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 CHAPTER VI

is a remarkable fact that, although his fortunes seemed now to be reduced to the lowest ebb, Haidar immediately set about planning fresh conquests in another direction. As soon as order was restored in the eastern part of Mysore, where, owing to his defeat by the Maráthás, an insurrection had broken out, he turned his eyes to an invasion of Malabar on the west coast, on the plea that it formed part of the Bednúr principality. This region was first made known to Europeans by the voyage of Vasco da Gama, whose exploits are recorded in the celebrated Lusiad of Camoens. The seventh and eighth cantos of that poem give an interesting account of the interviews between the Portuguese hero and the Samúri or Zamorin.