IN THE time of the Roman emperor Justinian, when the Persians, by establishing a monopoly of the Indian trade along the route which led most directly to Constantinople, had raised the price of silk enormously in that luxurious capital, the opportune arrival of two Persian monks dissipated the alarm which had begun to prevail, by showing how an adequate supply might be obtained at home. In the course of their labours as Christian missionaries, they had penetrated into China, and become acquainted with the whole process of the silk manufacture, from its commencement in the rearing of silk-worms, to its termination in the finished product. Their information attracted general attention; and the emperor, fully alive to its importance, determined immediately to act upon it. With this view the monks, under his auspices, paid a second visit to China, and returned with a supply of the eggs of the silk-worm, concealed in the hollow of a cane. The worms hatched from these eggs being carefully reared, multiplied so rapidly that in a short time Greece, Sicily, and Italy were both producing raw silk, and manufacturing it on an extensive scale. One branch of the Indian trade was thus in some degree superseded, but the others which remained were still sufficient to create a large demand, and excite to strenuous exertions for the purpose of supplying it. In this way the ancient channels of intercourse were again partially opened, and Indian products were beginning to flow into Europe by the inland and maritime routes which have been already described, when new obstacles of a very formidable character were suddenly interposed.

The Muhammedan imposture, after spreading like wild-fire over the whole of Arabia, continued its conquests in all directions, and soon placed both Persia and Egypt under the absolute control of its fanatical adherents. The fierce animosities thus engendered, left no room for friendly intercourse between those who regarded Muhammad as a prophet, and those who knew him to be an impostor. Exterminating warfare alone was thought of, and continued to rage with the utmost fury. In these circumstances, as the demand for Eastern products, originally confined to the more wealthy, had become generally diffused among all classes, the only alternative was to endeavour to obtain them by a channel which lay so far to the north as to run little risk of being interfered with by Muhammedan fanaticism. Mention was formerly made of the commercial route, which after crossing the Indus continued west, and then sent a branch north to the Caspian. This route, with a slight modification, was now adopted as the safest and most practicable, and continued for a long period to be the main trunk by which the commerce between Europe and the more remote regions of Asia was maintained. Two lines of caravans, the one from the western frontiers of China, and the other from the western frontiers of India, met at a common point of the Amu or Oxus, where that stream first became available for transport. The goods by both lines were here embarked; being carried down the stream into Lake Aral, they were again conveyed by land carriage to the Caspian, and thence by water to the mouth of the Kur, and up the stream as far as navigable. Another land conveyance brought them to the Phasis, down which they were transported into the Black Sea, and thence to Constantinople, which thus became a great commercial emporium. At a later period a direct caravan route brought the products of the East to Astrakhan, from which they were conveyed either down the Volga into the Caspian, thereafter to follow the same route as before, or by land to the Don, and thence to the Sea of Azof.

This route, with all its obvious disadvantages, was the best which Europe possessed for more than two centuries. The caliphs would not have been unwilling to renew the ancient channels of commerce. They were perfectly aware of the riches which would thus be poured into their treasury, and were politic enough to keep their fanaticism in check when it could not be indulged without sacrificing their pecuniary interests. Accordingly, even while the Indian trade was confined almost entirely to their own subjects, they carefully endeavoured to extend it, both by affording it new facilities at home, and encouraging the exploration of foreign countries. In this way, at an early period, the caliphs of Baghdad had provided a new emporium for the trade of the Persian Gulf, by founding the port and city of Bussorah, at the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris; and both from the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea numerous voyages were made to both sides of the peninsula of India, to Ceylon, to Malacca, and to the shores of countries lying far beyond it. By means of these voyages all the valued productions of the East Indies arrived in their ports, and found ready purchasers in merchants, who carried them for distribution into the interior.

The friendly intercourse between Christian and Muhammedan nations seemed on the point of being renewed, at least commercially, when the preaching of Peter the Hermit set all Europe into a flame, and myriads of Crusaders hastened from every quarter to wrest the holy sepulchre from the hands of infidels. War accordingly began again to rage with new fury; and the exasperation which had been gradually softened by time, became more bitter and universal than it had ever been before. All idea of peaceful trade was now necessarily abandoned; and yet, perhaps, at no period did the trade of the West make more rapid progress than during the Crusades. The armies destined for these celebrated expeditions never could have reached the East without the aid of the Genoese, the Pisans, and the Venetians, whose fleets accompanying them in their march along the nearest shores, supplied them both with provisions and the means of transport. In return for these services they naturally shared in the success of those whom they had assisted, and, when valuable harbours fell into the hands of the Crusaders, obtained many important privileges.

The maritime states of Italy, while thus ostensibly engaged in a common cause, were by no means prepared to admit that they had a common interest, and were hence disposed to act towards each other on the narrowest and most illiberal principles. The old maxim, that the commercial prosperity of a state was best promoted by depressing the trade of its neighbour, though now exploded, was then universally received; and in acting upon it, there was no injustice or perfidy of which the rival Italian republics scrupled to be guilty when it seemed possible in this way to establish a maritime ascendency. One remarkable illustration of this fact was given in 1204, when the Venetians induced the leaders of the fourth crusade to turn aside from their avowed object of warring with infidels in order to wrest Constantinople from the hands of a monarch, who, whatever his demerits might be, was by profession Christian. A variety of motives may have influenced the Crusaders in taking this unwarrantable step; but the subsequent conduct of the Venetians leaves no room to doubt that their only object was selfish aggrandizement. After Constantinople had been stormed and plundered, the dominions which had belonged to the Greek emperor were partitioned among his unprincipled conquerors; and while an Earl of Flanders was placed upon his throne, the Venetians obtained a chain of settlements which stretched from the Dardanelles to the Adriatic, and made them virtually masters of the navigation and trade of the Levant. In Constantinople, which, from the cause already mentioned, had long rivalled Alexandria as an emporium for the traffic between Europe and India, they obtained exclusive privileges, which made it impossible for any maritime state to compete with them, and furnished them with the means of lording it over all their rivals.

The ungenerous course pursued by the Venetians had undoubtedly the effect of greatly extending their trade generally, and of giving them an almost exclusive monopoly of that large portion of the Indian trade which had its centre in Constantinople. The superiority they had thus acquired remained with them for rather more than half a century; and the injustice to which they owed it seemed almost to be forgotten, when the day of retribution arrived, and their own tactics were successfully employed against them. The Greeks had never been reconciled to the Latin yoke, which had been fraudulently imposed upon them, and were therefore prepared to avail themselves of the first favourable opportunity of shaking it off. Had they been left to their own resources they could scarcely have hoped for success, but they had powerful auxiliaries in the Genoese, who were animated at once by a feeling of revenge for the injustice which they had suffered, and a desire to become masters of a traffic, the possession of which had given the Venetians an immense superiority over all their rivals. The terms of alliance between the Greeks and the Genoese were easily settled. The former were again to be ruled by their own dynasty, and the latter were to supplant the Venetians in all their exclusive privileges. Both objects were accomplished. A Greek emperor once more mounted the throne of Constantinople, and the Genoese, in addition to other important privileges, took formal possession of the suburb of Pera, subject only to the condition of holding it as a fief of the empire.

It was now the turn of the Venetians to be depressed; while the Genoese, not contented with their supremacy in the harbour of Constantinople, extended it to the Black Sea, where, by erecting forts on various points of the coast, and particularly on commanding positions in the Crimea and within the Sea of Azof, they secured a monopoly of the extensive and lucrative trade carried on with the East by way of the Caspian. In virtue of this monopoly Genoa became for a time the greatest commercial power in Europe. The Venetians at first attempted to compete with the Genoese, even in the harbour of Constantinople, but soon found the terms so unequal, in consequence of being burdened with heavy duties, from which their rivals were exempted, that they abandoned the struggle as hopeless. Their only alternative now was to resign the Indian trade altogether, or endeavour to re-open its ancient channels. In preferring the latter, they were met at the very outset by deep-rooted prejudices, which made it unlawful and even impious to enter into alliances of any kind with Muhammedan rulers; but no sooner were these prejudices overcome than the remainder of the task was comparatively easy. With the sanction of the Pope himself, who on this occasion, as on many others, allowed the supposed impiety to be committed in consideration of the profit anticipated from it, a commercial treaty was concluded with the Sultan of Egypt. It contemplated the carrying on of the Eastern traffic both by the overland route across Syria, and by the way of the Red Sea. With this view the Venetian senate was empowered to appoint two consuls, with mercantile jurisdiction, the one to reside at Damascus and the other at Alexandria. Both of these cities were accordingly resorted to by Venetian merchants and artisans; while at Beirut, as the port of the former, and in the harbour of the latter, mercantile vessels bearing the Venetian flag far outnumbered those of all other countries. The Genoese, contented with their undisputed monopoly at Constantinople, seem not at this time to have made any attempt to share in the advantages which the Egyptian sultans had conferred on the Venetians; but the Florentines, after they had, by the conquest of Pisa, in 1405, acquired the seaport of Leghorn, turned their attention to the Indian trade, and succeeded, in 1425, in concluding a treaty which placed them on the same footing as the Venetians in respect of commercial privilege. The earnest attempts thus made to share in the trade to the East Indies, would of themselves lead to the conclusion that a taste for the products of the regions included under that general name must no longer have been confined, as at first, to a few countries on the eastern part of the Mediterranean, but must have spread far west and north, so as to include a large portion of Europe. The fact was really so; and there is not much difficulty in accounting for it. Many of the most distinguished leaders of the Crusades, with their followers, came from those quarters; and on their return brought home with them new ideas and new wants. To their astonishment they had found that in several points, usually considered as tests of civilization, they were far surpassed by the infidels whom they had been accustomed to regard as mere barbarians. Galled by their inferiority in these respects, they had little difficulty in learning to surmount it; and imbibed tastes and formed habits which they could not indulge in the absence of Eastern products. The demand naturally produced a supply; and Italian ships, freighted with these products, were frequently seen in the English Channel, in the German Ocean, and even within the Baltic. In course of time the maritime spirit of the North was completely roused; and its merchants, instead of waiting for Italian visits, sent their own vessels into the Mediterranean, and there became purchasers of Indian produce at second hand from the Florentines, Venetians, and Genoese. In this traffic the lead was taken by the cities of the Hanseatic League, and particularly by Bruges, which in consequence became one of the most populous and flourishing marts in Northern Europe.

The Genoese were still in possession of their monopoly in 1453, when an event occurred which abruptly terminated it, and was followed by a series of disasters which ultimately annihilated their maritime greatness. This event was the capture of Constantinople, and the extinction of the Greek empire, by the Turks under Muhammed II. They made an effort to escape the destruction which threatened them, by attempting to form a commercial treaty with the Mameluke Sultans of Egypt; but the monopoly which they had held at Constantinople under the Greek emperors, placed them in a false position, and the negotiation proved fruitless. The Venetians, accordingly, were once more in the ascendent. Their most formidable rival had been obliged to resign the contest; and they began to run a new course of prosperity, to which, as far as human foresight reached, no limit could be assigned. At this period of unexampled prosperity Venice was tottering to her fall.

The revival of learning and the discovery of printing had at once awakened a spirit of inquiry, and furnished the most effectual means of diffusing it. In all departments of literature and science rapid progress was made; and discoveries leading to practical results in some of the most important arts of life, were constantly rewarding the diligent inquirer, and stimulating others to follow in his footsteps. Among the arts thus improved was navigation. Hitherto, when the shore was lost sight of, there had been no means of directing the course of a vessel at sea; and the utmost which the boldest and most experienced navigator attempted, was to steer from headland to headland without hugging the intervening shore, or to take advantage of a wind which blew regularly like the monsoons of the Indian Ocean, and thus use it according to the direction from which it blew for traversing a wide expanse of sea on an outward or a homeward voyage. When the compass was discovered, the greatest obstacle to a voyage out of sight of land was at once removed; and there was even less danger in launching out on the wide ocean than in following the windings of the coast, exposed to rocks and shoals, and the many dangers of a lee shore.

Among the first who proposed to turn the use of the compass to practical account in the discovery of new lands, was the celebrated Christopher Columbus. He had become satisfied, both on scientific grounds and from the accounts of travellers, particularly those of Marco Polo, that as the continent of Asia extended much further eastward than had been generally imagined, it would be possible to arrive at the East Indies by sailing west across the Atlantic. The immense importance of such a passage, once proved to be practicable, was perfectly obvious. It would at once dispense with the tedious and expensive overland routes by which the produce of the East was then brought to Europe, and transfer the most valuable traffic with which the world was yet acquainted, from the hands of infidels to those of Christians. These were the grand objects at which Columbus aimed; but so much were his views in advance of his age, that many years passed away before he could induce any European state to incur the expense which would be necessary in order to realize them. Spain at last undertook the task, and was rewarded with the discovery of a New World. This was more than even Columbus had anticipated. Though his geographical ideas were far more accurate than those of his contemporaries, he had greatly underrated the magnitude of the globe; and hence, imagining that the land which he first reached belonged to Asia, he gave it the name of West Indies. In this name he informs us of the goal after which he had been striving, and which he was so confident of having actually attained, that for a time he would scarcely believe the evidence of his senses, and insisted that everything which he saw was Indian. The delusion under which Columbus thus laboured is a striking proof of the general interest which was now felt in regard to India, and of the eager longings of the maritime states of Europe to obtain a share in its trade, without being fettered by the monopolies which the Muhammedans and Venetians had established in the Levant.

Though Columbus failed to discover an oceanic route to India, he clearly pointed out the direction in which it lay. It was previously known that the Atlantic was bounded on the east by the continents of Europe and Africa, and he had now proved that an equally insurmountable barrier bounded it on the west. The conclusion, therefore, was obvious, that if India was accessible from Europe by a continuous sea voyage, it could only be by tracing one or other of these continents to its termination, and then sailing round it. In accordance with this conclusion, four lines of passage presented themselves as possible—a north-west, a north-east, a south-west, and a south-east. The three first were subsequently attempted; but the last, which was certainly the most promising, is the only one with which we have now to do.

As early as 1415, more than twenty years before Columbus was born, Prince Henry, fourth son of John I, King of Portugal, after distinguishing himself at the capture of Ceuta, on the coast of Africa, returned with a determination to devote himself to maritime discovery, by employing navigators to trace the western coast of that continent, and thereby perhaps solve the great problem of a practicable route to the East Indies, by sailing round its southern extremity. He had all the talent and scientific acquirement necessary, in order to qualify him for superintending the great task thus undertaken, and gave a striking proof of his inflexibility of purpose by withdrawing from court, and fixing his residence in the seaport of Sagres, not far from Cape St. Vincent. Here he erected an observatory, and established a school of navigation for the training of youth, whom he might afterwards employ on voyages of discovery. He was not destined to solve the grand problem; but before his death, in 1463, had paved the way for it, by fitting out expeditions, which, leaving Cape Non (so called because no previous navigator had passed it) far behind, discovered Madeira and the Cape Verd Islands, and penetrated as far south as Sierra Leone.

The spirit of enterprise which Prince Henry had fostered was not allowed to expire with him; and under Alonso V, who was then reigning, the African coast was explored almost to the equator. John II, the son and successor of Alonso, continuing the progress of discovery, was so convinced that India would ultimately be reached, that, in 1484, he took a step which, though of an extraordinary nature, appears to have been dictated by sound and far-sighted policy. Great exertions had been made by the government of Portugal in fitting out expeditions for maritime discovery; and now, when they seemed about to be crowned with success, the danger was, that other states might step in and insist on sharing in the fruits. As the best means of preventing this, he sent ambassadors to several of the leading European courts, and offered them the alternative of either uniting with him, and furnishing men and money to assist in the conquests which he was contemplating, on the understanding, that a fair proportion of the benefit would be awarded them, or leave him to proceed as hitherto, on his own entire responsibility, and of course, in common fairness, for his own exclusive benefit.

This attempt to form what may be called a joint-stock company, in which kings were to be the only shareholders, failed. All the crowned heads applied to, declined to entertain the proposal; and John took the additional precaution of calling in the aid of the Pope, who, in the plenitude of an arrogant power, then undisputed, but soon after to be shaken to its very foundations, drew an imaginary line from north to south, by which he divided the world into two equal halves, and decreed that discoveries of new countries made from west to east should only be competent, and should belong exclusively to the Portuguese. It seems not to have occurred either to the king or the Pope that discoveries made from east to west might be carried so far as to make this grant futile, and convert it into a great bone of contention.

From this period the King of Portugal assumed the additional title of Lord of Guinea, and evinced a determination to turn his grant to the best account. Besides fitting out an expedition, under Diego Cam, who, in 1484, reached 22° of south latitude, and must consequently have been within 12° of the southern extremity of the African continent, he sent two messengers overland with instructions to discover the country of Prester John, then believed to be a great reality, though since ascertained to have had only a fabulous existence. They were also to ascertain whence the drugs and spices came which the Venetians traded in, and whether there was any sailing from the south of Africa to India. One of these messengers, Pedro de Covillam, succeeded in reaching India, and obtained much important information; but before the letter conveying it reached Portugal, the great problem had been solved by Bartolommeo Diaz, who had sailed south with three ships in 1486. After reaching a higher southern latitude than any previous navigator, a storm arose which drove him out to sea. His direction under such circumstances could not be accurately ascertained, but he knew it to be southerly. After tossing about for thirteen days, and suffering much by a sudden transition of the temperature from hot to cold, he attempted, when the storm abated, to regain the land by steering eastward. He reached it; but, to his great astonishment, discovered that the land which, when he quitted it, lay on his left hand, nearly due north and south, was now stretching east and west, and trending north-east. The cause was too apparent to leave any room for doubt. He had been carried round the southern extremity of Africa, and was now on its south-eastern coast. He was most anxious to prosecute this auspicious commencement, but his crews refused to follow him, and he was obliged to turn his face homewards. He was so far rewarded, for a few days brought him in sight of the magnificent promontory in which Africa terminates. The weather he had met with, and, perhaps, also a painful remembrance of the conduct of his crews in forcing him to return, determined him to give it the name of Cabo de Todos los Tormentos, or Cape of Storms, but the king, on his return, thinking this name ominous, chose one much more appropriate, and, in allusion to the great promise which the doubling of the promontory held out, called it Cabo de Buena Esperanza, or Cape of Good Hope.

It is singular that, though John survived this discovery nine years, he made no attempt to follow it up. One cause of the indifference thus manifested may have been the mortification which he felt at the still more brilliant success which Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain had achieved by the employment of Christopher Columbus. This renowned navigator, returning from his discovery of a New World, arrived in the Tagus in 1493. Before applying to Spain, he had offered his services to Portugal, and been refused. What would John not now have given to be able to recall that refusal? It was too late; but he had counsellors base enough to suggest that the remedy was still in his own hands. He had only to assassinate Columbus, and take possession of his papers; his discovery would thus die with him. Happily for his own fame he spurned the infamous suggestion; and Columbus, after a becoming reception, not less honourable to the giver than it must have been gratifying to the receiver, continued his triumphant progress to the court of Spain.

John was succeeded in 1495 by his cousin Emanuel, who was thoroughly imbued with the spirit of enterprise which had animated his predecessors. Timid counsellors were not wanting who advised him to rest satisfied with the discoveries already made, and not run the risk of impoverishing his hereditary dominions by expensive expeditions, of which it was impossible to foresee the final result; but his resolution had been formed, and there could be no doubt what it was, when he was seen, in the third year of his reign, fitting out a new expedition for the avowed purpose of not only doubling the Cape of Good Hope, but afterwards continuing the voyage without intermission till the coast of India was reached. In this expedition, which consisted of three small ships, carrying 160 men, Bartolommeo Diaz held only a subordinate station. Nor had he even the satisfaction of seeing his discovery prosecuted by others; for, on arriving at the fort of El Mina, he was sent back to Portugal, and not long after his return perished at sea.

The command of the expedition, thus rather ungenerously withheld from Diaz, was conferred on Vasco de Gama, a gentleman of the royal household, who had previously done good service at sea, and, by his subsequent conduct, justified the choice which had been made of him. After a pompous ceremonial, more in accordance with the great object contemplated by the expedition than with the very inadequate means furnished for its accomplishment, the three small ships left the port of Belem, on Saturday, the 8th of July, 1497. They were accompanied by a small bark carrying provisions, and a caravel, of which Diaz was captain. Off the Canaries the vessels encountered a storm, which separated them, but they met again at Cape Verd, which had been fixed as the place of rendezvous. Having next day anchored at Santa Maria, on the African coast, they repaired their damages, and took in water. Diaz, proceeding no farther, returned homewards; the other vessels pursued their voyage. Another storm, still more violent than the former, overtook them; and they had almost given up all hope of weathering it, when it abated, and they took shelter in a bay, to which they gave the name of Santa Elena. Vasco de Gama attempted to hold communication with the natives, but met with an inhospitable reception, which left him no inclination to prolong his stay. He set sail again on the 16th of November, having already been more than four months at sea; and two days after came within sight of the Cape of Good Hope, which, after tacking about in consequence of baffling winds, they doubled on the 20th of November, amid the sound of music and general rejoicing.

They were now fairly launched on the Indian Ocean, but instead of steering right across it, continued for a time to follow the coast, making careful observations, and daily discovering some new object to excite their wonder. On Christmas, 1497, they saw land, which, in honour of the day, they called Tierra de Natal; and which, still retaining its name, promises to rise into importance as a British colony. The next land visited belonged to the Kaffres, with whom they had much friendly intercourse.

In proceeding farther north, the expedition was much impeded by currents, which induced De Gama to give the name of Cabo de Corrientes to a prominent headland, and to keep far out to sea in order to avoid the risk of being embayed. Owing to this, Sofala, which was then the great emporium of this part of Africa, was passed without being seen. The natives appeared now to be more civilized than those who had previously been seen, and instead of the timid and suspicious looks which others had manifested, made themselves as familiar with the Portuguese as if they had been old acquaintances. As their language was not understood, the conversation by signs was necessarily confined within very narrow limits, but enough was communicated to satisfy Vasco de Gama that they were accustomed to mingle with people in a still more advanced state of civilization. Two chiefs in particular, who paid him a visit in their own boats, gave him to understand that they had seen ships as large as those of the Portuguese; and after they had returned to the shore, sent two pieces of calico on board for sale. This cloth, which it is almost needless to mention, takes its usual name, from the town of Calicut, excited a particular interest in the Portuguese, because supposing it, perhaps erroneously, to be the product of that city, it was the first specimen of Indian manufacture which they had met with in their voyage. It was regarded as an omen of future success in their great undertaking, and hence Vasco de Gama gave to the stream, at the mouth of which these transactions took place, the name of Rio de Buenas Señas, or River of Good Signs.

