Tristan Vaz de Vega and Manuel de Souza happened to be then at Muscat in their ships, and immediately made sail to the relief of Ormuz. Tristan Vaz arrived first, and made his way to the fort through 160 sail of Moorish vessels by which it was blockaded. Two days afterwards the ship commanded by Manuel de Souza was seen at anchor at the distance of two leagues. It was very dangerous for those at the fort to assist him, and yet it was absolutely necessary for the common safety that he should be relieved; wherefore Tristan Vaz adventured with his ship to his aid, forcing his way as before through the vast Moorish fleet, eighty of which pursued him in full sail, and even De Souza, thinking him at first an enemy did him some harm. The king of Ormuz, to inspire his people to exert themselves in the capture of these two ships, exhibited a large heap of gold as his intended reward for such of his subjects as should take Tristan and Manuel prisoners; while at the same time he set apart a heap of female attire, to be worn in disgrace by those who might not behave valiantly. Actuated at the same time by desire of reward and fear of disgrace, the Ormuzians manned 130 of their vessels, with which they furiously assailed the two Portuguese ships: yet they both made their way through showers of bullets and arrows to the fort, to the great joy and relief of the governor and garrison. Despairing of being able to shake off the Portuguese yoke, and dreading the punishment of his revolt, the king of Ormuz abandoned his city and retired to Kishom or Queixome, an island about 15 leagues in length and 3 leagues from Ormuz, close to the shore of Persia. This island is sufficiently fertile but very unhealthy. On his retreat, he gave orders for all the inhabitants of Ormuz to follow him, and to set their city on fire, which burnt furiously for four days and nights. Even at this time some of the Portuguese gentlemen in the fort of Ormuz were in private correspondence with the king, giving him instructions how to conduct himself with the succeeding governor, so as to ensure his restoration; which they did on purpose to enrich themselves by exacting presents from the king in recompence of their services.

Don Luis de Menezes, as already mentioned, was sent by his brother Duarte, the governor-general, with ten sail to relieve and take the command of Ormuz. On arriving at Zoar, he destroyed the town with fire and sword, and then gave the sovereignty of it to Sheikh Husseyn, to hold it in direct vassalage of Portugal, instead of being dependent upon Ormuz as hitherto. In the mean time the king of Ormuz was murdered at Kishom by his own officers, who crowned his son Mamud Shah, a youth of thirteen. On the arrival of Don Luis, a treaty was entered Into with the new king, by which it was agreed that the king and inhabitants were to return to Ormuz; that the former tribute of 20,000 Xerephines should be continued, and all arrears paid up; and that the Portuguese officers should not interfere in the government of the city or its revenues. On the conclusion of this treaty, the king sent a present of gold, jewels, pearls, and silks for the king of Portugal, and another for Don Luis, but which he publicly ordered to be sent along with the other.

Some time after this, but in the same year 1522, Don Duarte went to Ormuz to examine into the cause of the late troubles; but he punished those who had least influence, and overlooked the most guilty. Reis Xarafo, a person of great power, who had been the most active instigator in the late troubles, was rewarded; and Reis Xamexir, who had killed Reis Xahadim at the instigation of Don Luis, was banished instead of the promised reward. Duarte augmented the tribute by adding 35,000 Xerephines to the former 25,000165, which could not be paid when the city was in a flourishing condition, and yet 60,000 were now demanded when it lay in ruins and its trade was destroyed.

At this time Don Luis was sent with nine ships to the Red Sea. At Socotora he lost one of his ships. He took and burnt the town Zaer166 on the coast of Arabia, because the sheikh refused to restore the goods of a Portuguese merchant or factor who had died there. At Veruma167 he burned some ships, and then battered the city of Aden, after which he entered the Red Sea, where he did nothing worthy of notice, and returned to his brother at Ormuz, but was much dissatisfied with the conduct of Duarte at that place.

That part of the continent of India adjoining to Goa, belonging to Adel Khan king of Visiapour, which had been seized by Ruy de Melo during the war with the king of Narsinga, was now lost by Francisco Pereyra Pestana. Pestana was a brave officer, and exerted himself to the utmost; but as Adel Khan had now no other object to employ his arms, his power was not to be resisted. Ferdinando Rodriguez Barba indeed obtained a signal victory over the forces of Adel Khan; and after this Pestana and Sotomayor, with only thirty horse and a small number of foot, defeated 5000 foot and 400 horse. But in the end numbers prevailed, and the country was reduced to the obedience of Adel Khan, and afterwards confirmed to him by treaty.

About this time the governor Duarte made particular inquiry respecting St Thomas the apostle, in consequence of orders to that effect from the king of Portugal; and the following is the substance of the information he transmitted. In the year 1517, some Portuguese sailed in company with an Armenian, and landed at Palicat on the coast of Coromandel, a province of the kingdom of Bisnagar, where they were invited by the Armenian to visit certain ruins of many buildings still retaining the vestiges of much grandeur. In the middle of these was a chapel of indifferent structure still entire, the walls of which both outside and in were adorned with many crosses cut in stone, resembling those of the ancient military order of Alcantara, which are fleuree and fitched168. A Moor resided there who pretended to have miraculously recovered his sight by a visit to this holy place, and that his ancestors had been accustomed to entertain a light in the chapel. There was a tradition that the church, of which this small chapel was all that remained entire, was built by St Thomas, when he preached Christianity to the Indians, and that he and two of his disciples were here interred, together with a king who had been converted by his miracles. In consequence of this information, Don Duarte sent Ernanuel de Faria, with a priest and a mason to repair this chapel. On digging about the foundation on one side which threatened to fall, they found about a yard below ground a tomb-stone with an inscription implying "That when St Thomas built this church the king of Meliapour gave him the duties of all merchandize imported, which was the tenths169." Going still deeper, they came to a hollow place between two stones, in which lay the bones of a human body with the butt and head of a spear, which were supposed to be the remains of the saint, as those of the king and disciple were also found, but not so white. They placed the bones of the saint in a China chest, and the other bones in another chest, and hid both under the altar. On farther inquiry, it appeared by the ancient records of the kingdom, that Saint Thomas had come to Meliapour about 1500 years before, then in so flourishing a condition that it is said by tradition to have contained 3300 stately churches in its environs. It is farther said that Meliapour was then twelve leagues from the coast, whereas its ruins are now close to the shore; and that the saint had left a prediction, "That when the sea came up to the scite of the city, a people should come from the west having the same religion which he taught." That the saint had dragged a vast piece of timber from the sea in a miraculous manner for the construction of his church, which all the force of elephants and the art of men had been unable to move when attempted for the use of the king. That the bramin who was chief priest to the king, envious of the miracles performed by the saint, had murdered his own son and accused the saint as the murderer; but St Thomas restored the child to life, who then bore witness against his father; and, that in consequence of these miracles, the king and all his family were converted.