[Footnote 428: There still is a town named Bulloah, to the east of the Barrampooter and directly north of Sundeep, which may then have given name to a province or small principality, of which Comillah is now the chief town.--E.]
According to treaty, the king of Aracan entered the kingdom of Balua with his army, and expelled the Moguls; but Gonzalez did not perform his part of the agreement in preventing the Moguls from penetrating into that kingdom, some alleging that he had been bribed by the Moguls to allow them a free passage, while, according to others, he did so from revenge against the king of Aracan, for the Portuguese who had been slain by that king in Bangael of Dianga[429]. However this may have been, Gonzalez was guilty of a most execrable treachery, as, by leaving open the mouth of the river Dangatiar, he left a free passage to the Moguls. After this he went with his fleet into a creek of the island Desierta[430], and assembling all the captains of the Aracan vessels on board his ship, he murdered them all, seized all their vessels, and killed or made slaves of all their men, after which he returned to Sundiva. Soon afterwards the Moguls returned in great force to the kingdom of Balua, where they reduced the king of Aracan to such straits that he made his escape with great difficulty on an elephant, and came almost alone to Chittigong. Immediately upon this discomfiture of the Aracan army, which was utterly destroyed by the Moguls in Balua, Gonzalez plundered and destroyed all the forts on the coast of Aracan, which were then unprovided for defence, as depending on the peace and alliance between their king and Gonzalez; he even went against the city of Aracan, where he burnt many merchant vessels, and acquired great plunder, and destroyed a vessel of great size, richly adorned, and containing several splendid apartments like a palace, all covered with gold and ivory, which the king kept as a pleasure-yacht for his own use. Exasperated against Gonzalez for his treachery, the king ordered the nephew of that lawless ruffian, who was in his power as a hostage, to be be impaled. But Gonzalez, being a person utterly devoid of honour, cared not at whose cost he advanced his own interests; yet the guilt of so many villanies began to prey upon his conscience, and he became apprehensive of some heavy punishment falling upon him, which he had little means to avert, as all men considered him a traitor unworthy of favour; those of Aracan, because he had betrayed them to the Moguls; and the Moguls, because he had been false to those that trusted him. He afterwards met his just reward under the government of Don Jerom de Azevedo[431].
[Footnote 429: Perhaps the island now called Balonga on the coast of Aracan.--E.]
[Footnote 430: Probably a desert or uninhabited island among the Sunderbunds, in the Delta of the Ganges. Indeed the whole geography of this singular story is obscure, owing to the prodigious change in dominion and names that have since taken place in this part of India.--E.]
[Footnote 431: Owing to the want of interest in the transactions of these times, as related in the Portuguese Asia, and the confused arrangement of De Faria, we have in this place thrown together the principal incidents in the extraordinary rise of these two successful adventurers, Nicote and Gonzalez, leaving their fate to be mentioned in the succeeding section.--E.]
The Hollanders, becoming powerful at the Molucca islands, and forming an alliance with these islanders, who were weary of the avarice and tyranny of the Portuguese, expelled them from Amboyna and established themselves at Ternate, whence the Portuguese had been formerly expelled by the natives. By the aid of the king of Ternate, the Hollanders likewise, about 1604, got possession of the fort of Tidore, whence about 400 Portuguese were permitted to retire by sea to the Phillipine islands, where they were hospitably received by Don Pedro de Cunna, who commanded there for the Spaniards. In February 1605, Cunna sailed from the Philippines with 1000 Spanish and 400 native troops, and recovered the fort of Ternate, chiefly owing to the bravery of Joam Rodriguez Camelo, who commanded a company of Portuguese in this expedition. De Cunna thence proceeded for Tidore, which he likewise reduced, by which conquest the Molucca islands became subject to Spain.
The viceroy, Don Alfonso de Castro, dying in 1607, was succeeded as governor by Alexias de Menezes, archbishop of Goa, pursuant to a patent of succession. Next year, 1608, Don Joam Pereyra Frojas, count de Feyra, was sent out from Portugal as viceroy of India, but died on the voyage. After administering the government for two years and a half, the archbishop was succeeded as governor by Andrew Furtado de Mendoza in 1609, who was soon afterwards superseded in the same year by Ruy Lorenzo de Tavora, who came out from Portugal as viceroy. At this time, Don Jerome de Azevedo commanded in Ceylon, who, with an army of 700 Portuguese troops and 25,000 Cingalese took and burnt the city of Candy, on which the sovereign of that central dominion made peace with the Portuguese, consenting to the ministry of the Franciscans in his dominions, and even placed two of his sons in their hands, to be instructed in the Christian religion.
About this time, a large English ship and a ketch had an engagement with two Portuguese ships beyond the Cape of Good Hope, which escaped after suffering a severe loss. These English ships went afterwards to Surat, where they were found by Nunno de Cunna, who had four well-manned galleons, but ill provided with gunners, who were ignorant and cowardly. On descrying these large ships, though the English had reason to be afraid of their number, they undervalued them as heavy sailors, and immediately engaged and fought them till evening, killing 30 of the Portuguese. The engagement recommenced at day-light next morning, and two of the Portuguese galleons, endeavouring to run on board the large English ship, got aground, on which the pink or ketch, belonging to the enemy, kept firing its cannon upon one of the grounded galleons, till it floated off with the evening tide. The other two galleons fought the large English ship all day. On the third day, all the four galleons being afloat, endeavoured to board the enemy, who relied on their cannon and swiftness, and sailed away to Castelete, a bay of the pirates near Diu. De Cunna followed them thither, and again fought them for two days, in all which time the Portuguese ships could never board them by reason of their unwieldy bulk. At length the English stood away, shewing black colours in token that their captain was slain. In these long indecisive actions, the English and Portuguese both lost a number of men. The English made for Surat, followed still by De Cunna; on which they left that port, and De Cunna returned to Goa.
SECTION XII.
Continuation of the Portuguese Transactions, from 1512 to 1517.