he ships
under Almeida. So raw were they that they hardly knew their right hand
from their left, still less the difference between starboard and
larboard, till their captain hit on the happy notion of tying a bundle
of garlic over one side of the ship and a handful of onions over the
other, so the pilot gave orders to the helmsman thus: "Onion your helm!"
or "Garlic your helm!"

[Illustration: A SHIP OF ALBUQUERQUE'S FLEET. From a very fine woodcut,
published about 1516, of Albuquerque's siege and capture of Aden. In
the British Museum.]

On the way out, Almeida built a strong fortress near Zanzibar,
organised a regular Portuguese Indian pilot service, and established
his seat of government at Cochin. Then he sent his son, a daring youth
of eighteen, to bombard the city of Quilon, whose people were
constantly intriguing against the Portuguese. Having carried out his
orders, young Lorenzo, ordered to explore the Maldive Islands, was
driven by a storm to an "island opposite Cape Comorin, called Ceylon,
and separated from thence by a narrow sea," where he was warmly received
by the native King, whose dress sparkled with diamonds. Lorenzo
erected here a marble pillar with the arms of Portugal carved thereon
and took possession of the island. He also sent back to Portugal the
first elephant ever sent thither.

Ceylon was now the farthest point which flew the flag of Portugal toward
the east. Doubtless young Lorenzo would have carried it farther, but
he was killed at the early age of twenty-one, his legs being shattered
by a cannon-ball during a sea-fight. He sat by the mainmast and
continued to direct the fighting till a second shot ended his short
but brilliant career. The Viceroy, "whose whole being was centred in
his devotion to his only son, received the tidings with outward
stoicism." "Regrets," he merely remarked, "regrets are for women."

Nevertheless he revenged the death of his son by winning a victory
over the opposing fleet and bidding his captains rejoice over "the
good vengeance our Lord has been pleased, of His mercy, to grant us."

But the days of Almeida were numbered. He had subdued the Indian coast,
he had extended Portuguese possessions in various directions, his term
of office was over, and he was succeeded by the famous Albuquerque,
who had already distinguished himself in the service of Portugal by
his efforts to obtain Ormuz for the Portuguese. Now Viceroy of India,
he found full scope for his bo