342 NOAKHALI. all the Portuguese on the island to be put to death. His fleet engaged the Portuguese off the island of Dakshin Shahbázpur; and the result was most disastrous to the Mughals, Fateh Khan and the greater part of his troops being killed, and the whole of his ships captured. Elated by this victory, the pirates elected as their leader one Sebastian Gonzales, a common sailor, and resolved to establish for themselves a permanent settlement on the island of Sandwip. In 1609 they besieged and captured the fort in which the Muhammadan troops had taken refuge, and put the defenders to the sword in revenge for the murder of the Portuguese on Sardwip Island by Fateh Khán. Having thus made himself master of the island, Gonzales in a short time had an armed force under his command, consisting of 1000 Portuguese, 2000 Indian soldiers, 200 cavalry, and 80 vessels, well armed with cannon, with which he seized the islands of Shahbázpur and Pátelbanga. In 1610, the Rájá of Arakan joined with the Portuguese to invade Bengal, the former by land, and the latter, with the fleet under the command of Gonzales, by sea. At first they met with little opposition, and both Lakshmipur and Bhuluá, in the present District of Noakhali, fell into their hands; but they were afterwards defeated by the Mughal troops, and pursued nearly as far as Chittagong. On hearing of the defeat of his ally, the Rájá of Arakan, Gonzales treacherously put to death the captains of the ships, seized the feet, and proceeded to plunder the Arakan coast. He was repulsed, however, in an attack upon the capital; and thereupon he induced the Portuguese Viceroy of Goa to despatch an expedition against Arakan, with a view to annexing the country. An expedition, under the command of Don Francis de Menesis, was accordingly fitted out, and in October 1615 arrived at Arakan, where it was subsequently joined by Gonzales with 50 ships. On the 15th November a combined attack was made. The Arakanese were assisted by some Dutch vessels, and after an obstinate fight, which lasted all day, they compelled the Portuguese to retire. After this defeat the enterprise was abandoned, and the expedition returned to Goa. In the following year, Sandwip was invaded by the Rájá of Arakan, who defeated Gonzales, and took possession of the island. When Sháistá Khán came to Bengal as Nawab or Governor, in 1664, he resolved to rid the country of the piratical horde which had so long devastated it; and he intended, after doing this, to attack the King of Arakan, according to the orders of Aurangzeb. Seeing, however, that it was impossible, owing to the nature of the country, to transport an army by land from Bengal to Arakan, and fearing that the pirates would prevent liis taking his troops by sea, he determined to interest the Dutch in his designs. With this object, he sent an ambassador to Batavia to treat for the joint occupation of Arakan.
