n attack which the
Hindu prince had made some years previously on the Portuguese
settlement of Saint Thome, they left the Raja of Vijayanagar to his
fate.

In 1568 Dom Luis de Athaide, an officer who had had much experience
in Indian warfare, and who had been knighted as a lad by Dom Estevao
da Gama in the monastery of Mount Sinai, arrived in Goa as Viceroy.
He quickly perceived that a first result {198} of the victory of
Talikot must be that the King of Bijapur would attack Goa. The city
of Goa had far outgrown the limits imposed by the wall which
Albuquerque had built. Dom Antao de Noronha had, during his
government, begun to build a new wall, which was to run from the
north-eastern angle of the island of Goa and should terminate at the
west of the city. Dom Luis de Athaide continued this wall, and was in
the act of building other fortifications when Ali Adil Shah declared
war and made his way into the island with an army estimated at
100,000 men, and accompanied by more than 2000 elephants. This attack
was part of a general scheme formed by the Muhammadan rulers of
India, with the Zamorin of Calicut and the King of Achin, to expel
the Portuguese from Asia. Even sovereigns who had hitherto been
allies of the Portuguese, such as the Raja of Honawar, joined in the
league against them.

Never was the situation of the Portuguese more critical; never did
they show more conspicuous valour. The garrison of Goa, when the
siege commenced in 1570, only consisted of 700 Portuguese soldiers.
Consequently the Viceroy placed under arms 300 friars and priests and
about a thousand slaves. The defence was worthy of the best days of
the Portuguese power. For ten months an obstinate resistance was
offered, and at the end of that time Ali Adil Shah retreated, having
lost by disease and by fighting the larger part of his army.

The defence of Goa, by the Viceroy, was rivalled {199} by the gallant
resistance of Malacca, of Chaul, and of Chale near Calicut, where Dom
Leonis Pereira, Dom Jorge de Menezes, and Dom Diogo de Menezes, all
repulsed their assailants. On the retreat of Ali Adil Shah from
before Goa, the Portuguese Viceroy swept the Malabar coast, punishing
all opponents and relieving the other garrisons. His vengeance was
particularly shown at Honawar, which he burnt. Just after the league
was finally broken, on September 7, 1571, Dom Antonio de Noronha
arrived to succeed Dom Luis de Athaide as Viceroy. The defender of
Goa rec