themselves hereafter inside the bar with the large ships in any danger which they would be unable to remedy. Every one considered this advice excellent, so Afonso Dalboquerque commissioned D. Antonio de Noronha, his nephew, to get himself in readiness to take command of this undertaking as captain, and sent in company with him Jeronymo Teixeira, Simão Martinz, João Nunes, Garcia de Sousa, and Jorge da Silveira in their boats, and Simão Dandrade and Diogo Fernandez de Béja in two galleys whereof they were captains, and Timoja with his fustas. And on the following morning early they all set sail together and made directly for the bar, and shaped their course into the river straight to the fortress of Pangij, because it was close up by the entrance of the bar.

No sooner had D. Antonio de Noronha arrived with his fleet of boats and galleys in front of the fortress, than the Moors began to fire at him with the artillery they had with them, but as the guns were trained high, the shots passed overhead and did no injury to our boats. When the fury of the firing was over, D. Antonio thought a good opportunity offered itself for their disembarking, and he passed the word to the captains to order all the men to row right down upon the fortress, and jump on to the shore as soon as the prows struck the beach. And thus while the artillery began to open fire again without doing any harm, they all disembarked with a great and furious rush, and fighting bravely forcibly entered into the fortress through the loopholes of the bombards or by scaling the walls, and put many to death, as well those on foot as those on horseback, and even wounded the captain, who escaped, indeed, because he could not be distinguished from the others, and the rest of the men took to flight towards the city.

The Moors who were stationed in the earthwork on the land side perceived the overthrow of the fortress of Pangij, and every one of them fled away, because they were not

sufficiently strong to resist any attack. Elated with this victory, D. Antonio ordered Timoja to proceed to the attack of the earthwork that stood on the opposite side; but when he arrived there he found it deserted, so he collected the artillery and everything that he found in it. And when D. Antonio had gathered all the spoil which he had gained from the Moors of Pangij, which consisted of a large number of lances, swords, shields, and eighteen pieces of artillery, he ordered the buildings of the fortress to be set on fire and betook himself again to the boats and made his way back to the ships.

On the arrival of D. Antonio with news of this unexpected success, Afonso Dalboquerque received them all with great approbation and delight, praising him very much for this deed of valour; and, being unable to brook any delay, seeing the benefits our Lord conferred on him, he again commanded D. Antonio to enter the river and go and reconnoitre the city with the galleys and boats which he had provided. And because he was afraid of the fustas that were in Goa, he ordered that the party this time should be reinforced with a few small vessels. And just as they were ready to set out on the following morning, two of the principal Moors of the city arrived in a paráo with a message from the captain and inhabitants of Goa to the Captain-General, saying that all would put themselves under his orders and do everything that he should command, for they would rather become the vassals of the King of Portugal than of the Hidalcão, on account of the frequent tyrannies which the father of the Hidalcão had visited upon them.

Afonso Dalboquerque would not give them an immediate answer. And he ordered D. Antonio, notwithstanding this, to proceed on his expedition up the river to reconnoitre the city, and see how it was placed, and its walls, and its fortress, and especially to endeavour to find some places

whereby the best means of entry could be effected. When D. Antonio had set out, Afonso Dalboquerque kept the Moors with him all that day; and when he thought that D. Antonio had already got on so far as to be opposite the city, he replied to them that they might tell the captain of Goa that he was the Captain-General of India for the King of Portugal, D. Manuel, his Lord, and provided that they on their part were willing to put themselves under obedience to him, and surrender to him the fortress of Goa, as they said they would, and deliver up to him all the Rumes and Turks in the city,-for these were his mortal enemies,-he, on his part, in the name of the King his Lord, would assure them their lives and treat them with every consideration, according to the instructions he had received from his Highness.

When the Moors had gone away carrying back this reply, Afonso Dalboquerque perceiving that the inhabitants of the city had virtually surrendered, like a prudent captain watching the victory which he had in his hands, without waiting any longer for news of D. Antonio, made ready all the boats and small vessels, and paráos of the ships of Cananor that were left with him, and set out at once behind the Moors with all this fleet, leaving the large ships outside the bar-for it was a matter requiring more leisure to get them over the bar,-and that same day he came up opposite the city, where he found D. Antonio de Noronha already at anchor in front of the fortress. The captain and governors of the city, terrified at this tumult of boats and armed host, sent immediately four principal Moors to beg a safeconduct in order to treat for some settlement of affairs.

Afonso Dalboquerque replied that he would be happy to grant their request with the conditions which he had already conveyed to their consideration. The Moors returned forthwith with the answer that they would accept the safeconduct that he would give them; and as all were willing

to surrender the city into his hands, they begged him to be pleased to grant its extension as well to include certain Rumes and Turks who were there-strangers,--for it did not seem reasonable nor according to the laws of humanity to deliver them up. As Afonso Dalboquerque was unwilling to decide this point of his own responsibility, he called a meeting of the captains and recounted to them what the captain and governors of the city were treating for; and it was universally agreed that unless the Rumes and Turks were delivered up, the armistice should no longer be observed, but on the following morning the combat against the city should begin.

The Moors retired with this message, and a large part of the night was spent without any further negociation; and while Afonso Dalboquerque was considering what further proceedings he should enter into, and wondering what was the cause of the delay, there came to him by night a native -a relation of Timoja,-and informed him that the captain of the city had fled away, and that he had done so in order to avoid surrendering the Rumes and Turks, and had left the fortress stripped of everything, and that the people of the city were engaged in nothing but pillaging everything they could find. Although Afonso Dalboquerque was very desirous of getting these Turks and Rumes into his power, he was, nevertheless, pleased to get the city without any trouble or danger to his men, and ordered Garcia de Sousa and Dom Jeronymo de Lima to go forward in their boats in front of the gates of the fortress, and there station themselves on the watch until the morning, to prevent any Moors from going out or entering in by that gate.

OF THE SITE AND FOUNDATION OF THE CITY OF Goa.

The kingdom of Goa belonged in ancient days to the Hindoos, and was tributary to the King of Narsinga; but at the time that Afonso Dalboquerque captured it, it

had been freed for about seventy years, and no longer subject to that king. The principal centre of this kingdom was the city of Goa1, which is situated on an island which all the Hindoos call Tiçuarij, surrounded on every side with lagoons of salt water and islands. And in some of the principal passes of this island they had built towers to prevent the incursions of the Moors of the mainland. And because the pass of Gondali was so shallow that it could be forded at low water, it was ordered that all those who were condemned to die by the hands of justice, and also any Moors who were captured in battle, should be cast into this part in order that the alligators that abound in these lagoons should come thither to seek for their carcasses-and these creatures were so numerous and so accustomed to assemble at this fattening place that the Moors on this account dared not attempt to pass over the ford,-and by means of this artifice, and with the rest of the towers that were built around the island, they lived many years without the Moors being able to get in among them.

The first population that occupied this island of Tiçuarij founded Old Goa, and from the appearance of its buildings it was a great place. The reason that the original founders established themselves there, and not where the city of New Goa now stands (if we may so call it)—granted that the harbour and river are much better,-was on account of the shallowness of the water on the bar, and the impossibility of ships and vessels passing over. But in course of time the water which comes down from the high land of the Gate2—which in the winter rushes down with great fury to the sea,-little by little enlarged the bar in such a manner that the depth of water increased so as to admit the passage of ships and vessels. When the inhabitants of Old Goa perceived that

1 15 deg. 27 min. N., 73 deg. 53 min. E. New Goa, or Panjim, is 15 deg. 26 min. N., 73 deg. 51 min. E.

2 See page 95. Cf. Ghaut, or Ghat.