y numbers, was forced to retire. Having gained an
eminence called mount St Juan, the enemy erected a battery there from
which they played furiously against the fort, which answered them with
great spirit. The Capuchin convent dedicated to the Mother of God, being
considered as of great importance for the defence of the fort, was
gallantly defended for 50 days by Diego Lopez de Fonseca, who on one
occasion made a sally with 200 Portuguese and defeated 2000 of the
enemy. On Lopez falling sick, Francisco Carvallo de Maya took the
command of that post, and defended it till the convent was entirely
ruined, so that he was obliged to withdraw into the city, on which the
enemy converted it into a strong post in which _Lacsamana_ took up his
quarters with 3000 men. _Marraja_ occupied mount St Juan, on which he
erected a large fort; others were established at the convent of St
Lawrence, at _Iller_ and other places, having strong batteries and lines
of communication, so that the city was invested on all sides by land,
while a number of armed boats presented all access by sea for relief.
Fonseca, who commanded in the besieged city, sent out Vivas with 220
Portuguese troops to dislodge Lacsamana from his head-quarters on the
ruins of the Capuchin convent, on which occasion Vivas gained possession
of the post by a night attack, killing 100 of the enemy, and retired
with several cannon. The King of _Pam_, who was in alliance with the
Portuguese, sent a fleet of _paraos_ with 2000 men to the assistance of
the town; and Michael Pereyra Botello brought five sail from the city of
San Thome: Yet these reinforcements were insufficient to induce the
enemy to retire, though they had lost above 4000 men during the siege,
while 60 were slain on the side of the defenders.

Although the bishop of Cochin was informed in June of the intended
attack on Malacca and the weak state of its garrison, he postponed
sending any reinforcement, as it was then the dead of winter on the
Malabar coast, proposing to dispatch succours in September. He died
however about the end of July 1629, after having governed India for
nineteen or twenty months. Upon his death the next patent of succession
was opened, which named Don Lorenzo de Cunna, the commander of Goa, to
the civil government of India, and Nunno Alvarez Pereyra to the
military command. Of this last name there happened to be two in India,
or none. If Don Nunno Alvarez Pereyra, a gentleman well known, were
m