Soon afterwards news was brought to India of the melancholy catastrophe which had befallen king Sebastian in Africa, and that the Cardinal Don Henry had succeeded to the throne; but he soon afterwards died, and the kingdom of Portugal came under the direction of a council of regency consisting of five members. The viceroy Don Luis died soon afterwards at Goa in the beginning of the year 1580, after governing India this second time for two years and seven months. He seemed to have had a presentiment of his death; for being applied to for leave to bury his cousin Antonio Borello beside his brother Don Juan de Ataide, he refused it, saying that he had long designed that situation for himself. He was a man of most undaunted courage, of which the following instance may be adduced. At the attack of Onore, he sailed in a brigantine sitting in a chair, having a famous musician beside him playing on the harp. When the balls from the enemy began to whistle past the ears of the musician he stopt playing, on which the count desired him to proceed as the tune was excellent. One of the gentlemen near him, seeing his unconcernedness, requested him to expose himself less to the danger, as if he were slain all would be lost; "No such thing," answered he, "for if I am killed there are men enough who are fit to succeed me."
On his death, which appears to have happened in March 1580, he was succeeded as governor by Ferdinand Tellez de Menezes, pursuant to a patent of succession sent out by the regency in the year before. On this occasion the new governor was installed with as much demonstration of joy as if there had been no cause of sorrow among the subjects of Portugal for the melancholy state of their country. While the affairs of Portugal were in a miserable state of distraction, those of Visiapour were in no better condition, in consequence of the death of Adel Khan without heirs, in the 23d year of his reign and 50th of his age. Being adicted to unnatural practices, a youth of eighteen years of age who had too much honour to submit to his base desires, stabbed him as he was endeavouring to allure him to comply with his brutal purposes. Ibrahim Khan, the son of Shah Tamas, one of two brothers whom Adel Khan had put to death, succeeded to the sovereignty; but was soon afterwards seized by a powerful Omrah, named Quisbale Khan, who made himself master of the city of Visiapour. Soon afterwards the Ethiopian guards revolted under three leaders of their own choice, Acala Khan, Armi Khan, and Delarna Khan, the last of whom secured the other two and usurped the whole power.
About this time new instructions came from the regency of Portugal, announcing that Philip II. of Spain had been admitted as king of Portugal, and enjoining the governor and all the Portuguese in India to take the oath of allegiance to the new sovereign.
At this period Mirazenam Pacha, a native of Otranto, and born of Christian parents, was governor of all that part of Arabia which is called Yemen by the natives, and resided in Sanaa or Zenan, a city in the inland part of Yeman or Arabia Felix, 60 leagues north of Mokha401. Sanaa stands upon a hill encompassed with a good wall, and is thought to have been founded by Ham the son of Noah, and to have been the residence of the famous queen of Sheba. The fruitful province in which it stands was called by the ancients Siria Muinifera, because it produces frankincense, myrrh, and storax. Being desirous to plunder Maskat near Cape Ras-al-gat, Mirazenam sent three Turkish gallies on that errand under Ali Beg, who took possession of Maskat, whence most of the Portuguese residents saved themselves by flight, leaving their goods to be plundered by Ali Beg. The fugitives took refuge in Mataro, a town only a league distant, whence they went to Bruxel, a fort about four leagues inland, belonging to Catani the sheikh or chief of a horde or tribe of Arabs. The Arab officer who commanded there received the Portuguese with much kindness and hospitality, and protected them till the departure of Ali Beg, when they returned to Maskat. On learning the ruin of Maskat, Gonzalo de Menezes, who then commanded at Ormuz, sent Luis de Almeyda with a squadron consisting of a galleon, a galley, and six other vessels, with 400 good men, to attack Ali Beg. But Almeyda neglected the orders of his superior, and sailed to the coast of the Naytaques, intending to surprise and plunder the beautiful and rich city of Pesani402. But the inhabitants got notice of their danger and fled, after which Almeyda dishonourably plundered the city, to which he set fire, together with near fifty sail of vessels which were in the bay. He did the same thing to Guadel or Gader, a city not inferior to Pesani, and to Teis or Tesse belonging to the barbarous tribe of the Abindos who dwell on the river Calamen in Gedrosia403, and who join with the Naytagites in their piracies.
