S U M T- R A* .541 
out a fmall fleet which routed the combined force, before that the king 
of Lingen was acquainted with their arrival ; his capital being fituaced 
high up on the river, the next year, at the conqueft of Biotang, this ,^^5^ 
king, unfolicited, fent ajQlftance to his European allies. * 
However well founded the accounts may have been which the For- 15*7. 
tuguefe have given us of the cruelties committed again ft their people 
by the king of Acheen, the barbarity docs not appear to have been only 
on one fide. Francifco de Mello being fent in an armed veflcl with 
difpatches to Goa, met, near Acheen head, with a Ihip of that nation 
jull: arrived from Mecca, and fuppofed to be richly laden. As Ihe had 
on board three hundred Achenefe and forty Arabs, he dared not venture 
to board her, but battered her at a dlftance, ^vhen fuddenly Ihe filled 
and funk, to the extreme difappointmcnt of the PDrtuguefe, who thereby 
lofl their pri^e ^ but they wreaked their vengeance on the unfortunate 
crew, as they endeavoured to fave themfelves by fwimming, and boaft 
that they did not fufler a man to cfcape. Opportunities of retaliation 
Toon offered, ^ 
Simano de Soufa going with a reinforcement to the Moluccas from ,5*3. 
Cochin, was overtaken in the bay by a violent ftorm^ which forced him 
to ftow many of his guns in the bold ; and having loft feveral of his men 
through fatigue, he made for the neareft port he could take Ihe her in, 
which proved to be Acheen. The king having the dcftrudion of the 
Portuguefc at he art , and rcfolving if poflible to feize their vclFel, fent o jF 
a mcflage to De Soufa recommending his ftanding in clofer to the fliore, 
where he would have more ibclter from the gale which fiill conthiued, and 
lie more conveniently for getting off water and provifions ; at the fame 
time inviting him to land. This artifice not fucceeding, he ordered out 
the next morning a thoufand men in twenty boats, who at firft pretended 
that they were come to aflxft in mooring the fhip ; but the captain^ avvarf 
of their hoftilc defign, fired amongft them, when a fierce engagement 
