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 >82 HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book I.

AD. 1510. make such preparations for a new attack upon it a.s inu.st have proved Hucce.s.sfuJ, when his attention was attracted to another quarter, and he resolved t^> Mi.iiiuoi- employ his armament against Goa. This town which, from having afterwards lilies to become the seat of Portuguese government in the East, makes some figure in history, was finely situated on an island at the mouth of an estuary, forming one of the very few good harbours which occur on the western coast of the Indian peninsula, At this time (1510; it was included in the territ<jries of one of the kings of tlie Deccan, who had his capital at Bejapoor, and is asually called by Portuguese writers Sabay or Savay, though his proper name or title wa.s Yasuf Adil Shah. He had recently wrested it from the Rajah of Onore. The grounds of Albuquerque's quarrel with Yusuf are not very apparent ; and it is probable that he did not deem it neces.sary either to allege or invent any. His only object was to extend the Portuguese rule ; and if he could succeed, he regarded it as scarcely worth wliile to inquire whether the means which he employed could be justified. One inducement may have been, that, as a new conquest, Yusuf s possession of Goa must have been somewhat insecure. Another induce- ment was, that the Rajah of Onore, the legitimate ov/ner, was ready to assist to the utmost in recapturing it. He foimd a third auxiliary capable of rendering still more effectual assistance in Timoja, who figures sometimes as Rajah of Canara, a district which was bounded by Goa on the north, and .sometimes simply as a privateer, roaming the seas with a powerful fleet, and lising b- plunder. Ciipture Thus assisted, Albuquerque made his appearance ofi' the coa.st in the begin-

ning of 1510. At first anticipating a valiant resistance, he sent his nephew along with Timoja to take soundings. They discovered a fort which was weU provided ^vith guns, and defended by 400 men, and not only had the hardihood to attack, but the good fortune to capture it. This seemed a most auspicious commencement, and proved only the first of a series of fortunate events which followed rapidly, and put Albuquerqiie in possession of this most important locality, before he was required to strike a blow. According to the Portuguese accounts, some conjuror or fakir, whose predictions were implicitly believed, had announced that Goa was destined shortly to become subject to foreigners. On the faith of this prediction, the inhabitants thought it a stroke of good policy, instead of enduring the miseries of a siege which must ultimately be successful, to make a voluntary surrender. Accordingly, to the gi'eat but most agi'eeable Reception surprise of Albuquerque, he was received ashore by the population as if he had ciuerque. becu their native prince, conducted in state to the gate, when he received the keys, and thereafter put in posses.sion of the palace. The Mahometan account says nothing of the conjuror ; and with far greater probability represents the capture as the necessary result of a surprise. The fort captured by Timoja and Albuquerque's nephew may have given them complete command of the city, and thus rendered defence impossible.