness, and the chief
weapon of those that come in with pretensions with new covetousness
and without carelessness” {Asia Portuguesa, tom. Ill, Pt. 11, cap. i).
4 Cf. White way’s Rise oj Portuguese Power in India,
Hunter’s History of British India, vol. i, pp. 173-174. P* 74;
INTRODUCTION. xlix
say what they thought was proper for the service of God and the
King, since to these he had, by their means, to give an account.
In accordance with this proposal they brought him next day all
their opinions in writing; and in these most were agreed that there
should be sent two galleons, three galleys, and ten foists, with
five hundred men, which was a fleet sufficient to secure those
parts, and to search for the Dutch ships, and to give protection to
those from China and other parts.
This having been agreed to, the Count Admiral went across
to the great dockyard of the fleets, there being then no vendor da
fazenda,! because Vicencio de Bune, who had served in that office
by order of Mathias de Alboquerque,2 had gone to the Kingdom
in the previous January of 1597, on learning that the Count
Admiral was coming, the latter being undesirous of appointing
anyone to that post, because he said that he wished to undertake
the duties, and so it was currently reported; but as soon as he
shifted to the dockyard he appointed D. Francisco de Noronha
to discharge the duties as long as that business of the fleets lasted ;3
and to his brother, D. Luiz da Gama,4 he intrusted the magazines
of artillery and munitions; and to D. Antonio de Lima, who had
1 Comptroller of Revenue, The two most famous men that held
this important office during the sixteenth century were Afonso Mexia
and Sirnao Botelho (see Whiteway’s Rise of Portuguese Power in
India, pp. 206-207, 290-298).
2 The appointment of Vicencio de Brune (not “ Bune”), in super-
session of Antonio Giralte, called forth letters (dated January 2nd
and March 9th, 1596) from the King to the Viceroy and the
Goa Chamber, strongly condemnatory of the action of Mathias de
Albuquerque, ordering Antonio Giralte to be reappointed and com­
pensated, and Vicencio de Brune (who is called a “ stranger”) to refund
the pay he had received (see Archivo Portugues-Oriental, fasc. i,
Ft. I, p. 116, Pt. II, p. 42 ; fasc. iii, pp. 577-8, 642 ; Couto, Dec. XII,
Liv. 1, cap. vii).
5 The Goa Chamber, in their letter of December 17th, 1597, quoted
from above, wrote to the King :—“ Dom Francisco de Noronha came
from Ba$aim with his household to this court, where he is assisting,
accompanied by his servants, without any scandal and with much
satisfaction ; and for the negotiation of the fleet that the Count sent
to the Southern Sea he elected him as vedor da fazenda of the
ribeira as long as it was being furnished with everything necessary,
with which expedition he proceeded with all the diligence and fervour
required by the brevity with which the departure was effected ; where­
fore he is worthy of the favours and honours of your Majesty."
4 Who commanded the ship in which the Count Viceroy left for
India, and was nominated for the captaincy of Hormuz. His appoint­
ment as captain-major of the Malabar coast created much ill-feeling,
says Couto, who, however, justifies the Viceroy’s action {Dec. XII,
Liv. 1, cap. vii).