ouraged to
come to the city. It has been seen therefore that, while striking
hard at the Malays, he gave every encouragement to the merchants of
other nationalities. The most important of the trading nations, which
brought their commodities to the Malay port, were the Chinese.
Albuquerque had treated with great courtesy the crews of five Chinese
junks, which were anchored in the harbour, at the time of the first
assault on Malacca. After they had witnessed the valour of the
Portuguese on that occasion, he allowed them to take in cargo and to
depart in safety. These crews reported throughout China the bravery
and civility of the Portuguese, which had a great effect upon the
minds of the Chinese ministers; so much so, that when the expelled
Sultan of Malacca appealed to China for help, and abused the
Portuguese as robbers and pirates, he received the answer that the
Portuguese seemed to be a very good people, and that the Chinese
government would not assist him. Albuquerque did not at this time
send an ambassador to China, but it is worthy of notice that it was
one of {109} his captains, Fernao Peres de Andrade, who, in 1517, was
the first Portuguese to visit Canton.

With the kingdom of Siam Albuquerque himself opened up direct
relations. When the five Chinese junks left Malacca, they took with
them, at the Governor's request, Duarte Fernandes, who had learnt the
Malay language while a prisoner with Ruy de Araujo, as an emissary to
the Siamese Court. He was received most favourably by the King of
Siam, who had always considered the Sultan of Malacca as an intruder
and had heard the news of his defeat with joy. Fernandes returned to
Malacca laden with rich presents, and Albuquerque sent him back to
Siam, accompanied by a Portuguese fidalgo or gentleman, Antonio de
Miranda, as ambassador. He also sent in different directions Duarte
Coelho to visit Cochin China and Tongking, and Ruy da Cunha to the
kingdom of Pegu. He entered into communications with the King of Java
and with some of the chiefs of the island of Sumatra, who were all
greatly impressed by the speedy conquest of Malacca.

Of equal importance was Albuquerque's despatch of three ships, under
the command of Antonio de Abreu, to explore the Moluccas and the
Spice Islands. This squadron was ordered not to take prizes, but to
devote itself entirely to the work of exploration. It touched at many
places, and did much important work, but its chief interest to later