for Lisbon (Sion) and his love, and mourns his long
exile from home. He got somehow to Malacca, and after a short stay there
reached Goa, still as prisoner, in June 1561. He was straightway lodged
in gaol, where he heard for the first time of the death of Catherina,
and he poured out his grief in the great sonnet, _Alma Minha Gentil_.
The viceroy, D. Constantius de Braganca, had recently returned from
Jafanapatam, bringing as prize a tooth of Buddha, and Camoens approached
him with a splendid epistle in twenty octaves, after the manner of
Horace's ode to Augustus. It failed, however, to hasten the
consideration of his case, but in September the Conde de Redondo, a good
friend, came into office and immediately ordered his release from
prison. His troubles were not yet at an end, however, for one Miguel
Rodriguez Coutinho, a well-known soldier and citizen of Goa who lent
money at usurious rates, thought the opportunity a good one to obtain
repayment of a debt, and had Camoens lodged once more in gaol. As soon
as he came out the poet composed a burlesque roundel satirizing his
persecutor under the nickname of Fios Seccos ("dry threads").

Though very poor he now led an easier, even a pleasant life for a time.
He was able to see his friends D. Vasco de Ataide, D. Francisco de
Almeida, Heitor da Silveira, Joao Lopes Leitao and Francisco de Mello,
all men of family and note. One day he invited them to a banquet, at
which, instead of the usual dishes, each guest was served with a set of
witty verses, and after these had been read out and chaff had gone
round, the food came and they formed a merry party. The poet used his
interest with the viceroy to recommend to him the naturalist Garcia da
Orta, whose _Colloquies_ on the simples and drugs of the East, the first
product of the press in India, appeared in April 1563 with an ode by
Camoens. His life for the next three years is almost a blank, but we
know that he was hard at work finishing his epic, assisted by the advice
of the historian Diogo do Couto, who became its commentator, and further
that the new viceroy, his friend D. Antao de Noronha, nominated him to a
reversion of the factory of Chaul, which, however, never fell into
possession. It is clear from his writings that fourteen years in the
East had told on Camoens. His best friends were dead or scattered, and
he was overwhelmed with _saudade_. His sole ambition was to go home and
print his poem, but he had no money to pay