looked on as curiosities of
architectural aberration.

CHAPTER XI

THOMAR AND THE CONQUEST OF INDIA

Vasco da Gama set sail from Lisbon in July 1497 with a small fleet to
try and make his way to India by sea, and he arrived at Calicut on the
Malabar coast nearly a year later, in May 1598. He and his men were well
received by the zamorim or ruler of the town--then the most important
trade centre in India--and were much helped in their intercourse by a
renegade native of Seville who acted as interpreter. After a stay of
about two months he started for home with his ships laden with spices,
and with a letter to Dom Manoel in which the zamorim said:--

'Vasco da Gama, a nobleman of thy household, has visited my kingdom, and
has given me great pleasure. In my kingdom is abundance of cinnamon,
cloves, ginger, pepper, and precious stones; what I seek from thy
country is gold, silver, coral and scarlet.'[108]

Arriving at Lisbon in July 1499, Vasco da Gama met with a splendid
reception from king and people; was given 20,000 gold cruzados, a
pension of 500 cruzados a year, and the title of Dom; while provision
was also made for the families of those who had perished during the
voyage; for out of one hundred and forty-eight who started two years
earlier only ninety-six lived to see Lisbon again.

So valuable were spices in those days that the profit to the king on
this expedition, after all expenses had been paid and all losses
deducted, was reckoned as being in the proportion of sixty to one.

No wonder then that another expedition was immediately organised by Dom
Manoel. This armada--in which the largest ship was of no more than four
hundred tons--sailed from Lisbon under the command of Pedro Alvares
Cabral on March 9, 1500. Being driven out of his course, Cabral after
many days saw a high mountain which he took to be an island, but sailing
on found that it was part of a great continent. He landed, erected a
cross, and took possession of it in the name of his king, thus securing
Brazil for Portugal. One ship was sent back to Lisbon with the news, and
the rest turned eastwards to make for the Cape of Good Hope. Four were
sunk by a great gale, but the rest arrived at Calicut on September 13th.

Here he too was well received by the zamorim and built a factory, but
this excited the anger of the Arab traders, who burned it, killing fifty
Portuguese. Cabral retorted by burning part of the town and sailed south
to Coc