the Zamorin, and resolved to
carry out the King's orders without more delay. He met with
considerable opposition, especially from the Raja of Cochin, who
feared that the lucrative {131} pepper trade, which he enjoyed, owing
to the existence of a fortress and factory in his capital, would go
to Calicut, and his views were adopted by the civil officers in
charge of the trade and also by all the adherents of Almeida's
policy. Nevertheless Albuquerque persisted, and since nothing could
be done with the reigning Zamorin he advised the heir apparent to
secure his accession by poison.

The advice was followed; the Zamorin was poisoned, and his murderer
and successor allowed Albuquerque to build a fortress on the site he
had chosen. It was the best fortified castle erected in India, and
its water gate, by means of which reinforcements and ammunition could
be introduced direct from the sea, was especially admired. The new
Zamorin offered to pay full compensation to the Portuguese for all
the damage that had been done since the murder of the first factor,
and he also sent two native envoys to Lisbon to protest his sincere
submission to King Emmanuel. The erection of the fortress at Calicut
set the seal on the Portuguese power on the Malabar coast; the Mopla
merchants were controlled at their headquarters, and the
_Commentaries_ assert that the Raja of Narsingha or Vijayanagar

'declared, when he heard of it, that since the Zamorin of Calicut
had assented to the building of a fortress in his land by the
Portuguese, the Captain-General of India might as well build
another in Bisnagar (Vijayanagar) if he pleased.'[3]

[Footnote 3: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iv. pp. 74, 75.]

Though the building of the fortress at Calicut was {132} the most
important event of Albuquerque's rule in 1514, some notice must
likewise be given to his relations with Gujarat, and the expeditions
he sent to Ormuz and Malacca.

It was reported to him by the factor he had left at Diu, that the
Nawab of that place had gone to Ahmadabad in order to induce the King
of Gujarat to refuse the Portuguese leave to build upon the island,
and also that Ismail Shah, of Persia, had sent a special embassy to
Ahmadabad to induce the King to accept the Shiah form of the
Muhammadan religion. Albuquerque, on this, determined to send a
better equipped embassy than before to the Court of Muzaffar Shah II.
He selected two fidalgos, on whom he could rely, Dio