20 
Sir Arthur P. Phayre —On the History of Pegu. 
[No. 1, 
“ lieet; in one of them all the men were slain ; the two retired with all 
“ theirs wounded. The enemy began to undermine the works, and the 
“ besieged laboured much, but to small purpose. After the siege had lasted 
“ 34 days, Nicote sent to beg mercy, but was not heard. He thought to 
“ prevail by the means of the king of Taungu, whom he had robbed of his 
“ crown, riches, and liberty ; but the king of Ova understood and was 
“ resolved to punish him. The king of Arakan whom he had so grievously 
“ offended, sent 50 sail to his assistance, which were all taken by the 
“ besiegers. The king of Ova gives an assault, and they fought three days 
“ without intermission. The end of it was that 700 of the besieged were 
“ slain, one Banna whom Nicote had always honoured, having betrayed 
“him. Nicote was taken, carried to the king and by him ordered to be 
“ impaled, and set up in an eminence above the port, that he might the 
“ better look at it, as the king said. He lived two days in that misery. His 
“ wife De Luisa de Saldanna was kept three days in the river to be cleansed, 
“ because the king designed her for himself; but being brought before, and 
“ exclaiming against him, he ordered her leg to be bored, and that she should 
“ be sent to Ova among the other slaves. Francis Mendez and a nephew 
“ of his were treated as Nicote. Banna demanding a reward, was soon torn 
“ to pieces, the king saying he could never be true to him, that betrayed 
“ the man who had so much honoured him. Sebastian Rodriguez was 
O 
“ cooped up with a yoke about his neck. At first, the king designed not 
“ to spare any of the inhabitants of that place, but growing calm, he sent 
“ many as slaves to Ova. Then passing by Martavam,he obliged that king 
“ to kill his own daughter’s husband, because he was Nicote’s son, that 
“ none of the race might remain. This was the end of that man’s avarice, 
“ who being naked a few years before, was raised to be worth three millions. 
“ He had one when he went to Goa ; brought another from Taungu ; and 
“ had got at least another since by prizes and trade. The enemy confessed 
“ they lost at that siege 30,000 men. But that it may appear that seldom 
“ any great calamity happens without the help of a woman, it is necessary 
“ to show how Nicote’s wife was one of the principal causes of his ruin. 
“ She entertained one of his Captains as her gallant, and perceiving the 
“ Portugueses censured their familiarity, they persuaded Nicote he had no 
“ need of them, which was the reason they were dismissed, and that the cause 
“ of his ruin.” 
Thus the seat of power in the basin of the Erawati was once more fixed 
in the upper country, and with the capital at Ava; for the successor to the 
empire of Bureng Naung and the ancient Burman monarchy deemed Pegu 
to be too much exposed to the attacks of the western foreigners to be his 
residence. 