Having again set sail on the 24th of February, 1498, the vessels continued their voyage along the coast through the channel of Mozambique, and on arriving opposite to the town of that name, were hailed by a number of little boats, the crews of which made signs to stay for them. The vessels cast anchor, and the boatmen, without showing the least fear, leaped at once aboard, made themselves perfectly at home, ate and drank freely, and conversed in Arabic with one of the crew who understood that language. The intercourse at first promised to be very friendly, but on its being discovered by the Sheikh or chief, that the Portuguese were not, as he had originally supposed, Turks and Muhammedans, but Christians, his manner suddenly changed, and all his seeming friendship was at an end. Ultimately open hostilities were declared, and the Portuguese avenged themselves by bombarding and destroying the town of Mozambique.

The vessels again weighing anchor, continued their course northwards, and arrived at the island of Mombasa, with a town of same name. Here the seeming friendship of the Moors proved as false as that of the inhabitants of Mozambique; and Vasco de Gama, believing, on the confession of two Moors, whom he barbarously put to the torture by dropping hot bacon upon their flesh, that a plot had been formed for his destruction, hastened his departure, and did not again halt till he arrived off Melinda, which delighted the Portuguese, as it reminded them more of home than any African city they had yet seen. It was seated on the level part of a rocky shore, amid plantations of palms and orchards of orange and other fruit trees, covered a large space, and consisted of houses built of stone, three stories high, and with terraced roofs.

At first the inhabitants, who were probably acquainted with the transactions at Mozambique and Mombasa, kept aloof, but a good understanding was eventually established; and the king, though a Muhammedan, so far forgot his prejudices that he afforded the Portuguese every facility for obtaining provisions, and even made a formal visit in his barge.

It was now unnecessary for the Portuguese to continue their course along the African coast. Their object had been to obtain such information as might enable them to proceed with safety across the ocean towards India. Melinda furnished them with all that they required. Four ships from India were then lying in its harbour, and little difficulty was found in obtaining a pilot capable of acting as their guide. This pilot, named Melemo Kana, was a native of Gujarat, and had a thorough knowledge of his profession. The compass, charts, and quadrants were quite familiar to him; and an astrolabe shown him seemed so inferior to other instruments which he had seen used for the same purpose, that he scarcely condescended to notice it. Before leaving Melinda, De Gama was visited by persons belonging to the Indian ships. He imagined them to be Christians, because on coming aboard they prostrated themselves before an image of the Virgin, probably mistaking it for one of their own idols; but it is plain, from the description given of them, that they were Hindus. They were clothed in long gowns of white calico, wore their hair, which was long like that of women, plaited under their turbans, and ate no beef.

The expedition sailed from Melinda on Tuesday, the 22nd April, 1498, and after a prosperous voyage of twenty-three days, saw India, on Friday, the 17th of May. They were off the Malabar coast, which was at the distance of eight leagues, and rose high and bold from the sea. Their destination was Calicut, and as they were considerably north of it, they changed their course to south-east. On the 20th they beheld, to their unspeakable delight, the lofty wooded terraces rising behind that city, and shortly after cast anchor about two leagues below it.

Calicut, situated on the open beach, without roadstead or harbour, though partially protected by a rocky bank, inside of which small vessels lie tolerably sheltered, was then the capital of a Hindu sovereign, who, under the title of Samiry or Zamorin, ruled a considerable extent of country in the south-west of the peninsula. This title is probably the corruption of Tamuri, the name of a raja on whom, according to popular tradition, a prince called Cheruman, after dividing his territories among his other chieftains, had nothing more remaining to bestow than his sword, “with all the territory in which a cock crowing at a small temple here could be heard.” The territory thus assigned took, from the singular nature of the grant, the name of Colico-du, or the Cock-crowing, which in course of time was metamorphosed into Calicut. This account may be set aside as fabulous; but it is certain that in whatever way the original nucleus of the territory was acquired, the sword of Cheruman proved the most valuable part of his bequest, and enabled Tamuri to place himself at the head of all his brother chieftains, and transmit his power to a series of successors. One of these had been converted to Muhammedanism¹ by some pilgrims who had been wrecked on his coast while proceeding to visit Adam’s Peak in Ceylon; and, with the zeal of a new convert, set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He never returned; but the favour shown to Muhammedans during his reign, and the encouragement which, in consequence of his recommendation, they received from his successor, had induced them to settle in great numbers, and enabled them to acquire much influence in Cranganore, Calicut, and the surrounding districts. Such was the state of matters when the Portuguese arrived, and it is necessary to attend to it, as furnishing a key to many subsequent proceedings.

De Gama having anchored, as already mentioned, was immediately visited by some small fishing-boats, and under their guidance sailed as near to Calicut as the depth of water would allow. He had brought several criminals from Portugal, whose sentence had been remitted in consideration of the danger to which they were to be exposed by being sent ashore to hold intercourse with the natives, under circumstances too hazardous to justify the employment of any of the crew. One of these criminals was accordingly despatched along with the fishermen, in order that the reception given him might enable De Gama to shape his future course. He was immediately surrounded by a crowd whose curiosity could hardly be satisfied, though it was more important than rude. As his ignorance of the language made it useless to ask him any questions, they took him to the house of two Moors, one of whom, called Monzaide—who, from being a native of Tunis, knew him to be Portuguese—gave utterance to his astonishment by exclaiming in Spanish, “The devil take you! What brought you hither?” After some explanations, Monzaide went off with him to the ships, and on approaching De Gama, cried aloud in Spanish, “Good luck! good luck! Many rubies, many emeralds! Thou art bound to give God thanks for having brought thee where there are all sorts of spices and precious stones, with all the riches of the world.” De Gama and his crew were so surprised and affected at meeting with one who could speak their language so far from home, that they wept for joy.

Having learned from Monzaide that the Zamorin was then at Ponani, a village at the mouth of a river of same name, about thirty-six miles south from Calicut, De Gama immediately announced his arrival, intimating at the same time that he was the bearer of a letter to him from his master the King of Portugal, a Christian prince. The Zamorin, in answer, bade him welcome, and sent a pilot to conduct the ships to a safer anchorage, near a village called Pandarane. He accepted of the services of the pilot, but demurred at first to avail himself of an invitation by the kotwal or chief magistrate, to go ashore and proceed by land to Calicut. On second thoughts, however, he became convinced that this was a risk which he ought to run; and while his brother Paul, who commanded one of the ships, and the other officers, reminded him of the danger to be apprehended, not so much from the natives, whom they insisted on regarding as Christians, as from the Moors, whose deadly enmity they had already experienced on the African coast, he announced his determination, let what would betide him, to go ashore and leave no means untried to settle a treaty of commerce and perpetual amity.

On the 28th of May, after leaving orders that in the event of any accident befalling him, the vessels were to return home with the news of his discovery, he set out in his boat, attended by twelve of his company, with flags waving and trumpets sounding. The kotwal was waiting to receive him with 200 nairs, understood to be the nobility of the country, and a large promiscuous assemblage. Two palanquins had been provided, one for De Gama and another for the kotwal; the rest of the attendants followed on foot. During the journey they paid a visit to a temple built of freestone, covered with tiles, and as large as a great monastery. In front of it stood a pillar as high as the mast of a ship, made of wire, with a weather-cock on the top, and over the entrance hung seven bells. The interior was full of images; and these, as well as some of the ceremonies, confirming the Portuguese in their previous belief that the natives were Christians, they began to pay their devotions. The dimness of the light did not allow them to see the kind of figures they were worshipping, but on looking around they discerned monstrous shapes on the walls, some with great teeth sticking an inch out of their mouth, others with four arms and such frightful faces, that one of the Portuguese, on beholding one of them, before which he was making his genuflexion, exclaimed, “If this be the devil, it is God I worship.” On approaching the city the multitude became immense, and the kotwal halted at the house of his brother, who was waiting, along with a number of nairs, to conduct De Gama with all the pomp of an ambassador into the royal presence. Though almost stifled by the press, he was so much gratified that he could not help observing to those around him, “They little think in Portugal what honour is done us here.”

The palace, at which they arrived an hour before sunset, had a handsome appearance, and was surrounded by trees, and gardens adorned with fountains. It was entered by a series of five inclosures, each having its own separate gate; and such was the eagerness of the populace to squeeze themselves in, that several were crushed to death. At the grand entrance De Gama was received by the chief minister and high-priest, a little old man, who, after embracing him, took him with his attendants into the presence. The hall of audience was set round with seats, rising as in a theatre; the floor was carpeted with green velvet, and the walls hung round with silks of diverse colours. At the head of the hall the Zamorin lay reclined on a kind of sofa, with a covering of white silk wrought with gold, and a rich canopy overhead. He was a large, stout man, of dark complexion, advanced in years, and with something majestic in his appearance. He wore a short coat of fine calico, adorned with branches and roses of beaten gold; the buttons were large pearls. Another piece of white calico reached to his knees. A kind of mitre, glittering with pearls and precious stones, covered his head; his ears were strung with jewels of the same kind; and both his fingers and toes were loaded with diamond rings. His arms and legs, left naked, were adorned with gold bracelets. Near him stood two gold basins and a gold fountain; the one basin contained betel and areca nut, which was handed him by an attendant, the other received it when chewed; the fountain supplied water to rinse his mouth.

After De Gama entered and made his obeisance according to the custom of the country, by bowing his body three times and lifting up his hands, the Zamorin looked kindly at him, recognized him by a scarcely perceptible inclination of the head, and ordered him by signs to advance and sit down near him. The attendants being admitted, took their seats opposite, and were regaled with fruits. On calling for water to drink, a golden cup with a spout was brought, but they were told that it was considered bad manners to touch the vessel with their lips. The awkwardness of the Portuguese, who, in attempting to drink by the spout, either choked themselves with the water or spilled it upon their clothes, gave much amusement to the court. De Gama having been asked by the Zamorin to open his business, gave him to understand that the custom of princes in Europe was to hear ambassadors in the presence of only a few of their chief counsellors. The suggestion was immediately adopted, and the audience took place in another apartment similar to the former, where only De Gama and another Portuguese, who acted as his interpreter, on the one side, and the Zamorin, his chief minister, the comptroller of his household, and his betel-server on the other, were present. When asked whence he came, and with what object, De Gama answered that he was an ambassador of the King of Portugal, the greatest prince in all the West, who, having heard that there were Christian princes in the Indies, of whom the King of Calicut was the chief, had sent an ambassador to conclude a treaty of trade and friendship with him. He added, that for sixty years the King of Portugal and his predecessors had been endeavouring to discover India by sea, and had at length succeeded for the first time. In anticipation of this success, the king, his master, had intrusted him with two letters, the delivery of which, as it was now late, he would, with the zamorin’s permission, defer till to-morrow. De Gama had reason to think he had made a favourable impression, as the Zamorin repeated his welcome, made inquiries as to the distance to Portugal, and the time occupied by the voyage, and declared his willingness not only to recognize the King of Portugal as his friend and brother, but to send an ambassador to his court.

De Gama, after passing the night with his attendants in a lodging specially provided for them, began next morning to prepare a present for the zamorin. He was not well supplied for that purpose; but after selecting four pieces of scarlet, six hats, four branches of coral, six almasars, a parcel of brass, a chest of sugar, two barrels of oil and two of honey, sent for the royal factor and kotwal to ask their opinion. On looking at the articles they burst into a laugh, and told him that the poorest merchant who came to the port made a better present. A kind of altercation arose, and at last the factor and kotwal departed, after taking his promise that he would not visit the king till they returned to go with him. He waited the whole day, but they never appeared. On the day following, when they arrived, and he complained of their behaviour, they made light of it and began to talk indifferently of other matters. The fact was that they had been gained by the Moors, who, fearing that their interests might be seriously affected by the opening up of a new trade with Europe, and the consequent decline of that which had hitherto been carried on by the Red Sea, were determined to leave no means untried to frustrate the object of the Portuguese expedition.

When De Gama went to the palace to pay the visit which, according to appointment, should have been paid a day sooner, the effect of the Moorish intrigue was very apparent. He was kept waiting for three hours; and when at last admitted, was told angrily by the zamorin that he had waited for him all the day before. He was then asked how it was that, if he came from so great and rich a prince as he represented his king to be, he brought no present with him, though in every embassy of friendship that must be regarded as a necessary credential. De Gama made the best excuse possible in the circumstances, by referring to the uncertain issue of his voyage, which made it imprudent to provide a present which there might be no opportunity of delivering, and promising that if he lived to carry home the news of his discovery, a suitable present would certainly arrive. The Zamorin, not yet satisfied, observed, “I hear you have a St. Mary in gold, and desire I may have that.” De Gama, taken somewhat aback at this demand, replied that the image was not gold, but only wood gilded; and as he attributed his preservation at sea to its influence, he must be excused for not parting with it. The Zamorin, quitting the subject, asked for the two letters, which indeed contained only the same thing in duplicate, the one written in Portuguese and the other in Arabic. The latter, interpreted by Monzaide, was in purport as follows:—“As soon as it was known to the King of Portugal that the King of Calicut, one of the mightiest princes of all the Indies, was a Christian, he was desirous to cultivate a trade and friendship with him, for the conveniency of lading spices in his ports; for which, in exchange, the commodities of Portugal should be sent, or else gold and silver, in case his majesty chose the same; referring it to the general, his ambassador, to make a further report.” This letter, and the noble bearing of Vasco de Gama, who throughout the interview behaved in a manner becoming the high character which he claimed, disabused the mind of the Zamorin of the impression received of him through the intrigues of the Moors, who had sedulously circulated a rumour that he was no ambassador, but merely a pirate. He therefore conversed with him in the most friendly manner, and gave him full liberty to bring any merchandise he had with him ashore and dispose of it to the best advantage.

The next day, the 31st of May, De Gama prepared to return to his ships, and was actually on the way to Pandarane, when the Moors, fearing that if he once got away he would not again return, induced the kotwal, by a large bribe, to hasten after and detain him, so as to afford them an opportunity of disposing of him summarily. The kotwal accordingly set out in pursuit, and found De Gama hastening on considerably in advance of his attendants. The kotwal rallied him on his haste, and asked him if he was running away. He answered, “Yes; I am running away from the heat;” and continued his journey, the kotwal keeping close by him till he reached the village. It was sunset before his men came up, but he called immediately for a boat. The kotwal at first endeavoured to dissuade him, but finding him resolute, pretended to send for the boatmen, while at the same time he sent another message, ordering them to keep out of the way. The consequence was that no boat appeared, and there was no alternative but to pass the night on shore.

In the morning matters assumed a still more threatening appearance. The kotwal, instead of bringing a boat, told him to order his ships nearer shore, and on his refusal, threw off all disguise, telling him that as he would not do what he was ordered he should not go on board. De Gama was thus to all intents a prisoner. The doors of his lodging were shut, and several nairs with drawn swords kept guard within. Coello meantime had come with his boats within a short distance of the shore; and, fortunately, by communicating with one of De Gama’s sailors, who had been left outside, was apprised of his situation. The kotwal, while he still detained him, seemed afraid to proceed to violent extremes; and after finding that he could not lure the vessels into the harbour, so as to give the Moors an opportunity of destroying them, changed his tactics and asked only that the merchandise should be sent ashore. His object apparently was to appropriate it to himself; and as De Gama’s presence interfered with this object, he was easily induced, as soon as the merchandise arrived, to allow him to depart.

De Gama, once free of the kotwal and his associates, determined not again to place himself in their power, but took care by his factor, Diego Diaz, brother of the more celebrated Bartolommeo, who first doubled the Cape, to acquaint the Zamorin with the unworthy treatment to which he had been subjected. The Zamorin seemed much incensed, and promised both to punish the offenders and send merchants to purchase the goods. He could scarcely have been sincere, for the insolence of the Moors increased; and the goods, which they took every opportunity to depreciate, found few purchasers. A kind of traffic, however, was established; and after permission was given to remove the goods from Pandarane to Calicut, as a more suitable market, much friendly intercourse took place between the Portuguese and the natives. They were not destined, however, to part so amicably.

More than two months had elapsed since the arrival of the Portuguese vessels, and as the north-east monsoon, on which they depended for their return homewards, was about to set in, De Gama, on the 10th of August, sent Diego Diaz to the zamorin with a present of scarfs, silks, coral, and other things, and a notification of his intention to depart. He was obliged to wait four days for admission, and was then received with a frowning countenance. The Zamorin’s mind had been completely poisoned; and he regarded the Portuguese either as pirates, who had come for plunder, or spies, who, after acquainting themselves with the country, intended to return with a fleet sufficient to invade it. Accordingly a guard was set over the house which the Portuguese had used for a factory, preventing all egress; and a proclamation issued prohibiting all intercourse with the Portuguese ships.

De Gama, on learning what had happened, was much incensed, but determined to proceed warily, and employ craft against craft. Two days after the proclamation, four lads arrived in an almadia, with precious stones for sale. They were suspected to be spies; but De Gama spoke to them as if he were entirely ignorant of what had taken place in Calicut, and allowed them to depart, in the hope that their return would induce other persons of more consequence to pay him a visit. Nor was he mistaken. For the zamorin, convinced by De Gama’s conduct that he was ignorant of the detention of his factor Diaz, and his secretary Braga, who were both in the factory when the guard was set over it, sent people on board to keep him amused till he should be able to effect the destruction of his ships by preparing a fleet in his own ports, or bringing one from Mecca for that purpose. De Gama kept his own counsel, till one day when six of the principal inhabitants arrived with fifteen attendants. He immediately seized them, and sent a letter ashore, demanding his factor and secretary in exchange. After some parleying, Diaz and Braga were sent aboard, and the principal inhabitants, who were nairs, were returned.

The attendants, however, were detained, on the plea that some of the Portuguese merchandise was still unaccounted for. This was mere pretence on De Gama’s part, for he had already determined to carry off the poor natives to Portugal, and exhibit them as the vouchers of his discovery. Immediately after making this announcement to those who had been sent for the natives, and desiring them to inform the zamorin that he would shortly return and give him full means of judging whether the Christians were thieves, as the Moors had persuaded him, he weighed anchor and set sail on his homeward voyage.

Two days after their departure, when the ships were lying becalmed a league from Calicut, the zamorin’s fleet of forty vessels was seen approaching, full of soldiers. Their object was obvious; but the Portuguese, by means of their ordnance, managed to keep them at bay till a gale fortunately sprung up, and they got clear off, though not without being pursued for an hour and a half. De Gama, for a short time, kept near the coast; and when within twelve leagues of Goa, received the alarming intelligence that the whole coast was in motion, and that in all its harbours vessels were being fitted out for the purpose of intercepting him. Longer delay, therefore, seemed dangerous, and he at once put out to sea. The voyage home was tedious and disastrous; but ultimately Belem was reached in September, 1499, after an absence of two years and two months. Of the original crew, only fifty returned alive. The news of their arrival was hailed with extraordinary demonstrations of joy throughout the kingdom; and De Gama, after being conducted into Lisbon in triumphal procession, was raised to new honours and liberally pensioned. So elated was King Emanuel with the success of the expedition, that he forthwith added to his titles that of Lord of the Conquest and Navigation of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and the Indies.

No time was lost in fitting out a new expedition on a more extended scale. It consisted of thirteen vessels, containing 1,200 men, and sailed from Belem on the 9th of March, 1500, under the command of Pedro Alvarez Cabral. Among the captains were Bartolommeo Diaz, the discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope, and his brother, Diego Diaz, who had been factor to Vasco de Gama. The Canaries were seen on the 18th; but from them the course was so far westward that the first land they reached was a new continent, the discovery of which, though little importance appears to have been attached to it at the time, ultimately proved the most valuable acquisition made by the crown of Portugal. It was Brazil. The expedition again sailed on the 2nd of May for the Cape of Good Hope, but was thrown into considerable alarm by the appearance of a comet, which continued to increase for ten days, and shone so brightly as to be visible both day and night. The disasters, of which it was dreaded as the forerunner, seemed to be realized by the bursting of a storm with such suddenness and fury that, before the sails could be furled, four of the vessels, one of them commanded by Bartolommeo Diaz, sunk, with every soul on board, and the others were so shattered and filled with water that, had not their sails been so torn as to leave nothing but bare poles, they must certainly have foundered.

Dreadful as the storm was, it was ultimately weathered, and Cabral found, on its abating, that the Cape of Good Hope was already doubled. Continuing along the south-east coast of Africa, he fell in with two vessels at anchor near Sofala. They took fright and made for the shore, but were pursued and overtaken. They proved to be Moorish vessels bound for Melinda. As the Portuguese were on friendly terms with its chief, Cabral was sorry for what had happened, more especially as the most valuable part of the cargo consisted of gold, which, during the terror of the flight, had been thrown overboard. On expressing his regret, the Moorish captain gravely asked whether he had not some wizard with him, who might conjure it up from the bottom of the sea. At Melinda, where the chief proved as friendly as before, Cabral was furnished with two Gujarat pilots. Under their guidance he made a prosperous voyage across the Indian Ocean, and cast anchor within a league of Calicut on the 13th of September.

Shortly after his arrival several nairs came on board, bringing the Zamorin’s welcome, and making great offers of friendship. Cabral was thus induced to take his ships nearer the city, and sent ashore four natives whom Vasco de Gama had carried off. He afterwards sent a messenger, intimating that he came from Portugal purely to settle trade and friendship; but, taught by De Gama’s experience, he refused to land till hostages were given. This demand produced some delay and altercation, but at last six of the principal natives arrived, and Cabral ventured ashore. The interview took place in a pavilion, erected on purpose, near the water-edge. The zamorin, dressed nearly as when De Gama visited him, dazzled all eyes with the size and brilliancy of the diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and pearls, which studded his girdle and hung from his ears, or covered his fingers and toes. His chair of state and palanquin, all of gold and silver, curiously wrought, glistened with precious stones; and, among other articles composed of the precious metals, were three gold and seventeen silver trumpets, and various silver lamps, and censers smoking with perfumes. Cabral, after delivering his credentials, and stating the desire of the King of Portugal to enjoy the Zamorin’s friendship, and establish at Calicut a factory, which should be supplied with all kinds of European goods, and take spices in exchange, or pay for them in ready money, caused the present to be brought in. It consisted of a wrought silver basin gilt, a fountain of the same, a silver cup with a gilt cover, two cushions of cloth of gold, and two of crimson velvet, a cloth of state of the same velvet striped and bound with gold lace, and two rich pieces of arras.

