stands, which was the only food which could be procured by the garrison
for a long while. While in this situation, in consequence of powerful
assistance from the zamorin, the rajah of Cananor made a fresh assault
upon Brito with 50,000 men, and was again repulsed with prodigious
slaughter, without the loss of one man on the side of the Portuguese.
Immediately after this exploit, Tristan de Cunna arrived at Cananor with
a reinforcement and a supply of provisions, by which and the noble
defence made by Brito the rajah of Cananor was so much intimidated that
he sued for peace, which was granted upon conditions highly honourable
and advantageous to the Portuguese.
As Tristan de Cunna was now ready to depart for Portugal with the
homeward bound ships, the viceroy went along with him to Paniani, a town
belonging to Calicut which he proposed to destroy, as it was much
frequented by the Moors, who took in loadings of spices at that place
under the protection of four ships belonging to the zamorin commanded by
a valiant Moor named Cutiale[97]. The viceroy and Tristan, having
anchored off the bar, held a council of war to deliberate upon a plan of
attack, when it was determined to send their two sons in two barks and
several boats to attack the place, while the viceroy and admiral should
follow in a galley. When the foremost of the Portuguese assailants were
attacking the trenches, on which some of them had mounted, Pedro Cam
having even planted the colours of Lorenzo Almeyda on the summit, the
viceroy on coming up observed his son climbing up with some difficulty.
He immediately called out, "How comes it Lorenzo that you are so
backward?" When the young man answered, "I have given way, Sir, to him
who has gained the honour of the day." At this moment a gigantic Moor
assailed Lorenzo and even wounded him; but in return he cleft the head
of the Moor down to the breast. The town was now carried by storm, and
all its defenders put to the sword, after which all the ships in the
port were burnt. In this exploit the Portuguese lost only eighteen men,
none of whom were of any note; but above 500 of the enemy were slain.
Though the plunder of this place was of great value, it was all burnt
along with the town and ships, the artillery only being carried off.
[Footnote 97: In an after part of De Faria, this officer is said to have
been a Chinese. - E.]
After this the fleet and army returned to Cananor where De Cunna
completed his lading, and then set sail for Portugal. At Mozambique, on
his way home, he met several ships belonging to a squadron of twelve
sail sent from Lisbon in the former year; seven of which were to return
with goods, and the other five to cruise on the eastern coast of Africa,
under the command of Vasco Gomez de Abreu, who was likewise to command
in the fort of Sofala. There were also two other ships in this fleet,
destined to reinforce the squadron of Albuquerque on the coast of
Arabia. Of this fleet, the ship commanded by Juan Chanoca was lost in
the river Zanaga, that of Juan Gomez in another place, and Abreu was
lost with four vessels while going to Mozambique. Other vessels of this
fleet were driven to various parts, after enduring terrible storms and
imminent dangers; yet these dire misfortunes were insufficient to damp
the boldness of our nation in quest of riches, so prevalent is
covetousness over every consideration of difficulty or danger.
We must now return to Alfonso de Albuquerque, who parted from De Cunna,
after the taking of Socotora on the 20th of August, as formerly related,
being bound for the coasts of Arabia and Persia, pursuant to the
commands of the king, having with him seven ships and 460 soldiers. He
came first to Calayate, a beautiful and strong place in the kingdom of
Ormuz, built after the manner usual in Spain, but which had once been
more populous. Sending a message to the governor, he received supplies
of water and provisions, and entered into a treaty of peace. Proceeding
to Curiate, ten leagues farther on, he was very ill received, in revenge
for which he took the place by storm, losing only three of his own men,
while eighty of the defenders were slain. After plundering this place,
it was destroyed by fire along with fourteen vessels which were in the
harbour. From thence he sailed for Muscat, eight leagues farther, which
was stronger than the two former, and well filled with people, who had
resorted there from all quarters on hearing of the destruction of
Curiate. Being afraid of a similar disaster, the governor sent great
supplies of provisions to Albuquerque, and entered into a treaty of
peace; but while the boats were ashore for water, the cannon of the town
began unexpectedly to play upon the ships, doing, considerable damage,
and obliged them hastily to haul farther off, not knowing the cause of
these hostilities; but it was soon learnt that 2000 men had arrived to
defend the town, sent by the king of Ormuz, and that their commander
refused to concur in the peace which had been entered into by the
governor. Although Albuquerque had received considerable damage from the
smart cannonade, he landed his men early next morning, and attacked the
place with such resolution that the Moors fled at one gate, while the
Portuguese entered at another. The town was given up to plunder, all
except the residence of the governor, who had received the Portuguese in
a friendly manner, and had very honourably given them notice to retire,
when the troops of Ormuz arrived; but he was slain during the first
confusion, without being known.
