170 HISTORY OF INF'IA. [Rook [.
A.D. 1502. Moorisli vessel below, and, iiaving nailed down the hatches upon thern, t^jld hi8 brother to set it on fire. Tiie fiendish (jrder was executed; but the unhapjiy victims, rendered desperate, made superhuman efi^orts, and having broken o[)en
DeGama's the liatchcs, succecdcd in (juenching the flames. Had they been the giiiltiest wretches possible, instead of being for the most part inoffensive pilgi-ims, 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 Mahometaas, when they saw that no mercy was to be expected, as compelled him to retire. Had De Gama been acting tmder a sudden burst of passion, he had now full time to cool, for night came on, and nothing more could be done till moi-ning. Wlien he rose, it was only to repeat liis inhuman order : the vessel .was again boarded and set on fire, and 300 persons, of whom tliirty 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.
His arrival After this iufamous transaction one almost shudders to mention the name of
at Gauanore
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 di.sposing of the lives of others. Having anchored off" Cananore, he desired an interview with the rajah ; but as the captivity he had suffered at Calicut on his first voyage seemed still upper- most 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, wliich was covered with carpets, a pavilion was reared to form the hall of audience. The rajah made his appearance first, attended by 10,000 nairs, and advanced to the pavilion amid the beating of drums and floiu-ishes 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 estaljlishment of a Portuguese factory at Cananore. His pro- From Cananore De Gama continued his course to Calicut, and, making his
ceediiigs at
Calicut 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 occa- sioned by it, he hung them up at the yard-arm, and, after they were dead, cut oft' 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 fii'e upon it. The royal
