Chap. II. Portuguese Empire in the Eaft-Indles. 
der will have a much more compleat Hiftory of the For- 
$uguez£ Indies , and that too in a much narrower Compafs 
than is any where elfe to be met with. In treating of this 
Subjeft, I have, to the utmoft of my Power, laboured to 
draw together fuch Circumftances as were moil likely to 
contribute to the Reader’s Information, and to conned, 
with the greateft Propriety, the ancient and modern Com- 
merce in this Part of the World ; and, at the fame time, 
I have been very careful to omit nothing that might enter- 
tain or divert him. As to the particular Memoirs of the 
Portugueze Governors, their Difputes with the Indian 
Princes, and with each other, they would have fwelled 
this Sedition to an enormous Length to a very little Pur- 
pofe and befides, the Reader will meet with enough on 
this head in other Places. I fhall purfue the fame Method 
ill the fubfequent Articles, and fhall endeavour to point 
out briefly and truly the Caufes of that ftrange Revolution 
which has happened in the Portugueze Trade ; the rather, 
becaufe I am convinced the fame Caufes will produce like 
Efreds, in regard to the Trade of all other Nations. 
2 6. The Care taken by the Portugueze to eftablilh them- 
felves firmly in all the principal Ports of the Indies , was 
of great Confequence to them, confidering the Circum- 
ftances under which they began their Commerce in thefe 
Parts ; for, at that Time, the Indian Princes were engaged 
in cruel Wars againft each other ; and the Mohammedans 
taking Advantage of this War, endeavouring to make 
themfelves Mailers of every Country in which they were 
permitted to trade ; fo that it mull be admitted, the Por- 
tugueze had, at firft, fome Reafon for making Ufe of 
Arms, and infilling on a Fortrefs where-ever they efta- 
blifhed a Fadory, becaufe the one was neceflary for the 
Security of the other •, but in this they were blameable, 
that they affeded to govern with an abfolute and uncon- 
troulable Power every Country into which they came, 
Inftead of cherilhing and fupporting the Indians , as they 
might have done, to their own great Profit, as well as 
that of thofe unhappy People, who, from their own Dif- 
fentions and ill Management, became the Prey of every 
new Invader. 
If the Portugueze had taken this Step, they had, un- 
doubtedly, fecured this rich Commerce to themfelves ; 
whereas, by their Tyranny they made the Inhabitants 
weary of them to the laft degree, and ready, whenever 
an Opportunity offered, to change their Matters. It mutt, 
however, be allowed, that the Method they purfued ferved 
to gratify their Vanity exceedingly, inafmuch as for above 
a Century they governed the Indies at their Will, and 
were the Idle Lords of that rich and excenfive Trade, none 
of the Indian Nations being allowed to carry on any Trade 
at all but by their Permiffion, and under the Sanction of 
their Pafiports. They carried this Matter ftill farther ; for, 
with refpebt to the richeft Commodities, they referved the 
Privilege of dealing in them to their own Subjedls entirely, 
fuch as in the Cinnamon of Ceylon, the Wild-Cinnamon 
of Cochin , Ginger, Iron, Steel, Lead, Tin, Copper, 
Planks, Timber for building, all forts of Arms, Honey, 
and Pepper. Thefe Regulations, both with refpeft to 
Pafiports and referved Commodities, together with a 
Power of vifiting fuch Ships as put into any of the Ports 
under their immediate Dominion, continued in Force for a 
long Series of Time, and was not totally aboliflied till the 
Year 1678, which was One hundred and fourfcore Years 
after their firft Eftablifliment in thofe Parts. 