After the destruction of Muscat, Albuquerque proceeded to Soar, all the
inhabitants of which fled, except the governor and some of the principal
Moors, who offered to surrender the town; but Albuquerque gave it back
to them, on condition of holding it in vassalage from the crown of
Portugal, and payment of the same tribute which used to be given to the
king of Ormuz. Fifteen leagues farther he came to Orfucam, which was
deserted by the inhabitants. Albuquerque sent his nephew, Don Antonio,
to pursue them at the head of 100 men; who, though he brought back
twenty-two prisoners, received almost as much damage from the Moors as
he did, as they were very numerous and fought bravely in defence of
their wives and children. The deserted town of Orfucam was plundered for
three days, during which time Albuquerque disposed all things in
readiness for proceeding against Ormuz, which was the chief object of
his voyage, deeming these previous exploits only a prelude to his grand
enterprise, and accounting them but trifles, though they might appear
considerable to others.
The city of Ormuz or Hormuz is situated on the small island of Jerun at
the mouth of the Persian Gulf, only three leagues in compass, and so
barren that it produces nothing but salt and sulphur. The buildings of
the city are sumptuous. It is the great mart for all the goods of
Africa, Arabia, and India; by which means, though having nothing of its
own, it abounds in all things. It is plentifully supplied with
provisions from the province of Mogostan or Laristan in Persia, and from
the islands of Kishom, Kissmis, or Kishmish, Larek, and others. About
the year 1273, Malek Kaez possessed all the land from the isle of Jerun
to that of Bahrayn, bordering on the kingdom of Gordunshah of the
province of Mogostan[98]. This king by subtile devices prevailed upon
Malek to give him the island of Jerun, being a place of no value
whatever; after which he fortified himself there, and transplanting the
inhabitants of the ancient city of Ormuz on the coast, where the king
used to reside to that island, the king of Persia, fearing he would
refuse the accustomed tribute, prepared to invade him: But the king of
Gordunshah diverted him from his purpose, by engaging to be responsible
for the tribute, and by doing homage by his ambassadors once in every
five years. By these means the city and kingdom of Ormuz was
established, which continued to be ruled over by the heirs of the first
possessor and others, mostly by violence[99].
[Footnote 98: The expression in the text is obscure. It appears that
Malek Kaez, ruled over the sea coast of the kingdom or province rather
of Mogostan, of which Gordunshah was king or governor. - E.]
[Footnote 99: The account in the text is unintelligible and
contradictory: But we fortunately have one more intelligible from the
editor of Astley's Collection, I. 65. c. which being too long for a
note, has been placed in the text between inverted commas. - E.]
"This account of the origin of the kingdom of Ormuz or Harmuz is related
differently in a history of that state written by one of its kings, and
given to us by Teixeira at the end of his history of Persia, as
follows. - In the year of _Hejirah_ 700, and of Christ 1302, when the
Turkomans, or Turks from Turkestan, overran Persia as far as the Persian
Gulf, _Mir Bahaddin Ayaz Seyfin_, the fifteenth king of Ormuz, resolved,
to leave the continent where his dominions then were, and to retire to
some of the adjacent islands. He first passed over with his people to
the large island of _Brokt_ or Kishmish[100], called Quixome by the
Portuguese, and afterwards removed to a desert isle two leagues distant
eastward, which he begged from _Neyn_ king of _Keys_, and built a new
city, calling it _Harmuz_ after the name of his former capital on the
coast, the ruins of which are still visible to the east of _Gamrun_ or
Gambroon. By the Arabs and Persians, this island is called _Jerun_, from
a fisherman who lived there at the time when Ayaz first took possession.
