enshrined in the hearts of their devotees, need not be ashamed. The latter, the "Golden Vase," is a subject which has been handled by poets since the days of Boccaccio. Keats dealt with it in his own melodious, sumptuous way, in his "Isabella, or the Pot of Basil." Derozio has woven round the theme a simple thread of burning love and woman's constancy, and his independent, natural treatment of the topic ought to have earned for him a warmer recognition of his genuine capacity, and the possession of the true poetic instinct.

Derozio cannot claim to rank in the foremost line of great poets. His was the first glad song of conscious power, poured forth, steeped in the feeling, passion, and imagination of his simple, boyish nature. Should the memoir which appeared in these pages, and this short notice of his poetry, in any way help to call attention to the brilliant lad, and his song of promise, they will have served their purpose, if they vindicate for him an humble place in

"the choir invisible,

"Of those immortal dead who live again

"In minds made better by their presence: live

"In pulses stirred to generosity,

"In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn

"For miserable aims, that end with self,

"In thoughts sublime that pierce the night, like stars,

"And, with their mild persistence, urge men's search
"To vaster issues."

THOMAS EDWARDS.

ART. VI.-HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PORTUGUESE
INDIA. BY E. REHATSEK.

With a List of its Viceroys, Governors, and Captains-General till 1881.

A

FTER having discovered the island of Mozambique and a portion of the coast of East Africa, Vasco da Gama sailed from Melinde on the 24th April 1498, taking with him a pilot to guide the Portuguese fleet to India, on whose shores he landed on the 20th May, at Calicut. Thus the possibility of reaching India by coasting along the African shores and crossing over to it, was practically demonstrated. Vasco da Gama was at first well received in Calicut and obtained an audience from the Zamorin or king of Malabar, to whom he had brought letters from his own sovereign; but as these letters were not accompanied by rich presents, they made very little impression upon the Indian monarch. In short, the first welcome given to Vasco da Gama and his companions was soon changed to coldness, and the Portuguese commander returned, after a forced sojourn of a few days on shore (where he had been retained against his will by the intrigues of the kotwal, or governor, of the town) to his fleet, and, having received from the Zamorin a letter for the king of Portugal, set sail for that country on the 29th August of the same year, taking with him some natives and various natural products of the country. In the course of his return voyage Vasco da Gama discovered, on the Malabar coast, the island of Angediva, which still belongs to Portugal, He arrived at Lisbon with the news of the important discovery, which was destined to produce a complete revolution in the commerce of Europe, to raise the political importance of Portugal to the highest pitch, and to procure for its sovereign the title of Lord of the conquest, navigation and commerce of Ethiopia, Persia and India !

The King, D. Manuel, at once, in 1500, despatched to India a fleet of thirteen sail, commanded by Pedro Alvares Cabral, who had orders to establish a factory at Calicut, and was accompanied by a number of monks who were to preach Christianity to the Hindus. He arrived in Calicut with only six ships, four of the others having been lost in the region of the Cape of Good Hope, whilst of the three remaining vessels one reached Portugal, where also another afterwards carried the news of the discovery of Brazil, and the third, separated from the fleet beyond the Cape, strayed, through the ignorance of the pilot, into the Red Sea and returned with difficulty.

The influential people of Calicut received Pedro Alvares Cabral with the same false professions of amity, and the same dissimulation as had already disgusted Vasco da Gama. This time, however, matters culminated in a brawl with the mob, in which Ayres Correia, the factor of Calicut, was barbarously murdered, with all the Portuguese who happened to be on shore. When Cabral arrived with some people from the ships, it was too late; he could not save his countrymen, but he had the mournful satisfaction of wreaking his vengeance upon the town. Seeing that the Zamorin took no measures to chastise the assassins, Cabral set fire to all the vessels in port with their cargoes, and, having bombarded the town for a whole day, sailed with his fleet to Cochin, where he arrived on the 24th December.

The Chief of Cochin was pleased with the arrival of the Portuguese fleet, entered into negotiations, and allowed four of its ships to be loaded with pepper. From this port, which became afterwards celebrated, Cabral sailed to Cananore (the chief of which, as well as that of Quilon, had sent him ambassadors to Cochin), where he anchored on the 15th January 1501, and, having loaded his ships with four thousand quintals of spices, made sail for Portugal, where he arrived safely. João da Nova then sailed to India and discovered the island of Ascension, as well as another which be called after his own name. He landed on the Malabar coast at Cananore and established a factory there, as Pedro Alves had already done at Cochin. After a hot fight with the fleet of Calicut he returned to Portugal, discovering in the course of his voyage the island of St. Helena, which became afterwards the resort of the Portuguese Indian galleys on account of its excellent water.

The admiral D. Vasco da Gama returned a second time to India in 1502 with a powerful fleet, and bombarded Calicut, where he took many vessels belonging to the natives, and, having loaded some of his own with spices, returned to Portugal, leaving Vicente Sodré with a flotilla to cruise along the coasts of India. The latter, however, lost many of his people and ships on an island near the straits of the Red Sea.

