hin should desire to be disloyal, he would be
at once destroyed, because our past wars were waged with animals;
now we have wars with the Venetians and the Turks of the Sultan.
And as regards the King of Cochin, I have already written to your
Highness that it would be well to have a strong castle in
Cranganore on a passage of the river which goes to Calicut, because
it would hinder the transport by that way of a single peck of
pepper. With the force we have at sea we will discover what these
new enemies may be, for I trust in the mercy of God that He will
remember us, since all the rest is of little importance. Let it be
known for certain that as long as you may be powerful at sea, you
will hold India as yours; and if you do not possess this power,
little will avail you a fortress on shore; and as to expelling the
Moors (Muhammadans) from the country, I have found the right way to
do it, but it is a long story, and it will be done when the Lord
pleases and will thus be served.'

{41}

CHAPTER II

THE EARLY CAREER OF ALBUQUERQUE

The name of Albuquerque was already famous in the history of Castile
and of Portugal before the birth of the great man who increased its
lustre. It is not without interest to examine the history of the
family, for it illustrates in a remarkable manner the origin of the
most noble houses of the Peninsula. It is besides always of interest
to study the ancestry of a great man, for the qualities which
distinguished him are generally to be perceived also in former
members of his family.

The family of Albuquerque derived its origin from Dom Affonso
Sanches, an illegitimate son of King Diniz or Denis, _The Labourer_,
and a beautiful Gallician lady, Dona Aldonsa de Sousa. King Denis is
one of the most remarkable figures in the early history of Portugal.
He ascended the throne in 1279, just after the Moors had been
thoroughly conquered and Portugal had attained its European limits by
the annexation of the Algarves. He reigned for nearly half a century,
and, as his _sobriquet_ indicates, was a man of peace. {42} He
devoted himself to improving the internal administration of the
country, to bringing waste lands under cultivation and to encouraging
commerce. But he had another side to his character. King Denis was
one of the earliest of the Portuguese poets. He wrote in the style of
the Troubadours, and imitated their morality as well as their verse.
The mother o