So far all things had gone on smoothly; but beneath this seeming friendship mutual distrust was at work, preparing for a final rupture. First, the hostages, on learning that Cabral was preparing to return, began to suspect that they might be detained altogether, and endeavoured to escape by leaping into the sea. Some succeeded, while those recaptured were treated with some degree of harshness. Before the misunderstanding thus occasioned was completely cleared up, Cabral proposed to send a message to the Zamorin, to ask whether he was willing to finish the agreement which he had begun. So strong was the conviction among the Portuguese that this message would only make matters worse, that Francisco Correa was the only man in the fleet bold enough to volunteer to carry it. Contrary to expectation, Correa met with a friendly reception, and completed an arrangement by which a regular Portuguese factory was established in Calicut, under the charge of his brother, Ayres Correa. This factor seems to have been very indifferently qualified for his office; and allowed himself to be imposed upon at all hands, and more especially by the Moors, who had never ceased their intrigues from the first moment when the Portuguese made their appearance. At their instigation some hostile manifestations were made, particularly by Khoja Comireci, the admiral of Calicut; and appearances became so alarming that Cabral deemed it necessary to quit the harbour, and stood out to sea. The zamorin expressed deep and apparently sincere regret at the cause of Cabral’s removal, and showed a willingness to take whatever steps might be necessary to restore confidence. He gave orders to prevent the interference of the Moors, removed an officer whom he had placed in the factory, and substituted another, who, he thought, would be more acceptable. He even took the still more decided step of removing the factory from a locality which gave the Moors too great control over it, and gave the Portuguese a perpetual grant of a new house more conveniently situated near the sea-shore. The good effect of these measures was soon visible; and the Portuguese walked the streets of Calicut as safely, and as free from molestation, as if they had been in Lisbon.

The Moors, whose resources in intrigue were inexhaustible, determined to break up this understanding, and tried to effect it by a rather singular expedient. Availing themselves of the vindictive feelings of the officer who had been removed from the Portuguese factory, they employed him to persuade Correa that Cabral could not confer a greater service on the Zamorin than to capture a large ship, which was bound from Ceylon to Cambay or Gujarat, with elephants. One of these animals, which the Zamorin coveted, had been refused; and as he had thus been unable to obtain it by fair means, he would be very glad to obtain it anyhow. The Moors calculated that the master of the vessel, whom they had put on his guard, would be more than a match for the Portuguese admiral, and, at all events, that the Portuguese, by attacking a vessel with which they had no proper ground of quarrel, would justify the reputation which they had given them as mere depredators. Cabral fell too easily into the snare thus laid for him; but, after discovering the trick, made the best reparation he could, by restoring the vessel to its owners.

The Moors, disappointed in their object, resumed their former practices, and threw many obstructions in the way of the Portuguese; who, in consequence, saw the time for their departure approaching while their ships remained unladen. Cabral complained to the Zamorin, and was authorized to search the vessels of the Moors and take whatever spices were found in them, only paying the original cost prices. The Moors were too numerous and influential to be thus summarily dealt with; and on one of their ships being seized, obtained permission from the fickle Zamorin to retaliate. They took measures accordingly; and having excited a riot, stormed the Portuguese factory. Many of the inmates, and among others Ayres Correa, the principal factor, lost their lives.

Cabral, not having received any apology for this outrage from the zamorin, determined to take his own method of revenge, without giving himself any concern as to the lawfulness of the means. On a sudden, without note of warning, he made a furious onset on ten large ships which were lying in the harbour; and after a contest, during which 600 of the Moors and natives perished, gained possession of the cargoes and set the ships on fire. Not satisfied with this, he opened his fire upon the town. Many of its public buildings were destroyed, and the inhabitants, becoming crowded in their flight, fell in great numbers. The Zamorin himself made a narrow escape, as one of his nairs, who was immediately behind him, was struck down by a cannon-ball.

Peace was now out of the question, and open war was declared. The Portuguese, however, had no idea of abandoning their Indian traffic; and on being dispossessed of one factory, immediately looked out for another. Farther south than Calicut, and bounding with it, was the kingdom or rajaship of Cochin. It recognized the supremacy of Calicut, but had often aspired to independence, and was therefore easily induced to listen to proposals of amity from the Portuguese. The power of these new visitors had been signally displayed in their recent contest with the Zamorin; and the King of Cochin could scarcely doubt that, were their powerful aid secured, the yoke of Calicut might soon be shaken off. Accordingly, when Cabral appeared off the coast, and stated his desire to make the town and harbour of Cochin the seat of Portuguese commerce, the terms were easily arranged. The raja, whose name was Truimpara or Triumpara, at once agreed to give hostages as a security that the Portuguese should not be treacherously dealt with when ashore, only stipulating that the two nairs whom he sent for the purpose should be changed daily, as they could not eat on shipboard without becoming unfit for the royal presence, or, in other words, losing caste.

The harbour of Cochin, forming one of a series of lagoons which here line the coast, and have occasional openings by which ships can enter, was far superior to that of Calicut; and the Portuguese saw reason to congratulate themselves on their change of locality; but recent experience made them cautious, and all that Cabral at first ventured to do was to land a factor of the name of Gonzalo Gil Barbosa, a clerk, an interpreter, and four criminals whom he had brought from Portugal, who were to act as servants. Their reception was very gracious; but the court presented none of the dazzling state conspicuous at Calicut. It soon appeared, however, that it possessed more valuable qualities. For every promise made was fulfilled to the letter; and the lading of the Portuguese vessels with the spices which the country produced in abundance, was accomplished without delay. This difference of treatment was probably owing, not so much to the personal qualities of the sovereigns of Calicut and Cochin, as to their relative positions—the former considering himself strong enough to make his will law, and, if so disposed, to play the tyrant, while the latter, writhing under a galling yoke, was convinced that his best chance of escaping it was to throw himself into the hands of the Portuguese. This feeling of a common interest and a common danger naturally smoothed down many difficulties, and made friendship, when once established, firm and lasting.

The impression which the Portuguese had produced, both by the terror of their arms and the extent of their commercial transactions, was strikingly evinced by the anxiety which several native states now manifested to secure their alliance. From the chiefs of two of these—Cananore, situated considerably north of Calicut, and Coulan, or rather Quilon, situated considerably south of Cochin, in the state of Travancore—messengers arrived to invite the Portuguese to their harbours, promising them spices on cheaper terms than they could be obtained at Cochin. Cabral was, of course, inclined to open communications in as many quarters as possible, with a view to subsequent traffic; but at the time it was impossible to do more than promise a future visit, as he had more serious work on hand. Just as he was completing his cargo, a formidable fleet, composed of twenty-five large ships, and many smaller vessels, appeared off the coast. It was said to have 15,000 soldiers on board, and to be destined to avenge the injuries inflicted on Calicut. This information was furnished by the Raja of Cochin, who proved his fidelity to his new allies by offering them all the assistance in his power; but Cabral, thanking him for the offer, felt confident that he would prove more than a match for them single-handed. It would seem, however, that this confidence was somewhat shaken, for after some manoeuvring with the view of bringing the enemy to action, he suddenly changed his mind, and sailed away in such haste, that he did not even take time to restore the hostages whom he had received from the raja. To increase the ignominy of the flight, he was pursued a whole day by the Calicut fleet. When it left him at night he appears to have availed himself of the darkness to regain the Malabar coast, and anchored in front of Cananore, where he took in 400 quintals of cinnamon. The raja was so friendly that, supposing the want of money to be the reason why he did not take more, he offered him any additional quantity on credit; and showed how anxious he was to cultivate the Portuguese alliance, by actually sending an ambassador with Cabral to Europe for that purpose. Nothing of much interest occurred on the homeward voyage, and Cabral arrived in Lisbon on the 31st of July, 1501. Of the ships which originally formed the expedition only six returned.

Before Cabral’s arrival a third Portuguese expedition was on its way to India. It had sailed in March, and consisted only of three ships and a caravel, with 400 men, under the command of an experienced seaman of the name of Juan de Nueva. His instructions, proceeding on the assumption that Cabral had established factories at Sofala and at Calicut, were to leave two of the vessels with their cargoes at the former, and proceed with the two others to the latter town. As a precautionary measure the expedition was to call at San Blas, situated east of the Cape of Good Hope, and wait ten days to give an opportunity of meeting with any of Cabral’s ships which might be on their way home. Here they found a letter which had been left for them, detailing the events which had taken place at Calicut and Cochin. In consequence of this information, Juan de Nueva deemed it imprudent to separate his vessels, and proceeded with the whole for India, arriving in November at Anchediva, a small island on the coast south of Goa. Shortly after he anchored off Cananore, the raja of which was very urgent that he should lade there; but anxiety to learn the state of matters at the factory induced him to decline and hasten on to Cochin.

On arriving, he learned that the raja, though greatly offended with Cabral for leaving without notice and carrying off his hostages, had proved a faithful ally, and given full protection to all the members of the factory; but that the Moors had carried their hostility so far as on one occasion to set fire to it, and in various ways, by depreciating the value of their merchandise, had prejudiced the native traders against them to such a degree, that they refused to part with their spices except for ready money. As this was a commodity with which Juan de Nueva was very scantily provided, he immediately returned to Cananore, where the raja dealt with him much more liberally, and furnished him with 1,000 quintals of pepper, 50 of ginger, and 450 of cinnamon, together with some cotton cloth, to be paid out of the proceeds of the goods which he had lodged for sale in a Portuguese factory established there. While occupied with these commercial transactions, Juan de Nueva received intelligence that a large fleet belonging to the zamorin was on the way to attack him. The raja who sent the intelligence advised him to land his men and ordnance, and make an entrenchment on shore, as the only effectual means of defence. He was not so easily intimidated; and, on the next day, when 100 vessels were seen entering the bay, he advanced to meet them, and poured in his shot with such good effect, that the Zamorin’s commander hung out a flag of truce, and, after a parley, agreed to quit the bay, and made the best of his way back to Calicut. This failure made such an impression on the zamorin that he proposed terms of accommodation. Juan de Nueva, probably feeling that his powers were not sufficient for transacting business of so much importance, set sail for Europe. His homeward voyage was prosperous, and he arrived safely with all his ships.

The accounts brought home by Cabral satisfied the King of Portugal that he must either fit out his expeditions on a scale of greater magnitude, or desist from the attempt to establish a trade in the East. The latter alternative was not to be thought of; for even under the most adverse circumstances the profit had counterbalanced the loss. It was therefore determined that the next expedition would be more adequate to the objects contemplated. These were not merely to overawe any of the native Indian princes who might be disposed to be hostile, but to chastise the insolence of the Moors by attacking their trade in its principal seat. Accordingly, the expedition now fitted out consisted in all of twenty ships. The command, at first offered to Cabral, was ultimately given to Vasco de Gama, who was to proceed directly to India with ten ships; while his brother, Stephen de Gama, and Vicente Sodre, were each to have the command of a squadron of five, and clear the sea of Moors, the one by scouring the Malabar coast, and the other by cruizing off the entrance to the Red Sea.

Vasco de Gama, honoured with the title of Admiral of the Eastern Seas, set sail with Vicente Sodre on the 3rd of March, 1502, before Juan de Nueva’s return; Stephen de Gama did not leave before the 1st of May. Having doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and sailed up the east coast of Africa, for the purpose of establishing factories at Sofala and Mozambique, Vasco de Gama, after waiting till he was joined by his brother, continued his course across the Indian Ocean, and had arrived within sight of Mount Dilly, a little north of Cananore, when he fell in with a large ship belonging to the Sultan of Egypt. It was richly laden, and had on board many Muhammedans of rank and wealth, bound on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He immediately attacked it, and captured it after a vigorous resistance. To his disgrace he made an atrocious use of his victory. Going on board, he called the principal passengers before him, and ordered them to produce whatever property they had in money or in goods. They declared that most of both had been left in Calicut; but on his throwing one of them bound hand and foot into the sea, and threatening to treat all the others in the same way, they became terrified, and yielded to his demand. He had thus secured a rich prize by questionable means, and ought at all events to have been satisfied with it. Instead of this he acted as if he had thrown aside every feeling of humanity, and resolved to play the barbarian, not for the profit, but merely for the pleasure it afforded. After dividing the plunder among his crews, and removing all the children to his own ship, in order to fulfil a vow which bound him to make monks of all the males he should thus capture, he forced all the passengers and crew of the Moorish vessel below, and, having nailed down the hatches upon them, told his brother to set it on fire. The fiendish order was executed; but the unhappy victims, rendered desperate, made superhuman efforts, and having broken open the hatches, succeeded in quenching the flames. Had they been the guiltiest wretches possible, instead of being for the most part inoffensive pilgrims, they had now surely done enough to save their lives. But no. Their destruction had been ordered and Vasco de Gama was not to be satisfied with less. Stephen, who proved himself no unwilling instrument in his brother’s hands, was told to board, and made the attempt, but met with such a reception from the Muhammedans, when they saw that no mercy was to be expected, as compelled him to retire. Had De Gama been acting under a sudden burst of passion, he had now full time to cool, for night came on, and nothing more could be done till morning. When he rose, it was only to repeat his inhuman order: the vessel was again boarded and set on fire, and 300 persons, of whom thirty were women, were burned to death, or drowned, or slaughtered. Of all who were in the vessel when the capture was made, not a soul escaped except the children, whom this bloody baptism initiated into the Romish faith.

After this infamous transaction one almost shudders to mention the name of Vasco de Gama, but the course of the narrative cannot in the meantime proceed without him. In his next proceeding, the caution which he used, when he thought it possible that his own life might be in danger, contrasts strangely with the recklessness he showed when iniquitously disposing of the lives of others. Having anchored off Cananore, he desired an interview with the raja; but as the captivity he had suffered at Calicut on his first voyage seemed still uppermost in his mind, he adopted the device of having a wooden bridge, which projected a considerable way into the water. At the end of this bridge, which was covered with carpets, a pavilion was reared to form the hall of audience. The raja made his appearance first, attended by 10,000 nairs, and advanced to the pavilion amid the beating of drums and flourishes of trumpets. De Gama came accompanied by all his boats, adorned with flags, and took his place in the pavilion, under a salute of artillery. The result of the interview was a treaty of amity, and the establishment of a Portuguese factory at Cananore.

From Cananore De Gama continued his course to Calicut, and, making his appearance unexpectedly in the roads, captured several small boats, containing about fifty natives. Whatever just cause of quarrel he may have had with the zamorin, these poor creatures were not implicated, and yet, on not obtaining redress for the destruction of the Portuguese factory, and the loss of lives occasioned by it, he hung them up at the yard-arm, and, after they were dead, cut off their arms and feet, and caused them to be carried ashore, with a message to the zamorin, that similar treatment was in reserve for himself for his repeated breaches of faith. To show that he was in earnest, he ordered three ships to stand in as near as possible to the town, and open their fire upon it. The royal palace was one of the many buildings thus demolished. Without waiting to ascertain the effect, he left Vicente Sodre with a squadron to scour the coast and destroy the Moorish trade, and set sail for Cochin. Here matters were easily re-established on their former friendly footing, mutual presents were exchanged, and a commercial treaty of a more formal nature than that previously existing was concluded.

The next proceeding of the zamorin was very inexcusable, and, indeed, looks as if he had determined to put himself entirely in the wrong. Hearing that De Gama was lading at Cochin, he sent a messenger, inviting him to Calicut, and promising that everything would be arranged to his entire satisfaction. This was rather a slender foundation on which to negotiate; but peace with Calicut was felt to be so desirable that De Gama determined to make one effort more to secure it, and set out alone, leaving all his other ships behind. The temptation was too strong for the fickle and tortuous court of Calicut; and De Gama, instead of the friendly reception which he had anticipated, was set upon by a large fleet of small vessels, and very narrowly escaped being made prisoner. Further negotiation was of course impossible, though he ought certainly to have disdained to take the petty revenge of putting the Zamorin’s messenger to death.

The details of the conflicts which ensued possess little interest. In one of them De Gama, after putting to flight a large number of small vessels, captured two large Moorish ships, which proved valuable prizes, both of them being richly laden, while on board one of them was an image of gold of thirty pounds weight, with emeralds for its eyes, a robe curiously wrought and set with precious stones for its covering and on its breast a large ruby. Having again visited Cananore, and united with its raja and that of Cochin in forming a kind of triple alliance, for mutual defence, De Gama, leaving Vicente Sodre with his squadron, sailed for Europe on the 20th of December, 1503, but did not reach Portugal till the following September. He had again proved himself an able navigator; but his proceedings had rather tarnished than increased his fame. His sovereign, however, was satisfied; and rewarded him with the title of Count of Videgueira.

Before De Gama departed, the Raja of Cochin had made him aware of threatening messages which he had received from the zamorin. The peril to which a faithful ally was thus exposed, entitled his case to a more careful consideration than it received, and he was left exposed to the full fury of the zamorin’s revenge. Nor was it long before it overtook him. De Gama’s departure was too favourable an opportunity to be lost, and hostile preparations on a most formidable scale were immediately commenced. In the vicinity of Ponany, about sixteen leagues north of Cochin, 50,000 men were assembled. Before commencing operations the zamorin asked nothing more than the surrender of the Portuguese who had fixed their residence in Cochin. The population were urgent that the demand should be complied with, but the raja stood firm, and, though his force was comparatively insignificant, advanced to the encounter. The contest, however, was too unequal; and he was driven from post to post, till he was at last obliged to abandon his capital, and seek an asylum in the island of Vaipi, or Vipeen, in its vicinity.

While in this extremity he received no support from Vicente Sodre, who kept cruizing about making captures, but on some shallow pretext or other refused to give any direct assistance. Powerful aid, however, was approaching. Nine ships had sailed from Lisbon, in three equal squadrons, under the respective commands of Alonso or Alfonso Albuquerque, Francisco Albuquerque, and Antonio Saldanha. The last was to cruize in the mouth of the Red Sea; the others were to proceed directly to India. Francisco Albuquerque arrived first, and with a considerable addition to his squadron, in consequence of having fallen in with some of the ships belonging to Vicente Sodre. This powerful reinforcement completely changed the aspect of affairs, and the zamorin was defeated at every point. Triumpa, in the joy of his heart, not only conferred new privileges on the Portuguese, but gave them permission to build a fort.

On the arrival of Alfonso Albuquerque new energy was thrown into the Portuguese operations, and many successful expeditions were made both by land and sea. The effect of these was manifested in various ways. In the south Coulan, or Quilon, then under female government, made a voluntary offer to lade two ships, and consent to the establishment of a factory; while the zamorin, dispirited by a series of disastrous defeats, was compelled to sue for peace. It was granted, but on terms so disadvantageous, that he availed himself of the first pretext for a rupture, and was soon again at open war. For some reason not explained the two Albuquerques, at this very time, when their presence seemed more necessary than ever, set sail for Europe, leaving only Duarte Pacheco with the ship which he commanded, two caravels, and 110 men, for the defence of Cochin. Francisco Albuquerque appears to have perished in a storm, for he was never more heard of; Alfonso, reserved for greater things, arrived in safety, bringing with him for the king forty pounds of pearls, a diamond of remarkable size, and two horses, a Persian and an Arab, the first of the kind which were imported into Portugal.

The Portuguese in the East

The Zamorin had become convinced that he would never be able single-handed to overcome the Portuguese, and therefore, in again preparing to take the field, made it his first business to strengthen himself by entering into a coalition with neighbouring states. In this he found little difficulty, for the Portuguese were not only viewed with jealousy as strangers, but had pursued a very reckless course at sea, attacking and making prizes of all vessels of whatever country, whenever they found any pretext for stigmatizing them by the name of Murs. We have already met with instances of this kind candidly confessed, or rather complacently dwelt upon by themselves; and it can scarcely be doubted that the instances which they have not recorded were still more numerous. Be this as it may, the coalition soon assumed a very formidable appearance; and while a numerous fleet, provided with nearly 400 cannons, prepared to bombard Cochin from the sea, an army, estimated at 50,000, began to approach it by land.

Triumpara was dismayed, and apparently with good reason, for not only was the enemy in overwhelming force, but his subjects, under the influence of terror, began to desert. The only person whose courage remained unshaken was the Portuguese captain, Duarte Pacheco, who, when the raja came to him in the greatest alarm, and spoke of surrender, scouted the idea, assuring him that a valiant defence would certainly prove successful. This was no empty boast. Pacheco made all his arrangements with so much skill, and carried them out with so much resolution, that the confederates were ultimately obliged to retire with a severe loss. Attempts were repeatedly made to renew the attack, but the result was always the same; and the Zamorin with his allies had the mortification of seeing all their efforts baffled by a mere handful of Europeans. Seldom has there been a more striking example of what one daring spirit can accomplish than was furnished by Pacheco in this struggle. In the course of it the Zamorin had lost 18,000 men, and was now so humbled as gladly to accept of terms of peace from his own tributary Raja of Cochin. As we shall not again meet with Pacheco, we may here conclude his history. It is a melancholy one. A fleet of thirteen ships, of larger dimensions than had ever before been built in Portugal, having arrived under the command of Lope Soarez, Pacheco, though treated with merited distinction, was superseded, and invested with the government of El Mina, on the west coast of Africa. Here it was thought that his private fortune, to which he was too heroically disposed to give much attention, would be improved. This object was entirely defeated by a violent faction, which first thwarted his measures, and then had the audacity to seize his person on a false charge, and send him home in chains. After languishing for a time in prison he obtained an honourable acquittal, but it was too late. The ungrateful return for his distinguished services had broken his heart, and he died either in prison or shortly after he was released from it.