When Francisco de Albuquerque, commander of one of the three fleets which sailed in 1503 from Lisbon to the East, arrived in Cochin, he found the king much embarrassed by a war which the Zamorin was waging against him on account of the friendship he had manifested towards the Portuguese. Accordingly the Portuguese commander easily induced him to allow a fort to be built for the defence of his own kingdom in the town of Cochin itself. This fort was forthwith constructed by the aid of another fleet that

* One quintal makes 128 English pounds.

arrived shortly afterwards in command of the great Affonso de Albuquerque. During this, his first sojourn in the East, he established the Portuguese factory at Quilon, it being the third founded by them in those parts, not counting that of Calicut, which existed only one day.

Passing over the prowess displayed by Duarte Pacheco in the defence of Cochin, the victories he gained over the Zamorin, the aid he afforded to the factory of Quilon, and other services done by him to his country; passing over also the bravery of the new commander Lopo Soares, who bombarded Calicut more than once, and fought at Cranganore and Pandarano with the fleets of the Zamorin, we proceed to narrate the events which took place during the incumbency of D. Francisco de Almeida, the illustrious first Viceroy of India-He embarked at Lisbon in the month of March 1505, commanding a fleet of twenty-two sail, carrying one thousand five hundred soldiers, many of whom were nobles. After some exploits on the east coast of Africa, he landed at Angediva, where he built a fort according to the instructions he had received. In this small island D. Francisco received the ambassadors of the chief of Onore, as well as proposals of amity from other Moslem chiefs of the vicinity, and, seeing the works of the fort in a sufficiently advanced state, he left the command of Angediva to Manuel Pezanha, who had arrived from Portugal, and sailed to the port of Onore. Meeting there with the same treachery that his predecessors had experienced at Calicut and other ports of this coast, he burnt all the ships he found in the harbour, not, however, without encountering a furious resistance on the part of the natives. Then D. Francisco sailed with his fleet to Cananore, where he had an interview with the chief of the country, and, having obtained permission to construct a fort, he began the work with all possible alacrity and the aid of Lourenzo de Brito, who had been appointed to the post and sent out from Portugal.

In conformity with his instructions D. Francisco assumed the title of Viceroy at Cananore. Shortly afterwards, hearing at Cochin the sad news that all the Portuguese residing in the factory at Quilon had been assassinated, he at once despatched his own son, D. Lourenzo de Almeida, with a flotilla to avenge this offence, and learnt a few days afterwards that his orders had been executed by the burning of all the vessels in the port of Quilon with the majority of their crews.

D. Francisco crowned, in the name of D. Manuel, King of Portugal, the son of the old King of Cochin, within the precincts of the fort of that town, and then despatched some loaded ships to Portugal, the captain of one of which, being the first who sailed from India to Europe outside the channel of Mozambique, discovered also the island of Madagascar,

D. Lourenzo de Almeida, who commanded the fleet of cruisers along the coast, destroyed the ships of the Zamorin near Cananore; brought relief to Angediva, the defenders of which had been heroically contending for a long time against the Moslems who had besieged the fort. Thence he sailed to reconnoitre the Maldive islands and Ceylon, and brought the information to the Viceroy that they would be suitable as stations for watering and refitting the vessels of Malacca and Sumatra. Having brought this dangerous mission to a successful termination, he returned to Cochin, where he prepared himself for new adventures and combats.

The fleet which sailed to India in 1506 was commanded by Tristão da Cunha, who chastised certain Muhammadan chiefs on the east coast of Africa, inimical to the Portuguese, paid a visit to the island of Madagascar, and co-operated with the great Affonso de Albuquerque, who was cruising along the coast near Cape Guardafui, in the conquest of the island of Socotrá. Arriving on the Malabar coast, he succoured the fort of Cananore which the new king of that country had attacked with such obstinacy that he reduced the Portuguese factory to the last extremity. Thence he sailed to Cochin in order to procure cargoes for the ships which he was to take to Portugal; but, learning that the Viceroy was about to attack some ship of Mekkah which had gone ashore at Panane, a harbour in the dominions of the Zamorin, he desired to accompany him in that expedition, and returned to Portugal only after having participated in the victory.

Meanwhile, in the year 1507, three fleets sailed from Lisbon to India; and the Viceroy, D. Francisco de Almeida, having learned that the maintenance of the fort of Angediva would be more expensive than its utility warranted, caused it to be razed. At the same time Affonso de Albuquerque explored the coast and the Sea of Arabia as far as the Persian Gulf, and conquered Ormuz. Shortly afterwards young D. Lourenzo de Almeida gloriously perished on the bar of Chaul, fighting, with his few ships against a large Moslem fleet, and Affonso de Albuquerque having been appointed governor of India, Jorge de Aguiar took his place as commander of the fleet at the mouth of the Red Sea.

Albuquerque met the viceroy at Cananore to take charge of the government, but D. Francisco refused to surrender his power before he had avenged the death of his son, and sailed with the whole fleet in search of the Musulmáns. The first locality on which the fierce warrior vented his rage was Dabul, which he levelled to the ground, and after robbing, slaughtering and burning everything and everybody, he left the opulent town a deserted heap of ruins! Thence he sailed to Chaul, the chief of which place, trembling with fear, became tributary to Portugal.