S U M A T R Aj 
in which he found veiTels from Pegu, Bengal, and other coimtries* 
The king of the place, who, like other Mahometan prinees, was ftyled 
Sultan, fent oif a deputation to him, accompanycd with refrefliments, 
by which he excufed himfelf, on account of illnefs, from paying his 
compliments in perlbn ; aiTuring him at the fame time that he fliould 
derive much pleafure from the fricndlhip and alliance of the Portuguefe, 
vvhofe fame had reached his ears. Sequeira anfvvered this meffage in fuch 
terms, that by confent of the fultan, a monument of their amity was eredled 
on the Ihorci or more properly as the token of difcovery and polleflion 
ufually employed by the European nations. He was received in the 
fame manner at a place called Fafay^ lying about twenty leagues farther 
to the eaftward on the fame coaft, and there alfo erected a monument 
or crofs. Having procured at each of thefe ports as much pepper as 
could be coUeded in a ihort time» he haftened to Malacca, where the 
news of his appearance in thofe feas had anticipated his arrival. Here 
he was near falling a facrifice to the infidious policy of Mahumad the 
reigning king, to whom the Portuguefe had been rcprefented by the 
Arabian and Perfian merchants, (and not very unjuftly) as lawlefs pi- 
rates, who under the pretext of eftabUfliing commercial treaties, had, 
at firll by encroachments, and afterwards with rapacious infolence, ruined 
and inflaved the princes who were weak enough to put a confidence in 
them, or to allow them a footing in their dominions. He efcaped the 
fnares that were laid for him, but loft man}^ of his people, and leaving 
others in captivity, he returned to Europe, and gave an account of his 
proceedings to the king. 
A fleet was fent out, in the year 1510, under Diogo Mendez, to ef- ^ 
tablilh the Portuguefe intcrells at Malacca i but Affonfo d^Alboqureque, 
the governor of their affairs in India, thought proper to detain this 
fquadron oi\the coaft of Malabar, until he could proceed thither him- 
felf with a greater force j and accordingly on the fecond of May, 151 1, ^ 
he fet fail from Cochin with nineteen fhips and fourteen hundred men* 
He touched at Pedeer, where he found fome of his countrymen who 
had made their efcape from Malacca in a bostt, and fought protedion 
4 N on 