Lope Soarez, soon after his arrival, moved up to Calicut, and was met by a messenger from the Zamorin, who was now willing to comply with every demand made upon him except one. This was to deliver up an European, a native of Milan, who had entered his service, and taught him the art of casting cannon, along with other important naval and military improvements. To his honour the Zamorin demurred to the delivery of an individual whose only offence was the ability and fidelity with which he had served him. Soarez, unable or unwilling to appreciate the honour and justice of the Zamorin’s refusal, immediately bombarded the town, and laid the greater part of it in ashes. This work of destruction accomplished, he immediately proceeded to another, and treated the town of Cranganore, which had adhered to the Zamorin, in the same way. His next exploit began more ominously, but ended still more triumphantly. In sailing north from Cranganore to attack Ponany, he was met by the Zamorin’s fleet, and driven into a bay. Here he found himself in imminent peril; for in addition to the fleet before which he had been obliged to retire, seventeen large Murish ships, well provided with cannon, and carrying 4,000 men, were waiting to receive him. A fierce conflict ensued; but ultimately, with a very trifling loss to the Portuguese, all the ships of the enemy with their rich lading were destroyed. Soarez, thinking he had now done enough to justify his return, left four ships at the fort of Cochin, and set sail for Europe with the remainder. His arrival at Lisbon, on the 22nd of July, 1506, was gladly welcomed, as no richer cargo in goods and prizes had ever returned from the East.

The next Indian armament fitted out by Portugal was on a more magnificent scale than any which preceded it. It consisted of twenty-two ships, carrying, in addition to the crew, 1,500 fighting men, and was placed under the command of Don Francisco Almeida, who bore for the first time the proud title of Viceroy of India. His arrival in India took place in 1507. The first land reached was the island of Anchediva, where, as it occupied a commanding position on the coast, and had become a common station for Portuguese vessels, he built a fort. On arriving at Cochin, where he intended to have rewarded Triumpara, the old and faithful ally of the Portuguese, with a crown of gold, set with jewels, which he had brought from Portugal for the purpose, he was astonished to find that he had retired from the world, to spend the remainder of his days as a solitary devotee. His nephew was reigning in his stead, and received the crown from the hands of Almeida during a pompous ceremonial. It is probable that he did not understand all that was meant by it, for from that day he was to be regarded, not as an independent sovereign, but a vassal holding his crown during the pleasure of the Portuguese.

Before Almeida arrived, the Zamorin had once more placed all his fortunes on a venture; and, as if fully aware that the struggle in which he was about to engage would prove decisive of his fate, left no means unemployed to insure success. At this time a powerful dynasty was reigning in the Deccan over territories which included a considerable tract of sea-coast, from Goa northwards, while the kingdom of Gujarat or Cambaya had risen to be a great naval power. Both of these states had been wantonly attacked by the Portuguese, and their commerce had suffered severely before they were aware of having done anything to provoke hostility. Naturally exasperated, they entered with readiness into a combination intended to banish the Portuguese for ever from the Eastern seas. Even with these auxiliaries the zamorin did not feel secure. He therefore extended his views much further, and entered into communication with the Sultan of Egypt.

The Mameluke sultan at once responded to the call thus made upon him, and the more readily that his attention had previously been drawn to the subject from another quarter. The success of the Portuguese in the East was already telling powerfully against the lucrative trade which the Venetians had long been accustomed to regard as their special monopoly. Goods brought into the Levant, either overland or by way of Alexandria, had so heavy a burden of transport and taxation to bear, that they could not possibly compete with the comparatively inexpensive process of a single voyage, however long, from the port of lading to the port of delivery. The Venetians thus found themselves undersold in every European market, and became perfectly aware that they must either destroy the Portuguese trade or be destroyed by it. Their first endeavour was to work upon the fears of the King of Portugal and the Pope, by instigating the sultan to send a threatening letter to Lisbon and Rome, intimating that if the Portuguese did not forthwith relinquish the new course of navigation, by which they had penetrated into the Indian Ocean, and cease from encroaching on a commerce which had been carried on from time immemorial between Asia and his dominions, he would put to death all the Christians in Egypt, Syria, and Palestine, burn their churches, and demolish the holy sepulchre itself.

This menace having failed to produce the effect anticipated, the Venetians did not scruple to urge the sultan to take the remedy into his own hands, and, in accordance with the invitation given by the zamorin, become a powerful auxiliary in the crusade against the Portuguese. There was only one difficulty. The Egyptian fleet in its actual state was overmatched by that of Portugal. If the war was undertaken, the first thing necessary would be to build a new fleet. Egypt had no proper timber for the purpose. How, then, was it to be obtained? The Venetians were not to be balked of their object by such an obstacle. Had they not whole forests of naval timber in Dalmatia? and having gone so far, why need they scruple to place them at the disposal of the sultan, who, after hewing down as much as he required, might easily transport it by a well known route to the Red Sea? Such was the plan actually adopted; and Europe saw the maritime power which had taken a prominent part in the crusade of Christian princes against Muhammedans, as zealously engaged in promoting a Muhammedan crusade against Christians.

By these extraordinary means a fleet of twelve ships of war having been built and fully equipped, set sail for the Indian coast in 1507. It carried 1,500 men, and was commanded by an experienced officer, whom Ferishta calls Amir Hussain, and the Portuguese Mir Hashim. It sailed first to Gujarat, where Mullik Eiaz, admiral of Mahmud Shah I, who was then reigning sovereign of that kingdom, was prepared to join it with a squadron which would more than double its numbers and strength. Almeida seems not to have been aware of the danger which threatened him till he was almost overtaken by it. His tactics obviously should have been to attack the Turkish fleet on its passage. In this way it might not have been difficult for him to beat his enemies in detail. He may have been prevented by obstacles of which we are not aware; for after he had resolved to pursue this obvious course it was found to be too late. His son Lorenzo, whom he had despatched with eleven sails to intercept the sultan’s fleet, having been detained, first off Cananore, where he attacked and, with scarcely any loss, destroyed a native squadron far larger than his own, and afterwards at Anchediva, where sixty Murish and native vessels had made an attempt on the fort, arrived in the harbour of Choul, or Chowul, about twenty-three miles south of Bombay, just in time to see the Egyptian admiral enter it. A fierce conflict immediately ensued, and was continued without any decided advantage till night separated the combatants. Next day an immense preponderance was given to Amir Hussain by the arrival of Mullik Eiaz with the Gujarat fleet. Lorenzo, still undismayed, immediately renewed the battle, but found the Egyptian admiral a much more formidable antagonist than he had been accustomed to deal with. After another day’s fighting had left the victory undecided, the Portuguese ships were so much shattered that it was determined by a council of war to take advantage of the night and effect a retreat.

Lorenzo, who had previously incurred his father’s displeasure, by declining on one occasion to force the fleet of the Zamorin to action, was very reluctant to take a step which would justly be considered as an acknowledgment of defeat, and continued to linger on till the day began to dawn. He had by this time consented to retreat, and several of his vessels had set sail. Unfortunately when he began to follow, his ship grounded, and after some ineffectual efforts to tow it off, the rest of the squadron continued their flight, and left him to his fate. He might have escaped in his boat, but at once made up his mind to sell his life as dearly as possible, and die at his post. The enemy at first attempted to board, but was so bravely resisted, that he adopted the more cautious method of keeping at a distance and pouring in his shot. Lorenzo, having been struck by a ball, which broke his thigh, ordered himself to be placed against the mainmast, and there remained, encouraging his men, till another ball broke his back and killed him. The ship shortly after sunk. Of its crew of 100 men only nineteen escaped. According to Fariay Sousa, the whole loss of the Portuguese amounted only to eighty-one men, while the enemy lost 600. The Muhammedan account given by Ferishta is very different. After mentioning that the Portuguese flag-ship, valued at a crore of rupees (a million sterling), was sunk, and every man on board perished, he adds, that the Muhammedan fleet returned victoriously; for although 400 Turks were honoured with the crown of martyrdom, no fewer than 3,000 or 4,000 Portuguese infidels were at the same time sent to the infernal regions.

THE PORTUGUESE CAREER OF CONQUEST

THE Portuguese were now fully committed to their career of conquest, and successive armaments, on a grand scale, quitted Lisbon for the East. One of these, under Tristan da Cunha, consisted of thirteen vessels, and 1,300 fighting men. Another, of twelve vessels, sailed under the command of Alfonso Albuquerque, who, after performing several exploits on the African coast, and taking effectual measures to cripple the trade from India by the Red Sea, continued along the coast of Arabia, and entered the Persian Gulf, determined to strike a still more fatal blow. There the Muhammadan traffic with India was still active. Albuquerque, in whom great military and political talents were combined, at once perceived how an effectual interdict might be laid upon it. The only thing necessary for this purpose was to make himself master of the city of Ormuz, situated on an island in the mouth of the gulf. In this way he could completely command the passage, and place the trade at his mercy. After the capture of Muscat, and several other places of minor importance, he proceeded to the execution of his grand enterprise. His design had been penetrated; and instead of being able to take the city by surprise, as he had anticipated, he found it defended by a fleet of 400 vessels, sixty of them of large size, and by an army of 30,000 men. To show how far he was from being dismayed at these preparations, he immediately advanced into the harbour, and anchored among five of the largest ships, firing his cannon as if in defiance. After waiting for a message from the king, but receiving none, he sent him his ultimatum, which, considering the relative position of the parties, was certainly of a very extraordinary and arrogant description. It was to the effect that he had come with orders to take the King of Ormuz under his protection, on the condition of paying a reasonable tribute to Portugal, or to treat him as an enemy by declaring war against him.

There was little room to doubt which of the alternatives, thus arbitrarily placed before him, the sovereign of Ormuz would accept, but as his fortifications were not yet completed, it was important to gain time; and solely with that view, instead of sending a resolute defiance, he entered into negotiation. Albuquerque saw what was intended, and at once brought matters to a point, by telling the messenger that when he next came, it must be with either an acceptance of peace, or a declaration of war. There had never been any room for choice, and the message accordingly was, that Ormuz was in use not to pay, but to receive tribute. Albuquerque lost not a moment in commencing a cannonade which must have caused fearful slaughter, as not only were the walls, shore, and vessels crowded with combatants, but even the tops of the houses were covered with spectators. The Persians, in the meantime, were not idle, and made two furious onsets; but neither in weapons nor discipline could they cope with the Portuguese, and the sea is said to have been coloured with their blood. With the loss of only ten men, Albuquerque burned, sunk, or otherwise destroyed all the ships of Ormuz, and received a flag of truce with an offer to comply with all his demands. The terms were, the annual payment of about £2,000 as tribute to the King of Portugal, and ground on which to build a fort. No sooner were the terms arranged, than the fort was immediately commenced, and carried on with such rapidity, as to assume shape in the course of a few days.

Khoja Attar, who governed Ormuz in the name of Saifaddin, who was a minor, had no sooner made the arrangement than he repented of it. From the destruction which Albuquerque had caused, he had formed an extravagant idea of the force under his command; and was astonished above measure, on learning that it did not muster above 460 men. He therefore prepared anew for hostilities, and dexterously availed himself of a mutinous feeling among the inferior Portuguese commanders, to escape the consequences. Albuquerque, after venting his rage by some very barbarous proceedings, was obliged to depart and spend the winter at Socotra, which had become a Portuguese conquest. Having again returned, he gave formal notice of his arrival to the government of Ormuz, and was immediately informed that the tribute stipulated would be paid, but that he would not be permitted to build the fort. He would fain have resumed the siege, but more important interests required his presence in India. He had been appointed viceroy.

Almeida, in the midst of his preparations to avenge the death of his son, received the mortifying intelligence that he had been superseded in his government. Obedience to the royal mandate was, of course, his duty; but both revenge and ambition pointed to an opposite course, and he determined to follow it at all hazards. On the pretext that the public interest would not allow him, in present circumstances, to demit his authority, he refused to resign the insignia of office; and leaving Albuquerque, who was in no condition to force him, to devour his disappointment as he could, set out without him at the head of a powerful armament. While proceeding northwards along the coast, in search of the combined Egyptian and Gujarat fleets, he stopped at Anchediva, and there received information which determined him to make the important commercial city of Dabul, situated on the coast about halfway between Goa and Bombay, the first object of attack. It belonged to a king of the Deccan, who had joined the Zamorin’s confederation, and assisted him with ships. In Almeida’s view this was sufficient to justify any severity; and, without any note of warning, he suddenly commenced his attack both by sea and land, and never desisted till he had laid Dabul in ashes. An immense plunder might have been obtained; but fearing the effect upon his troops, he chose rather to burn than to preserve the booty.

From this achievement, which certainly added little to his laurels, Almeida proceeded to Diu, finely and strongly situated on an island of the same name, on the southern shore of the peninsula of Gujarat. Here he found Amir Hussain and Mullik Eiaz, with their fleets. Had they remained in their position under the batteries of Diu, as the Gujarat admiral strongly urged, Almeida, if he had ventured an attack at all, must have made it under great disadvantage; but the Egyptian admiral, who was naturally of a chivalrous temper, and perhaps also rendered over-confident by his recent success, when Lorenzo was slain, disdained to be cooped up in a harbour, when he could meet his enemy in the open sea, and sailed out, displaying more valour than discretion. The conflict, after raging furiously for some time, terminated in a glorious victory gained by the Portuguese, who, however, converted it into an indelible disgrace, by an atrocious massacre. Several days after the battle was fought, and they had sailed away for Cananore, they murdered all their prisoners in cold blood. There is no possible excuse for the atrocity; and the only explanation given is that Almeida’s revenge could not otherwise be satiated. The defeat had so dispirited Mullik Eiaz that he made overtures of peace. They were readily listened to; and he might have obtained advantageous terms, if he would have stooped to the meanness of delivering up his Egyptian colleague. As much to his honour as to the disgrace of the Portuguese for making such a demand, he at once gave it a peremptory refusal.

Almeida, having returned to Cochin, was again pressed by Albuquerque to resign the viceroyship, which he had persisted in holding, in defiance of the mandate of his sovereign. So far from complying, he took the extraordinary step of seizing the person of his competitor, and sending him as a prisoner to the fort of Cananore. He would probably have completed the treasonable course to which he was now committed, by declaring himself independent, had not the opportune arrival of Don Fernando Coutinho, with a large fleet and extraordinary powers, enabled him to act with effect as a mediator. The result was, that Almeida abandoned all idea of resistance, and, resigning the insignia of office, took his departure for Europe. Before leaving, a native conjuror had told him that he was not destined to pass the Cape of Good Hope. He had passed it, however, and had begun to make merry with the prediction, when an event took place which terminated his career somewhat ignobly. The three ships he had with him anchored in Saldanha Bay, a little north of the Cape, and sent ashore a watering-party. One of the ex-viceroy’s servants insulted one of the natives, and was roughly handled by them in return. Almeida, contrary to his wish and better judgment, was induced to take part in this petty squabble, and having gone ashore, was returning with the cattle carried off in a foray, when the natives, who had been lying in ambuscade, rushed out upon him. They were armed only with pointed stakes, but these they used so effectually, that fifty of the Portuguese soon lay dead at their feet. Among them was the ex-viceroy himself, mortally wounded by a thrust which pierced his throat.

Albuquerque, now fully installed as viceroy, was bent on following out his career of conquest, and sailed for Calicut, before which he appeared on the 2nd of January, 1510, with thirty vessels and 1,800 men, together with a number of natives who followed in boats, allured by the hope of plunder. Coutinho had arrived from Europe with an earnest longing for Eastern renown; and now that the opportunity offered, he had set his heart on signaling himself as the captor of the royal palace. Albuquerque indulged him by giving him the command of 800 men, after administering all the cautions which his superior talents and experience suggested. Unfortunately Coutinho thought only of his prize, and rushed forward as if he had been running a race rather than fighting a battle. Never looking behind him, he forced his way to the palace, and set about installing himself in it, for the purpose of celebrating his triumph. His infatuation was soon perceived by the native troops, who took advantage of it so silently and effectually, that Coutinho did not awake to a sense of his peril, till he found himself hemmed in by thousands of natives, and deprived of every outlet. Albuquerque, in exerting himself for his relief, was so severely wounded in the head by a stone, and in the throat by a dart, that he was borne senseless to the shore. Coutinho, and several young nobles from Lisbon, fell in the palace fighting desperately; and the whole detachment would have perished to a man, had not a large body of reserve arrived and obliged the enemy to retire. Notwithstanding this disastrous retreat, the inhabitants suffered much more severely than the Portuguese, and saw the greater part of their city laid in ruins.

Ormuz was the next place to which Albuquerque turned his attention. He had there been baffled by the supineness or treachery of his officers, particularly Lope de Soarez and Juan de Nueva, and obliged, in consequence, to leave one of the main avenues of Muhammadan trade still open. He accordingly began to make such preparations for a new attack upon it as must have proved successful, when his attention was attracted to another quarter, and he resolved to employ his armament against Goa. This town which, from having afterwards become the seat of Portuguese government in the East, makes some figure in history, was finely situated on an island at the mouth of an estuary, forming one of the very few good harbours which occur on the western coast of the Indian peninsula. At this time (1510) it was included in the territories of one of the kings of the Deccan, who had his capital at Bijapur, and is usually called by Portuguese writers Sabay or Savay, though his proper name or title was Yusuf Adil Shah. He had recently wrested it from the Raja of Onore. The grounds of Albuquerque’s quarrel with Yusuf are not very apparent; and it is probable that he did not deem it necessary either to allege or invent any. His only object was to extend the Portuguese rule; and if he could succeed, he regarded it as scarcely worth while to inquire whether the means which he employed could be justified. One inducement may have been, that, as a new conquest, Yusuf’s possession of Goa must have been somewhat insecure. Another inducement was, that the Raja of Onore, the legitimate owner, was ready to assist to the utmost in recapturing it. He found a third auxiliary capable of rendering still more effectual assistance in Timoja, who figures sometimes as Raja of Canara, a district which was bounded by Goa on the north, and sometimes simply as a privateer, roaming the seas with a powerful fleet, and living by plunder.

Thus assisted, Albuquerque made his appearance off the coast in the beginning of 1510. At first anticipating a valiant resistance, he sent his nephew along with Timoja to take soundings. They discovered a fort which was well provided with guns, and defended by 400 men, and not only had the hardihood to attack, but the good fortune to capture it. This seemed a most auspicious commencement, and proved only the first of a series of fortunate events which followed rapidly, and put Albuquerque in possession of this most important locality, before he was required to strike a blow. According to the Portuguese accounts, some conjuror or fakir, whose predictions were implicitly believed, had announced that Goa was destined shortly to become subject to foreigners. On the faith of this prediction, the inhabitants thought it a stroke of good policy, instead of enduring the miseries of a siege which must ultimately be successful, to make a voluntary surrender. Accordingly, to the great but most agreeable surprise of Albuquerque, he was received ashore by the population as if he had been their native prince, conducted in state to the gate, when he received the keys, and thereafter put in possession of the palace. The Muhammadan account says nothing of the conjuror; and with far greater probability represents the capture as the necessary result of a surprise. The fort captured by Timoja and Albuquerque’s nephew may have given them complete command of the city, and thus rendered defence impossible.

At this time, however, it was lost almost as early as it had been gained. Yusuf Adil Shah having died, was succeeded by his son Ismael Adil Shah, who, about four months after the hasty surrender of Goa, collected an army estimated at 60,000. Kumal Khan, the general to whom this army was intrusted, suddenly made his appearance, and conducted the siege with so much ability, that Albuquerque, after twenty days, finding his communication with the fleet seriously threatened, was glad to evacuate the place. But he had no idea of finally abandoning so valuable a prize. In the course of the same year, having collected all his forces, including several additional ships which had arrived from Portugal, he set sail from Cananore with a fleet of twenty-three ships, and 1,500 fighting men. After landing at Onore, to assist at the celebration of Timoja’s marriage with the daughter of a native queen, he hastened off to Goa, and, anchoring before it a second time, immediately prepared for the assault. It took place before daybreak, and with such success, that the Portuguese entered the city along with those of the defenders who had been stationed outside. For a time every inch of ground within the city was disputed, and more especially at the palace the fight was furiously renewed, till the defenders, fearing that their retreat to the mainland might be cut off, quitted the place in the utmost confusion. The enemy lost 6,000; the Portuguese only fifty. Not one Mur was left alive; but the natives were treated with great moderation. Besides recovering their property, they had the satisfaction of being placed under the government of their countryman Timoja, who ruled more equitably than might have been anticipated from his predatory habits. Before departing, Albuquerque declared his intention to make Goa the capital of Portuguese India.

The remaining exploits of Albuquerque, though they had not India for their theatre, are so intimately connected with its history, that a short account of them is here subjoined. After returning to Cochin he began to prepare another armament, and gave out that it was destined to act against Aden, which was then, as it is now, the key to the navigation of the Red Sea. The importance of the object was sufficient to justify all the preparations which he was making; but while pretending to look to the west, his eye was fixed in an opposite direction. The city of Malacca, situated on the peninsula of the same name, had long been the most important emporium of the rich countries lying further east than India. The Murs were still carrying on a lucrative traffic in that quarter; and by means of it were almost able to compensate themselves for all the losses which they had sustained from the Portuguese. This consideration was of itself sufficient to determine Albuquerque to undertake the important expedition which he was now meditating, though the direct benefits which his own country might expect to derive from it were of themselves a sufficient inducement.

On the 2nd of May, 1511, Albuquerque set sail from Cochin with nineteen ships and 1,400 fighting men. Of these, however, 600 were natives of India. Malacca was at this time under the government of a king of the name of Muhammad, who had treacherously imprisoned a number of Portuguese, commanded by an officer called Diego Lopez de Siqueira. To avenge this outrage was the ostensible object of Albuquerque’s expedition. It was one of the boldest he had ever undertaken, as the city itself is said to have contained 100,000 inhabitants, and was now defended by 30,000 soldiers, and 8,000 cannon. With all these means of defence, Muhammad, aware of the kind of enemy he had to deal with, did not feel secure, and sent a messenger to the viceroy to intimate that, if he came for merchandise, it was ready at his command. Albuquerque replied that the merchandise he required was some Portuguese left there by Siqueira, and that on the delivery of them he would be prepared to say what more he wanted. After some parleying, the captives were delivered, and Albuquerque sent his ultimatum. It demanded compensation for the outrage, and for the expenses incurred in obtaining redress, and a site for the erection of a Portuguese fort. This last proposal the king refused to entertain, and Albuquerque immediately prepared to compel him. The Malays are said to have fought well, but it is difficult to believe it; for with all the aid which they could derive from artillery, poisoned arrows, poisoned thorns, and mines of gunpowder laid in the streets, their tens of thousands gave way before a mere handful of Portuguese, and the viceroy took triumphant possession of the city. While here he both received and sent several embassies; among the latter, one to Siam, and another to Pegu. He also sent out several navigators on exploring expeditions. One of these is said to have been commanded by Magalhaens, to whom it suggested the idea of his subsequent celebrated circumnavigation.

