mployed in
settling the affairs of his conquest, ambassadors came from several of
the princes along the coast to congratulate Albuquerque on his brilliant
success. Both then and afterwards, many of the officers of Adel Khan
made inroads to the neighbourhood of Goa, but were always repelled with
loss. At this time, Diego Mendez and other two captains belonging to his
squadron, having been appointed by the king of Portugal for an
expedition to Malacca, stole away from the port of Goa under night in
direct contravention of the orders of Albuquerque, intending to proceed
for Malacca. Albuquerque sent immediately after them and had them
brought back prisoners; on which he deprived them of their commands,
ordering them to be carried to Portugal to answer to the king for their
conduct, and condemned the two pilots who had conducted their ships from
the harbour to be immediately hung at the yard-arm. Some alleged that
Albuquerque emulously detained Diego Mendez from going against Malacca,
which enterprise he designed for himself, while others said that he
prevented him from running into the same danger which had been already
met with by Sequeira at that place, the force under Mendez being
altogether inadequate to the enterprise.
To provide for the future safety of Goa, Albuquerque laid the
foundations of a fort, which he named _Manuel_, after the reigning king
of Portugal. On this occasion, he caused the names of all the captains
who had been engaged in the capture of Goa to be engraven on a stone,
which he meant to have put up as a monument to their honour; but as
every one was desirous of being named before the others, he turned down
the stone so as to hide all their names, leaving the following
inscription,
_Lapidem quem reprobaverant aedificantes_.
Thus they were all pleased, rather wishing their own individual praises
to be forgotten, than that others should partake. Albuquerque assuming
all the powers of sovereignty in his new conquest for the king of
Portugal, coined money of gold, silver, and copper, calling the first
_Manuels_, the second _Esperas_, and the third half esperas. Resolving
to establish a permanent colony at this place, he engaged several of the
Portuguese to intermarry with the women of the country, giving them
marriage portions in lands, houses, and offices as an encouragement. On
one night that some of these marriages were celebrated, the brides
became so mixed and confounded together, that some o
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