D I U 



760 



D I V 



Biu. astonished that the fort should hold out against so many 

 -"-7— ■" assaults, more especially as Zofar had assured him he 

 might carry it in two. At the beginning of the siege 

 the garrison consisted of 600 men, many of whom were 

 slain, and several of the cannon belonging to the fort 

 had burst ; yet Solyman began to lose confidence, and 

 4ooked anxiously to the sea, fearful of the Portuguese 

 fleet which he had learnt was coming against him. 

 This induced him to press the siege more vigorously, 

 especially against the sea bulwark where Antonio de 

 Sousa commanded, which was furiously attacked by 

 fifty barks, two of which were sunk by the Portuguese 

 cannon. The Turks made several attempts to scale 

 tin's bulwark, in all of which they were repulsed with 

 great slaughter, yet returned repeatedly to the charge 

 with similar bad' fortune. Sousa sent off his wounded 

 men from the rampart to have their wounds dressed. 

 Among these was a person named Fernando Ponteado, 

 who, waiting his turn, heard the noise of a fresh as- 

 sault, and, forgetting the dressing, ran immediately to 

 his post, where he received a fresh wound. Going 

 back to get dressed, a third assault recalled him before 

 the surgeon had time to attend to his wants, and he 

 was a third time wounded, and at length returned to 

 get all his three wounds dressed at once. 



By this time, out of the original garrison of 600 

 men, only 250 remained that were able to stand to 

 their arms. Solyman was almost in despair of success, 

 yet resolved to make a desperate effort to carry the 

 place. In hopes of putting Sylveira oft" his guard, and 

 to take the place by surprise, he sent twelve of his gal- 

 lies to sea, as if he meant to raise the siege ; but Syl- 

 veira was not to be lulled into security, and continued 

 to exert the utmost vigilance to provide against every 

 danger. One night some noise was heard at the foot 

 of the sea-wall of the castle, where it appeared that the 

 enemy were applying great numbers of scaling ladders. 

 Every effort was made to oppose them during the dark- 

 ness of the night, and when morning broke, the place 

 was seen beset all round by at least 14,000 men. The 

 cannon of the fort was immediately directed against 

 the assailants, and the garrison mounted the walls in 

 every part, but chiefly near the governor's house, where 

 the defences were weakest, but where Sylveira had 

 placed such people as he could most rely upon. Being 

 repulsed from thence with great slaughter, the enemy 

 made an attempt on an adjoining bulwark, where Gou- 

 vea commanded, and poured in prodigious showers of 

 bullets and arrows. Fourteen gallies came up against 

 this bulwark, which they battered with their cannon • 

 but Gouvea obliged them to draw off, having sunk two 

 of the gallies, and killed many of their crews. At 

 length 200 Turks forced their way into the bulwark, 

 •and planted their colours on its rampart. Scarcely 

 thirty Portuguese remained to oppose them, yet they 

 charged the enemy with great fury, who were so thick 

 that every shot told, and they were driven out with 

 much loss. Fresh men succeeded and regained the 

 bulwark, on which they planted four standards. Many 

 of the Portuguese, who were wounded and burnt by 

 the fire- works of the enemy, ran and dipped themselves 

 in jars of salt water, where, seeking ease, they perished 

 in dreadful torment. 



Sylveira went continually from place to place, encou- 

 raging all to do their duty manfully, and supplying re- 

 inforcements where they were most needed. The enemy 

 bad much the better in the second assault on the bulwark 

 rommiuidcd by Gouvea, on which several gentlemen 



■3 



rushed upon them. At this time one Joam Rodrigues, 

 a strong man of great bravery, ran forward with a bar- 

 rel of powder on his shoulder, calling out to clear the 

 way, as he carried his own death and that of many. 

 He threw the barrel among the enemy, which explo- 

 ded, and blew up above 100 of them ; yet Rodrigues 

 came off unhurt, and performed other memorable deeds, 

 so that he merited the highest honours and rewards of 

 those that were gained in this siege. By other fire- 

 works, the four ensigns who set up the colours were 

 burnt to death, and two others who went to succeed 

 them were slain. Being again driven from the bul- 

 wark, the enemy made a third assault : But their com- 

 mander being slain, who was son-in-law to Khojah Zo- 

 far, his men were dismayed and took to flight. These 

 reiterated assaults lasted four hours, during which a 

 small number of exhausted Portuguese had to with- 

 stand vast numbers of fresh enemies. At length, ha- 

 ving 500 men slain and 1000 wounded, the enemy re- 

 tired; while on the side of the Portuguese 14 were 

 killed, and 200 were disabled from wounds. Only 40 

 remained who were able to wield their arms, insomuch 

 that no hope remained of being able to withstand a 

 fresh attack. The walls were shattered and ruined in 

 every part : No powder remained : In fact, nothing 

 was left but the invincible courage of Sylveira, who still 

 encouraged the remnant of his brave garrison to per- 

 sist in their defence. Not knowing the desperate state 

 to which the fort was reduced, and dismayed by the bad 

 success of all his efforts, Solyman raised the siege, and 

 set sail with all his fleet on the 5th of November." 



With the exception of another unsuccessful attempt 

 in 1545, the Portuguese enjoyed the peaceful posses- 

 sion of Diu till 1670, when the Muscat Arabs took 

 the city by surprise, and filled three vessels with the 

 immense plunder which they collected. By mount- 

 ing some cannon on a church, they attempted to de- 

 stroy the fort ; but though the Portuguese were pre- 

 vented by the priests from firing at the church, the 

 Arabs were unable to make any impression. Having 

 become negligent and oversecure, the Portuguese took 

 advantage of it ; and sallying from the castle, they slew 

 1000 Arabs, and forced the remainder to abandon the 

 city, and seek for shelter in their vessels. Since that 

 time, Diu has never recovered from the evils which the 

 Arabs inflicted upon it. 



The population of Diu is about 40,000, only 200 of 

 whom are Portuguese, the rest being Banians, Persees, 

 and Moors. The position of Diu Head is in East Long. 

 71° 7', and North Lat. 20° 42'. See Manuel de Faria's 

 Asia Porluguesa, a translation of which will be found 

 in Astley's Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. i. p. 

 58; and in Kerr's Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. 

 vi. p. 69. See also Milburn's Oriental Commerce, vol. i. 



DIVERGENCY of Tune. M. Huygens and M. 

 Sauveur have both treated on the deviation from the 

 pitch first assumed, which singers experience in sing- 

 ing certain passages or successions of intervals in per- 

 fect tune ; owing to the want of that necessary or ex- 

 act connection between melody and harmony, which 

 the modern theories of music have assumed. Mr Max- 

 well, in his " Essay upon Tune," has considered the 

 causes of this divergency, and has directed violin per- 

 formers how to avoid its effects, in passages which Com- 

 posers, unacquainted with this theory, have left in their 

 works. Mr Listen has shewn, in his " Essay on per- 

 fect Intonation," how this divergency may be corrected 