On the voyage home, Albuquerque lost his finest ship, which was nearly cut across the keel on a sharp rock off the coast of Sumatra. In this perilous position he was obliged to pass the night; and when the morning dawned, was seen performing an act of humanity and heroism, by sheltering with his arms a young girl whom he had saved in the midst of the confusion. When he arrived in India, he found that advantage had been taken of his absence. Adel Khan had resumed the siege of Goa with an army of 20,000 men, and the Zamorin was again in arms. Goa was easily relieved; and the Zamorin, despairing of success, retired from the contest. The subversion of the Mameluke dynasty in Egypt had deprived him of any further assistance from Amir Hussain, and on looking round he saw no quarter to which he could appeal for new aid. According to Ferishta, this humbling conviction so completely overwhelmed him, that his health gave way, and he died of a broken heart.

The attack on Aden, which Albuquerque meditated, had been postponed to that of Malacca, but by no means abandoned. Accordingly, on the 18th of February, 1513, he appeared before it with a fleet of twenty sail, having on board 1,700 Portuguese, and 800 natives of India. He lost no time in landing, and hastened forward, in the hope that, by applying scaling-ladders to the walls, he might gain possession of the place. He had underrated its strength, and the valour of its defenders, and was obliged to retire with a loss too severe to leave him any inclination to renew the attempt. He compensated himself in some degree by entering the Red Sea, which then, for the first time, saw a European vessel on its bosom, and made several valuable prizes. After remaining for some time at the island of Kamaran, he returned and again looked in upon Aden, but found that in the interval its fortifications had been so much improved that it would have been madness to attack it. He therefore passed on, and continued his voyage to India. On reaching Gujarat he made an ineffectual application for permission to build a fort at Diu, but did not attempt to enforce it, as he was intent on another project, on which his heart had long been set, and all the more earnestly that his attempts to accomplish it had hitherto been frustrated. This project was the command of the Persian Gulf by the capture of Ormuz. His third attempt upon it was made in March, 1514. The circumstances were opportune; and when he demanded permission to complete the fort, the governor, though disposed to resist, felt he had not the means, and was obliged to comply. The name of Albuquerque was now famous all over the East; and even Ismael, the founder of the famous Persian dynasty of Sufi, sent him an ambassador with valuable presents, and concluded a treaty with him. Before leaving Ormuz, Albuquerque not only finished his fort, but succeeded in inducing or forcing the king to lodge all his cannon within it. In this way Portuguese supremacy was completely established.

Under Albuquerque the Portuguese power extended more widely, and was more firmly seated, than before or since. It cannot, however, be with any propriety styled an empire, as it was not composed of contiguous territories, but rather consisted of a vast number of isolated forts, scattered over an immense extent of coast, and situated at wide distances from each other. The sites were for the most part admirably chosen, and gave a complete control over all the great maritime thoroughfares from the East Indies to Europe. In some respects this mode of rule has its advantages over territorial possession. It is more easily acquired, and admits of being maintained at a cheaper rate; but its stability is very precarious. The moment the command at sea is lost, it is necessarily extinguished. This, however, was an event of which, during Albuquerque’s regency, there were no symptoms; and the fact that they began to be manifested not long after he disappeared from the scene, serves to impress us with a higher idea of the wisdom and vigour of his government. When his countrymen hailed him as “Great,” all impartial observers of his exploits were ready to echo their acclamations. His greatness, however, was now drawing to a close.

While at Ormuz he had suffered much from sickness, and the symptoms had become sufficiently serious to make him hasten his departure. There was no reason, however, to suspect a fatal termination. He had only passed his sixtieth year, and seemed unbroken in constitution. In truth, it was not disease but grief that killed him. It is said that he had applied to his sovereign for the title of Duke of Goa. His enemies took advantage of the circumstance to insinuate that he was cherishing schemes of ambition, and had manifested, by the arrogance of his application, the treasonable purpose which he had at heart. Once Duke of Goa, he would establish himself in that Eastern metropolis, and rule the whole East as absolute master. There was little plausibility in these insinuations; but there was enough to form the groundwork of a successful court intrigue. Albuquerque, while oppressed by sickness, was yet dreaming of a ducal title, when he received the mortifying intelligence that the only reward which he was to obtain for all his services was a summary dismissal. He was no longer viceroy; and as if this was not enough, he had been superseded to make way for his mortal enemy, Lope Soarez. The shock was more than he could bear; and when the vessel in which he sailed arrived off Goa, he was in a dying state. On the first news of his dismissal, he is said to have exclaimed, “See how it is! Love to my fellow-men has brought me into bad odour with the king, and love to the king into bad odour with my fellow-men. To the grave, then, old man, for it is now high time: to the grave!” One of his last acts was to write a touching letter to King Emanuel, in which, recommending his son to his protection, he says: “I bequeath to him my property, which is of small amount; but I also leave him the obligation which my services impose, and this is great. In regard to the affairs of India, they will speak for him and for me.” It was thought he might be able to reach Goa, but death advanced with such rapid strides, that he breathed his last almost immediately after the vessel had crossed the bar, on the 16th of December, 1515. He was buried with great pomp at Goa; but in accordance with a request in his will, his remains, in 1566, were transported to Lisbon.

After the death of Albuquerque, the Portuguese power began visibly to decline. “Up to this time,” says Faria y Sousa, “the gentlemen had followed the dictates of true honour, esteeming their arms the greatest riches; from this time forward, they so wholly gave themselves up to trading, that those who ought to have been captains became merchants.” There was, in short, a general and eager scramble for riches, from the highest to the lowest class of officials; and public was held subordinate and made subservient to private interest. The very first proceedings of Soarez gave evidence of his incapacity. He had brought with him a fleet of thirteen sail, and, having increased it by reinforcements to twenty-seven sail, proceeded, in accordance with the orders which he had received at Lisbon, on an expedition to the Red Sea, with the view of encountering a large fleet which the Sultan of Egypt was said to be fitting out at Suez. On arriving off Aden, he found a large breach in the fortifications, in consequence of a siege which it had lately sustained; and so conscious was the governor of its defenceless condition, that he actually made Soarez an offer of the keys. The compliments with which they were offered were so soothing to his vanity, that he returned the keys thus tendered, and desired the governor to keep them for him till his return, as he was at present on an expedition which admitted of no delay. He accordingly entered the Red Sea, and, after cruizing about to no purpose, retraced his steps to Aden, and was very much astonished when, on announcing his arrival to the complimentary governor, he received, instead of the keys, a proud defiance to come and take them. The explanation was soon given. The walls, which were defenceless on his former visit, had, in the interval, been thoroughly repaired. A bold stroke might yet have put him in possession of the place, but Soarez was not the man to make it; and he moved off to attempt some petty capture. Even this was not permitted him, for nearly a third of his fleet was destroyed in a storm, and he hastened back to Goa with the remainder.

The native princes, who had been overawed by Albuquerque, were not slow to discover the character of his successor, and take advantage of it. Both Goa and Malacca were seriously threatened, though as much of ancient discipline still remained to ward off the danger. The only occurrences to compensate for these disasters were the submission of the King of Ceylon, who, in 1517, agreed to become tributary to Portugal, and allow a fort to be built at Colombo; and the successful voyage of Fernando Perez de Andrada, who, in the same year, penetrated to Canton, and laid the foundation of a lucrative trade.

Diego Lopez de Sequeira, who succeeded Soarez, was a man of a similar temper, and instead of doing anything to retrieve the honour of the Portuguese arms, tarnished them still further by a dastardly retreat from Diu, after appearing before it with one of the largest armaments which had ever sailed under Portuguese colours in the Indian Ocean. He had in all forty ships, manned by 3,000 Portuguese, and 800 natives. On his arrival, on the 9th of February, 1521, he sent a messenger to Mullik Eiaz, with the old request for permission to build a fort, and a menace, that if it were refused, he would force it. The Gujarat admiral told him to do his worst; and must have been as much pleased as surprised when, instead of being attacked in the style of which Almeida and Albuquerque had given examples, he saw the Portuguese fleet weigh anchor, and gradually disappear from the coast. The fortifications, it seems, had been strengthened; and Lopez, after endeavouring to shelter himself by calling a council of war, which sanctioned his cowardice, decided that the attack was too hazardous to be attempted.

This disgraceful retreat was not lost upon the native princes, and in the course of the same year the Portuguese saw several formidable combinations formed against them. Mullik Eiaz deemed it unnecessary any longer to seek the protection of his batteries at Diu, and, sailing out, converted the Portuguese retreat into a flight, taking one of their ships and dispersing the rest. Not satisfied with this success, he continued his course to Choul, where the Portuguese were engaged in building a factory, again defeated them, and remained off the port for twenty days, cutting off all communication between the factory and the Portuguese fleet, which kept hovering outside, without offering battle, or attempting to force a passage. In proportion as Portuguese pusillanimity increased, their assailants became emboldened, and Adil Khan, in 1522, made his appearance once more in the vicinity of Goa. The city was too well fortified to run much risk, but all the adjoining territory was occupied, and once more acknowledged the supremacy of the King of Bijapur.

In 1527 the hopes of the Portuguese were much revived by a decisive victory gained at Choul over the Gujarat fleet, which consisted of eighty-three vessels. Of these, seventy-three were burned, destroyed, or driven ashore. Hector de Silveira, the victor, following his advantage, proceeded up to the head of the bay, where Bombay now stands, to Tannah, and then northwards to Bassein, levying contributions from both places, and compelling both to become tributary. Three years after, his brother, Antonio de Silveira, with a fleet of fifty-one vessels, crossed the bar of the river Tapti, and, forcing his way up to Surat, sacked and burned it. In the following year Daman, a large town situated on the same coast, shared the same fate.

These, however, were only desultory attacks, preparatory to a great effort about to be made for the capture of Diu. The King of Portugal, irritated at having been so often baffled in his attempts to take it, sent out peremptory orders to obtain possession of it on any terms. The preparations were on a scale far exceeding in magnitude anything that the Portuguese had ever before attempted. The expedition had its rendezvous in Bombay harbour, where it mustered 400 vessels of all descriptions, having on board 22,200 men. Of these, 3,600 soldiers and 1,400 sailors were Europeans. On the 16th February, 1531, the expedition, commanded by Nunno de Cunha, governor of India, arrived off Diu. Nine days before, it had attacked the town and island of Bet, or Beyt, which lies not far from the south side of the entrance to the Gulf of Cutch, and was strongly fortified both by nature and art. It was taken with a loss of 18,000 men and sixty cannon to the enemy, and with the loss of only twelve men to the Portuguese. The victory, however, great as it seemed, was in fact a disaster. Among the twelve slain was Hector de Silveira, the hero of the fleet; while the time lost was so diligently improved by the enemy, that Diu was rendered all but impregnable. The defence was conducted by Mustapha Khan, a European Turk, with so much courage and ability, that all the efforts of the besiegers proved fruitless, and they found it necessary, at the end of a month, to retire. According to the Portuguese accounts, the strength of the place was the sole cause of failure; but the Muhammadan historians add that the immediate cause of raising the siege was the approach of Bahadur Shah, then ruler of Gujarat, at the head of a formidable army. This so frightened the Portuguese, that they made a precipitate retreat, leaving their guns behind them. One of these is said to have been “the largest ever before seen in India, and required a machine to be constructed for conveying it to Champanere.” The Portuguese, to avenge themselves for their defeat, burned a great number of towns upon the coast and committed fearful devastation.

Notwithstanding their discomfiture, the Portuguese had not abandoned the hope of being yet able to make themselves masters of Diu. If direct force failed, policy might yet succeed. Chand Khan, a brother of Bahadur, was at first set up as a competitor for the throne, and when this failed, a league was formed with Humayun, King of Delhi, who, regarding Bahadur as a revolted vassal, had invaded Gujarat. Bahadur, thus pressed on all sides, was obliged to make his choice between submission to the King of Delhi, and submission to the Portuguese. He preferred the latter; and accordingly, in 1534, concluded a treaty by which he ceded Bassein, which was thenceforth to be the only port at which vessels sailing from India were to pay duties and take out clearances. He further engaged not to assist the Turkish fleets in the Indian seas.

This treaty gave him only a very partial relief. It made the Portuguese his friends, but made him more obnoxious than ever to the King of Delhi, who, following up the advantages which he had gained, obliged him to take refuge in Diu. Here, as the assistance of the Portuguese was indispensable to him, he was obliged to purchase it by giving them permission to build a fortified factory. As the work proceeded Bahadur became more and more uneasy, and besides entering into communication with the Turks, is said to have formed a plot for the destruction of his Portuguese allies. The statements on the subject by the Portuguese and the Muhammadans vary so much, that it is difficult to pronounce between them. The probability is, that both parties were anxious to be quit of each other, and that thus there were plots and counter-plots. All that can now be considered certain is, that a fray commenced, and that Bahadur, who was on a visit to the Portuguese admiral, having fallen or leaped into the sea, a Portuguese sailor threw a boarding-pike at him, which pierced his skull, and killed him on the spot. Were the question to be decided on the principle of cui bono, the decision would necessarily be given against the Portuguese; for while Bahadur lost his life, they gained the island of Diu.

They had not been long in possession when an attempt was made to wrest it from them. It has been mentioned that when Bahadur repented of his concession to the Portuguese, he applied for aid to the Turks. Suleman the Magnificent was then upon the throne of Constantinople. The application therefore could not have been made under more favourable circumstances. Suleman was a great and a successful warrior, and his imagination fired at the idea of establishing an additional empire in the East. Before any steps were taken, the news of Bahadur’s death arrived, but this only confirmed the determination to fit out an armament on such a scale as would insure the conquest of Diu. For this purpose instructions were given to Suleman, the Egyptian pacha, to commence preparations immediately in the port of Suez. There a fleet of seventy-six galleys, having 7,000 Turkish soldiers on board, was forthwith equipped; and, sailing under the command of the pacha, arrived off Diu in the beginning of September, 1537.

Though the danger had been foreseen, the Portuguese councils were at this time so dilatory and distracted, that no adequate preparations were made to meet it. The government of India had just been conferred on Garcia de Noronha, and the time which ought to have been devoted to the supply of Diu with everything necessary to its defence was spent in petty squabbles between the old governor and the new. The consequence was, that when the Turkish fleet arrived, the garrison consisted only of about 600 men, many of them sickly. Nor was this the worst. Both ammunition and provisions were so deficient, that nothing could save the place from capture if the siege was persisted in or relief did not arrive. Nor was the Turkish the only armament which the Portuguese had to fear. A Gujarat army, estimated at 20,000 men, was in the vicinity, ready to co-operate with the besiegers.

Such was the apparently desperate state of matters when the governor, Antonio de Silveira, unable to maintain a footing in the town, shut himself up in the fort. In himself, however, he was equal to a host, possessing not only military talents of the highest order, but also the rare gift of infusing his own heroic spirit into all who were under his command. Not only was every soldier within the garrison prepared to do his duty, but the women, forgetting the feebleness of their sex, fearlessly encountered every danger, and worked with their own hands in repairing the walls as they crumbled beneath the powerful Turkish artillery. It is told of one lady, Anna Fernandez, wife of a physician, that by night she viewed all the posts, and during the assaults stood by encouraging the soldiers. She even saw her own son struck down by a cannon-ball, but, instead of giving way to the agony she must have felt, drew his body aside, returned to her post, and only after the assault had been repulsed went to bury him.

It was impossible, however, that the defence could last much longer. Every new assault thinned the numbers of the garrison, and scarcely as many remained as could make even a show of resistance, when a breach was made. The governor saw nothing before him but death or surrender, and was giving way to the gloomiest forebodings, when, to his unspeakable delight, the siege was raised. The Turkish commander, when dispirited by the failure of one of his greatest efforts, received the startling intelligence that a powerful Portuguese fleet was at hand; and, without staying to ascertain its accuracy, made off with the utmost precipitation. It turned out to be a false rumour, invented and circulated, strange to say, by Khoja Zofar, a renegade Turk, of Italian origin, who commanded the Gujarat forces. His pride had been repeatedly offended by the arrogance of Suleman Pacha; and he had, moreover, ascertained that the Turks were determined, if they gained the place, to retain it as a permanent possession. There was thus only a choice of masters; and as the Portuguese seemed the more tolerable of the two, Zofar had given them the preference.

After Khoja Zofar had rid himself of his Turkish allies by this stratagem, he entered into friendly communications with the Portuguese, but at the same time took several steps which convinced them that enmity was rankling at his heart. He was in the highest possible favour with the King of Gujarat; and feeling satisfied that sovereign’s complete ascendency in the peninsula would best secure his own aggrandizement, was prepared to adopt any means, however unscrupulous, that promised to expel the Portuguese. His first attempt was an infamous plot, in which he endeavoured to poison the water of an immense cistern which supplied the garrison, and to set fire to the magazine. When this plot failed, he attempted to build a wall which would have completely isolated the fort from the town. The Portuguese objected; and the foundation for a quarrel being thus laid, he had no sooner completed his preparations, in 1545, than he made an open declaration of war.

Mascarenhas, the commander of Diu, made the best arrangements possible in the circumstances; but his means being inadequate, he lost no time in acquainting Juan de Castro of his danger. Zofar, at the same time, aware of his advantage, resolved to assault the place before succour could arrive. With this view he prepared an immense floating battery, and, filling it with heavy artillery, caused it to be steered opposite to the sea-bastion, in the hope of making such a breach in it as would give him access into the fort. It proved a very clumsy device, for before he could bring it to bear the garrison made a night attack upon it, and, setting fire to it, blew it into the air. Zofar’s next plan was to complete the wall already mentioned, and to mount it with cannon, which kept up an incessant and crushing fire on the fort. One of the pieces of ordnance was of extraordinary size, and being managed by an expert French renegade, did considerable damage. Every shot from it is said to have shook the island, and made pieces of the fort to fly. Happily for the besieged, one of their shot killed the Frenchman, and the gunner who succeeded him managed so awkwardly that his great gun did more harm to his own party than to the Portuguese. While the siege was thus proceeding, the King of Gujarat arrived. It seems that Zofar had become so confident of success, that he had invited him to come and witness it. It proved hotter work than he had anticipated; and the pusillanimous prince was so terrified by a chance ball which lighted on his tent and killed one of his attendants, that he fled, and never looked behind him till he was far on the way back to his capital. A still more fortunate shot killed Zofar himself. This gave the exhausted garrison some respite; but it was of short duration, for Roumi Khan, Zofar’s son, succeeded him, and, not satisfied with the slow process which had hitherto been pursued, made a general assault. It failed, but scarcely a day passed without some new attempt to force an entrance into the place.

The siege had now lasted several months, while the preparations at Goa proved so dilatory, that the only relief sent to the garrison consisted of two insignificant detachments, the one commanded by Fernando de Castro, the governor’s son, and the other by Don Alvaro. The latter consisted of 400 men, and brought supplies of ammunition and provision, when they were just on the point of being exhausted. The Portuguese were so elated that they disdained to be cooped up any longer in the fort, and almost compelled Mascarenhas against his better judgment to lead them out. They paid dearly for their rashness, and retreated with such precipitation, that they had the greatest difficulty in preventing the enemy from entering the fort along with them. Among the slain was the governor’s own son.

This domestic misfortune seems to have had the effect of hastening De Castro’s departure from Goa. What the cause of delay was is not explained; but it gives a poor idea of his energy and resources to learn, that at the end of eight months, while one of the most important stations which the Portuguese possessed in the East, and the acquisition of which had cost them more than any other, was in the most imminent danger, his preparations were for the first time considered to be complete. His fleet, which consisted of ninety-three sail, lost some time in committing barbarities at various localities on the coast, but at last, in 1545, was observed from Diu. The result was not long doubtful. After relieving the garrison, De Castro marched out at the head of his troops and gained a signal victory. The fall of the town followed of course, and the Portuguese acted, as they almost invariably did on such occasions, by indulging in horrid atrocities. “The women escaped not the fate of the men, and children were slain at their mothers’ breasts.”

The victory which De Castro had gained was not very remarkable. His troops bore a considerable proportion to those of the enemy, and with the superiority of discipline which they possessed, it would have been disgraceful to him not to have succeeded. But the Portuguese, in consequence of the decline of their power, had for several years before enjoyed few opportunities of celebrating a victory, and therefore entered readily into the feelings of the governor, who thought himself entitled to be received at Goa with all the magnificence of a Roman triumph. The gates and streets were hung with silk, all places resounded with music and salvos of cannon, and vessels gaily adorned covered the harbour. The governor on arriving at the gate, under a rich canopy, was presented with a crown of laurel, with which he encircled his head, and a branch of it which he carried in his hand; in front walked one Friar Anthony, with a crucifix, as he had borne it in the fight, and beside him an officer bearing the royal standard; behind was Jazar Khan, a Murish chief, followed by 600 captives in chains. The governor walked on leaves of gold and silver, and rich silks, the ladies from the windows throwing flowers upon him, and sprinkling him with sweet water. On reading the account of this pompous procession, Catherine, Queen of Portugal, shrewdly remarked, that “De Castro had overcome like a Christian and triumphed like a heathen.” He did not long survive his triumph; and was on his death-bed when the honours sent out from Portugal to reward his victory were announced to him at Goa. He must have been a vain man, but this failing was compensated by many good qualities. He was so zealous for the public service, that grief for the miserable condition into which it had fallen is said to have broken his heart; and he gave the best proof of his honesty by dying in extreme poverty. One of his last acts was to make a formal protest, which he desired to be recorded, to the effect that “he had never made use of the king’s nor any other man’s money, nor driven any trade to increase his own stock.” The practices of which he thus solemnly declared his innocence, undoubtedly prevailed to a great extent among the Portuguese officials, and go far to account for the rapidity with which Portugal fell from the high place which she once held in the East. From time to time, however, she seemed to resume her ancient spirit, and showed how much she might still have been able to accomplish, had men of spirit and integrity, instead of mere court intriguers, been placed at the helm of affairs.

In 1570, when Luis de Ataida was viceroy, one of the most formidable combinations into which the native princes had ever entered, was triumphantly defeated. It was headed by the Deccan Kings of Ahmednagar and Bijapur, and a new Zamorin, who, undeterred by the fate of his predecessor, was bent on recovering all that had been wrested from him. Their common object was to expel the Portuguese from the country, but each had his own separate grievance; and hence, though the attack was simultaneous, it was made at three important stations—by the King of Ahmednagar, at Choul—by the Zamorin, at Chale, where a fort had been erected which overawed his capital at Calicut—and by the King of Bijapur, at Goa. The last, as in every respect the most memorable, is the only one to which it is necessary here to advert.

