Page 68 - History of Portuguese in the Gulf_Neat

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170 APPENDIX A.
i
into Harmuz. Meanwhile the forces of Keys and Xyraz, a
hundred and twenty terradas (which are vessels of moderate size), 1
full of men and well fitted out, were caught, near Sirmion, in a
terrible storm, such as are common in that strait. Their fleet was
r
% 1 broken up, and the commanders, with what few ships remained
to them,’ took shelter at Angam,3 a little island which lies close
against that of Broct, and forms a safe and spacious harbour.
Here the king of Keys heard that Gordonxa had made prize of
1 the India ships; by which news aroused, he landed his men,
h hinder it; and so carried him off to Keys.
meaning to pass over into Harmuz the next night.'1
> i
Gordonxa, hearing of this, made ready with his men, perhaps
■r, twelve thousand, and posted the best of them5 on a beach called
): • Karri,0 about a thousand paces from the city, fittest for the enemy’s
11 landing. And there they attempted it, but were beaten off with
heavy loss of ships and men. They drew off seaward, and the
men of Keys made overtures of peace, but the Harmuzis would
have none of them. And Gordonxa, advised by Sangor Rokna-
din, his chief captain, determined to attack his unwary enemies,
who took to flight when they heard of his intent, yet not so timely
.•V but that the Harmuzis made a great slaughter of them; and after
this defeat they returned to Keys.
£il! But in the year of the Hyxara 714, that is in a.d. 1315, they
invaded Harmuz again, with many more men and ships, and
i blockaded the isle for four months, so straitly that Gordonxa must
have surrendered, if he had not foreseen the case, and laid in so
:li much provision that there was no dearth, nor any rise in prices.
hi
Hi
m 1 See supra, p. 22, n.—D. F.
2«
Lapoca que les guedd.” Stevens has “ the ten ships that escaped;”
iii which I give as a sample of the misprints in his translation. (“Ten”
ifl should, of course, be “few.”—d. f.]
r supra, p. 19.—d. F.]
3 «
Angam ” is the modern “ Henjam” {Persian Gulf Pilot). (Cf.
< «
I en Harmuz.’ Why he should land his men in one island, in order
EM su genie en tierra, con animo de h la noc/te siguiente passar
to take them to another the next night, is not clear. The distance
from Angam (Henjam) to Kishm, which is the nearest point of the
8: island to Hormuz, is at least thirty-five miles by land, so nothing was to
II be gained by a land march. Perhaps they only landed for refresh­
ments, and “ to stretch their legs ” for a few hours.
if
6 « El mejor tercio.” There is evidently no use in arguing about
j] the Spanish military slang of the 16th and 17th centuries, when the
i subject is an Arab militia of the 14th.
* 6 This beach is mentioned again further on. Nieuhof {op. cit.,
ii
:
i; p. 232) says : “The Western part of the Island, extending along the
Sea shoar, where Mountains end, is call’d Karu, where you see a
iii few houses scattered up and down belonging to the Moors. “ Karri ”
:: is apparently connected with Persian kardn = shore. Couto {Dec. VI
Liv. x, cap. iii) spells the name “ Chaurri.”—D. F.
(■
3
i;
i i
m
KINGS OF HORMUZ, 171
When the king of Keys saw how little he could do, he betook
himself to making the peace, but with ill design. Messages were
exchanged, and it was agreed that the two kings should meet on
the beach. The king of Keys came thither in a boat, and leapt
ashore; and when the king of Harmuz came to embrace him,
being a mighty man, he took Gordonxa up in his arms, and carried
him aboard the boat, and then into his own terrada, and set sail
with all his squadron, before the Harmuzis could do anything to
When Bibi Sultan, wife of Gordonxa, knew what happened, she
called on Malek Guayacadin Dinar, son of her brother Xanxa, to
assume the government of the land. After five months, the king of
Keys came once more against Harmuz, and brought Gordonxa with
him, confined aboard a terrada. But when they had come more
than half-way, there fell on them so fierce a storm that the fleet
was scattered, and most of the ships were lost. rI hat in which
was Gordonxa was driven ashore on the beach of Harmuz,
whither came a multitude of people, and brought him into the
city with acclamation.
But Malek Guayacadin Dinar, who by this time took on himself
the state of a king, would not obey Gordonxa, who therefore took
shelter in the house of one Koaia Mamud Kateb, his own secre­
tary ; and, not feeling safe there, went the same night to the Persian
mainland, and dwelt in the fortress of Minab, which name means
“ the Blue Fort.”1 Dinar feared his return, and found that all men
were deserting himself for Gordonxa, wherefore he fled from the
isle to Makron, a kingdom lying between Persia and Send. Amir
Ayzadin Gordonxa came to the Isle of Harmuz, and was received
in peace; and two years later he died there, in the year of the
Moors 717, a.d. 1318.2
His son, Amir Mobarezadin Baharon Xa,3 succeeded him, and
was seventeenth king of Harmuz. But the troops in garrison of
the mainland chose for king a brother of his, Xa Kodbadin, and
1 Presumably the Blue Fort, named from some blue-tiled building,
or blue water, therein or thereabouts. Possibly only the Glazed or
Enamelled Fort; but even in that case probably owing its name to blue
glazed tiles.
2 Barros and Couto {ubi supra) record very briefly the conflict between
the kings of Hormuz and Kais, resulting in the defeat of the latter
and the annexation of Kais by Gordun Shdh. They add that the
latter became a vassal to the king of Persia, and that he enjoyed
peace for the rest of his reign, which lasted thirty years.—D. F.
3 Barros and Couto {ubi supra) say that Gordun Shah was succeeded
by his eldest son “ Torunxri,” who reigned thirty-four years (Couto has
“twenty-four” by a lapsus pama). They record no events in his
reign. It will be seen from the footnote further on that Ibn Batrita
describes Kutbuddm as son of “Trirrin Shah.”—D. F.