a
visit to Melinda and renewed the treaty of friendship between the
Chief of that place and the Portuguese. The Chief of Melinda told the
Portuguese captains that the Chiefs of Mombassa and Angoja caused him
much annoyance for his friendship with the Portuguese, and begged
that they would take vengeance on them. In accordance with this
request, the Portuguese sacked and burnt the city of Angoja, the
Chief of which place was 'a Moorish merchant who came from abroad,
but as he was very rich he had made himself lord of all that
land.'[1] The fleet then proceeded to Braboa, or Brava, where the
Muhammadan ruler refused to acknowledge the supremacy of or pay
tribute to the King of Portugal. {51} The place was therefore
attacked and burnt by the Portuguese sailors. In this engagement
Tristao da Cunha was wounded, and at his own request was knighted by
Affonso de Albuquerque on the spot where he had received his wound.

[Footnote 1: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. i. p. 36.]

After these acts of summary vengeance the Portuguese fleet proceeded
to Socotra. This island, which is situated off Cape Guardafui, in
such a position as to command the Gulf of Aden, had been discovered
by Diogo Fernandes Pereira two years before, and had been visited by
Antonio de Saldanha. They had reported the existence of Christians on
the island, who wished to place themselves under the authority of the
King of Portugal. King Emmanuel had for this reason, as well as on
account of its importance in commanding the Gulf of Aden, ordered
that a fortress should be built upon the island, and had given a
commission as Governor to Albuquerque's nephew, Dom Affonso de
Noronha. The Portuguese found a strong castle on the island, defended
by a Muhammadan garrison of 150 men. It was stormed, after an
engagement lasting seven hours, in which Albuquerque himself was
wounded. A well-armed fortress, to which the name of St. Michael was
given, was then erected, as well as a Franciscan monastery, and the
somewhat degraded Christians, who are described by Marco Polo as
belonging to the Greek Church, were in great numbers baptized in the
Catholic religion. On August 1, 1507, Tristao da Cunha, having
completed the first task appointed to him, sailed away to {52} India
to take in cargo, leaving behind him Affonso de Albuquerque with six
ships. On his way back to Portugal the great explorer, who did not
again go to the East, discovered the solitary island in the Atlant