Don Pedro de Sousa commanded at this time in Mozambique; and as Tete and Sena were under his jurisdiction, he set out with 200 Portuguese soldiers and 1500 armed Kafrs to take revenge upon the Muzimbas and succour the two forts on the Zambeze. He battered the entrenchments of the barbarians to no purpose, and was repulsed in an attempt to take them by assault. Having nearly succeeded by raising a mount of fascines as high as the works of the enemy, he was induced to desist by some cowards among his men, who pretended that the fort of Sena was in danger of being taken. He drew off therefore to its relief, and was attacked by the Muzimbas who slew many of his men, and took all his cannon and baggage. Yet the enemy offered peace, which was concluded. Soon afterwards one of the chiefs of the Muzimbas, having gathered about 15,000 men, marched to the southwards destroying every thing in the way that had life, and invested Quiloa, which he gained possession of through the treachery of one of the inhabitants, and put all to the sword. After this he caused the traitor and all his family to be thrown into the river, saying that those who had betrayed their country deserved to die, yet were unfit to be eaten, as they were venomous, and therefore fit food for the fishes. The Mozimba chief endeavoured to destroy Melinda in the same manner, but the sheikh was assisted by 30 Portuguese, which enabled him to hold out till 3000 Mosseguejo Kafrs came to his relief, when the Mozimbas were defeated with such slaughter that only 100 of them escaped along with their chief, after they had ravaged 300 leagues of country.

We now return to the affairs of India, where Chaul was again besieged. Malek417 had erected a new city opposite to Chaul and bearing the same name, well peopled with Moors who carried on an extensive trade, as it had an excellent port and the inhabitants were famous silk-weavers. The commander of this new city was an eunuch, who had been formerly a slave to the Portuguese and now to Malek. Immediately to the north of the Portuguese fortress of Chaul, from which it was divided by the river of that name, is a noted promontory called Morro, on which the eunuch took post with 4000 horse and 7000 foot, and cannonaded the Portuguese fort of Chaul from that commanding ground with 65 pieces of large cannon. These hostilities were countenanced by the Nizam, though contrary to the peace which had been established when Francisco Barreto was governor, but were now justified by some complaints against the conduct of Albuquerque the present viceroy, and in addition to, the siege of Chaul several military parties belonging to the Nizam infested the districts, dependent upon the Portuguese forts of Basseen and Chaul. As the Moors considered the capture of Chaul to be near at hand, seeing that their cannon had made considerable impression on its walls, fourteen Mogul chiefs came to be present at its reduction; but in a sortie made by the Portuguese, nine of these were slain and two taken. Talador the eunuch commander of the besiegers was wounded, and died soon afterwards, as did a Turk who was next in command, on which Farete Khan succeeded in the conduct of the siege, and gave the Portuguese no respite by day or night, continually battering their works with his powerful artillery. The garrison in Chaul consisted of 1000 men, to which place Alvaro de Abranches brought 300 from Basseen and 200 from Salcete; and being now at the head of 1500 Portuguese troops and an equal number of natives, so brave and faithful that they often voluntarily interposed their own bodies to protect their masters, Abranches appointed a day for making an attack upon the enemy. Having all confessed, the Portuguese embarked in a number of small vessels and crossed the river after which they forced their way to the plain of Morro on the top of the promontary, where the battle was renewed. Ten elephants were turned loose by the Moors, in expectation that they would force the Portuguese troops into disorder; but one of these being severely wounded by a Portuguese soldier, turned back and trampled down the enemy, till falling into the ditch he made a way like a bridge for passing over. Another of the elephants forcing his way in at a wicket in the works of the enemy, enabled the Portuguese to enter likewise, where they slaughtered the enemy almost without opposition. Some accounts say that 10,000 men were slain on this occasion, and others say no less than 60,000. Farate Khan with his wife and daughter were made prisoners, and only 21 Portuguese were slain in this decisive action. The principal booty consisted of 75 pieces of cannon of extraordinary size, a vast quantity of ammunition, many horses, and five elephants. Farate Khan became a Christian before he died, as did his daughter, who was sent to Portugal, but his wife was ransomed.

In May 1597, Don Francisco de Gama, count of Vidugueyra, grandson to the discoverer, arrived at Goa as viceroy of India, but carried himself with so much haughty state that he gained the dislike of all men. During his government the scourge of the pride and covetousness of the Portuguese came first into India, as in the month of September news was brought to Goa that the two first ships of the Hollanders that had ventured to navigate the Indian seas had been in the port of Titangone and were bound for the island of Sunda. In a grand council held upon this important event, it was ordered to fit out a squadron of two galleons, three gallies, and nine other vessels to attack the intruders, and the command was given on this occasion to Lorenzo de Brito, an ancient and experienced officer. The two Holland ships did some small damage on the coast of Malabar and other places, and when off Malacca fell in with six ships bound from that place for India, commanded by Francisco de Silva. They immediately engaged and fought the whole of that afternoon and part of the night. Next morning the engagement was renewed, and was repeated for eight successive days; till finding themselves too weak, the Hollanders drew off and made for the port of Queda, many of their men being slain and most of the rest wounded. At that place they quitted the smallest of their ships for want of men, and the other was afterwards cast away on the coast of Pegu.

In this same year 1597 the Hollanders fitted out a squadron of eight ships at Amsterdam for India, with 800 men and provisions for three years, under the command of the admiral Jacob Cornelius van Nec. The object of this expedition, besides hostility to the king of Spain, was that they might purchase the spices and other commodities of Asia at a cheaper rate than they had hitherto been accustomed to in Portugal. The fleet sailed from Amsterdam on the 13th of May 1598; arrived at Madeira on the 15th, and at the Canaries on the 17th, where they both took in wine. On the 29th they were in the latitude of 6° S. and passed the line on the 8th of June; a wonderful swiftness, to me incredible! On the 24th July they saw the Cape of Good Hope, where three of the ships were separated in a violent storm and arrived at the island of Banda in April418. The other four ships under the admiral discovered the island of Madagascar on the 24th of August, coming to Cape St Julian on the 30th of that month. On the 20th of September they came to the island of Cerne or Cisne, in lat. 21° S. to which they gave the name of Mauritius. Here they found tortoises of such magnitude that one of them carried two men on its back, and birds which were so tame as to allow themselves to be killed with sticks, whence they concluded that the island was not inhabited. At Banda they joined the other three ships, and having laded four with spices they were sent away to Holland, while the other three went on to the Moluccas. On the 21st January 1598, they discovered the Great Java419, and touched at the port of Tuban, after which they came to Madura an island in lat. 2° 30' S. on the 27th of that month. At this place they endeavoured to ransom some of their countrymen who had been cast away in their former ships, and some others who had been made prisoners for endeavouring to pass false money; but as the natives demanded too high a ransom, they attempted to rescue them by force; but two boats full of armed men being sunk in the attempt, they were forced to comply with the terms demanded. They settled a trade at Amboina, and two of the ships opened a factory at Banda, where they loaded with spice and returned into Holland on the 20th of April 1600. Those who were left in the remaining ship at Amboina went to Ternate in the Moluccas where they were well received by the king, and after procuring a lading of cloves returned home.