In the course of two hundred years, this new city and kingdom advanced
so much in wealth and power, that it extended its dominion over a great
part of the coasts of Arabia and Persia, all the way to _Basrah_ or
Basora. It became the chief mart of trade in all these parts, which had
formerly been established at Keys; but after the reduction of Ormuz, by
the Portuguese, its trade and consequence declined much, owing to their
tyranny and oppression. Ayaz Seyfin, was succeeded by Amir Ayas Oddin
Gordun Shah. Thus it appears distinctly, that the Malek Kaes in the text
of Faria, ought to have been called the Malek or king of Kaes or Keys;
and that instead of the kingdom of Gordunshah of the province of
Mogostan, it should have been Gordun Shah king of Mogostan; besides, the
island was not granted to him, but to his predecessor Ayaz. As a mark of
their sense of the riches of Ormuz, the orientals used to say
proverbially, if the world were considered as a ring, Ormuz was its
jewel."
[Footnote 100: In a plan of Ormuz given in Astley's Collection, the isle
of Kishoma or Kishmis is placed at a small distance from that of Ormuz
or Jerun, and is said to be the place whence Ormuz is supplied with
water. In fact the island of Kismis or Kishom is of considerable size
and some fertility, though exceedingly unhealthy, while that of Jerun on
which Ormuz was built, though barren and without water, was
comparatively healthy. It was a commercial garrison town of the Arabs,
for the purpose of carrying on the trade of the Persian Gulf, and at the
same time withdrawing from the oppressive rule of the Turkoman
conquerors of Persia. - E.]
When Albuquerque arrived at Ormuz about the end of September 1507, Sayf
Oddin a youth of twelve years of age was sovereign, under the
guardianship of a slave named Khojah Attar, a man of courage but of a
subtile and crafty disposition. Hearing what had been done by
Albuquerque at the towns upon the coast, Attar made great preparations
for resisting the new enemy. For this purpose he laid an embargo on all
the ships in the port, and hired troops from all the neighbouring
countries, so that when the Portuguese entered the port there were
30,000 armed men in the city, of whom 4000 were Persians, the most
expert archers then in the world. There were at that time 400 vessels in
the harbour, 60 of which were of considerable size, the crews of which
amounted to 2500 men. Albuquerque was not ignorant of the warlike
preparations which had been made for his reception; but to shew his
determined resolution, he came immediately to anchor in the midst of
five of the largest ships riding in the harbour, firing his cannon as he
sailed along to strike a terror into the inhabitants, and the shore was
soon lined by 8000 troops. As no message was sent to him by the king, he
commanded the captain of the largest ship, which seemed admiral over the
rest, to repair on board of him, who immediately complied, and was
received with much civility, but in great state. He then desired this
man to go on shore and inform the king of Ormuz, that he had orders from
the king of Portugal to take him under the protection of that crown, and
to grant him leave to trade in the Indian seas, on condition that he
submitted himself as vassal to the crown of Portugal, and agreed to pay
a reasonable tribute: But if these proposals were rejected, his orders
were to subdue Ormuz by force of arms. It was assuredly no small
presumption to offer such degrading terms to a king who was at the head
of above 30,000 fighting men, and 400 ships, while all the force he had
against such prodigious force, was only 460 soldiers and seven ships.
The Moorish captain, who was from Cambaya, went on shore and delivered
this insolent message to the king and his governor Attar; who
immediately sent Khojah Beyram with a message to Albuquerque, excusing
them for not having sent to inquire what the Portuguese wanted in their
port, and promising that the governor should wait upon him next day.
Attar however did not perform this promise, but endeavoured to spin out
the time by a repetition of messages, in order to strengthen the
fortifications of the city, and to receive farther supplies. Albuquerque
immediately perceived the purport of these messages, and told Beyram
that he would listen only to the acceptation of peace on the terms
proposed, or an immediate declaration of war. To this insolent demand,
Beyram brought back for answer, that Ormuz was accustomed to receive,
and not to pay tribute.
