Chap.XVII. Malabar and Goromandel. 
627 
Gama gets 
privately 
aboard. 
ait Letter, 
The Kwfs 
Anfwer to 
It. 
1. 1, c. i6> 
Pananc. 
jeds in their TrafEck with the exclufion 
of Foreigners. Thefe Infinuations prov'd 
fo efFedual, that the Sammoryn began to 
give a favourable Ear to them, and had 
perhaps prov'd of very ill Confequence 
loGama^ had not a certain African^ a Na- 
tive of Tunvs^ who underftood PortugUefe, 
and had formerly convers'd with them, 
difcover'd the danger to him, who there- 
upon without further delay got aboard 
his own Ships with his Attendants, and 
having weigh'd his Anchors kept at a 
greater diftance from, the Shore, whence 
he writ to the Sammoryn, 
" That the ill Defigns of the Moors 
againft his Perfon being difcover'd to 
him, he had thought fit to retire a- 
" board, and to defire his Majefty not to 
" be diverted from his Promife by their 
" falfe Infinuations, afiiiring him that 
" he would reap much more benefit by 
the Friendftiip of the King of Portugal 
than by the Moors and Arabians. 1 he 
Sammoryn promis'd the Meflenger to make 
a ftrid Enquiry after and to punilh fe- 
verely thefe Offenders, who had in- 
fringed the Law of Nations ^ and in his 
Letter to the King of Portugal alTures 
him, " That the arrival of the Portu- 
" in his Dominions was very ac- 
" ceptable to him, provided they might 
" regulate therafelves fo, as not to give 
" any occafion of dirturbance there, and 
that the League he was entring upon 
with his Majefty, might not prove pre- 
judicial to the good Correfpondence he 
" had hitherto entertain'd with divers 
other Nations. Gama having receiv'd 
this Letter, fet fail for the Ide of Amhe- 
diva^ where having furnilh'd himfelf 
with frelh Provifions, he return'd to 
JPortugal^ to give an account of his Tranf- 
adtions to King Emanuel. The famous 
Fafco de Gama dkd I 'yi^. being the firft 
who difcover'd the PafTage into the Eajl- 
Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. 
And upon this occafion I can't pafs by 
in filence what is mention'd by Ferdinand 
Lopes de Cajlanheda viz.. That Gama 
with fome of his Retinue being at Cale- 
cut^ and entring into one of the Pagan 
Temples, paid their Reverence to the 
Images, as taking them for the fame they 
had left in their own Churches in Portu- 
gal; a convincing Proof that Superfti- 
tion and Idolatry very near referable one 
another. 
Panane being well fortified by the Sam- 
moryn with two Forts, ereded on both 
fides of the Entrance of the Harbour, the 
Portuguefes notwithflanding this refolve 
to attempt it. They no fooner appear'd in 
Vol IIL 
fight of the Harbour, but a certain num- 
ber of the Mahometans aHociated them- 
felves in one of the Pagodes., and with 
direful Execrations engag'd to one ano- 
ther to defend the City, or die in the 
Attempt. Trtjlan d' Acunha the Portu- 
guefe General detach'd a certain Body of 
his beft Troops under the Command of 
Laurence and Nonnias in fmall Gallies, to 
lead the Van, being to be follow'd by 
the great Ships: Thefe enter'd the Har- 
bour with unfpeakable Bravery, notwith- 
flanding the Enemies Fire, who fent 
their great and fmall Shot very thick up- 
on them from both fides of the Shore, 
but without any confiderable eff^ed, moll 
of their Bullets paffing over their Heads, 
becaufe the Soldiers kept clofe lying up- 
on their Bellies in the Gallies. The Ene- 
my feeing them entet'd the Harbour, 
leap'd in whole Troops into the VVater^ 
attacking them with incredible Fury in 
hopes of boarding them : but the Portu- 
guefes Hood to it with fo much Refolution, 
that at lafl; they forced the Indians to 
give way ^ and purfuing them to the 
Shore, made themfelves Mailers of the 
two Forts, and fet fire to all the Ships 
in the Harbour, which were richly loaden, 
as alfo to the City. In this Adion a cer- 
tain Portuguefe Enfign with his Soldiers 
did Wonders, and the Mahometans 
fought like Lions ^ but one of their 
Commanders, a Fellow of a huge bulk, 
being flain by Laurence^ the reft betook 
themfelves to their heels. The Indians 
loft 500 Men in this Engagement, and 
the Portuguefes about 22. After which 
Almeyda and Acunha fail'd to Cananor^ 
from whence the firft fteered his courfe 
to Cochin, and the fecond for Portugal, 
About Panane grows befides Cardamom, 
the beft Pepper, and is fold here at a 
very reafonable rate. 
Thus much of Panane we will now 
proceed to give you an account of Cale- 
cut^ the Capital City of Malabar, and 
the Refidence of the Sammoryn, where 
Steven van der Hagen the then Dutch 
Admiral, in 1604. enter'd into a ftrid 
League with that King, who granted a 
free Commerce to the Dutch throughout 
all his Dominions. Many years before 
the Portuguefes had obtain'd the fame li- 
berty of the Sammoryn, who had afijgn'd 
them certain Habitations in that City ^ 
fo that they began to flourifli in their 
Commerce, and the Portuguefe Priefts 
were very fuccefsful in the Converfion of 
many of the Pagans. This exafperated 
the Moors and Arabians^ who inticed the 
Nairos (always greedy after Prey) to 
Mm mm 2 fall 
Baldaus, 
Attaclid 
by t he Por- 
tuguefes^ 
The Forts 
tal(eiu 
500 Jl.nr' 
of the In- 
dians. 
Calecuf. 
League hs- 
twixt the 
Dutch and 
the Sam- 
moryn. 
