The Lusiad; Or, The Discovery of India, an Epic Poem
A few days after this, the zamorim sent his first minister, or
catual,[59] attended by several of the nayres, or nobility, to conduct
Gama to the royal palace. As an interview with the zamorim was
absolutely necessary to complete the purpose of his voyage, Gama
immediately agreed to it, though the treachery he had already
experienced since his arrival in the eastern seas showed him the
personal danger which he thus hazarded. He gave his brother, Paulus, and
Coello the command of the fleet in his absence.
The revenue of the zamorim arose chiefly from the traffic of the Moors;
the various colonies of these people were combined in one interest, and
the jealousy and consternation which his arrival in the eastern seas had
spread among them, were circumstances well known to Gama: and he knew,
also, what he had to expect, both from their force and their fraud. But
duty and honour required him to complete the purpose of his voyage. He
left peremptory command, that if he was detained a prisoner, or any
attempt made upon his life, they should take no step to save him or to
reverse his fate; to give ear to no message which might come in his name
for such purpose, and to enter into no negotiation on his behalf. They
were to keep some boats near the shore, to favour his escape if he
perceived treachery before being detained by force; yet the moment that
force rendered his escape impracticable they were to set sail, and carry
the tidings to the king. As this was his only concern, he would suffer
no risk that might lose a man, or endanger the homeward voyage. Having
left these orders, he went ashore with the catual, attended only by
twelve of his own men, for he would not weaken his fleet, though he knew
the pomp of attendance would in one respect have been greatly in his
favour at the first court of India.
As soon as landed, he and the catual were carried in great pomp, in
palanquins, upon men's shoulders, to the chief temple, and thence, amid
immense crowds, to the royal palace. The apartment and dress of the
zamorim were such as might be expected from the luxury and wealth of
India. The emperor reclined on a magnificent couch, surrounded with his
nobility and officers of state. Gama was introduced to him by a
venerable old man, the chief brahmin. His majesty, by a gentle nod,
appointed the admiral to sit on one of the steps of his sofa, and then
demanded his embassy. It was against the custom of his country, Gama
replied, to deliver his instructions in a public assembly; he therefore
desired that the king and a few of his ministers would grant him a
private audience. This was complied with, and Gama, in a manly speech,
set forth the greatness of his sovereign Emmanuel, the fame he had heard
of the zamorim, and the desire he had to enter into an alliance with so
great a prince; nor were the mutual advantages of such a treaty omitted
by the admiral. The zamorim, in reply, professed great esteem for the
friendship of the King of Portugal, and declared his readiness to enter
into a friendly alliance. He then ordered the catual to provide proper
apartments for Gama in his own house; and having promised another
conference, he dismissed the admiral with all the appearance of
sincerity.
The character of this monarch is strongly marked in the history of
Portuguese Asia. Avarice was his ruling passion; he was haughty or mean,
bold or timorous, as his interest rose or fell in the balance of his
judgment; wavering and irresolute whenever the scales seemed doubtful
which to preponderate. He was pleased with the prospect of bringing the
commerce of Europe to his harbours, but he was also influenced by the
threats of the Moors.
Three days elapsed ere Gama was again permitted to see the zamorim. At
this second audience he presented the letter and presents of Emmanuel.
The letter was received with politeness, but the presents were viewed
with an eye of contempt. Gama noticed it, and said he only came to
discover the route to India, and therefore was not charged with valuable
gifts, before the friendship of the state, where they might choose to
traffic, was known. Yet, indeed, he brought the most valuable of all
gifts, the offer of the friendship of his sovereign, and the commerce of
his country. He then entreated the king not to reveal the contents of
Emmanuel's letter to the Moors; and the king, with great apparent
friendship, desired Gama to guard against the perfidy of that people. At
this time, it is highly probable, the zamorim was sincere.
Every hour since the arrival of the fleet the Moors had held secret
conferences. That one man of it might not return was their purpose; and
every method to accomplish this was meditated. To influence the king
against the Portuguese, to assassinate Gama, to raise a general
insurrection to destroy the foreign navy, and to bribe the catual, were
determined. And the catual (the master of the house where Gama was
lodged) accepted the bribe, and entered into their interest. Of all
these circumstances, however, Gama was apprised by his faithful
interpreter, Monzaida, whose affection to the foreign admiral the Moors
hitherto had not suspected. Thus informed, and having obtained the faith
of an alliance from the sovereign of the first port of India, Gama
resolved to elude the plots of the Moors; and accordingly, before the
dawn, he set out for Pandarene, in hope to get aboard his fleet by some
of the boats which he had ordered to hover about the shore.
But the Moors were vigilant. His escape was immediately known, and the
catual, by the king's order, pursued and brought him back by force. The
catual, however (for it was necessary for their schemes to have the
ships in their power), behaved with politeness to the admiral, and
promised to use all his interest in his behalf.
