The Fathers Returned According To Promise, On Which The King Built Them
A Church And Was Afterwards Baptised Along With The Queen, In Spite Of
Every Thing The Lamas Could Say To Prevent Him.
From merchants who
traded to this place from China, the fathers understood that it was 60
days journey from _Chaparangue_ to China, 40 of which was through the
kingdom of _Usangue_, and thence 20 days to China.
They likewise learnt
that Cathay is not a kingdom, but a great city - the metropolis of a
province subject to the grand _Sopo_, very near China, whence perhaps
some give the name of Cathay to China[19]. Perhaps this kingdom of
Thibet is the empire of Prester John, and not Ethiopia as some have
believed.
[Footnote 19: This is evidently erroneous, as we know certainly from the
travels of Marco Polo and other authorities, that Cathay was the
northern part of China, once a separate kingdom. - E.]
After having governed five years, the Count of Vidugueyra was ordered by
the king to resign to Don Francisco de Mascarennas in 1628; but as that
gentleman had left India for Europe, the viceroy resigned the charge of
government to Don Luis de Brito, bishop of Cochin, and went home to
Portugal. In this year the king of Acheen made an attempt to gain
possession of Malacca, against which he sent a fleet of 250 sail, with
20,000 soldiers and a great train of artillery. In this great fleet
there were 47 gallies of extraordinary strength, beauty, and size, all
near 100 feet long and of proportional breadth. The king embarked with
his wife, children, and treasure; but upon some ill omen the fleet and
army sailed without him, and came before Malacca in the beginning of
July 1629, the former under the command of _Marraja_, and the latter of
Lacsamana, an experienced general who had made many conquests for his
master. Having landed the troops, they were attacked by Antonio Pinto de
Fonseca with only 200 men, who slew above 300 of the enemy without
losing a man, and then retreated into the city. Juan Suarez Vivas with
350 Portuguese, who commanded at Iller, defended that post for some time
with great gallantry and did great execution among the enemy; but at
length, overpowered by numbers, was forced to retire. Having gained an
eminence called mount St Juan, the enemy erected a battery there from
which they played furiously against the fort, which answered them with
great spirit. The Capuchin convent dedicated to the Mother of God, being
considered as of great importance for the defence of the fort, was
gallantly defended for 50 days by Diego Lopez de Fonseca, who on one
occasion made a sally with 200 Portuguese and defeated 2000 of the
enemy. On Lopez falling sick, Francisco Carvallo de Maya took the
command of that post, and defended it till the convent was entirely
ruined, so that he was obliged to withdraw into the city, on which the
enemy converted it into a strong post in which _Lacsamana_ took up his
quarters with 3000 men. _Marraja_ occupied mount St Juan, on which he
erected a large fort; others were established at the convent of St
Lawrence, at _Iller_ and other places, having strong batteries and lines
of communication, so that the city was invested on all sides by land,
while a number of armed boats presented all access by sea for relief.
Fonseca, who commanded in the besieged city, sent out Vivas with 220
Portuguese troops to dislodge Lacsamana from his head-quarters on the
ruins of the Capuchin convent, on which occasion Vivas gained possession
of the post by a night attack, killing 100 of the enemy, and retired
with several cannon. The King of _Pam_, who was in alliance with the
Portuguese, sent a fleet of _paraos_ with 2000 men to the assistance of
the town; and Michael Pereyra Botello brought five sail from the city of
San Thome: Yet these reinforcements were insufficient to induce the
enemy to retire, though they had lost above 4000 men during the siege,
while 60 were slain on the side of the defenders.
Although the bishop of Cochin was informed in June of the intended
attack on Malacca and the weak state of its garrison, he postponed
sending any reinforcement, as it was then the dead of winter on the
Malabar coast, proposing to dispatch succours in September. He died
however about the end of July 1629, after having governed India for
nineteen or twenty months. Upon his death the next patent of succession
was opened, which named Don Lorenzo de Cunna, the commander of Goa, to
the civil government of India, and Nunno Alvarez Pereyra to the
military command. Of this last name there happened to be two in India,
or none. If Don Nunno Alvarez Pereyra, a gentleman well known, were
meant, the title of _Don_ was omitted in the patent; if Nunno Alvarez
Botello, the sirname teemed wrong. It was thought unlikely that the
title of Don could be omitted through mistake, as that in Portugal is
peculiar to certain families. The mistake of name in regard to Nunno
Alvarez Botello was more probable, as he had long gone by the name of
_Pereyra_, in memory of his grandfather Alvarez Pereyra, and had dropped
that name for _Botello_ when he inherited the estate of his father,
whose name was Botello; yet some continued to call him by the old name,
and others gave him the new one. The council of Goa, and the Count de
Linnares after his arrival in India, allowed the pretensions of Botello.
In the meantime, considering how dangerous delay might prove to Malacca
in its distress, Nunno Alvarez Botello undertook the relief of that
place, saying that he would postpone the decision of the dispute till
his return. By general consent however, he went by the title of
governor; and by direction of the council of Goa, the Chancellor Gonzalo
Pinto de Fonseca assumed the administration of justice, so that the
government was divided between him, De Cunna, and Botello, who used such
diligence in preparing for his expedition to relieve Malacca, that, from
the 2d of August, when the charge of governor was awarded to him, to the
beginning of September, he had collected 900 Portuguese troops, a good
train of artillery, a large supply of arms and ammunition, and 30
vessels, and was ready to put to sea as soon as the weather would allow.
He set sail on the 22d of September, rather too early, and encountered
four several storms during his voyage, two of which were so terrible
that every one expected to be lost.
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