e
Persian Court, being poisoned upon the way at Ormuz, but part of his
instructions deserve quotation:

'You shall tell Shah Ismail how my Lord the King will be pleased to
come to an understanding and alliance with him, and will assist him
in his war against the Sultan; and that I, in his name and on his
behalf, offer him the fleet and {78} army and artillery which I
have with me, and the fortresses, towns, and lordships, which the
King of Portugal holds in India, and I will give him all this same
help against the Turk.'[8]

[Footnote 8: Instructions to Ruy Gomes; Albuquerque's _Commentaries_,
vol. ii. pp. 114-118.]

In his letter to the Shah, Albuquerque lays weight also upon the
advantages which might be derived from an alliance with the
Portuguese:

'I believe that with small trouble,' he says, 'you must gain the
Lordship of the city of Cairo, and all his kingdom and
dependencies.... If God grant that this intercourse and alliance be
ratified, come you with all your power against the city of Cairo
and the lands of the Grand Sultan which are on the borders of your
own, and the King my Lord shall pass over to Jerusalem and gain
from him all the land on that side.'[9]

[Footnote 9: Letter to Shah Ismail; Albuquerque's _Commentaries_,
vol. ii. pp. 111-114.]

These ideas deserve notice both as illustrating the grandiose
conceptions of Albuquerque, and his skill in taking advantage of
dissensions among the foes of the Christian religion. To him
doubtless it mattered not whether the Muhammadans he attacked were
Shiahs or Sunis--all alike were infidels; but he was perfectly ready
to make use of the one sect against the other. He calmly put on one
side the demand of the Persian ambassador that the Shiah form of
Muhammadanism should be proclaimed in Goa, and that Ismail Shah's
money should pass current, but he nevertheless dismissed the
ambassador with fair words.

Albuquerque was soon distracted from questions of general policy by
the advance of the King of Bijapur upon the island of Goa with 60,000
men. As had {79} happened at Ormuz, his captains did not share his
views. They declared it to be impossible to defend Goa, and strongly
resented being engaged in the hard work of building walls instead of
in the more lucrative business of collecting cargoes for Portugal.
The news of the advance of Yusaf Adil Shah increased the reluctance
of the captains to remain, but Albuquerque nevertheless