Ali Adil Shah, who was then sovereign of Bijapur, having assembled an army of 100,000 foot and 35,000 horse, 2,140 elephants and 350 pieces of cannon, suddenly descended from one of the passes of the Western Ghats into the Concan, and then, turning south, marched without opposition upon Goa. No preparations had been made for this formidable attack; and the governor, on mustering his European troops, found that they did not exceed 700. Besides these he had about 1,300 monks, whose zeal and fanaticism compensated in some degree for their want of discipline, and a considerable number of natives, on whom no great confidence could be placed. His great security was in his insular position, which, so long as he held the command at sea, made it impossible for the enemy to attempt an approach on any side but the one which lay nearest to the mainland. Against this side, accordingly, Ali Adil Shah directed all his efforts, and with such overpowering numbers and perseverance, that 5,000 men succeeded in passing over into the island. It was only a temporary success; for the Portuguese, aware that if they made good their footing the place must surrender, mustered all their strength, and by one great effort, in which the most heroic valour was displayed, cut their assailants to pieces, or drove them into the sea. Ali Adil Shah had no heart to renew the combat; and, after lingering for a short time, took his final departure. More than 12,000 of his troops had perished. The attacks of Choul and Chale were equally unsuccessful. New lustre was thus added to the Portuguese arms; and many who looked only at the surface imagined that their power had never been established on a firmer basis. Those who looked deeper could not but see that the whole fabric was undermined and threatening ruin.

It would be out of place here to examine in detail the various causes to which the overthrow of Portuguese supremacy in the East is attributable. A few, however, may be briefly mentioned. One of the most obvious is the comparative indifference of the Portuguese themselves. When they first doubled the Cape of Good Hope, India was the great goal for which they were striving, and all the exertions of which they were capable were exclusively devoted to it. By the discovery of Brazil a new interest was created, and gradually became the more absorbing because the more lucrative of the two. A small state like Portugal was unable to superintend the affairs of two mighty empires, situated at the opposite extremities of the globe; and experience seems to have proved that in giving the preference to the American continent she made the wiser choice. Both empires, indeed, are now lost to her; but in that of the West her own race of kings still sits enthroned.

Another cause of Portuguese decline in the East may be found in the state of European politics. In 1580, after the short and inglorious reign of Henry the Cardinal, Portugal lost her national independence, and became subject to the bigoted and tyrannical rule of Philip II of Spain. She was thus obliged to follow in the wake of her more powerful neighbour, and see all her interests sacrificed in the prosecution of objects from which she could not possibly reap any advantage. While her domestic interests were sacrificed, it is not to be supposed that those of her colonies were duly attended to. In connection with the degrading bondage to which Portugal was thus reduced, we see a third cause of rapid decay in the hostility which Philip’s arrogance provoked in other European states. The United Provinces of Holland, after throwing off his yoke, continued at open war with him, and saw no quarter in which they could so effectually resent the wrongs, and indemnify themselves for the losses they had suffered, as in the East. To the same quarter the eyes of the English had long been turned; and after they had triumphed gloriously over the Armada, which was to have enslaved them by a double yoke of the most intolerable description—the yoke of Spain and the yoke of Rome, all the friendly or prudential considerations which had prevented them from claiming a share in the Portuguese Indian monopoly ceased to have any weight, and their determination to establish an independent traffic in the East was openly avowed. Thus, at the very moment when Portugal was scarcely able to maintain her position, even had she been left alone to deal with native powers after her own fashion, she saw herself brought face to face with two most formidable competitors.

A Passage to India

HENRY VII of England had the reputation of being one of the most enlightened monarchs of his age, and in him, accordingly, Columbus hoped to find a patron at once able to appreciate his grand scheme of discovery, and disposed to advance the funds necessary for carrying it into effect. Unfortunately Henry, with all his talents, was of a penurious, avaricious temper, and remained so long in suspense between the advantages to be gained by the enterprise if it should succeed, and the pecuniary loss to which it would subject him if it should prove a failure, that he lost the opportunity, and only signified his intention to accept the services of the great Genoese navigator when it was no longer possible for him to obtain them. Before Bartolommeo Columbus could return to announce the success of his mission to England, the discovery of the New World had already been achieved, and his illustrious brother was prosecuting a second voyage.

The disappointment which Henry felt appears in the readiness with which he entered into a rival scheme of maritime discovery. A Venetian of the name of John Cabot, or Giovanni Caboto, had been settled for some time at Bristol, and to him and his three sons, Ludovico, Sebastiano, and Sanzio, the English monarch, on the 5th of March, 1496, granted a charter, empowering them, in the most unlimited terms, to make voyages of discovery in his name. There was no great liberality in the grant, for it cost him nothing; and while he refused to bear any part of the expense, he was niggardly enough to stipulate for a fifth of the whole profit. Simply for the privilege of sailing under the English flag, and becoming governors under the English crown of any lands which might be discovered, they were to bear the whole loss, and in the event of profit allow another to share it with them. It gives a high idea of the spirit of maritime enterprise in England at this period, that even when subjected to such rigorous terms, a Venetian stranger, and his three sons, were able to fit out five vessels for an experimental voyage to the West.

As a mercantile speculation the voyage entirely failed; but by the discovery of Newfoundland and of the west coast of North America, a foundation was laid for the series of colonies or plantations which, under the united influences of freedom and commerce, have made the language and not a few of the most valued institutions of England triumphant in the western world. The accounts of the early proceedings of the Cabots are so indistinct, that it is difficult to say whether one or two voyages were made. If, as seems most probable, there were two, the latter, which took place in 1498, was commanded by Sebastian, whose fame as a navigator ultimately threw that of his father and brothers into the shade. At this time, however, the encouragement he received was so small, that he quitted the service of England for that of Spain, which showed the high sense entertained of his merits by giving him a seat in the council of the Indies.

About the same time when England was attempting, though with slow and faltering steps, to follow Columbus in his career of discovery, Portugal was not so entirely absorbed in the prosecution of discoveries in the direction of Africa as to be insensible to the vast changes which might be anticipated from the discovery of a western world. If, according to the idea then generally entertained by geographers, the northern extremity of America formed a rocky headland, with an open sea beyond it, then all the efforts which Portugal had made to discover a passage to India by the south-east must prove in a great measure abortive, because a much nearer passage would enable the maritime nations of Western Europe to secure all the advantages for which she had been striving. This was a danger too obvious and imminent to be overlooked; and therefore the Portuguese no sooner were acquainted with the discovery of the New World, than they determined on an exploratory voyage to the north-west, for the purpose of ascertaining whether such a practicable passage existed, and if it did, of securing a monopoly of it on the ground of priority of discovery.

The only Portuguese navigators whose names figure in the voyages undertaken with this view, were a father and three sons, belonging to the illustrious house of Cortereal. Of the father, John Vaz Cortereal, scarcely anything is known, and hence, probably because fiction has been employed as a substitute for fact, it has been confidently maintained that he reached the shores of Newfoundland even before Columbus made his first voyage. The proceedings of his son Gaspar are better authenticated. In 1500, having been furnished by King Emanuel with two ships, he touched, first at Terceira, one of the Azores, and then sailed north-west, in the hope of finding an open ocean, by which he could penetrate directly to India. Having reached land in the parallel of 50°, he pursued his course northwards along the coast. Both from its position, and the description given of it, it must have formed part of Labrador, which, accordingly, in the earliest maps, bears not this name, but that of Corterealis. He advanced to latitude 60°, but being deterred by the rigour of the climate and floating mountains of ice from proceeding farther, he seized fifty-seven of the natives, and carried them off to Portugal, where, to his disgrace and that of his sovereign, they appear to have been employed as slaves. He arrived at Lisbon on the 8th of October, 1501, and immediately resolved on another voyage. Early in spring, having completed his preparations, he again set sail with his two vessels, and steered directly for the most northerly point he had previously reached. So far the voyage was prosperous; but immediately after, a violent storm, in a sea covered with icebergs, obliged the vessels to separate. That in which Gaspar sailed was never heard of.

As soon as tidings of the disaster reached Lisbon, a younger brother, of the name of Miguel, hastily fitted out three vessels, and set sail, with the double object of searching for the missing ship, and following up the course of discovery which Gaspar had begun. On arriving at that arm of the Atlantic which branches off between the coasts of Greenland and Labrador, the vessels parted company, in order that each might explore a separate entrance. The expedient seemed judicious, but the result proved disastrous. Only two of the vessels returned to Portugal: in the third Miguel appears to have met the same fate as Gaspar. A third brother, Vasco Eanes, inspired by the heroic spirit of his family, volunteered to head a new expedition; but the king, thinking that enough had already been sacrificed in enterprises the success of which seemed now more than problematical, refused his consent, and the Portuguese desisted from any further attempt to discover a north-west passage to India.

Shortly after the accession of Henry VIII to the throne of England an attempt was made to revive the spirit of maritime enterprise, which his father during the latter years of his life had allowed to languish, but other occupations more congenial to his taste, though less conducive to his honour, soon began to engross Henry’s attention, and during his long reign English maritime discovery presents an almost continuous blank. The only important exception is an expedition to the north-west in 1517. Sebastian Cabot had probably expected that Spain, to which he had transferred his services, would employ them in an endeavour to ascertain the practicability of a north-west passage. If this was his hope, it was disappointed; for the magnificent territories which Spain was acquiring in the more genial latitude of Mexico, and the immense wealth which had in consequence began to flow into her treasury, left her little inclination to prosecute a hazardous and doubtful enterprise in the frozen regions of the North. Cabot, however, having gained his earliest laurels in this field, was determined not to abandon it, and returned to England, where he had the satisfaction to learn that his services, again volunteered, were accepted. He was confident of success; and after entering Hudson’s Bay, considered himself on the fair way to Cataia, or China, to which, according to his own strong expression, he “both could and would have gone,” when the opposition of Sir Thomas Peart, under whom, a Vice-Admiral of England, he held only a subordinate command, and a failure of courage on the part of his crew, obliged him to return.

The failure of this expedition seemed to justify Henry in the apathy he had previously manifested, and ten additional years had passed away, when his attention was once more called to the subject by an English merchant of the name of Robert Thorne, who, after a long residence at Seville, had finally settled in London. This gentleman, while in Spain, had formed a close connection with Sebastian Cabot, and become thoroughly imbued with his ideas as to the practicability of reaching the East Indies by some northern outlet from the Atlantic. Seeing how completely the subject had fallen into abeyance, he presented a memorial to the king, in which, after advertising to the natural desire which all princes have to extend their dominions, and which Henry himself had evinced by his recent expedition to France, he thus proceeds:—

“Now I, considering this your noble courage and desire, and also perceiving that your grace may, at your pleasure, to your greater glory, by a godly meane, with little cost, perill, or labour to your grace, or any of your subjects, amplifie and inrich this your sayd realme, I know it is my bounden duety to manifest this secret unto your grace, which hitherto, as I suppose, hath beene hid; which is, that with a small number of ships there may be discovered divers new lands and kingdomes, in which without doubt your grace shall winne perpetual glory, and your subjects infinite profite.”

The so-called “secret,” thus announced rather more pompously than the comparatively trite ideas composing it seem to justify, was simply the possibility of reaching the East by a voyage northwards. The memorial accordingly thus continues:—“There is left one way to discover, which is into the Northe; for that of the foure partes of the world, three partes are discovered by other princes. For out of Spaine they have discovered all the Indies and Seas Occidentall, and out of Portingall all the Indies and Seas Orientall; so that by this part of the Orient and Occident they have encompassed the world.”

The North being thus the only field of maritime discovery not foreclosed, the memorial, after adducing several pithy reasons why Henry should immediately occupy it, enters into an explanation of the different courses which vessels fitted out for discovery might take, and the results that might be anticipated. The first object, of course, is to pass the pole; but of this, though really the crowning difficulty, Mr. Thorne makes light, and then proceeds:—

“If they will go toward the Orient, they shall enjoy the region of all the Tartarians that extend toward the mid-day, and from thence they may go and proceed to the land of the Chinas, and from thence to the land of Cathao Orientall, which is of all the maine land most Orientall that can be reckoned from our habitation. And if from thence they do continue their navigation, following the coasts that return toward the Occident, they shall fall in with Malaca, and so with all the Indies which we call Orientall, and following the way may return hither by the Cape of Buona Speransa; and thus they shall compass the whole world. And if they will take their course after they be past the Pole toward the Occident, they shall go to the backe side of the New found land, which of late was discovered by your grace’s subjects, until they come to the backe side and South Seas of the Indies Occidentall. And so continuing their voyage, they may return through the Streight of Magellan to this countrey; and so they compass also the world by this way. And if they go the thirde way, and after they be past the Pole, go right toward the Pole Antartique, and then decline toward the lands and islands situated between the Tropikes and under the Equinoctiall, without doubt they shall find there the richest lands and islands of the world, of golde, precious stones, balmes, spices, and other things that we here esteeme most; which come out of strange countries, and may return the same way.” The conclusion is:—“By this it appeareth, your grace hath not onely a great advantage of the riches, but also your subjects shall not travell half of the way that other doe which go round about as aforesayd.”

This memorial, though containing little that is new and much that is erroneous, seemed worthy of quotation, both because it gives a good account of the views entertained by the best geographers of the period, and because it appears to have had the effect of bestirring Henry to make a final effort of maritime discovery. As it led to no important results, and the accounts of it are scanty in the extreme, it is unnecessary to notice it further. In similar silence lies buried another expedition, undertaken, a few years after, at the expense, not of the crown, but of a wealthy inhabitant of London, who gave it an appearance so attractive that the youths of family and fortune were induced to embark along with him. Neither he nor his associates were well qualified for the task which they had undertaken; and disaster followed disaster till famine reduced them to the dire necessity of cannibalism. They were preparing to cast lots for the next victim, when the capture of a French vessel furnished a small remnant with provisions and the means of regaining their native land.

On the accession of Edward VI, in 1547, an era more favourable to maritime enterprise was anticipated, and would doubtless have been realized had his life been prolonged. Sebastian Cabot, as ardent and sanguine as ever, had arrived; and the youthful monarch, smitten with kindred enthusiasm, had appointed him grand-pilot of England, with a liberal salary. Under the stimulus thus applied, a new scheme of discovery was soon arranged and zealously supported by London merchants, “men of great wisdom and gravity.” Robert Thorne, in the memorial above quoted, had pointed out three different directions in which experimental voyages might be made. Hitherto only one of them had been tried, but the results were most discouraging; and it was therefore resolved that the next voyage should change the direction, and endeavour to discover a passage to the Indies by the north-east.

The requisite funds, amounting to £6,000, were raised in shares of £25 each, apportioned among the members of a kind of joint-stock company formed for the purpose. With this sum three vessels were built, and fitted up in a style with which Sebastian Cabot, who was governor of the company, and undertook the management of its nautical affairs, was so well pleased as to declare that “the like was never in any realm seen used or known.” The chief command was given to Sir Hugh Willoughby, who sailed in the principal vessel. Under him, and in command of the second vessel, was Richard Chancellor. Besides a series of instructions drawn up by Cabot for the guidance of the officers and crew, the expedition was furnished by King Edward with a letter addressed to all “kings, princes, rulers, judges, and governors of the earth,” requesting them “to permit unto these our servants free passage by your regions and dominions, for they shall not touch anything of yours unwilling unto you,” and promising “by the God of all things that are contained in heaven, earth, and the sea, and by the life and tranquillity of our kingdoms, that we will with like humanity accept your servants if at any time they shall come to our kingdoms.” On the 10th May, 1553, the three vessels dropped down to Greenwich, where the court and a vast assemblage from all quarters witnessed their departure amid salvos of artillery and the shouting of the mariners, “in such sort that the sky rang with the noise thereof.”

After leaving the river, the vessels were detained on the Essex coast till the 23rd, when, the winds becoming favourable, they began their course across the German Ocean. On the 14th of July they had reached lat. 68°, among the islands of the Norway coast, and not long after came within sight of the North Cape. Their intention was to remain together; but in the event of their being obliged to part company, Wardhuys, in Finnmark, was appointed as the port of rendezvous. The contingency thus provided for happened sooner than any had anticipated, and with very fatal results. Shortly after passing the cape, the weather became so stormy that the vessels were forced out to sea, and driven at the mercy of the winds. Willoughby, whose skill and caution seem not to have been equal to his courage, carried so much sail that Chancellor was unable to keep up with him, and never saw him more. His fate remained unknown till some Russian sailors discovered two tall vessels frozen in on the coast of Lapland. On entering them, they found the lifeless bodies of Willoughby and his companions. Along with the journal of the voyage was a note, showing, by its date, that the crews were alive in January, 1554. They had reached the coast of Nova Zembla without being able to land upon it, and then penetrated still deeper into the abysses of the Arctic Ocean. Convinced at last of their mistake, they retraced their steps, and in returning westward unfortunately missed the opening of the White Sea, within which they might have found a sheltered anchorage. On reaching the coast beyond, they had resolved to make it their winter-quarters, intending to prosecute their voyage in the ensuing spring. Before it arrived the intense cold had frozen them to death.

Chancellor was more fortunate. By keeping near the coast he had reached Wardhuys without much difficulty; and after waiting seven days in the hope that the other vessels might arrive, continued his course “till he came at last to the place where he found no night at all, but a continued light and brightness of the sun, shining clearly upon the great and mighty sea.” Ultimately he was carried into the White Sea, and anchored in the harbour of Archangel. On learning that it formed part of the vast dominions of the Czar of Muscovy, he determined on visiting his capital of Moscow; and by means of the letter which he carried from his sovereign, and his own address, obtained such a favourable reception from the reigning sovereign, Ivan Vasilovitsch, as enabled him to lay the foundation of the Muscovy or Russian Company on very advantageous terms. The important traffic secured by this company withdrew attention, for a time, from the north-east passage; and many were even so sanguine as to imagine that by this company alone it might be possible to establish an intercourse with India, by which the necessity of any other passage would be in a great measure superseded.

The plan was to make Archangel the starting point, and then, striking the Volga where it first becomes navigable, sail down into the Caspian, and thus form a communication with the ancient overland routes from the East. Journeys, with a view to the establishment of this communication, were actually undertaken, and several of the travellers employed penetrated far into the interior of Asia. The whole scheme, however, was a delusion. The Venetians, when in complete command of the overland traffic by much shorter and more convenient routes, had been driven from all the leading markets of Europe by the Portuguese. How, then, could the Russian Company hope to compete with them, when, in addition to the carriage paid by the Venetians, they were burdened with at least 2,000 miles of expensive transport, part of it over an ocean always dangerous, and during half the year rendered inaccessible by mountains of ice?

These considerations soon opened men’s eyes to the hopelessness of establishing a profitable traffic with India by the way of the White Sea, and the exploration of the north-east and north-west passages was resumed more ardently than ever. The latter passage, indeed, continued to be explored long after the impossibility of using it as an ocean thoroughfare to the East was universally recognized; and even in our own times, in the formidable task of exploring this passage, some of our most distinguished British navigators have earned their best laurels, and some of them, too, have unhappily perished. The north-east passage, which at one time seemed the more hopeful of the two, was sooner abandoned, but not before the utmost skill and hardihood both of British and Dutch seamen had been expended upon it in vain. Some of their attempts, considered as preliminary steps in the process which eventually brought them into direct collision with the Portuguese, are here entitled to at least a passing notice.

About the time when the Muscovy-Indian scheme proved abortive, some accurate knowledge was obtained of the great Asiatic rivers, the Obe and Yenisei, and Gerard Mercator, the celebrated cosmographer, when consulted on the subject, gave it as his opinion that at no great distance beyond the point which navigators had already reached, a great headland, then supposed to form the north-east extremity of Asia, would be found. This headland once passed, nothing more was necessary than to turn south, and steer directly for Japan and China. This was an enormous blunder, for it cut off, at one sweep, more than a fourth of the whole circumference of the globe; but it is only fair to Mercator to observe, that it was not so much his blunder as the common blunder of the time, for all his contemporaries shared it with him.

In accordance with Mercator’s opinion, the great problem of a north-east passage to India now seemed on the eve of receiving a favourable solution. In 1580, two English vessels, under the command of Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman, sailed for Wardhuys, which they reached on the 23rd of June. A few days after, they continued their voyage eastward, and on approaching Nova Zembla narrowly escaped being embedded in a field of ice. After disentangling themselves by taking a very circuitous route, they proceeded along an open passage, and had the mortification to discover that it formed a kind of cul de sac, from which they had no possible outlet except by retracing their steps. This accomplished, they had a most favourable wind, but found it impossible to avail themselves of it in consequence of enormous icebergs which blocked up the course, leaving no space between, and along which they could not steer without risking almost certain destruction. Thus obstructed, and obliged, as they piously express it, to wait with patience, “abiding the Lord’s leisure,” they did not arrive at Vaigatz Straits till the middle of August. It was consequently too late to advance further eastward, and the expedition returned without having added one particle to the information previously possessed. The English, having found more necessary and hopeful employment in another quarter, desisted for many years from all further attempts to discover a north-east passage. The task, however, instead of being abandoned, was only transferred to new hands.

The United Provinces, after a long, arduous, and noble struggle, had achieved their independence, and rid themselves for ever of the galling yoke of Spain. Even while groaning under that yoke, the untiring industry of the population, and the narrow scope for exercising it in a country hemmed in on all sides, and constantly threatened by the sea, had turned their attention chiefly to commerce. On the broad expanse of the ocean they found their true thoroughfare, and gradually rose to a foremost place among the maritime nations of Europe. Their own consumption was not great, but their vessels were found in all seas acting as common carriers for other nations. In this way they had obtained a large share in the Indian trade, which had its emporium at Lisbon, to which the goods were brought from the East by the Portuguese, and from which they were afterwards diffused over Europe. At the very time when the Dutch secured, the Portuguese were deprived of their independence, Philip II of Spain having usurped the crown of Portugal, and incorporated its dominions with his own. Lisbon having, in consequence, fallen into the hands of their vindictive enemy, the Dutch were, in 1584, completely excluded from it. The injury thus inflicted on their trade was at first severely felt, but the only effect was to inspire them with a determination not to rest till they had succeeded in establishing a direct communication with the East. The route by the Cape of Good Hope was now well known; and as all the Portuguese possessions had fallen under the power of their declared enemy, they could have no scruple in attacking them. In the first instance, however, they imitated the example of the English, and endeavoured to discover an independent route by the north-east.

