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 THE CKUELTY OF PORTUGUESE RULE 119 inherently noble was lie felt to be, that in after years both Hindus and Mohammedans were wont to repair to his tomb, and there, as in the presence of his shade, to call upon Grod to deliver them from the tyranny of his successors. Yet even his lofty soul stooped to the atrocities of cutting off the ears and noses of his prisoners, of hunting in rowboats after despairing CANNANORE IN 1574. wretches who had thrown themselves overboard and hacking them to pieces in the water, and of slaying the women and children of captured towns. Terror- ism had to take the place of strength. It was a device to which the Portuguese were compelled by plans of conquest beyond their national resources. The main object of the Portuguese in Asia was a monopoly of the Indo-European trade. I propose, with- out dwelling on individual feats of arms, to show briefly how that monopoly was secured, partly by treaties and