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aten 3000 elephants. He offered, therefore, to capitulate, but all terms were refused by the enemy; on which he determined to make use of the Portuguese, to whom he had always been just and friendly: But favours received from a person in prosperity, are forgotten when the benefactor falls into adversity. He sent therefore one Seixas, a Portuguese in his service, to make an offer to Cayero, if he would receive himself, his family, and treasures, into the four ships which he commanded; that he would give half the treasure to the king of Portugal, to whom he would become vassal, paying such tribute as might be agreed on, being satisfied that he could recover his kingdom with the assistance of 2000 Portuguese troops, whom he proposed to take into his pay. Cayero consulted with his principal officers on this proposition, and asked Seixas, in their presence, what might be the amount of treasure belonging to the king of Martavan. Seixas said, that he had not seen the whole, but affirmed that he had seen enough in gold and jewels to load two ships, and as much silver as would load four or five. Envious of the prodigious fortune that Cayero might make by accepting this offer, the Portuguese officers threatened to delate him to the Birman sovereign, if he consented, and the proposal was accordingly refused. [Footnote 23: De Faria, III. 347--364. Both as in a great measure unconnected with the Portuguese transactions, and as not improbably derived from the worse than suspicious source of Fernand Mendez de Pinro, these very problematical occurrences have been kept by themselves, which indeed they are in de Faria. After this opinion respecting their more than doubtful authenticity, it would be a waste of labour to attempt illustrating their geographical obscurities. Indeed the geography of India beyond the Ganges, is still involved in almost impenetrable darkness, from the Bay of Bengal to the empire of China.--E.] [Footnote 24: Called always the _Bramas_ by De Faria.--E.] The king of Martavan was astonished at the rejection of his proposals, and finding Seixas determined to withdraw from the danger that menaced the city, made him a present of a pair of bracelets, which were afterwards sold to the governor of _Narsinga_ for 80,000 ducats. Despairing of relief or retreat, the king of Martavan now determined to set his capital on fire, and sallying out at the head of the few men that remained, to die honourably fighting against
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