y was marred by Albuquerque's cruelty to the
Portuguese deserters who fell into his hands. Some of these men had
gone over to the Muhammadan camp when the Portuguese ships were
blockaded in the harbour of Goa in 1510, and the others had left Goa
during the recent siege. Having promised to spare their lives,
Albuquerque kept his word, but he mutilated them horribly, cutting
off their ears, noses, right hands, and the thumbs of their left
hands, and plucking out all their hair. The most conspicuous
renegade, a fidalgo named Fernao Lopes, was also put on board a ship
bound for Portugal in custody. He escaped, while the ship was
watering at the island of St. Helena, and led a Robinson Crusoe life
there many years.

{117} The relief of Goa in 1512 completes the second period of
Albuquerque's governorship. His tenacity in maintaining the
Portuguese position at Goa is not less noteworthy than the valour by
which he conquered it.

{118}

CHAPTER V

THE RULE OF ALBUQUERQUE (_continued_)

_The Expedition to the Red Sea and the Conquest of Ormuz_.

The conquest of Goa is so distinctly the most important event of
Albuquerque's governorship, that it is expedient to make clear his
aims and hopes with regard to the establishment of the Portuguese
capital there. Fortunately a state paper is extant which defines the
great Governor's position in eloquent words. When Dom Garcia de
Noronha arrived at Cochin, he delivered to his uncle a letter from
King Emmanuel directing that a general council of all the captains
and chief officers in India should be held to consider the
advisability of retaining Goa. The abandonment of the place had been
recommended by four civilians, of whom the chief was, as has been
said, the Factor at Cochin, with arguments that show how deeply the
rival policy of the first Viceroy, Almeida, had taken hold of the
Portuguese officials in India. They advocated the claims of commerce,
as against empire, in language which vividly recalls that {119} used
by the English East India Company two centuries and a half later. The
opinion of these opponents of Albuquerque was supported, at the Court
of Lisbon, by Duarte de Lemos and Goncalo de Sequeira, who had
declined to share in the perils of the conquest.

The King embodied the ideas of the opposition in certain articles,
which he sent to Albuquerque to submit to the consideration of his
general council. These articles were: (1) that Goa was very unhealthy
and