The first expedition, undertaken by a private company, with the sanction but without any direct assistance from the States, consisted of four vessels, under the command of William Barentz. They sailed from the Texel on the 5th of June, 1594, and on approaching Nova Zembla separated, two of the vessels taking the old route toward Vaigatz Straits, while the other two, under the command of Barentz, adopted the bolder course of sailing northwards, with the view of keeping clear of the masses of ice which clustered round the island. Barentz does not seem to have justified his high reputation as a seaman. By the 1st of August he had not advanced beyond the north extremity of Nova Zembla, in lat. 77°, and then, deterred by the violence of the wind and the large masses of floating ice, prematurely determined to return. The other detachment was more persevering. After working their way through Vaigatz Straits, and succeeding, with much difficulty, in sailing round some immense icebergs which had threatened to bar their future progress, the two vessels arrived at a blue open sea, and saw the coast trending rapidly southwards. It was only the Gulf of Obe; but, led astray by Mercator’s blunder, they believed that they had doubled the north extremity of Asia, and consequently discovered the passage of which they were in search. It might have been expected, that instead of resting satisfied with this conviction they would have endeavoured to make assurance doubly sure, and prevented the possibility of mistake by advancing some hundred leagues into the sea, which, if their opinion had been correct, would have carried them directly to Japan. Instead of this they immediately retraced their steps, and having again joined Barentz on the coast of Russian Lapland, arrived in the Texel on the 10th of September.

The tidings which they brought diffused universal joy; and the States-general, no longer satisfied with giving a bare sanction, took the lead, in 1595, in fitting out a new expedition on a more extensive scale. It consisted of six vessels, intended not merely to explore, but to commence the traffic which, according to the general belief, was about to be permanently established, and pour the wealth of the East into the ports of Holland. Such being the expectation, the arrangements were adapted to it; and the vessels, instead of being constructed as before to bear the rude shocks of the polar ice, were framed in the manner best adapted for the rich cargoes of merchandise with which they were laden. The very idea of such an expedition had originated in a gross error; but, as if this had not been sufficient, the period of sailing was protracted to the 2nd of June, when nearly two months of the season most favourable for a northern voyage were already past. The vessels never got farther than the eastern entrance of the Straits of Vaigatz. When they reached it, they were met by immense bodies of floating ice, against which they struggled manfully till the end of September. Then at last the conviction forced itself upon them that they were labouring in vain, and that nothing more remained than to turn their face homewards.

Not one of the results so confidently anticipated had been obtained. In proportion to the extravagance of the expectation was the bitterness of the disappointment. The States-general at once disconnected themselves with the project, and deemed it sufficient to hold out a pecuniary reward to any individual or association who should first succeed in effecting the passage which they had themselves attempted in vain. The town of Amsterdam at once took up the gauntlet which the government had thus in a manner thrown down; and wisely, in the meantime, renouncing all idea of traffic, fitted out two vessels solely for exploration. The command of the one was given to William Barentz, whose previous voyage had already been mentioned; and of the other to John Corneliz Ryp. As some security against that longing for home, under the influence of which the previous expeditions were supposed to have returned prematurely, all the individuals belonging to the expedition were unmarried.

The vessels sailed on the 10th of May, 1596; and, in order to avoid the dangers of the coast, sailed nearly due north. Currents and easterly winds carried them so far west that they came in sight of the Shetland Isles on the 22nd. Here the commanders, who appear to have had equal powers, differed in opinion. Barentz wished to tack about, and steer due east; while Ryp, who argued that in this way they would only become entangled, like previous expeditions, among the floating icebergs of the Vaigatz Straits, insisted on sailing N.N.E. His opinion prevailed. They were soon in the depths of the Arctic Ocean, and after a dangerous and dreary navigation, constantly obstructed by fields of ice, reached the coast of Spitzbergen, in lat. 80°. They now changed their course, and, sailing south, arrived at Bear Island, which they had previously passed. Here the captains again differed in opinion; and, as on this occasion neither would yield, the vessels parted company. Ryp proceeded north, with the view of following the east coast of Spitzbergen, and was ultimately obliged to retrace his steps without doing anything which his contemporaries deemed worthy of being recorded. Barentz sailed E.S.E., and met with a series of adventures which, though they form a most interesting narrative, would here be out of place, as they throw no new light on the attempted north-east passage to India. Suffice it to say, that, after wintering on the shore of Nova Zembla, he was obliged, in the June of the following year, to leave his ship embedded in the ice, and set out, with the survivors of his crew, to make the voyage homewards in two small boats. Anxiety, fatigue, and the severities of the climate had destroyed his health, and he died by the way. His companions, after enduring almost unparalleled hardships, reached Kola, where, to their astonishment and delight, they found the other vessel from which they had been so long parted, and proceeded in it to Amsterdam.

The existence of a north-east passage was now virtually disproved; and though subsequent explorations took place, particularly by the celebrated navigator, Henry Hudson, who was employed for this purpose on one occasion by the English, and on another by the Dutch, it is unnecessary to trace them. All reasonable men were now satisfied that no north-east passage to India, practically available for the ordinary purposes of commerce, existed; and the only choice now remaining was between the old beaten track of the Portuguese by the Cape of Good Hope, and a south-west passage by the southern extremity of the American continent. Of the latter passage a brief account must now be given.

The practicability of a south-west passage to the East was proved at a comparatively early period. Fernando de Magellan, or more properly Magalhaens, a native of Portugal, after serving five years in the East under Albuquerque, and distinguishing himself at the taking of Malacca, being dissatisfied with the niggardly manner in which his services had been rewarded, made an offer of them to the Emperor Charles V. They were accepted; and he immediately presented the project of a voyage, by which he proposed to reach the East Indies by sailing southwest. The great object of attraction in that quarter was the Moluccas, which grew the finest spices. These were then in such high and general request, that there was no branch of the Portuguese trade of which a share was more eagerly coveted. There was one great obstacle in the way. The Pope had divided the world into two halves. How could Charles, as a professed champion of the church, appropriate any portion of the half which his holiness had given to the Portuguese? The true way of loosing the knot was to cut it, and to maintain that, in this instance, as in many others, the Pope had ignorantly and arrogantly made free with a property which did not belong to him. The time for such a solution of the difficulty was rapidly approaching, but it had not yet arrived; and Magalhaens undertook to rid Charles of his scruples by proving that the Moluccas were not in the Portuguese but in the Spanish half. He was wrong in fact, but correct according to the idea then entertained of the dimensions of the globe. It is probable, however, that the emperor was not difficult to satisfy, as he afterwards showed, on many occasions, how easily he could dispose of Papal claims when they interfered with any of his favourite political objects. Be this as it may, Magalhaens obtained his wish.

On the 20th of September, 1519, he sailed from Sanlucar in command of five ships and 236 men. On the 12th of January, 1520, he reached the mouth of the La Plata, where he was detained for some time by a mutiny of his men, who deemed it degradation to obey one whom they stigmatized as a renegade Portuguese. By prudence and resolution he regained his ascendency; and towards the end of October began to enter the strait which has since borne his name. On the 27th of November he obtained his first view of the Pacific, and, steering directly across it, missed all the islands by which it is studded, and again saw land for the first time on the 6th of March, 1521, when he came in view of the islands which, from the thievish practices of the inhabitants, were named the Ladrones. Continuing onwards, he arrived at the archipelago of St. Lazarus, afterwards called the Philippines, in honour of Philip II. While here, he induced the chief of the island of Zebu to make a profession of Christianity, and become tributary to the King of Spain, on condition of being assisted in his war with the chief of the island of Matan. In fulfilling this condition, Magalhaens unfortunately lost his life on the 26th of April, 1521. The circumnavigation which he had so far successfully accomplished, was completed by Sebastian del Cano, who succeeded him in the command, and arrived at Sanlucar on the 22nd of September, 1522, by doubling the Cape of Good Hope from the eastward.

Magalhaens’ voyage gave proof of two important facts—first, that there was no physical impossibility of reaching the East Indies by sailing west; and, secondly, that, under ordinary circumstances, this route never could become the ocean thoroughfare from Europe. It might be used for special purposes, but being far more circuitous, was also necessarily both more tedious and more expensive. Further notice of it would hence be unnecessary, were it not that an adventitious interest has been given to it as the route which first led the British to the East, and furnished the information which determined them not to rest satisfied till they had obtained a direct share in its traffic. Two of the voyages are, on this account, well entitled to special mention—the one by Sir Francis Drake, and the other by Mr. Thomas Cavendish.

After the accession of Queen Elizabeth, in 1558, and the decided refusal of her hand when impertinently asked by Philip II, the friendly relations between England and Spain were entirely at an end; and though hostilities were not openly declared, it was perfectly understood that, at least on the part of Spain, they were only delayed in order that the preparations for carrying them on with effect might be rendered more complete. It is not surprising that, under these circumstances, frequent rencounters took place; and the natives of either country, whenever favourable opportunities occurred, made no scruples of treating those of the other as open enemies. In this kind of irregular, predatory warfare, Francis Drake, who, originally of obscure parentage from the vicinity of Tavistock, in Devonshire, had won a high name for valour and seamanship, particularly distinguished himself. He had made two successful cruises against the Spaniards, and acquired so much wealth that he was able, in 1577, to fit out a fleet of five small vessels, with an aggregate crew of 164 men. The largest vessel, commanded by himself, did not exceed 100 tons; the smallest was only 15 tons. With these he set sail from Plymouth on the 13th of December, 1577, and steered directly across the Atlantic. On the 20th of August, 1578, he arrived in the Straits of Magalhaens, passed them, and then continued his course northwards along the west coast of America till he had reached 48° N latitude. He had probably proceeded thus far in the hope of discovering some opening by which he might again pass into the Atlantic. Disappointed in this expectation, he retraced his steps for about 10°, and then, with the only vessel now remaining of his original five, shot boldly across the Pacific. On the 29th of September, 1579, he came in sight of the Moluccas. On the 4th of November he cast anchor at Ternate. He afterwards wound his way westward among the islands of the Indian Archipelago, doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and, on the 26th of September, 1580, cast anchor again in the harbour of Plymouth.

It is presumed, that when Drake set out he had an understanding with the government, but it was not deemed politic to acknowledge it. His proceedings, as war had not been declared, were certainly of a piratical character; and when the Spanish court complained of them, it was easier to disavow his authority than to apologize for his conduct. The nation, however, was so much elated by his achievements, and the determination to profit by the information which he had brought home was so unanimous, that Queen Elizabeth, after standing aloof for some time, threw aside all reserve, publicly visited him on board his ship at Deptford, and attested her approbation of his conduct by conferring upon him the honour of knighthood.

A few years later, Sir Francis Drake again awakened the public mind to the importance of the trade with India by the capture of a Portuguese carrack, whose cargo of almost fabulous value inflamed the imagination, while its papers and journals furnished most important information as to the means by which a direct trade with India might be most easily established, and most successfully carried on.

In 1586, about two years before Drake had made this capture, Mr. Thomas Cavendish commenced the other voyage by the Straits of Magalhaens above referred to. His fleet of three ships, fitted out at his own expense, was manned by 126 officers and sailors, several of whom had accompanied Drake when he circumnavigated the globe. The expedition sailed on the 21st of July; and, following the course which Drake had taken, proceeded through the Straits of Magalhaens, skirted the west coast of America, making many rich captures, and committing much unjustifiable devastation; and then steered across the Pacific for the Ladrones, which were reached on the 3rd of January, 1587. The future course of the voyage is thus summed up by Cavendish himself. In a letter to Lord Hunsdon, lord-chamberlain, dated 9th September, 1588, he says,—

“I am humbly to desire your honour to make known unto her majesty the desire I have had to doe her majesty service in the performance of this voyage. And as it hath pleased God to give her the victory over part of her enemies, so I trust yer long to see her overthrowe them all. For the places of their wealth, whereby they have maintained and made their warres, are now perfectly discovered; and if it please her majesty, with a very smal power she may take the spoile of them all. It hath pleased the Almighty to suffer me to circompasse the whole globe of the world, entering in at the Streight of Magellan, and returning by the Cape of Buena Esperança. In which voyage I have either discovered or brought certain intelligence of all the rich places of the world that ever were known or discovered by any Christian. I navigated alongst the coast of Chili, Peru, and Nueva Espanna, where I made great spoiles; I burnt and sunk nineteen sails of ships, small and great. All the villages and towns that ever I landed at I burnt and spoiled; and had I not bene discovered upon the coast I had taken great quantitie of treasure.

The matter of most profit unto me was a great ship of the king’s which I took at California, which ship came from the Philippinas, being one of the richest of merchandise that ever passed those seas, as the king’s register and merchants’ accounts did shew; for it did amount in value to—in Mexico to be solde. Which goods (for that my ships were not able to conteine the least part of them) I was enforced to set on fire. From the Cape of California, being the uttermost part of all Nueva Espana, I navigated to the islands of the Philippinas, hard upon the coast of China; of which country I have brought such intelligence as hath not been heard of in these parts. The statelinesses and riches of which countrey I feare to make report of, least I should not be credited: for if I had not known sufficiently the incomparable wealth of that countrey, I should have bene as incredulous thereof as others will be that have not had the like experience. I sailed along the island of the Malucos, where among some of the heathen people I was well intreated, where our countrey men may have trade as freely as the Portugals if they will themselves. From thence I passed by the Cape of Buena Esperanca, and found out by the way homeward the island of St. Helena, where the Portugals use to relieve themselves; and from that island God hath suffered me to return into England. All which services, with myself, I humbly prostrate at her majestie’s feet, desiring the Almighty long to continue her reigne among us; for at this day she is the most famous and victorious prince that liveth in the world.” In returning homewards, the Cape of Good Hope was doubled on the 16th of March, 1588; and Plymouth harbour was reached, after a prosperous voyage, on the 9th of September.

While the information thus flowing in from successful navigators was paving the way for the establishment of direct traffic with the East Indies, other incidents were contributing powerfully to the same end. Notice has been repeatedly taken of the important Indian trade which had been carried on, almost from time immemorial, by the way of the Levant. For many centuries the English had been contented to receive their supplies of Indian produce at second hand from some one or other of the Italian maritime cities; but latterly, particularly after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, they had agents of their own in the different ports of the Levant, and thus procured the means of carrying on an active and lucrative trade in their own vessels. When this trade had acquired such extent and consistency as to entitle it to be regarded as a national interest, the queen entered into a commercial treaty with Turkey, securing for her subjects all the advantages which other nations enjoyed; and immediately thereafter, in 1581, granted a charter of exclusive privileges to a mercantile association which assumed the name of the Levant Company. This company, not satisfied with confining its connections to the ports of the Levant, extended them far into the interior, and sent out many agents, whose journals and travels furnished, from time to time, valuable information with regard to Indian traffic.

It has sometimes been alleged that the immediate occasion of the formation of the Levant Company, was the loss of a vessel laden with Indian produce on the Goodwin Sands. The argosy which is referred to, and is thought to have derived the name, common to all vessels of its class, from the town of Ragusa, in Dalmatia, belonged to the Venetians, and sufficed to carry, at a single voyage, as much Indian produce as supplied the demand of the kingdom of England for a whole year. The wreck of this vessel proved so disastrous, that the Venetians ceased thenceforth to pay their annual visit. The English, thus cut off from the supply on which they had been accustomed to depend, had no alternative but to send for the goods which they could not otherwise obtain; and hence the formation of the Levant Company. Such is the theory propounded; and, in accordance with it, it is added that the same circumstance which led to the formation of the Levant Company, suggested to Shakespeare the idea of the Merchant of Venice.

The loss of an argosy on the Goodwin Sands, about ten years before the date usually assigned to the first representation of Shakespeare’s immortal play, is a well-authenticated fact; and he speaks with all the truth of history when he says (act ii. scene 8):—

“I reasoned with a Frenchman yesterday,

Who told me, in the narrow seas that part

The French and English, there miscarried

A vessel of our country, richly fraught.”

And again (act iii. scene 1):—

“The Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very dangerous flat.” Unfortunately, however, for the theory, it is impossible to connect the loss of the argosy with the foundation of the Levant Company without committing a palpable anachronism. The charter of the company was granted in 1581; the argosy was not lost till 1587. If the Venetians sent no more argosies after this date, the fact was probably owing, not to any horror of “the narrow seas that part the French and English,” for they were well inured to brave far greater dangers, but to their inability to derive any profit from a traffic which could never have been very lucrative after the Portuguese had fairly entered the European market, and in which they had recently been brought into competition with a native company powerful in itself, and enjoying the special favour of the crown. The retirement of the Venetians was only one of the signs from which a sagacious merchant might have inferred that the Indian trade had deserted its ancient channels, and that England had become too well acquainted with its nature, and too much alive to its importance, to allow it to be any longer monopolized by Spaniards and Portuguese claiming the monopoly on the ground, not so much of priority of discovery, as of a brutum fulmen issued by the execrable Pope, Alexander VI.

Queen Elizabeth had early struck at the root of all claims to monopolize the navigation of the ocean by declaring, in answer to the complaints of the Spanish ambassador against the English for navigating the Indian seas, “that the ocean was free to all, forasmuch as neither nature nor regard of public use do permit the exclusive possession thereof;” and again, “that as to Drake sailing on the Indian seas, it was as lawful for her subjects to do so as for the Spaniards; since the sea and air are common to all men.” This latter declaration was made in 1580; and evidence was soon given that, instead of being maintained merely as an abstract principle, the justice of which could not be disputed, it was henceforth to be carried into practical operation. In the third volume of Hackluyt, pp. 754-757, there is a paper dated 9th April, 1582, and entitled, “Instructions given by the right honourable the Lordes of the Counsell to Mr. Edward Fenton, Esquire, for the order to be observed in the voyage recommended to him for the East Indies and Cathay.”

It appears from these “Instructions,” which are twenty-four in number, that the direct, and, indeed, the exclusive route, intended for this voyage to “the East Indies and Cathay,” was by the Cape of Good Hope. The ninth Instruction is as follows:—“You shall use all diligence possible to depart from Southampton with your sayd ships and vessels before the last of this present moneth of April, and so goe on your course by Cape de Buena Esperanca, not passing by the Streight of Magellan either going or returning, except upon great occasion incident that shall bee thought otherwise good to you, by the advise and consent of your sayd assistants, or foure of them at the least.” The tenth Instruction, following out the same route, says, “You shall not passe to the northeastward of the 40 degree of latitude at the most, but shall take your right course to the isles of the Mulucos, for the better discovery of the north-west passage, if without hinderance of your trade; and within the same degree you can get any knowledge touching that passage, whereof you shall do wel to be inquisitive, as occasion in this sort may serve.”

It does not exactly appear to what extent government had furnished the means of this voyage, but the language employed clearly implies that the lords of council possessed the entire control over it. Thus, at the very outset, they say (Instructions 1, 2, 3):—

“First, you shall enter as captain-generally into the charge and government of these shippes, the Beare gallion, the Edward Bonaventure, the barke Francis, and the small frigate, or pinnesse. Item, you shall appoint, for the furnishing of the vessels, in the whole to the number of 200 able persons, accompliting in that number the gentlemen and their men, the ministers, chirurgians, factors, &c., which sayd number is no way to be exceeded, whereof as many as may be to be sea-men; and shall distribute them into every vessels, as by advise here before your going shall be thought meete. Item, for the more and better circumspect execution, and determination in any waightie causes incident in this voyage, we will that you shall take unto you or assistants, Captaine Hawkins, Captaine Ward,” and six other persons named, “with whom you shall consult and conferre in all causes, matters, and actions of importance, not provided for in these Instructions, touching this service now in hand. And in all such matters so handled, argued, and debated, wee thinke that convenyent alwayes to be executed which you shall think meetest, with the assent also of any four of them, the matter having bene debated and so assented unto in the presence of your said assistants.”

The sixth Instruction proceeds in the same peremptory style:—“Item, you shall not remoove Captaine William Hawkins, your lieutenant; Master-captaine Luke Ward, your vice-admiral, or captaine of the Edward Bonaventure; nor Captaine Carlile from his charge by land, whom we will not to refuse any such service as shall be appointed to him by the generall and the councill; nor any captaine of other vessels from these charges, but upon just cause duely provoed, and by consent of your assistants, or of four of them at the least.”

From the appointment of a military officer, of course having soldiers under him, and in regard to whom it is added (Instruction 23), “in all occasions and enterprises that may fall out to bee upon the lande, wee will that Captaine Carlile shall have the generall and chief charge thereof,” it might be supposed that the government had undertaken the entire responsibility of the expedition. This impression is strengthened by Instruction 24, which shows that chaplains had been appointed by public authority. With reference to them, it is said:—

“And to the end God may bless this voyage with happier and prosperous successe; you shall have an especial care to see that reverence and respect bee had to the ministers appointed to accompany you in this voyage as appertaineth to their place and calling; and to see such good order as by them shall be set downe for reformation of life and manners duely obeyed and perfourmed, by causing the transgressours and contemners of the same to be severely punished; and the ministers to remove sometime from one vessel to another.”

It is plain, however, from other Instructions, that the expedition partook of the character of a mercantile adventure. Thus it is said (Instruction 8):—

“You shall make a just and true inventory, in every ship and vessel appointed for this voyage, of all the tackle, munition, and furniture belonging to them, at their setting forth hence, and of all the provisions whatsoever; and one copie thereof under your hand, and under the hands of your vice-admirall and lieutenant, to be delivered to the Earle of Leicester, and the other to the governour of the companie for them, before your departure hence; and the like to be done at your return home of all things then remaining in the sayd ships and vessels, with a true certificate how and by what means any parcel of the same shall have bene spent or lost.”

The mercantile character is still more fully brought out both by incidental mention of merchants and factors in various passages, and particularly in the following Instructions, in which equity, sound policy, and worldly prudence are so happily combined, that they seem not unworthy of being quoted entire:—

“12. Item, we do straightly enjoin you, and consequently all the rest employed in this voyage in any wise, and as you and they will answer the contrary at your comming home by the laws of this realme, that neither going, tarrying abroad, nor returning, you doe spoyle or take anything from any of the queen’s majestie’s friends or allies, or any Christians, without paying justly for the same; nor that you use any maner of violence or force against any such, except in your owne defence, if you shall be set upon, or otherwise be forced for your owne safeguard to do it.

