nt his audience at Peking, a
city far distant, to which place Perez accordingly followed. While on
the journey, Simon de Andrada behaved himself so improperly in the
island of Tamou that an account of his proceedings was sent to court,
and Thomas Perez and his companions were condemned to death as spies.
The rigour of this sentence was mitigated, but the embassy was not
received, and Perez was sent back as a prisoner to Canton, with orders
that the Portuguese should restore Malacca to its native king, who was a
vassal to China, in which case the embassy would be received; but
otherwise the ambassador and his suite were to be put to death, and the
Portuguese for ever excluded from China as enemies. Simon de Andrada
conducted himself with a high hand, as if he had been king of Tamou,
where he raised a fort, and set up a gallows to intimidate the people.
He committed violence against the merchants who resorted to the port,
and bought young people of both sexes, giving occasion to thieves to
steal them from their parents. These extravagant proceedings lost
nothing in their transmission to court, and were the cause of the severe
orders respecting Perez and his followers.

[Footnote 160: The text seems irreconcileably contradictory, perhaps
from mistranslation; but the circumstance is not important.--E.]

[Footnote 161: This account of the ridge of Malexam is considerably
erroneous. The ridge of mountains in the text begins in the west of
China on the borders off the province of Yunnan, between Koeitchoo and
Quansee, and ends in the east at the province of Foo-tchien.--E.]

At this time Diego Calva arrived with one ship from Lisbon, and several
others from Malacca, and in consequence of this addition to their
strength, the Portuguese acted still more insolently than before, and so
exasperated the governors of the province that they apprehended several
of them, and even contrived to take the last arrived ship. At the
commencement of hostilities Duarte Coello arrived from Malacca with two
ships well manned and armed. The _Itao_, or Chinese admiral in these
seas, attacked the Portuguese with fifty ships, and though he did them
some damage, he was so severely handled by the artillery that he was
forced to retire and to remain at some distance, keeping up a strict
blockade. After matters had remained in this state for forty days,
Ambrose del Rego arrived with two additional ships from Malacca, and the
Portuguese determined upon