210 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



regard Calicut with peculiar veneration, and by degrees aban- 

 doned the former capital : it was thus that Calicut gradually 

 became the great spice and silk market of the East. 



In the time of Yasco da Gama, India Proper, or Hindostan, 

 was divided into several independent kingdoms, such as Moul- 

 tan, Delhi, Bengal, Orissa, Guzarate or Cambaia, Deccan, Ca- 

 nara, Bisnagar, and Malabar. The divisions of Farther India 

 were Ava, Brama, Pegu, Siam, Cambodia, Cochin-China, and 

 Tonkin. The Portuguese fleet had arrived upon the coast of 

 Malabar, which is the edge of the southwestern promontory of 

 Hindostan. It was here, and upon the western coast generally, 

 that the Portuguese were now enabled to plant establishments 

 and to form treaties of alliance and commerce. 



The Moors of Arabia had already, as we have said, a foot- 

 hold in the country, and were alarmed at seeing Europeans 

 arrive by sea at the scene of a trade of which they had hitherto 

 held the exclusive monopoly. They succeeded in throwing ob- 

 stacles in the way of the Portuguese admiral, and in poisoning 

 the ear of the Indian zamorin, or king, against him. They 

 even laid a plot for the destruction of the fleet and all on board, 

 that no one might return to Europe to tell of the new route to 

 the Indies. The native monarch was induced by them to testify 

 dissatisfaction with the presents da Gama had brought, and to 

 ask for the golden statue of the Virgin that ornamented the 

 admiral's ship, as a more suitable offering to one of his rank. 

 Da Gama replied that it was not a golden Virgin, but a wooden 

 one gilt ; that it had nevertheless preserved him from the perils 

 of the sea, and that he could not part with it. After many 

 proofs of the hostility of the Moors and the treachery of the 

 natives, da Gama obtained from the zamorin the following 

 laconic epistle to his sovereign: — " Vasco da Gama, a gentleman 

 of thy house, has visited my country. His arrival has given me 

 pleasure. My land is full of cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and pre- 

 cious stones. What I desire to obtain in return from yours is 



