een the port of Chaul,
where they had a factory and a small fortress. Portuguese agents were
likewise established in the ports of Gujarat, but they were in no
place masters of a strong defensive position.

To obtain a fitting site for a fortress in Gujarat was a principal
aim of Nuno da Cunha's policy; not only for defence against the
Muhammadans in India, but also as a bulwark against the expected
Turkish fleet. Circumstances favoured him. The Mughal Emperor Humayun
was engaged in war with Bahadur Shah, the King of Ahmadabad or
Gujarat. In his extremity Bahadur Shah sought to make an alliance
with the Portuguese, and for this purpose he granted them the island
of Bassein, which was then separated from the mainland by a narrow
creek. Bassein lies about twenty-eight miles north of Bombay, and
afterwards became the northern capital of Portuguese India, almost
rivalling Goa in splendour and prosperity. At Bassein the Portuguese
built a fort, but the place was not naturally defensible, and Nuno da
Cunha set his heart on the possession of the rocky island of Diu,
which had been one of the spots designed by Albuquerque for a
Portuguese stronghold.

{181} At last, in 1535, under the pressure of an invasion by Humayun,
Bahadur Shah allowed the Portuguese to erect a fortress in Diu and to
garrison it with their own troops. The fortress was rapidly and
solidly built, and Bahadur Shah and Nuno da Cunha signed a treaty of
alliance. Such an alliance was not likely to last, and the murder of
Bahadur Shah in 1537, which took place on his return from visiting
Nuno da Cunha on board his ship, caused a cry of treachery to be
raised. It seems absolutely certain that the death of the King of
Gujarat was due to a misunderstanding, but none the less friendship
was owing to it replaced by bitter enmity. The fortress was not
completed a moment too soon, for in 1538 the Turkish fleet, under
Sulaiman Pasha, after taking Aden by a stratagem, blockaded Diu by
sea. Muhammad III, the nephew and successor of Bahadur Shah, then
besieged the place by land.

Antonio da Silveira, who had been left by Nuno da Cunha as Captain of
the fortress, defended it nobly. Brilliant are the feats of gallantry
recorded by the Portuguese chroniclers on the part not only of the
soldiers but of aged men, boys, and women. The siege lasted many
months, during which Nuno da Cunha was succeeded in September 1538 by
Dom Garcia de Noronha, Albuquerque's nephew, who had bee