time
he only took one prize, he proceeded once more to Calayate
(K[a-macron]lh[a-macron]t). The governor of the place was an intimate
friend of Cogeatar, and did not receive the Portuguese as favourably
as he had done in the previous year. On observing symptoms of
resistance Albuquerque promptly attacked the city, and after a
furious engagement, in which Dom Antonio da Noronha especially
distinguished himself, Calayate was sacked and burnt. The ships in
the harbour were also destroyed, and with great barbarity the ears
and noses of all the Muhammadans who were taken prisoners were cut
off.

Albuquerque then went on to Ormuz, where he heard the news of the
sea-fight off Chaul, in which Dom Lourenco de Almeida had been
killed. Cogeatar also forwarded to Albuquerque a letter which he had
received from Dom Francisco de Almeida, the Portuguese Viceroy. In
this letter Albuquerque's conduct in {59} the previous year was
greatly blamed, and the Viceroy declared his intention of chastising
Albuquerque, 'in order that he may learn that wheresoever he shall
receive honour, and give a writing on the King's behalf, he ought not
to alter it, for the King of Portugal is not a liar, and it is
necessary that his captain should not depart from his commands.'[5]
In enclosing this letter to Albuquerque, Cogeatar announced his
intention of informing the Viceroy that Albuquerque was a traitor to
the King of Portugal. In reply to these communications, Albuquerque
sent a haughty letter, in which he defended his conduct during the
previous year:--

'Have I not already many a time told thee,' he wrote, 'that I was
no corsair but Captain-General of the King of Portugal, an old man
and a peaceable one?... In what is stated in the Persian letter
[from the Viceroy] about my not daring to go to him, but that I
went instead to Socotra, know of a certainty that I have fear of no
one except of my King; but, on the contrary, I tell thee that the
captain who knew both how to obtain this kingdom, and conquer a
king in battle, and make him tributary to the King of Portugal,
will be treated with great honour let him go whithersoever he will,
and the Viceroy knows that I have performed my duty in proceeding
to succour the fortress of Socotra, as my King had ordered me, and
that I had not now fled, had I not gone to seek for the supplies
which the captains carried away from me when they departed, leaving
thy fleet of seventy sai