“13. Item, wee will that you deale altogether in this voyage like good and honest merchants, trafficking and exchanging ware for ware, with all courtesie, to the nations you shall deale with, as well Ethniks as others; and for that cause you shall instruct all those that shall goe with you, that whensoever you, or any of you, shall happen to come in any place to conference with the people of those parts, that in all your doings and theirs, you and they so behave yourselves towards the sayd people as may rather procure their friendship and good liking toward you by courtesie than to turne them to offence or misliking; and especially you shall have great care of the performance of your word and promise to them.

“14. Item, wee will, that by the advice of your assistants, in places where you and they shall thinke most fit, you settle, if you can, a beginning of a further trade to be had hereafter: and from such places doe bring over with you some few men and women, if you may; and do also leave some one or two, or more, as to you and your assistants shall seem convenient, of our nation with them for pledges, and to learn the tongue and secrets of the countreys, having diligent care, that, in delivering and taking of hostages, you deliver not personages of more value then you receive, but rather deliver meane persons under colour of men of value, as the infidels do for the most part use. Provided that you stay not longer to make continuance of further trade, then shall be expedient for good exchange of the wares presently carried with you.

“15. Item, you shall have care, and give generall warning, that no person, of what calling soever hee be, shall take up or keece to himself or his private use, any stone, pearle, golde, silver, or other matter of commoditie to be had or found in places where you shall come; but he, the said person, so seased of such stone, pearle, golde, silver, or other matter of commoditie, shall with all speede, or so soone as he can, detect the same, and make deliverie thereof to your selfe, or your vice-admirall, or lieutenant, and the factor appointed for this voyage, upon paine of forfeiture of all the recompense he is to have for his service in this voyage by share or otherwise; and further, to receive such punishment as to you and your assistants, or the more part of them, shall seeme good, and otherwise to be punished here at his returne, if according to the qualitie of his offence it shall be thought needful.

“16. Item, if the captaines, merchants, or any other, shall have any apparell, jewels, chaines, armour, or any other thing whatsoever, which may be desired in countreys where they shall traffique, that it shall not be lawful for them, or any of them, to traffique or sell any thing thereof for their private accept; but the same shall be prized by the most part of those that shall be in commission in the places where the same may be so required, rated at such value as it may bee reasonably worth in England; and then solde to the profite of the whole voyage, and to goe as in adventure for those to whom it doeth appertaine.”

This voyage, as the first in which a direct attempt was made by any European power to break up the Portuguese monopoly of navigation by the Cape of Good Hope, naturally excites a deep interest; and hence even the instructions to its commander, from the insight they give into the motives with which the voyage was undertaken, deserve all the space which has above been allotted to them. The voyage itself ought, of course, to have been still more interesting; but unfortunately the account of it written by Luke Ward, the vice-admiral, is meagre in the extreme, and does little more than establish the fact that it proved a complete failure. The good sense apparent in drawing up the instructions does not appear to have been employed in making the appointments; and the expedition had not proceeded far on its way when Fenton, who commanded it, appears to have betrayed, if not incompetency, at least indecision.

The four vessels, consisting of the Beare, which changed its name to the Leicester, the Edward Bonaventure, the Francis, and the Elizabeth, sailed on the 1st of May, but spent a whole month before they finally quitted the English coast, and launched out to sea. In the beginning of August, they reached the coast of Guinea; and then the commander, instead of deciding on his own responsibility as to the propriety of taking in water, deemed it necessary to summon a formal meeting of his assistants, or council, and submit two points for decision—first, whether they ought to water at all; and, secondly, assuming this was resolved upon, at what place? These points, it seems, occasioned long debates; and while all unanimously approved of watering, only a majority agreed in thinking that it ought to be at Sierra Leone. They accordingly proceeded for this locality, but had gone so far out of their reckoning that they were several days in finding it; and the council was again summoned to decide, after long debate, in what direction they ought to steer.

After leaving Sierra Leone, they appear to have acted as if they had thrown their instructions overboard; for they are afterwards found far south, on the coast of Brazil, not considering, in terms of their instructions, how they might best double the Cape of Good Hope, but debating on the expediency or inexpediency of passing the Straits of Magalhaens, though this was the direction which they had been expressly forbidden to take. It seems, however, that they would have taken it, had they not feared an encounter with the Spaniards.

On this ground alone they abandoned the idea of prosecuting their voyage, and had determined to retrace their steps, when the vessels were obliged to part company. The Bonaventure was the only one which reached England; and this it did by sailing northwards to St. Vincent, and then across the Atlantic. The blundering manner in which the expedition had been conducted, may perhaps explain the silence which has been kept respecting it; and yet it undoubtedly entitles England to claim the high honour of having been the first European state which entered into competition with the Portuguese on their peculiar line of traffic, and sent a regular expedition for the purpose of trading with the East by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. The failure of the expedition was not owing to its projectors; and, however much it is to be lamented, cannot derogate from their merit in having both devised the expedition, and liberally furnished it with everything deemed necessary to insure its success.

Nine years passed away before any expedition intended to reach the East by the Cape quitted the shores of England. This apparent supineness, however, must be imputed, not to indifference to the object or despair of being able to accomplish it, but to political causes. Philip II of Spain was engaged in fitting out his boasted Armada, and Queen Elizabeth, in her heroic efforts to defeat him, could not spare a single seaman; but no sooner was the battle of national independence fought and won, than the determination to establish a trade in the East was resumed. Accordingly, in October, 1589, the very year after the invincible Armada was discomfited, a body of English merchants presented a memorial to the lords in council, in which, after a rapid survey of the Portuguese settlements in the East, for the purpose of showing that, in the countries bordering on the Indian and China seas, there were many ports in which a trade in English manufactures and Eastern produce might be advantageously established, they prayed for permission to fit out three ships and three pinnaces to be employed in this trade, with the queen’s license and protection, and subject to no other condition than the payment of the usual customs on their return.

Before presenting this petition, the memorialists had felt so confident of success that they had actually obtained, or at least bargained for, possession of the vessels which they meant to employ; these are hence mentioned in the memorial by their names as the Royal Merchant, the Susan, and the Edward Bonaventure. These names are of some consequence, as, in the absence of any direct information as to the answer given to the memorial by the lords of council, we are enabled to infer that it was favourable from the fact that, in April, 1591, less than eighteen months from the date of the application, three ships, of which two were the same as those named, sailed on this very voyage.

As in the former case the accounts are very imperfect, and do little more than prove that a second failure, though not so complete as before, was experienced. The leading ship, the Penelope, was commanded by George Raymond, the Royal Merchant by Abraham Kendal, and the Edward Bonaventure by James Lancaster. They sailed from Plymouth on the 10th of April, reached the Canaries by the 25th, were off Cape Blanco on the 2nd of May, passed the tropic of Cancer on the 5th, and continued with a fair wind at north-east till the 13th, when they were within 8° of the equator. Here they encountered a gale which obliged them to lie off and on in the sea till the 6th of June, when they passed the line. They had previously captured a Portuguese caravel, bound from Lisbon to Brazil, and loaded chiefly with wine, oil, olives, and divers necessaries. These last are said to have proved better to them than gold, as many of the crew had previously fallen sick.

An E.S.E. wind prevailing, carried them far west till within 100 leagues of the coast of Brazil. They had reached 26° south latitude, when the wind, veering round to the north, enabled them to steer for the Cape of Good Hope, which they saw for the first time on the 28th of July. Being prevented by contrary winds from doubling it, they cast anchor on the 1st of August in Saldanha Bay. Here, as the number of hands had been reduced by death, and many, from having been attacked with scurvy, had become inefficient, it was deemed expedient to send back the Royal Merchant with the sick, and continue the voyage only with the Penelope and the Edward. On reaching Cape Corrientes, on the east coast of Africa, near the tropic of Capricorn, a hurricane arose, during which the vessels parted company. The Penelope was never afterwards heard of; but Lancaster, who continues the account, persevered in the voyage. After coasting northward, and losing a large part of his crew by an attack of the Murs, who came suddenly upon them while procuring water, they sailed directly for Cape Comorin, where they meant to cruise with a view to intercept and capture the richly laden vessels from the Indian peninsula, Ceylon, Malacca, the Moluccas, and Japan. The south-west monsoon having set in, they found great difficulty in doubling the Cape, but at length succeeded in May, 1592. Six days after, they arrived at the Nicobar Islands; and then, after plying off and on the coast of Sumatra, proceeded to the coast of Malacca, where they determined to pass what Lancaster calls the winter, meaning thereby the rainy season. They were now reduced to thirty-three persons in all; but, towards the end of August, having espied three vessels, each of about seventy tons, they were bold enough to attack and capture the whole of them. Two of them they released because they were the property of merchants in Pegu; but the third, which they understood to belong “to certain Portuguese Jesuits, and a biscuit-baker of the same nation,” was considered lawful prize. Its cargo of pepper was transferred to the Edward.

They next sailed for the Straits of Malacca, still bent on privateering, and made two important captures. The one a Portuguese ship of 250 tons, laden with rice from Negapatam to Malacca, and the other a Malacca ship of 700 tons, that came from Goa. The latter carried fifteen brass cannon, and had on board 300 men, women, and children, but made scarcely any defence against Lancaster’s mere handful. She was laden chiefly with wine and European goods, but had no treasure; and thus proving not so rich a prize as was anticipated, was sent adrift after the choicest goods had been taken out. The alarm of their presence being now spread, they deemed it dangerous to remain longer in this locality, and returned to the Nicobar Islands.

On the 21st of November they departed for the island of Ceylon, and, anchoring at the Point de Galle, waited in the hope of intercepting the Portuguese fleets from Bengal, Pegu, and Tenasserim. Owing, doubtless, to the irregular and predatory life which the crew had for some time been leading, a mutinous spirit began to appear; and advantage was taken of Lancaster’s sickness to announce their determination that they would stay no longer, but take their direct course for England. There was no means of preventing them from doing as they pleased; and the vessel having weighed anchor, set sail homewards, returning as it had come by the Cape of Good Hope. Here the weather was so stormy that four weeks were spent in doubling the Cape. In April they arrived at St. Helena. On leaving it they were carried westward to the coast of Brazil, and kept wandering for a time under great hardships, first in the Gulf of Paria, and afterward among the West India Islands. The crew, having thrown off all subordination, did as they pleased. At last, on the 15th of November, 1593, while the captain and sixteen of the crew were ashore searching for provisions, the carpenter cut the ship’s cable, and she drifted away with only five men and a boy in her. Lancaster and his people separated into parties, as the only means of obtaining even a scanty sustenance. Ultimately, he and six others got off in a French vessel, which took them to St. Domingo. Here, leaving the rest to follow, he embarked with his lieutenant in another French vessel for Dieppe. Having reached it in safety, he crossed over to Rye, where he landed, 24th May, 1594. He had been absent three years and six weeks.

The Dutch, though they did not attempt the passage by the Cape of Good Hope so early as the English, appear to have been more careful in preparing for it, and were accordingly rewarded with more abundant success. Their first voyage, undertaken by a number of merchants, who had assumed the name of the Company for Distant Countries, sailed from the Texel on the 2nd of April, 1595. The expedition consisted of four vessels—the Maurice, of 400 tons, carrying twenty cannon and eighty-four men; the Holland, nearly of the same size and strength as the Maurice; the Amsterdam, of about 200 tons, carrying sixteen cannon and fifty-nine men; and a pinnace, of about 30 tons, carrying eight cannon and twenty men. The command of the vessels was given to captains of high naval reputation; but the general commercial superintendence was intrusted to Cornelius Houtmann, at whose suggestion, and on whose information, the voyage is said to have been undertaken. He had spent some time in Lisbon acquainting himself with the nature of the Portuguese traffic to the East; and, in the course of his inquiries, had incurred the suspicion of the Portuguese government, who imposed a heavy fine upon him, and imprisoned him till it should be paid. He had no means of doing so; but, having managed to communicate with some merchants of Amsterdam, induced them to pay the fine and obtain his release, in consideration of the valuable information which he would be able to communicate.

On the 19th of April, the four vessels reached the Canaries, and on the 14th of June they crossed the line. They had previously fallen in with several Portuguese vessels, which they might have taken as lawful prizes; but, with a moderation in which much good policy was combined, they met and parted like friends. They now began to long anxiously for land, as the crews were suffering much by scurvy, and reached it on the 4th of August. They had passed the Cape of Good Hope without seeing it, and had anchored in a bay called the Aguada de San Bras, situated about forty-five leagues beyond it. After some intercourse with the natives, they continued their voyage on the 11th of August, but were again obliged, by the ravages of scurvy, to seek refreshments on the coast of Madagascar. They had some difficulty in obtaining them; and, in the meantime, were so reduced by sickness, that they could scarcely muster twenty men fit for service, while they had actually lost seventy. Having somewhat recovered by means of the fruit and fresh provisions which they obtained ashore, they again set sail on the 14th of December; and, after various adventures not possessed of much interest, directed their course towards the southern islands of the Maldives group. They were thus carried beyond the Indian peninsula, and first saw land on the 1st of June, 1596. They were off the coast of Sumatra. Continuing southwards, they arrived, on the 11th, at the entrance of the Straits of Sunda, and proceeding through them, much impeded by contrary winds and currents, arrived at Bantam, on the north-west extremity of Java.

On their arrival they were visited by six Portuguese, with their slaves, who assumed the character of deputies, sent by the governor and people of Bantam to ascertain the object of their visit. The previous navigators from England, particularly Cavendish and Lancaster, had spread great alarm; but the Dutch endeavoured to dissipate all fear, by declaring that commerce was their only object. Under this impression a friendly intercourse commenced, and a full cargo of pepper, at a very moderate rate, might easily have been obtained; but Houtmann, determined to do everything at the cheapest, was induced to wait for the new crop, which was represented to him as so very abundant, that it would be obtained at almost nominal prices. This injudicious delay gave the Portuguese time to prepare a series of intrigues, by means of which the good understanding with the natives was on the point of being broken up. Ultimately, however, a treaty, offensive and defensive, was formed with the natives, though sufficient evidence was given, that whatever friendship the Portuguese might pretend, nothing but enmity in every form, secret or open, was to be expected from them. The immediate consequence of the treaty was the establishment of a Dutch factory at Bantam.

Houtmann, still continuing to wait for the anticipated reduction in the price of pepper, began to dispose of his merchandise, to be paid for in pepper, at the price which it should bear when the new crop should be delivered. On these terms he found ready purchasers in the governor and several of the other officials of the town. Meanwhile, the Portuguese continued their intrigues, and very plausibly maintained, that the irrational course which Houtmann was pursuing, could only be accounted for by assuming that commerce was only a pretext, and that his real object was to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the locality, with the view of afterwards returning and taking forcible possession of it. The effect of these insinuations soon became apparent. A pilot, who had all along manifested great friendship for the Dutch, was barbarously assassinated, and the pepper due on the purchases which had been made was not delivered. The Dutch, after uttering vain complaints, had recourse to menaces. These were not lost upon the inhabitants, who immediately took all possible precautions. All the Java vessels in the harbour cut their cables, and ran ashore. At the same time, the Dutch were startled by the alarming intelligence that a large fleet, destined to act against them, was being prepared in a neighbouring harbour.

Houtmann, though thus put upon his guard, had the rashness to go ashore with only seven attendants, and pay a visit to the governor. The result which might have been foreseen immediately followed; and the whole party, as soon as they entered the palace, were arrested. The Dutch immediately attempted reprisals, by seizing the governor’s interpreter and a number of his slaves. Houtmann’s position was now precarious in the extreme; and he only saved himself from the death with which he was threatened, by sending a letter to the fleet, ordering the interpreter to be delivered up. Five of his companions were accordingly released, and an appearance of trade was resumed, though he himself still remained in captivity.

It was impossible that matters could long remain in this position; and it was therefore formally resolved, at a council held on board the Maurice, to intimate to the governor, that if the captain, Houtmann, and all his people, with everything belonging to them, were not delivered on the following day, the utmost force which they possessed would forthwith be employed to obtain redress. No answer having been returned by mid-day, the four vessels drew near the town, and anchored in three fathoms. On the first news of this proceeding, the governor, in a rage, ordered the arrest of every Dutchman in the factory. They were all carried off, Houtmann along with them, to the place of public execution; and nothing but excruciating deaths were looked for, when the governor, who had begun to calculate the consequences, recoiled from them, and proposed negotiation. It was so spun out that the Dutch once more lost patience and commenced hostilities, in which their superiority soon became so apparent, that the governor saw the necessity of yielding. Many delays were still interposed, but ultimately an arrangement was come to, by which the Dutch agreed to pay a considerable sum of money for the damage they had caused, and Houtmann and his companions regained their freedom.

Friendship seemed about to be re-established, when a Portuguese deputy arrived from Malacca with a large present to the governor, and the promise of one still more valuable, provided he would shut the port against all commerce with the Dutch. The bribe was too tempting to be resisted; and an order was issued by the governor which left no doubt as to his hostile intentions. Houtmann, convinced that negotiation was now useless, hastened to remove with all his people and their effects. Immediately after, it was decided by a council held on board the Maurice, to give full scope to their resentment and take a signal revenge. Second thoughts proved better, and reflecting that nothing could be gained, and much might be lost by the indiscriminate carnage which they had contemplated, they weighed anchor, and proceeded eastward along the coast of Java. After a fearful encounter with the natives, in which many lives were lost on both sides, and all hopes of establishing a friendly intercourse were destroyed, the vessels quitted the north-west coast, and sailed north to the isle of Lubok, which they reached on the 9th of December. They now changed their course to west, but, on the 25th, after they had beaten about, obstructed by contrary winds and currents, they were astonished to find themselves still within sight of the island. Here, as they had only ninety-four men remaining, many of them unfit for service, it was resolved to abandon the Amsterdam, which had become so leaky that she could with difficulty be kept afloat.

On the 12th of January, 1597, anchor was again weighed, and the vessels proceeded for the eastern extremity of Java. On the 18th they came in sight of an active volcano, and, a few days after, entered the strait which separates Java from Bali. After some friendly intercourse with the inhabitants of the latter island, they turned their face homewards on the 26th of February, and began to steer for the Cape of Good Hope. Their vessels, as already mentioned, had been reduced to three; and of the 249 men who had quitted Holland, only eighty-nine now survived. Besides these, however, they had with them two negroes taken up on the coast of Madagascar, a Chinese, two Malabars, a native of Java, and a pilot, who was said to be originally from Gujarat, and had volunteered to make the voyage to Europe. Sailing by the south of Java, the coast of Natal was reached on the 24th of April, St. Helena on the 25th of May, the island of Ascension on the 2nd of June, the Azores on the 12th of July, the English Channel on the 5th, and the port of Amsterdam on the 14th of August.

Though the results of Houtmann’s voyage were by no means brilliant, his arrival was hailed with loud acclamations. He had successfully performed a voyage in which the English had twice failed, and made it plain that, with due circumstances, a direct and lucrative trade with the East, by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, might easily be established. The Portuguese would doubtless throw every possible obstacle in the way; but their power of mischief was greatly abridged by the loss of their independence, and more was to be hoped from the victories which might be gained over them, than feared from the injuries which they might be able to inflict. The native powers, too, had evidently no love for the Portuguese, of whose tyranny and bigotry they had too good reason to complain, and were disposed to form friendly connections with any foreigners by whom the Portuguese supremacy might be undermined or finally overthrown. Even the returns by Houtmann’s voyage, though obtained under the most unfavourable circumstances, nearly covered the expense; and there was therefore every reason to hope, that in proportion as the navigation and the nature of the trade came to be better understood, great profits would be regularly realized.

Influenced by these and similar considerations, Houtmann’s return was no sooner announced than all the principal ports of Holland were eager to share in the new Indian traffic; and various companies, having that object in view, were formed. As before, the Company for Distant Countries, which had sent out Houtmann, took the lead, and made all haste to fit out four ships. Other four were fitted out by a rival company. The leading merchants in both, afraid of the injury which they might inflict on each other, by appearing in the Indian market as competitors, proposed and effected an amalgamation. The eight vessels thus fitted out at the expense of private individuals, but provided with cannon by the government, sailed in 1598. Four of them made a voyage remarkable for its rapidity at that early period, and in the course of fifteen months returned from Bantam with a valuable cargo of pepper; the other four occupied more time, but appear to have turned it to good account; and after visiting Amboyna, Banda, and Ternate, came home laden with rich spices, which yielded an immense profit. During another voyage, fitted out by Middelburg merchants, also in 1598, Houtmann, who had been intrusted with the command, was again unfortunate, and lost his life by an act of gross treachery on the part of the King of Acheen, in the island of Sumatra.

The Dutch East India trade might now be considered as fairly established. It had originated in private enterprise, and had the times been peaceful, might have been successfully carried on by the same means; but the Spaniards and Portuguese having left no doubt of their determination to cling to their monopoly at all hazards, it became necessary for the Dutch to provide themselves with the means of repelling force by force. At first the States-general contented themselves with granting the necessary authority for this purpose; but it soon appeared that separate companies, pursuing different, and it might be also adverse interests, could not well co-operate in repelling a common foe. In these circumstances, two courses lay open to the government. It might adhere to the system generally followed in Europe, and, while permitting individuals or associations full freedom of trade in every region of the East, provide for their protection against foreign enemies by stationing ships of war in every quarter where danger was apprehended; or it might, by uniting all private associations into one great and exclusive company, enable it to acquire sufficient strength not only to maintain its ground against all who might assail it, but even to become in its turn the aggressor and make new conquests. The latter was the plan adopted; and on the 20th of March, 1602, a general charter was granted, incorporating the different companies into one great association, and conferring upon it the exclusive privilege of trade to the East. The plan, whatever be its merits or demerits, was not original, for the model had been furnished fifteen months before in a charter granted with a similar object by the crown of England. To this charter, and the preparatory measures taken to procure it, we must now turn.

If those who took the lead in the expeditions of Fenton and Lancaster had been deterred by their failure from persevering in the attempt to establish a direct trade with India, they must have been ashamed of their pusillanimity when they became acquainted with the success of the Dutch; and at all events must have felt the necessity of immediately bestirring themselves if they were not prepared to allow a rival nation to forestall them in what was then universally, though not very accurately, regarded as the most lucrative market in the world. The proceedings thus originated must be reserved for the next chapter.