Page:History of India Vol 6.djvu/189

 PORTUGUESE EMPLOYMENT OF NATIVE TROOPS 141 natives for that early period, but the Portuguese em- ployed Asiatic troops in increasing numbers. The cav- alry remained for the most part European; the infantry consisted largely if not chiefly of Indians. In 1520 the commandant of Goa seized part of the adjacent main- land with 250 horse and eight hundred Canarese foot- soldiers. Even in the distant Archipelago, the attacking force at Bantam in 1525 was made up of six hundred AN OLD PICTURE OF THE GOVERNOR OF BANTAM AND HIS ATTENDANTS. Portuguese and four hundred Malays. As the slave population increased in the Portuguese settlements by capture, purchase, and traffic, it was employed in mili- tary service. Human beings were cheap in India in those tunes of wars, raids, and famines: a slave was valued in Bengal at fourteen shillings, " and a young woman of good appearance at about as much again." For the great expedition against Aden in 1530 Nuno da Cunha got together a fleet of four hundred vessels, most of them small craft fitted out by natives, with a force of 3600 Portuguese soldiers, 1460 Portuguese sailors, 2000 Indian soldiers, 5000 Indian seamen, and