Departing from Beth, Nuno appeared with his powerful armament before Diu. This city is built upon rocks, and is entirely encompassed by rocks and water. The entrance into the river or haven was shut up by massy chains suspended upon vessels, behind which eighty vessels were drawn up full of archers and musqueteers to defend the passage. The garrison consisted of 10,000 men, with a prodigious number of cannon. On the 16th of February, the signal was given for the attack, but after fighting the whole day without gaining any advantage, and having suffered some loss, it was determined in a council of war to desist from the enterprise as. impracticable. It was agreed by all, that if so much time had not been fruitlessly employed in the capture of Beth, Diu must have fallen; as it had been reinforced only three, days before the arrival of the Portuguese by a Turk named Mustapha, who was the principal cause of its brave and effectual resistance. Nuno returned with the principal part of his fleet and army to Goa, where he arrived on the 15th of March, leaving Antonio de Saldanna with 60 vessels in the Bay of Cambaya to annoy the enemy.
After the departure of the Portuguese fleet, Mustapha presented himself before Badur king of Cambaya, who received him honourably, giving him the command of Baroach in the Bay of Cambaya, with the title of Rumi-khan. He was called Kami, as having been born in Greece; as the Moors of India, being ignorant of the divisions of the European provinces, call the whole of Thrace, Greece, Sclavonia, and the adjacent countries by the general name of Rum, and the inhabitants Rumi though that term ought only to be applied to Thrace, the modern Romania. The Turks and Rumes are different nations; the former being originally from Turkistan, and the natives of Greece and Thrace consider themselves as of more honourable descent than the Turks184. The tide of Khan now bestowed on Mustapha is a dignity among the Tartars equivalent to that of Duke in Europe, and is bestowed in the east on persons of distinguished merit.
Antonio de Saldanna, who was left in command of the sea of Cambaya, with 60 vessels and 1500 men, took and burnt the town of Madrefavat,185 five leagues from Diu towards Beth. He then went against Gogo, twenty-four leagues farther, formerly a strong and populous place of great trade. There were fifteen of the largest paraos belonging to Calicut at that time in the port laden with spice, which took shelter in a creek, and were followed by Saldanna with 800 men in the smaller vessels. Finding it necessary to land, he was opposed by 300 horse and 800 foot that came to defend the Makbars; but after a sharp encounter, in which 200 of the enemy were slain, they were constrained to abandon the vessels, which were all burnt; after which Saldanna destroyed the town of Gogo and eight ships that were in the port He afterwards destroyed the towns of Belsa, Tarapor, Mail, Kelme, and Agasim, and lastly Surat, which was beginning to revive from its former destruction. Having thus ravaged the coast of Cambaya, he returned to Goa. About this time a brother of the king of Cambaya, who was rightful heir to that crown, came into the hands of Nuno; who expected through his means to obtain what had been so long desired, the possession of Diu, and the command of the trade of Cambaya.
About this time the Portuguese cruisers had taken twenty-seven ships belonging to the zamorin, all richly laden. Being perplexed by the great losses he was continually sustaining through the Portuguese superiority at sea, the sovereign of Calicut made overtures towards an accommodation; and in a treaty of peace gave permission to the governor-general to build a fort in the island of Chale, in a river that falls into the sea about three leagues from Calicut, which is navigable by boats all the way to the foot of the Gaut mountains. Urinama, a heathen, was at this time rajah of Chale, and both he and the neighbouring rajah of Tanore, who were subjects to the zamorin, were anxious to throw off their subjection to that prince, and to enter into alliance with the Portuguese, in hopes of becoming rich by participating in their trade. Immediately upon procuring the consent of the zamorin to construct the fort, Nuno set out from Goa with 150 sail of vessels, in which were 3000 Portuguese troops and 1000 native Lascarines. So much diligence was used in carrying on the work, even the gentlemen participating in the labour, that in twenty-six days it was in a defensible situation, being surrounded by a rampart nine feet thick and of sufficient height, strengthened by towers and bastions or bulwarks at proper places. Within the fort a church was built, together with a house for the commander, barracks for the soldiers, and store-houses for trade. Diego de Pereira, who had negotiated the treaty with the zamorin, was left in command of this new fortress, with a garrison of 250 men; and Manuel de Sousa had orders to secure its safety by sea, with a squadron of twenty-two vessels. The zamorin soon repented of having allowed this fort to be built in his dominions, and used ineffectual endeavours to induce the rajah of Chale, Caramanlii, and Tanore to break with the Portuguese, even going to war against them, but to no purpose.
About the end of February 1532, Emanuel de Vasconcelles was sent to the Red Sea with two galliots and several brigantines to cruise against the Turks. Off Xael he captured several Turkish vessels, among which, was a large ship, named Cufturca, which was sent to Muscat. The king of Xael, fearful of danger, made his peace with Vasconcelles. Soon afterwards Antonio de Saldanna arrived with ten ships to take the command in the Red Sea, who was dissatisfied with the terms entered into with the sheikh of Xael, on which that prince sent all the valuables belonging to the town, together with the women and children into the interior, that he might provide for defence; but being obliged to quit the Red Sea on account of the weather, Saldanna sailed first to Muscat and thence to Diu, where he took several vessels belonging to the enemy, among which was one in which he got above 60,000 Venetian chequins. About the same time Diego de Sylveira plundered and burnt Puttun, a city twelve leagues from Diu, and destroyed four ships that were in the harbour. He acted in a similar manner at Pate and Mangalore and other places, and returned to Goa with above 4000 slaves and an infinite booty.
All this encouraged Nuno de Cuna to continue hostilities against Diu and the king of Cambaya, in hopes of constraining him to allow of the construction of a fort in that city. Malek Tocam186, lord of Diu, was then fortifying the city of Basseen, and as that place might prove injurious to the designs of Nuno against Cambaya, he determined to destroy it. For this purpose he fitted out a fleet of 150 vessels, in which he embarked with 3000 Portuguese soldiers and 200 native Canarins. Tocam on hearing of this expedition, left a garrison of 12,000 men in Basseen and retired to Diu. Despising the danger of attacking such superior numbers, Nuno landed his troops and took Basseen by assault, in which action 600 of the enemy were slain, and only eight or nine on the side of the Portuguese. Having ravaged the surrounding country and razed the fortifications of Basseen, Emanuel de Albuquerque was sent with twelve vessels and 300 men to destroy the fort of Daman, which he was unable to accomplish. He burnt however all the towns upon the coast from Basseen to Tarapor, and reduced Tanua, Bandora, Maii, and Bombay to become tributary. About this time orders were sent from Portugal that all the commanders of forts in India should make oath of obedience to the governor-general, whence it appears that till then they were in a great measure independent.
184
On a former occasion, the name of Kami has been mentioned as universally given in India to the Turks as coming in place of the Romans. DeFaria therefore was mistaken in deriving it from the province of Romania or Thrace. –E.
185
Perhaps that now called Jaffrabad. –E.
186
The lord of Diu only a little before was named Malek Saca; but De Faria gives no intimation of any revolution, except by change of name. Yet from the sequel it is evident this person was the son of Malek Azz. –E.