Don Francisco Mascarenhas, count of Santa Cruz, was the first viceroy sent out to India after the revolution by which Philip II of Spain acquired the sovereignty of Portugal. The honour and advantages conferred upon him on receiving this important office were greater than had ever been enjoyed by any of his predecessors. He well deserved all rewards of honour and profit, having served with great reputation in India, particularly in the brave defence of Chaul, with an incompetent garrison, and hardly any fortifications, against the power of the Nizam, who besieged it with 150,000 men. Yet his advancement on this occasion proceeded more from the policy of the king of Spain than the merit of Mascarenhas, to endeavour to gain the hearts of the Portuguese in India by his bounty. On his arrival at Goa in 1581, the new viceroy found that all the Portuguese had already submitted to the government of the king of Spain, so that he had only to attend to the usual affairs of his viceroyalty.
Sultan Amodifar, the lawful king of Guzerat, after being long kept prisoner by the Mogul who had usurped his kingdom, made his escape by the assistance of some women and came in disguise to a Banian at Cambaya, by whom he was conveyed to Jambo, a person who had secured himself in a portion of the kingdom of Guzerat in the late revolution. Jambo not only acknowledged Amodifar as his legitimate sovereign, but procured the submission of many other chiefs and great men, so that he was soon at the head of a large army, in which there were above 30,000 horse, and in a short time Amodifar recovered possession of almost all Guzerat, either by force or consent. In hopes of profiting by these confusions, and in particular expecting to acquire possession of Surat, the viceroy went with 40 sail to Chaul, whence he sent some intelligent agents to Baroach, which was then besieged by Amodifar, the wife and children of Cotub oddin Khan having taken refuge in that place. These agents had instructions to treat secretly both with Amodifar and the wife of Cotub, without letting either of them know the correspondence with the other, that the Portuguese interest might be secured with the party that ultimately prevailed. But a large Mogul army invaded Guzerat and recovered possession of the whole country, so that the negociations of the viceroy fell to nothing, and be returned to Goa. While absent from that city, the subjects of the new king of Visiapour, provoked by the insolences of Larva Khan the favourite minister, wished to set up Cufo Khan the son of Meale Khan, who had been long kept prisoner at Goa; but on this coming to the knowledge of Larva Khan, he contrived, by means of an infamous Portuguese, named Diego Lopez Bayam, to inveigle Cufo Khan into his power, who thinking to gain a crown was made prisoner by Larva Khan and deprived of his eyes.
401
Sanaa is about 80 marine leagues, or 278 English miles N.E. from Mokha, and 30 leagues, or about 100 miles nearly north from Makulla, the nearest port of Arabia on the Indian ocean. –E.
402
Perhaps Posino on the oceanic coast of Makran, one of the provinces of Persia, is here meant, nearly north from Maskat, on the opposite coast of the entrance towards the Persian Gulf. –E.
403
Gedrosia the ancient name of that province of Persia on the Indian Ocean between the mouth of the Persian Gulf and the Indus, now called Mekran or Makran. –E.
404
We have here omitted from de Faria several long and confused dissertations on subjects that will be treated of more satisfactorily in the sequel of this work, from better sources of information. These are, 1. Of the religion of Hindostan. 2. Of the empire of Ethiopia, or Abyssinia. 3. Of Japan. 4. Of China. 5. Of the traditions respecting the preaching of Christianity in India by St Thomas. Likewise, in the sequel of the Portuguese transactions in India from de Faria, we have omitted a vast deal of uninteresting events, confining our attention only to such as are of some relative importance. –E.