The king of Malacca, driven from his capital,
posted himself on the river Muaray within a few
miles of the town, where he attempted to entrench
himself, but was pursued and attacked by Albuquerque,
who drove him from his position, capturing
his baggage and elephants. The Portuguese
were thus left in tranquil possession of
Malacca.
Such is the detail of the first and greatest effort
of the natives of the Archipelago to resist the invasion
of the European nations. The particulars
now given will supersede the repetition of
any similar narrative, and will illustrate the character
of the unequal contest which the inhabitants
of those islands maintained against the skill and
courage of Europeans. Eight hundred Europeans,
with six hundred Indian auxiliaries, arriving in
an unknown country, capture an entrenched town,
defended by thirty thousand native warriors, with
the loss of eighty of their number, and surrounded
by hostile tribes, maintain themselves in their
conquest. This fact is decisive. Whatever the Portuguese
may tell us of the greatness and difficulty
that the wealth obtained consisted of the spices brought to
Malacca as the entrepot of the trade, articles of little comparative
value in the country, but estimated by the Portuguese at
their then extravagant price in Europe. Of jewels and precious
stones it is not to be supposed that much would have escaped
the rapacity of a licentious soldiery in the sack of a town.
of the undertaking, the enterprise must have been
one of comparative facility. The Malays, when they
first encountered the Europeans, had some knowledge
of fire-arms and artillery 5 and the Portuguese
writers have a fabulous story of there having been
found in the town of Malacca three thousand pieces
of cannon.* That they had the knowledge of gunpowder
and fire-arms, there can be no doubt, but
the unskilful use of fire-arms with barbarous tribes*
who always want the art of fabricating them to any
useful purpose, and the discipline to use them effectually,
inevitably renders them a more easy prey
to an European enemy, than when they confine
themselves to the weapons more natural to their
condition in society, which are always sufficiently
well fabricated, and wielded with effect and dexterity.
Having given a detail of the conquest of Malacca,
I shall now render some account of the mea*
“ A propos de quoi je ne puis me tenir de faire une. remarque,
fort nécessaire pour bien entendre les relations des
pais éloignez, C est que les mots de bon, de beau, de magni-
Jique, de grand, de mauvais, de laid, de simple, de petit, équivoques
d eux-memes, se doivent toujours entendre par rapport
au goût de l’auteur de la relation, si d’ailleurs il
n explique bien en détail ce dont il écrit. Par example,»si un
Facteur Hollandois, ou un Moine de Portugal, exagèrent la
magnificence,’’ &c. Siam, par De la Loubere, Tom. II. p. 107-
VOL. II. c c