Page 9 - History of Portuguese in the Gulf_Neat

I
t #
x INTRODUCTION.
the other captains having landed, a council of war was
held to decide what action should be taken against the
enemy. Naturally, Manoel de Sousa, anxious to have the
whole credit of the affair for himself, and knowing that D.
Paulo de Lima might arrive at any moment, was urgent
for an immediate attack, while D. Paulo’s captains coun-
selled delay. Meanwhile ambassadors arrived from Rdja
Sinha, asking for an armistice to allow him to observe a
religious festival at his capital, Sitdvaka.1 At the same
time, however, spies reported that this was only a blind, as
“ Raju ” was really preparing to retire. It was therefore
agreed to make a general assault on the enemy that night
(21st February), and this was carried into effect, the king's
army being routed with great loss. On 22nd or 23rd
February, D. Paulo de Lima arrived from Malacca; and
I after Rdja Sinha’s extensive and elaborate siege works
had been destroyed, and an adequate force left for the
defence of Columbo, the two fleets set sail for Goa at the
beginning of March, 1588.
Of these stirring events Teixeira tells
us nothing, and
he makes only casual references in his Kings of Persia to
matters connected with this journey.2 But one incident in
his return voyage he describes at some length. Couto tells
us that “ Manoel de Sousa, who came in a light fleet,
arrived in Cochim, and left in that city D. Jeronymo de
Azevedo in his galley, and two foists as well, to meet the
ships from China and convoy them as far as Goa, whilst he
went on, visiting the fortresses of Cananor and Canard/’
One of the fortresses of Kanara at which Manoel de Sousa
called was “Barselor,” and, landing here, Teixeira
tells US
something of what he saw (pp. 210-213 infra). At the end
of March, Manoel de Sousa Coutinho reached Goa, where
1 See infra, pp. 221 and 235.
2 See infra, pp. 221, 233, 335, 237 ; also cf. pp. 177-179
, 222.
INTRODUCTION. XI
l
he was received by the Viceroy and the whole city with
A
many tokens of honour and general rejoicing. A few days *
later (early in April), D. Paulo de Lima arrived, and was I
accorded still greater honour—in fact, all that a Viceroy •*
was entitled to, except the pallium.1
Probably as a result of the strain and anxiety he had
experienced,2 D. Duarte de Menezes shortly afterwards fell i
sick of a fever, and after only a few weeks’ illness died on
May 4th,3 1588. He was buried with great pomp in the
church of the Reys Magos, his bones being subsequently
transferred to the Convent of the Trinity at Santarem.4
When the viasf or letters of succession, were opened, it
was found that Mathias de Albuquerque was nominated to
the government of India; but, in his absence,0 the office
fell to Manoel de Sousa Coutinho,7 who was recognised as %
Governor with the customary ceremonies.8 All these
events, however, Teixeira passes over with merely a casual
reference (p. 210 infra).
After his return from Ceylon, our traveller seems to have
spent the remainder of the year 1588 in Goa.0 But it was
1 Couto, Dec. X, Liv. X, cap. xviii (see also Linschoten, vol. ii,
pp. 197-198).
2 Linschoten (vol. ii, p. 201) suggests another cause.
3 Linschoten (u. s.) says that it was on the 15th ; but Couto is more
likely to be right.
4 Couto, Dec. X, Liv. iv, cap. xix. For an account of the sad fate
of D. Paulo de Lima, see Theal’s Beginnings of South African History,
pp. 291-295.
6 Regarding these, see the details given by Linschoten, vol. ii,
pp. 201-203 ; also White way’s Rise of Portuguese Power in India,
p. 214.
0 He had left for Portugal in January, 1587, in the same ship with
Linschoten’s master, the Archbishop of Goa (Couto, Dec. X, Liv. vm,
cap. ix).
7 Cf. supra, p. iii. 8 See Linschoten, vol. ii, p. 203.
9 Linschoten left Goa for Cochin in November, 1588, and sailed for
Europe in January, 1589. In view of the loss of Couto’s Eleventh
Decade, covering the years 1588-1596, it is all the more to be regretted
that Teixeira did not, like the young Netherlander, record the chief
events of each year during his stay in India.