guese prisoners; and it was Abbas Shah of Persia, who, with the
assistance of some Englishmen, captured Ormuz in 1622. In 1670 a
small band of Arabs from Muscat plundered Diu, the fortress which,
under Silveira and Mascarenhas, had resisted the utmost power of
great Muhammadan fleets and armies.

The Maratha confederacy also found it easy and profitable to plunder
Portuguese settlements in India. In 1739 these hardy Hindu soldiers
sacked Bassein, and they extended their incursions to the very walls
of Goa. In the eighteenth century a vigorous effort was made by the
Portuguese to hold their own with the Marathas, which met with some
success, and led to a considerable increase of the province of Goa.
Lastly, it must not be forgotten that in 1661 the Portuguese ceded
the island of Bombay to England as part of the dowry of Catherine of
Braganza.

The present condition of the Portuguese in India affords a curious
commentary on the high aims and great successes of Albuquerque. The
remaining Portuguese possessions, Goa, Daman, and Diu could {205}
make no pretence of defending themselves against the English Empire
in India. They are maintained by Portugal, not for any benefits to be
derived from them, but as relics of the past and witnesses to former
glory. The condition of the Portuguese is indicated by the treaty
which was signed in 1878 with the British Government, by which the
right of making salt and the customs duties were ceded to the
Government of India for a yearly payment of four lakhs of rupees.
This sum was hypothecated for the construction of a railway to
Marmagao, near Goa, which possesses a fine harbour, and will probably
increase in wealth as the port of export for the cotton grown in
Bellary and the neighbouring British districts.

One interesting relic of the former supremacy of the Portuguese was
the right claimed by Portugal to nominate the Roman Catholic prelates
throughout India. This right, natural enough in the sixteenth
century, became absurd in the nineteenth. A long quarrel arising from
this claim has recently been settled by a Concordat between the Pope
and the King of Portugal.

The present volume may appropriately close with two descriptions of
the Portuguese in India by a Muhammadan and a Hindu writer in the
sixteenth century.

'The Franks beginning to oppress and commit hostilities against the
Muhammadans' says Sheik Zin-ud-din, in his historical work the
_Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_, 'the