The eagerness of the Moors now contributed to the safety of Gama. Their
principal merchants were admitted to a formal audience, when one of
their orators accused the Portuguese as a nation of faithless
plunderers: Gama, he said, was an exiled pirate, who had marked his
course with blood and depredation. If he were not a pirate, still there
was no excuse for giving such warlike foreigners any footing in a
country already supplied with all that nature and commerce could give.
He expatiated on the great services which the Moorish traders had
rendered to Calicut; and ended with a threat, that all the Moors would
leave the zamorim's ports and find some other settlement, if he
permitted these foreigners any share in the commerce of his dominions.
However staggered with these arguments and threats, the zamorim was not
blind to the self-interest and malice of the Moors. He therefore
ordered, that the admiral should once more be brought before him. In the
meanwhile the catual tried many stratagems to get the fleet into the
harbour; and at last, in the name of his master, made an absolute demand
that the sails and rudders should be delivered up, as the pledge of
Gama's honesty. But these demands were as absolutely refused by Gama,
who sent a letter to his brother by Monzaida, enforcing his former
orders in the strongest manner, declaring that his fate gave him no
concern, that he was only unhappy lest the fruits of all their fatigue
and dangers should be lost. After two days spent in vain altercation
with the catual, Gama was brought as a prisoner before the king. The
king repeated his accusation; upbraided him with non-compliance to the
requests of his minister; urged him, if he were an exile or a pirate, to
confess freely, in which case he promised to take him into his service,
and highly promote him on account of his abilities. But Gama, who with
great spirit had baffled all the stratagems of the catual, behaved with
the same undaunted bravery before the king. He asserted his innocence,
pointed out the malice of the Moors, and the improbability of his
piracy; boasted of the safety of his fleet, offered his life rather than
his sails and rudders, and concluded with threats in the name of his
sovereign. The zamorim, during the whole conference, eyed Gama with the
keenest attention, and clearly perceived in his unfaltering mien the
dignity of truth, and the consciousness that he was the admiral of a
great monarch. In their late address, the Moors had treated the zamorim
as somewhat dependent upon them, and he saw that a commerce with other
nations would certainly lessen their dangerous importance. His avarice
strongly desired the commerce of Portugal; and his pride was flattered
in humbling the Moors. After many proposals, it was at last agreed, that
of his twelve attendants he should leave seven as hostages; that what
goods were aboard his fleet should be landed; and that Gama should be
safely conducted to his ship, after which the treaty of commerce and
alliance was to be finally settled. And thus, when the assassination of
Gama seemed inevitable, the zamorim suddenly dropped his demand for the
sails and rudders, rescued him from his determined enemies, and restored
him to liberty and the command of his navy.
As soon as he was aboard[60] the goods were landed, accompanied by a
letter from Gama to the zamorim, wherein he boldly complained of the
treachery of the catual. The zamorim, in answer, promised to make
inquiry, and punish him, if guilty; but did nothing in the affair. Gama,
who had now anchored nearer to the city, every day sent two or three
different persons on some business to Calicut, that as many of his men
as possible might be able to give some account of India. The Moors,
meanwhile, every day assaulted the ears of the king, who now began to
waver; when Gama, who had given every proof of his desire of peace and
friendship, sent another letter, in which he requested the zamorim to
permit him to leave a consul at Calicut to manage the affairs of King
Emmanuel. But to this request--the most reasonable result of a
commercial treaty--the zamorim returned a refusal full of rage and
indignation. Gama, now fully master of the character of the zamorim,
resolved to treat a man of such an inconstant, dishonourable disposition
with a contemptuous silence. This contempt was felt by the king, who,
yielding to the advice of the catual and the entreaties of the Moors,
seized the Portuguese goods, and ordered two of the seven hostages--the
two who had the charge of the cargo--to be put in irons. The admiral
remonstrated by means of Monzaida, but the king still persisted in his
treacherous breach of faith. Repeated solicitations made him more
haughty, and it was now the duty and interest of Gama to use force. He
took a vessel, in which were six nayres, or noblemen, and nineteen of
their servants. The servants he set ashore to relate the tidings, the
noblemen he detained. As soon as the news had time to spread through the
city, he hoisted his sails, and, though with a slow motion, seemed to
proceed on his homeward voyage. The city was now in an uproar; the
friends of the captive noblemen surrounded the palace, and loudly
accused the policy of the Moors. The king, in all the perplexed distress
of a haughty, avaricious, weak prince, sent after Gama, delivered up all
the hostages, and submitted to his proposals; nay, even solicited that
an agent should be left, and even descended to the meanness of a
palpable lie. The two factors, he said, he had put in irons, only to
detain them till he might write letters to his brother Emmanuel, and the
goods he had kept on shore that an agent might be sent to dispose of
them. Gama, however, perceived a mysterious trifling, and, previous to
any treaty, insisted upon the restoration of the goods.
The day after this altercation Monzaida came aboard the fleet in great
perturbation. The Moors, he said, had raised great commotions, and had