During the night, the noise of warlike instruments, and the shouts of
the troops collected in Ormuz were heard from all parts of the city; and
when morning came, the whole walls, the shore, and the vessels in the
harbour were seen crowded with armed men, while the windows and flat
tops of all the houses were filled with people of both sexes and all
ages, anxious to behold the expected events. Albuquerque immediately
began to cannonade the city and the large Moorish ships, and was
spiritedly answered by the enemy, who took advantage of the obscurity
occasioned by the smoke to send a large party of armed men in 130 boats
to attack the ships, and did some damage among the Portuguese by
incessant and prodigious discharges of arrows and stones. But as many of
the boats were sunk by the Portuguese artillery, and numbers of the men
slain and drowned, they were forced to retire. They returned again to
the charge with fresh numbers; but after a severe conflict were again
obliged to retreat with prodigious loss, the sea being dyed with blood,
and great numbers of them slain. By this time, Albuquerque had sunk two
of the largest ships in the port and taken a third, not without
considerable opposition on the part of the enemy, forcing the surviving
Moors to leap into the sea; and the other captains of his squadron had
captured three ships, and had set above thirty more on fire. The crews
of these cut their cables and drifted over to the Persian shore to
enable themselves to escape; but by this means communicated the
conflagration to other vessels that were lying aground. These disasters
struck such terror into the people of Ormuz that they all fled in dismay
within their walls, and Khojah Attar sent a message to Albuquerque
offering to submit to his proposals; on which he put a stop to farther
hostilities, yet suspecting the governor of treachery, he threatened to
inflict still heavier calamities on the city unless the terms were
performed with good faith. Thus, with the loss only of ten men on the
side of the Portuguese, most of the numerous vessels belonging to the
enemy, full of various rich commodities, were taken, burnt, sunk, or
torn to pieces, and above seventeen hundred of the Moors were slain,
numbers of whose bodies were seen floating in the harbour. Many of these
were seen to have ornaments of gold, which the Portuguese anxiously
sought after, and on this occasion it was noticed that several of the
enemy had been slain by their own arrows, none being used by the
Portuguese.
Khojah Attar, dismayed by the prodigious injury sustained in the
conflict, and afraid of still heavier calamities, called a council of
the chief officers of the kingdom to deliberate on what was best to be
done, when it was agreed to submit for the present to the demands of
Albuquerque; after which articles of pacification were drawn up and
sworn to between the parties. The two principal articles were, that the
king of Ormuz submitted to pay a tribute to the king of Portugal of
15,000 _Xerephines_ yearly[101], and that ground should be allowed for
the Portuguese on which to build a fort. The fort was accordingly
immediately commenced, and considerable progress was made in its
construction in a few days. On purpose to avoid the payment of the
tribute, Khojah Attar dressed up a pretended embassy from the king of
Persia demanding payment of the usual tribute, and required that
Albuquerque should give them an answer, as the king of Ormuz was now
subject to the crown of Portugal. Albuquerque penetrated into this
design, and desired Attar to send some one to him to receive the answer.
The pretended Persian ambassador accordingly waited upon him, to whom he
gave some spears and bullets, saying such was the coin in which the
tribute should be paid in future. Finding this contrivance fail, Attar
endeavoured to corrupt some of the Portuguese, and actually prevailed on
five seamen to desert, one of whom had been bred a founder, who cast
some cannon like those belonging to the Portuguese. Being informed by
these deserters that Albuquerque had only about 450 soldiers, Attar
began to pick up fresh courage, and entered into contrivances for
breaking the peace, pretending at the same time to lay the blame on
Albuquerque, and refused to deliver up the deserters.
[Footnote 101: A Xerephine being worth about half a crown, this tribute
amounted to about L. 1875 sterling. - Astl. I. 66. a. - According to
Purchas a Xerephine is worth 3s. 9d; so that the yearly tribute in the
text is equal to L. 2812 20s. sterling. - E.]
The high spirit of Albuquerque could not brook this conduct, and
determined upon taking vengeance, but had little success in the attempt
being badly seconded by the officers serving under him. Taking advantage
of this spirit of insubordination, of which he had ample intelligence as
it was occasioned by his own intrigues, Attar one night set fire to a
bark which the Portuguese were building on the shore; and at the same
time one of the deserters called aloud from the wall on Albuquerque, to
defend his boat with his 400 men, and he should meet 7000 archers. At
this time some of the Portuguese captains gave intelligence to the
enemy, and had even assisted the five renegades to desert. Enraged at
this affront in burning his bark, Albuquerque endeavoured to set some
ships on fire which were building or repairing in the arsenal of Ormuz,
but failed in the attempt. He next undertook to besiege the city; and
having taken several persons who were carrying provisions thither, he
cut off their hands, ears, and noses, and sent them into the city in
that miserable condition, to the great terror of the inhabitants. About
this time there was a hot dispute between the Portuguese and the
garrison of Ormuz, about some wells which supplied the inhabitants with
water, which Albuquerque endeavoured to fill up, in which the Moorish
captain and the guard over the wells were all slain, and the wells
filled with the carcasses of their men and horses. The young king and
his governor sallied out from the city to drive the Portuguese away, and
actually cut off the retreat of Albuquerque; but a lucky cannon-ball
opened the way, by throwing the cavalry of the enemy into confusion.
