all it contained-which was very valuable-declaring that it belonged to him because it had been taken within the limits of his chief captaincy. And, he continued, although he had addressed many remonstrances to Duarte de Lemos with respect to this matter, to the end that he should neither meddle with the ship nor with the cargo she carried, because it appertained to his lordship [Afonso Dalboquerque] who was the Captain-general of the Indies, and under whose flag he, Francisco Pantoja, was sailing; nevertheless, Duarte de Lemos would not be convinced by these arguments, but he had taken the ship away from him, and her merchandise as well, and disposed of it all just as he pleased.

Then the Factor of Cananor, who happened to be present, said to Afonso Dalboquerque that the ship in question and her cargo with which she was loaded belonged to the king, and he hoped he, Afonso, would give orders for her to be delivered over to him, in order that he might arrange the proper distribution of it; because the officers whom Duarte de Lemos had placed in her would not attend to any of his orders. Afonso Dalboquerque replied that Duarte de Lemos had likewise deprived him, too, of the chief share of that ship which would have come to him by right, but that he should hold his tongue, in order to avoid coming to any rupture about it with him; and since Duarte de Lemos had already taken the best share of her, they must get on the best way they could, for there was an end of his interest in the matter, and he would have nothing to do with it. And whereas Duarte de Lemos was not in a very good humour when he arrived, because Afonso Dalboquerque had neither sent him the ships which he had applied for through Vasco da Silveira,1 nor gone and effected an union with him according to the letter in which he had sent his word that he would do so, he grew very angry at 1 See chapter xiv.

P

these words, which he was informed Afonso Dalboquerque had said to the Factor, although he pretended not to know anything about them.

CHAPTER XLV.

How an ambassador from the King of Cambaya arrived at Cananor to treat for peace with the great Afonso Dalboquerque; and the reply he received; and what passed upon this with Duarte de Lemos.

After the great Afonso Dalboquerque had concluded the matters with Duarte de Lemos which I have pointed out in the foregoing chapter, there arrived an ambassador from the King of Cambaya, who went immediately to the fortress, where Afonso Dalboquerque was expecting him, with all the captains and Fidalgos, except Duarte de Lemos, who was in his ship and remained there without coming to land. And when the ambassador delivered his messages to Afonso Dalboquerque from the King of Cambaya, he gave him also a letter of credentials, and told him that the king his lord was very desirous of having peace and alliance with the King of Portugal; and that many times. already he had sent to say so; and that now he had been informed that his lordship, Afonso Dalboquerque, was making himself ready to pass through the Straits of Méca,1 and if it were true, he begged him earnestly to arrange so that in his journey he should pass by his land, and he would come and converse with him in any of his ports that might be selected, and there they would settle the terms of their mutual alliances. And, he went on to declare, that the Portuguese captains had captured one of his ships, and he begged Afonso Dalboquerque of his kindness to order that it should be given back to him. And the King desired to

See vol. i, p. 58, note 1.

acquaint him that he had under his protection a few Portuguese who had been wrecked in a ship which had run ashore on the coast in one of his ports, and he would immediately send them on to him.

And when he had made an end of his relation, the ambassador put into the hands of Afonso Dalboquerque a letter from the Christians who were there in captivity, wherein they showed how D. Afonso, his nephew, had sailed out from Cocotorá in the ship Sancta Cruz; and while they were making their passage across the gulf of India they took a very richly laden ship of Cambaya; and after having taken her, being as far advanced upon their course as the shallows of Padua,1 so fierce a storm broke over them that they scudded along under bare poles, and at length reached a port of the Guzarates called Nabande,2 and there they ran the ship upon some shallows, and it was wrecked. And, the letter continued, when the ship had struck,3 D. Afonso and five or six men, thinking that they could save themselves by swimming because they were close to the shore, cast themselves into the sea on boards, and because the storm raged very violently, and the sea was running so boisterously, they were overwhelmed in such wise that all of them were drowned, while those who remained on board the ship— about fifty in number-waiting for the low tide, escaped with their lives. And when they had got to land, they were immediately taken prisoners in consequence of the representations of twenty Moors whom they had with them, men who had belonged to the ship which had been taken as a prize. This ship, in which Fernão Jacome was acting as captain, the same storm had driven to the country of the Hidalcão, and the Moors of the land had taken her and all 1 See p. 218, note. 2 See vol. i, pp. 138, 139.

3 E que como a não tocára, a misprint of the latest edition for e que como a não tocára, in which latter sense I have translated the passage; taken as printed in the text, it has no intelligible meaning. The quarto edition has nao.

the cargo she carried, putting Fernão Jacome and the Christians who were on board to death. And the letter went on to relate that when Gopicaiça, chief Alguazil of the King of Cambaya, was informed that the Portuguese were in captivity in those parts, and suffering ill-treatment at the hands of the people of the land, he had prevailed upon the king to send for them, and they were now dwelling in Champanel, and begged his lordship Afonso Dalboquerque to devise some plan whereby he might procure their

release.

And in addition to this letter from the captives, the ambassador gave another to Afonso Dalboquerque from Gopicaiça, the text of which is here subjoined :—

LETTER FROM GOPICAICA, CHIEF ALGUAZIL OF THE KING OF CAMBAYA, TO THE GREAT AFONSO DALBOQUERque.

True friendship, such as I have in my soul, Afonso Dalboquerque Chief Captain, may your good fortune ever be greater than that of Gopicaiça, who dwells in the city of Champanel; many times he recommends himself to you. After due commendations, I give you to know that one of your ships fought with a ship from Paverij, and took her, and carried her away to Cochim, and while they were on their voyage thither, a storm struck them, and your ship reached the shore in a harbour of Guzarate, where she was lost, and there came in her about sixty Portuguese more or less, and twenty persons belonging to the ship of Paverij. I was informed that the men of your ship had put to death certain persons of the ship of Paverij, which they had taken, and those who came with them told it to the people of the said harbour where your ship ran ashore, for which reason the people of the harbour desired to kill them; but I, when I heard this news, laid the matter before the king, and he issued a command that they should be immediately brought

before him.

Then Caixá, an alcaide of Nabande, sent them loaded with irons to the king, and I presented them to him, and he forthwith ordered their irons to be struck off, and commanded that they should be supplied with everything that was necessary for their maintenance; and your own people are writing letters to you whereby you will know that all this really took place. And know you, also, that in the kingdom of Guzarate a true friend of yours am I; and everything which shall be necessary between you and the king in respect of alliance and friendship that will I accomplish. It is necessary that you should send hither one of your people, a Christian and a trustworthy man, with an assurance that your ships shall not cruise about, ruining our maritime traffic and robbing in the seas; and then we will immediately give orders that your Christians be released, and your ships shall be able to go and to come unharmed to and from the ports of Cambaya, buying and selling in them, and all the ports of Cambaya shall be at your disposal; and this your man you can send in a ship to the port of Suret1, and he might bring some good thing of service to the king, and I will present him to the king, and I will befriend him, and I will conclude matters with him in such wise that the ports of Cambaya be at your service, and you shall know that my friendship is true, and in this manner it will be augmented.

When Duarte de Lemos was informed by Jeronymo Teixeira and Francisco de Sá (who were the authors of all these dissensions which had arisen between him and Afonso Dalboquerque) that the ambassador of the King of Cambaya had arrived, and Afonso Dalboquerque had received his embassy-seeing that he already could hardly put up with his position, and by nature was of an obstinate and proud turn of mind—he came on shore and said to Afonso Dalboquerque, in the presence of Rodrigo Rabelo, that the boundary of his 1 Surat, 21 deg. 10 min. N., 72 deg. 32 min. E.