ABSTRACT
The chief captain, Tristão da Cunha, by the palm-grove whither he went to disembark, had some slight difficulty with the Moors, who stoutly opposed his landing; but it was of little avail for them, because he fell upon them with such fury and force that they made but little resistance, and quitting the stockade, fled away towards the gate of the fortress, the chief captain following up behind them with his men, and killing many of them; and those who remained alive, seeing themselves cut off by Afonso Dalboquerque, who had already got in, turned round behind the fortress and saved themselves in the mountains. The chief captain, entering by the gate in the court-yard, found Afonso Dalboquerque at the foot of the tower, wherein the Moors were collected; and on his arrival he dispatched Nuno Vaz de Castelo-branco with four or five men to go and see if he could find entrance on any side to get up into it. And at the head of the courtyard they found a stone staircase, which 50was the entry to the tower, and going up by it, they came out upon the terrace of the tower, and there found a door which led to the lower story, which the Moors had barred in such a manner that no one could get in, and from the middle story, where they were, they kept shooting arrows with bad effect upon our men. The Fidalgos, who were there, perceiving themselves severely attacked by the Moors without being able to do them any injury in return, determined to risk an assault upon the door, in order to get in to them. And the first who attacked it was Don Antonio de Noronha; but when he would have gone up, a Moor came upon him with a sword, and would have cut his throat, had not Afonso Dalboquerque, happening to see the attempt, warded off the blow with his shield. The Moors, perceiving themselves invaded by the upper way of the terrace, retreated to the principal tower by a stairway, which led from one to the other, there not being at this time more than twenty-five in the fortress out of a hundred and fifty at the beginning of the attack, for the others were either dead or fled to the mountains. When they had retreated to the principal tower, they barred the doors and kept quiet, but the chief captain ordered it to be broken open immediately with rams; yet, because the stairway was so narrow that only one at a time could ascend by it, and the Moors could easily defend it, the chief captain desired, in order that they might not kill any of our men when entering this tower, to offer them terms. He thereupon told Afonso Dalboquerque and the other captains that those Moors were so obstinate, and our men so eager to kill them, that it would cost much time and trouble to get in at them; so it would be advisable to let them go without hindrance, for even if they were to kill all of them, no more honour would accrue to them than that they had already gained in taking the fortress. And because what the chief captain said was well received by all, he sent forthwith for Gaspar Rodriguez, the interpreter, to parley 51with the Moors at the door of the tower, and tell them their captain was dead, as indeed they well knew, and all those of his company, and that they were left alone; therefore he earnestly entreated them that they would think right to change their opinion and quit the fortress, and he would give them a safe conduct and passage for them to go to their land. The Moors replied that they were much obliged to the worthy chief captain for wishing to spare their lives, but that, in telling them of their captain’s death, he had given them a sufficient reason for declining to receive the favour, for the Fartaquins were not accustomed to return alive to their land, and leave their captain dead on the field, especially when he was the son of their king, therefore he might do as he pleased, for they were not going to yield. The chief captain, at this declaration of the Moors, sent João Freire, his page, and Nuno Yaz de Castelo-branco, and Dinis Fernandes, who was afterwards Chief Superintendent of India, Antonio Dinis de Setubal, and Pedralvares, page of the Count of Abrantes, to ascend to the terrace of the tower and see if by that way they could get in at the Moors. And the first who went up was João Freire, who, when leaping from the parapet of the tower to the terrace, was perceived by them, and they opened the door which led to the terrace, and seeing him by himself, fell upon him and killed him, and while they were killing him the others arrived. As soon as the Moors perceived them, they returned to their retreat in the story where they had been, and barred the door; and our men, seeing that they could not follow the Moors, made a hole in the terrace of the tower, and threw down stones and bricks which they took thence, and Nuno Yaz de Castelobranco began to do them some injury with a cross-bow he had taken with him. Afonso Dalboquerque, excited with the shame they all incurred for having been there three hours without being able to enter a tower defended by four Moors, ordered two Biscay palisadoes to be brought from 52his boat, and under the protection of these, carried by two soldiers, they began to mount bravely to the top of the stairway, those who could find room, and all the others followed them, being well plied with arrows and lances hurled at them. Even this, however, availed the defenders nothing to prevent our men from entering, and those who were upon the top of the terrace, when they saw the disturbance going on in the story, and the little door unprotected, broke it down and went down the stairway, and both one and the other party got in pell-mell among the Moors, and killed all without one escaping, and this at the cost of five or six of us killed and many wounded. One Moor, indeed, who surrendered, was taken prisoner, and of him Afonso Dalboquerque made much use on the Arabian coast, whither he went, for this Moor was a great pilot for that coast, and gave him a chart of all those parts of the kingdom of Ormuz, which a pilot, who was called Omar, when going thither had made, in whose company this man had sailed as mariner. The fortress was attacked at six o’clock in the morning, and finally taken at one o’clock in midday. Not much spoil was taken in it, for the Moors were of the frontier, but some supplies and arms were found, and swords bearing in Latin the inscription, “God help me.” This victory having been won, on the morning of the next day the chief captain went with all the men in procession to a Moorish mosque; and as it was to be the principal church, they named it “Our Lady of the Victory”, wherein Fr. Antonio do Loureiro, of the Order of St. Francis, said mass, and not without the tears of our men, to behold in a land so remote from Portugal the name of our Lord Jesus Christ reverenced in that house of abomination.
