CALICUT DESTROYED. 



217 



vessels, to be placed under the command of Vasco da Gama, 

 who consented to resume active life. It was to be divided into 

 three portions : the first, consisting of ten sail, under da Gama, 

 was to undertake the subjugation of the refractory kings of 

 Malabar; the second, of five sail, under Vincent Sodrez, was 

 to guard the entrance of the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean, 

 and thus prevent the Turks and Moors from trading with the 

 ports of Africa and Hindostan; and the third, of five vessels, 

 under Stefano da Gama, was to be detailed upon any service 

 the admiral might direct. They sailed early in 1502, and 

 formed a treaty of alliance and commerce with the king of 

 Sofala, without difficulty. Da Gama obtained from the king 

 of Quiloa an engagement to pay to the crown of Portugal an 

 annual tribute in gold fresh from the mine. Upon the Indian 

 coast near Cananor, he fell in with an Egyptian vessel of the 

 largest size, laden with costly merchandise and crowded with 

 Moors of high rank on their way to Mecca. He attacked, 

 plundered, and burned her : three hundred men and women 

 perished in the flames, in the sea, or by the sword. Twenty 

 children were saved and conveyed to the ship of da Gama, who 

 made a vow to educate them as Christians, in atonement for the 

 apostasy of one Portuguese who had become a Mohammedan. 

 After this sanguinary lesson, da Gama found no obstacles to 

 the establishment of a trading station at Cananor, where his 

 fleet landed a portion of their cargoes. He then sailed to 

 Calicut, determined to inflict summary vengeance upon the 

 faithless and treacherous zamorin. 



Not far from the coast he seized a number of boats in which 

 were fifty Indians. He sent word to the zamorin that, unless 

 satisfaction were given for the late destruction of the Portu- 

 guese bazaar before noon, he would attack the city with fire and 

 sword, and would begin with his fifty prisoners. The time having 

 expired, the unfortunate captives were hung simultaneously at 

 ihe yard-arms of the various vessels. The town was then reduced 



