Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/208

 174

IIISTOHV OF INI>IA.

[Book I.

A I) I. mi:

llulioill'.'ihli.' conduct i)f the za- moriii

He is do

f Jilted l)y

Lape

Soarez.

(lemaiKl made upon liiiii except one. This was t<> deliver up an Eur<;p«ian, a native of Milan, who liad entered his service, and taught him the art of aisting cannon, along with other important naval and military improvements. To his honour the zamorin demurred to tlie delivery of an individual who.se only offence was the ability and fidelity with which he had served him Soarez unable or unwilling to appreciate the hoiK^ur and justice of the zamorin's refusal, immediately bombarded the town, and laid the greater part of it in ashe.s. This work of destruction accomplished, he immediately proceeded to another, and treated the town of Cranganore, which had adhered to the zamorin, in the same way. His next exploit began more ominously, but ended still more triumph- antly. In sailing north from Cranganore to attack Ponany, he was met V>y the zamorin's fleet, and driven into a bay. Here he found himself in imminent peril ; for in addition to the fleet before which he had been obliged to retiie, seventeen large Moori.sh ship?, well provided with cannon, and carrying 4000 men, were waiting to receive him A fierce conflict ensued; but ultimately, with a very trifling loss to the Portuguese, all the ships of the enemy with their rich lading were destroyed. Soarez, thinking he had now done enough to justify his return, left four ships at the fort of Cochin, and set sail for Europe with the

Lisbon. — From Bnin et Hogenburg, 1.574.

Don Fran ciiico .VI- nieidas arrival
 * is viceroy

remainder. His arrival at Lisbon, on the 22d of July, 1506, was gladly wel- comed, as no richer cargo in goods and prizes had ever retuiTied from the East. The next Indian armament fitted out by Portugal was on a more magnificent scale than any which preceded it. It consisted of twenty-two ships, cari-}ing, in addition to the crew, 1500 fighting men, and was placed under the command of Don Francisco Almeida, who bore for the first time the proud title of Viceroy of India. His arrival in India took place in 1507. The first land reached was the island of Anchediva, where, as it occupied a commanding position on the coast, and had become a common station for Portucruese vessels, he built a fort. On arriving at Cochin, where he intended to have rewarded Triumpara, the old and