Chap. II. 
Portuguese Empire in the Eaft-Indies. 
12. It would require much Room, and add very little 
to the Reader’s Satisfaction, Ihould we profecute the Hi- 
ftory of the Portugueze Empire in the Eaft, through all 
the Changes and Revolutions to which it was fubjedted, 
from the Caufes before-mentioned ; the rather, becaufe as 
their Dominions increafed, they were obliged to carry on 
Wars in different Places at the fame time, withfeveral Na- 
tions, and with great Variety of Succefs. In order there- 
fore to feparate thefe Subjects, fo as to reprefent to the 
Reader what is of Importance to be known, and that in 
the eafieft and cleared: Method pofiible, we will confider 
the molt remarkable Difcoveries and Settlements of this 
Nation in the Indies , according to the order in which they 
were made , the principal Events that happened in them 
during the Time they remained in their Hands, and the 
Manner in which they loft them, whether to the Indians 
or Europeans. By this Divifion, that Confufioh which 
muft neceffarily attend the Abridgment of a general Hi- 
ftory, fo pregnant with Events, will be avoided ; all the 
PaiTages relating to the fame Places and Perfons, will be 
ranged together, fo as to give Light to each other, and 
render the Perufal of them eafy and entertaining ; at the 
fame time, that by being thus digefted, every Colony, 
every Country will have its Hiftory preferved in fuch a 
Manner, as that it may be eafily compared with whatever 
has been faid before, and be with like Facility turned to, 
when what is hereafter faid, may make it neceffary. 
Before we proceed to thefe Difcoveries and Settlements* 
it will be neceffary to fix the Place from which they were 
made \ Calicut , as we have before fhewn at large, proved 
the firft: Place they vifited in the Indies , though the firft 
Fortification they built was at Cochin , which lies South from 
it. They were foie Mailers of the Commerce on the Coafcs 
of Malabar from the Gulph of Cambay 0 to Cape Comorin 
for about one hundred and fifty Years, which determined 
them to fix the Capital of their Dominions as near as potti- 
ble to the Centre of this Coaft, which was one principal In- 
ducement to their feizing Goa in the manner before men- 
tioned. It Hands at an equal Diftance from Surat 9 and Cape 
Comorin , in a little Illand made by the Rivers Mandoa and 
uari , about fix or feven Leagues in Circumference, and 
at the Diftance of about three Leagues from the Fall of 
thefe Rivers into the Sea. The Name of the Peninfula ad- 
joining is Salfette , and the Soil is extreamly rich and fertile. 
In the hot Seafon the Waters are very low, fometimes not 
above two Feet in Depth ; but the reft of the Year they are 
fo high as to afford the largeft Veffels an Opportunity of 
entering the Port of Goa , which is one of the fafeft and 
moft commodious in the Univerfe. 
All the Territories adjacent to this City are held by a 
Treaty with the King of Decan , who by yielding thefe, 
purchafed a free Trade for his Subjects throughout the In- 
dies , in all Commodities except Pepper, with which they 
were to furnifh the Portugue ze alone. Since this Agree- 
ment many Difputes have happened, and when their Power 
has been great, particularly in 1635, the Viceroys of Goa 
have treated their Neighbours with great Severity. At the 
Time before-mentioned, they had Intelligence of four In- 
dian Veffels bound with Pepper for Mocha and Perfia , 
which they chafed and took. Their Cargoes, purfuant to 
the Treaty, were confifcated ; yet not fatisfied with that, 
they murdered all who were on Board them in cold Blood, 
in order to ftrike a Terror into the Natives. This Beha- 
viour has, as it might well be expected it would, raffed a 
moft violent Averfion in the Indians againft them, which 
they never fail to difcover when any Opportunity offers. 
There are in Goa many fiiperb Edifices, fuch as the Vice- 
roy’s, the Archbifliop’s, and Inquifitor General’s Palaces ; 
but above all, the Churches are exceedingly numerous, and 
fome of them wonderfully rich. In Extent it contains about 
ten Miles, taking in all the Fortifications raffed found it. for 
its Security, which bend according to the Courfe of the 
River, and are fo well furnifh ed with Cannon, that hitherto 
they have rendered it impregnable, though it has been very 
hard preffed both by Indians , and by the Dutch . It was 
from this City, in the Latitude of 15° 20' North, that the 
Portugueze made their Difcoveries, and lent moft of their 
Colonies, and having given this fhort Account of it, we 
fhall next proceed to defcribe them. 