In these actions with the Ormuzians, Albuquerque was ill seconded by his
people, three of his captains having resolved to leave him and to sail
for India. These men drew up a letter or remonstrance, assigning reasons
why he should desist from his present enterprise; which Albuquerque
ordered one of the masons to lay beneath a stone in the wall of the
fort, saying that he had there deposited his answer, and would be glad
to see if any one dared to remove the stone to read what he had written.
Though much offended by this, these captains did not venture to make any
reply; yet jealous about the command of the fort, when it should be
built, the three captains actually sailed away for India. Though much
troubled at this shameful desertion, Albuquerque determined upon
continuing his enterprise, notwithstanding that two other captains who
still remained opposed him, and were desirous to follow the example of
the other three; but by proper severity he deterred them from executing
their designs. Learning that a fleet was on its way from Bahrayn for
Keyshom with a reinforcement of men and provisions, Albuquerque
endeavoured ineffectually to intercept it. After failing in this, he
fell upon a country palace belonging to the king which was guarded by
three hundred foot and sixty horse, whom he defeated with the loss of
one man, killing eighty of the enemy. He then fell upon Keyshom or
Queixome, which was defended by five hundred archers sent to Ormuz by
the king of Lar or Laristan in Persia under the command of two of his
nephews, both of whom were slain with most of their men, and the bodies
of the two slain princes were sent by Albuquerque as a present to Attar.
The town of Keyshom was plundered and burnt. Among the plunder was taken
a large Persian carpet, which the soldiers were going to cut in pieces
to divide among them, and for the greater convenience of removal, which
Albuquerque purchased from them, and sent afterwards to the shrine of St
Jago in Gallicia.
Having but few men left who were much harassed, and winter approaching,
Albuquerque resolved to go to Socotora, and gave leave to Juan de Nova
to sail for India, where he had formerly had the command of a fleet. He
accordingly wintered at Socotora, where he relieved the Portuguese
garrison, then much distressed by famine; for which purpose he went in
his own ship to Cape Guardafu, and sent others to Melinda and Cape Fum,
to seize some ships for the sake of their provisions. When winter was
over, be resolved to return to Ormuz, though too weak to carry his
designs into execution, yet to see in what disposition were the young
king and his governor. On his way thither he determined to take revenge
upon the town of Kalayat, for some injury that had been done there to
the Portuguese. Kalayat is situated on the coast of Arabia beyond Cape
Siagro, called also Cape Rasalgat, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
Behind this town there is a rugged mountain, in which are some passes
which open a communication with the interior; and by one of these
opposite the town almost all the trade of Yemen or Arabia Felix, which
is a fertile country of much trade and full of populous cities, is
conveyed to this port. Immediately on his arrival, Albuquerque landed
his troops and took possession of the town, most of the inhabitants
escaping to the mountains and some being slain in the streets. He
remained here three nights, on one of which a thousand Moors entered the
town by surprise and did considerable damage before the Portuguese could
be collected to oppose them, but were at length put to flight with great
slaughter. Having secured all the provisions of Kalayat, which was the
principal booty, Albuquerque set the place on fire and proceeded to
Ormuz, where he arrived on the 13th of September[102]. He immediately
sent notice of his return to the king and governor; on which Attar sent
him a message, saying they were ready to pay the tribute of 15,000
Xerephins, but would on no account consent to the erection of the
intended fort. Albuquerque therefore determined to recommence the siege
of Ormuz, and ordered Martin Coello to guard with his ship the point of
_Turumbaka_[103], where the wells are situated, and Diego de Melo to
prevent intercourse with the island of Keyshom; while he and Francisco