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 164 THE PORTUGUESE POLICY IN THE EAST giving away an island to his Genoese barber who ever afterwards regarded himself as a count. If the system produced bitter fruits in Asia, it had its roots in Portugal itself. Not only could the Lis- bon court never screw up its courage to give fair com- mercial salaries for fair commercial work, but it used India as a refuge for depraved or destitute hangers-on upon its bounty. As the slave-tillage of Portugal con- fl A VIEW OF LISBON IJT 1574. centrated large tracts among a small body of great proprietors, the lesser nobility and gentry sank into indigence. Their blood disdained the degradation of trade at home, and the antechambers of the grandees were besieged by poor relations clamouring for employ- ment or bread. India seemed to offer, if not a fortune, at any rate a grave. In either case the suitor was got rid of. It became the asylum for those who had claims that could not be satisfied, or who had rendered services that could not be acknowledged, or had received prom- ises that could not be fulfilled. Young women were