During the beft Part of this Time, they difpofed, as 
the fupreme Lords of India , of all the rich Commodities 
it afforded, fending home annually fifteen or twenty large 
Ships, laden with the moft precious Merchandize of the 
Eaft, exclufive of the Profits they made of their Com- 
merce in the Indies^ themfelves, and the adjacent Coafts of 
Africa, viz. to China , Japan , Perfta , Arabia , Melinda , 
Mofambique , and S of ala. Lifbon became, by this Means, 
the greateft Port for Trade in Europe , to which the Ships 
of all Nations reforted for the Commodities and Manu - 
factures of thefe dittant Countries, the beft Part of which 
were paid for in Gold and Silver, and, for the reft, the 
moil valuable Poducls of thefe Nations were exchanged ;■ 
fo that the whole of this Commerce was in the Hands of 
the Portugueze , who fet whatever Price they thought fit 
upon what they imported,' and fold at exceflive Rates to 
other Europeans , what they had purchafed in the Indies 
for coarfe Stuffs, Needles, Knives, Glafs- W are and other 
Things of very little Value. In confequence of which, 
they became, by far, the richeft trading Nation, and, at 
the fame time, the moft potent maritime Power in this 
Part of the World ; and fo, for a long Time, they might 
have continued, if, from their own Miftakes and the bad 
Ufe they made of their Power and Riches, they had not 
excited other Nations to a Refolution of taking, at all 
Events, this rich Commerce out of their Hands ; a Point 
that it will become every Nation to confider, that finds it- 
left in the like Circumftances ; for Trade is not to be con- 
ftrained or monopolized : And tho’ the contrary of this 
may, for fome Time, appear true, yet, fooner or later, 
every Nation that afls as the Portugueze did, will be fonfibie 
of the fame Effects which happened to them in the Indies. 
27. It was towards the latter End of the Sixteenth Cen- 
tury, that the Enghjh and Dutch began, as we have be- 
fore flicwn, to interfere with the Portugueze in thefe Parts, 
but they very foon, by the Afiiflance of the Natives, took 
from them the moil confiderabie Places they poffefied, and 
fome of them they abandoned themfelves. It would take 
up a great deal of Room, and perhaps anfwer the Pur- 
pofe but indifferently, if we fhould- attempt to give a large 
Hiftory of the Manner in which thefe Places were reduced, 
and therefore we fhall rather take them in the Courfe of 
their Situation, by which the Reader will clearly perceive 
how the Empire of this Nation in the Eaft was broken 
and dilfolved c 
We have already fhewn how the Portugueze became 
Mailers of Ormuz on the Coaft of Perfta , which Settlement 
they greatly improved, though the Ifland itfelf is one of 
the moft uncomfortable Places in the World, the Country 
being without Water, and fituated in a Climate where the 
Heats are in a manner intolerable : Yet in fpite of all thefe 
Difficulties the Portugueze built there a very fine Town, in 
which the Streets were ftrait and regular, their Houfes very 
high, finely adorned without, and within richly furnifhed, 
their Exchange rich and beautiful, their Churches fplendid[ 
and their Cattle regular, well fortified, and excellently pro- 
vided with Artillery. Shah Abbas , when Monarch of 
Perfta , had an earneft Defire to rid himfelf cf thofe ill 
Neighbours •, but he wanted a maritime Force fufficient to 
accompliffi his Defign, and therefore he applied himfelf to 
the Englifh, who had likewife fuffered much by the Pride 
and Avarice of the Portugueze , and by their Afiiflance part 
of his Forces were tranfported into the Ifland of Ormuz, 
which was attacked both by Land and Sea on the 20th Vf 
January 1622. The Defendants behaved with great Bra- 
very, and good Conduct, and made a noble Refiftance ; 
but the Englijh having deftroyed their Fleet, which con- 
fifted of five Galleons, and twenty-five Frigates, and hav- 
ing alfo fprung a Mine, which opened a fair Paffage into 
the Cattle, the Garrifon thought fit, about the Middle of 
April, to furrender, which fet all the neighbouring Coafts 
at Liberty, and ueftroyed the Power of the Portugueze on 
that Side. 
The rich City of Surat, formerly a Place of the greateft 
Trade in the Indies, fuffered feverely from the Portumeze 
who burnt it down to the Ground on purpofe to favour the 
Commerce of their own City of Din, which (lands at the 
Entry of the Gulph of Cambay a, and which they had ren- 
dered one of the ftrongeft and fineft Places in the Eaft, 
keeping the Monarch of that Country in the moft abfolute 
n 'f f e ^ P u ^ ued * ftdft chronological Method in relating the Lofs of the Settlements made by this Nation in the EaP-InrU^ t, 
fiarted from one 1 art of this Country to another, which would have occafioned great Con fuilon/ without yielding any confiderabie A a 
whereas the vlethod . we have now taken by proceeding from Weft to Eaft, will ftiew the Reader, as he goes a W how thefe f 86 * 
hit m the very lame Order in which we have before ftiown they were acquired 1 S> e Se “ lements were 
N 
U M B, 47. 
8 O 
Sub- 