13. The Maldives are fo lituated, that it was impofilble 
the Europeans fhould make many Voyages to, or be long 
fettled in the Indies , without being acquainted with them, 
fince the moft northern of them lie but fifty Leagues from 
Cape Comorin. They extend from 8° of North Latitude 
to 4 0 of South, ftretching in Length confequently near 
two hundred Leagues ^ but they are not above thirty or 
thirty-five Leagues in Breadth in any part of the Archipe- 
lago. Within this Space are contained a prodigious Num- 
ber of Iflands, fo that even in the Time of Ptolemy , that 
is, in the fecond Century, they were accounted 1378 ; but 
the Inhabitants maintain, that a fmall Part of them only 
were then known, for their Sovereign takes the Title of 
Sultan of the Maldives , King of thirteen Provinces, and 
of twelve thoufand Ifles. There is in this, without doubt, a 
Mixture of that Pomp and Oftentation which is fo common 
in the Eaft •, but for all that, there are, unqueftionably, many 
more than the Ancients knew any thing of under this Mo- 
narch’s Dominion. Admiral Suarez difcovered them in 
1 507, and he made an Alliance with their King, which 
was confirmed by Sequeria , who demanded leave to build 
a Fort upon the Ifiand of Male , which is the largeft of 
them, and the chief City of the fame Name is the Capital 
of their Monarch. 
John Gomez , who was fent thither for this Purpofe, met 
with a favourable Reception, and by dint of Prefents pre- 
vailed upon the King to agree to his Demand. He built 
this Fort of Wood, there being neither Stone nor Lime in 
the Ifiand. It was extreamly well fituated, and in fome 
meafure commanded the Port, fo that it might have been 
of great Service to the Portugueze , if he had behaved as 
became him ; but no fopner was the Fort finifhed, than 
prefuming on the Terror of the Portugueze Name, he began 
to lord it over all the Strangers that traded thither, though 
his Garrifon confifted but of feventeen Men, which occa- 
fioned a Confpiracy of the Mohammedans againft him, who 
attacked him when he leaft expected it, and cut off him and 
all his People to a Man, levelling the Fort with the Ground. 
The Portugueze were never afterwards able to obtain any 
Eftablifiiment in the Maldives * which is the Reafon that 
feveral of their Authors treat them as pitiful Places, and 
their Inhabitants as a bafe and barbarous People, contrary, 
however, as we fhall fee, to all Reafon and Prudence b . 
It was impofilble for them to double Cape Comorin , with- 
out taking Notice of the noble Ifiand of Ceylon , Ceylan , or 
Ceilon$ called by the Inhabitants Lame a ^ which in their 
Language fignifies the Terreftrial Paradife, or Holy Land, 
a Name given it by its firft King, Vigia Raj ah , who is 
fuppofed to have flourifhed five hundred Years before Chrift: 
It was afterwards called Ilanara , or T'ranate , which is as 
much as to fay the Infular. Kingdom ; it was alfo called 
Hibenaro , or the Fertile Land , and Tenariftm , or the Coun- 
try of Delight. The Arabians call it Serendib , or rather 
Ser endive, k is by many held to be the largeft, and is, 
beyond Controverfy, in itfelf, the richeft and fineft Ifiand 
in the World. The Portugueze fettled here in 1 506, under 
the Conduct of Lawrence Abney da y who eredted a Column 
with an Infcription, teftifying that he took Poffeffion of 
that Country on Behalf of Emanuel King of Portugal be- 
caufe it had no Matter, though at the fame time he treated 
with the Emperor, and promifed him the Protection of his 
a The Eajl-lndies in general are very properly divided into the Dominions of the Great Mogul, and the adjacent Kingdoms on the Continent the 
Peninfula without, the Peninfula within the Ganges, and the Iflands. The Portugueze falling as they did at their firft coining info thefe Parts on the 
Coaft of Malabar, which makes the Weft Front of the Peninfula without the Ganges , acquired the happieft Station that could be defired for extend- 
ing their Commerce, and their Conquefts on every Side; and there is Reafon to believe, that their foxing as they did the Seat of their Empire on this- 
Side, contributed greatly to the Prefervation of their Dominions, notwithftanding all the Efforts made by the Indians and the Mohammedans to dif- 
poffefs them. 
b There is but one good Defcription of this prodigious Archipelago written by Francis Pirard de la Val, a Frenchman, who was a long Time P.ri- 
foner in one of thefe Iflands, and which, as it is a Work equally curious and inftru&ive, and at the fame time exaftly within our Plan, the Reader fhall 
have it at large in the next Section, _ which will give him an Opportunity of obferving how little Caufe the Portugueze had to treat the Inhabitants of 
the Maldives with Contempt, fince it is certain, that they are one of the braveft, and one of the moft polite Nations of the Eaft. 
Numb. 4I 8 K . Matter, 
