MALACCA 246 MALACCA
communication between them being by a wooden bridge. The houses are of wood,
and principally by the sea-side, but in other directions, they are of stone and mortar,
very noble. In the quarter which lies to the south stand the king’s palace and the
large mosque, and here dwell all the nobility. On the northern side dwell the
merchants, and here the city is most extensive.” Yol. II. p. 335.
According to the most moderate of these accounts, Malacca is made to contain a
population of 150,000 inhabitants, and although narrow, inland, to have extended for
three miles along the shore. It is evident, however, that it was for the most part a
mere assemblage of thatched huts, and with the exception of temporary breastworks,
it is certain that it had no kind of fortification such as the Portuguese themselves
had found in other parts of Asia.
The reputation of Malacca had reached the Portuguese as soon as they had arrived
in Calicut, and in 1508, ten years after that event, King Emanuel fitted out a fleet in
Portugal in order to establish a trade with it. This was under the command of Diogo
Lopez de Sequiera and reached the city in the following year. Here, through the
representations of the Mahommedan merchants of Western India trading with
Malacca, an attempt was made to cut him off, and some of his people were killed,
and others taken prisoners. The ill conduct of the Portuguese, indeed, had been
such, since their arrival in India, that an act of perfidy to cut them off is easily
credible on the part of a semi-barbarous people. De Barros after describing the
flourishing condition of Malacca, gives the following account of the effects which the
depredations of his countrymen had produced on it. “ This busy trade,” says he,
“ lasted until our arrival in India, but the Moorish, Arabian, Persian and Guzrati ships,
fearing our fleets, dared not, in general, now undertake the voyage, and if any ship
of theirs did so, it was only by stealth and escaping our ships. The king, Mahommed
of Malacca, immediately began to experience a loss in the duties which he levied on
trade. As from the great number of ships which had frequented the port, a large
revenue had been realised, and now from a few there was but a small one, he began
to recompense himself for his loss by plundering the resident merchants, and they,
consequently, began to leave the place.” Decade II. book vi. chap. 2.
According to De Barros, the conduct of Sequiera was, at least, as barbarous as that
of the Malay king. “ Finally,” says he, “ seeing so many inconveniences to arise, they
agreed that it was expedient to quit the place, and by way of proclaiming their future
intentions, Diogo Lopez commanded that a man and woman, who had come on board
the ships the day of the affray, should have an arrow passed through their skulls, and
thus they were landed in one of his boats as a present to the king, who was thus
informed through these his subjects, that unless he kept a good watch the treason
which he had perpetrated would be punished with fire and sword.” Decade II.,
book ii. chap. 4. . ,
It was to punish the act of perfidy practised towards Sequiera and his companions,
that Alfonso Alboquerque, then governor-general of India, fitted out the expedition
which effected the conquest and which he himself commanded in person. Thi3 fleet consisted
of nineteen sail, and, according to De Barros, the Portuguese troops amounted
to no more than 800 men, with 200 Malabar auxiliaries, the latter armed only with
swords and shields. The fleet anchored in Malacca roads on the first day of July
1511, near a small island, the usual station of the Chinese junks, of which three had
already arrived. The first care of Alboquerque was to enter into a négociation in
order to rescue the prisoners of Sequiera’s fleet, in which he succeeded, and with the
information which they furnished, he resolved to attack the city. In his first attempt,
however, he met with such resistance that he was either beaten back, or found it
prudent to retire to his fleet, and it was only in the second assault that he succeeded,
and then, in a good measure, through a kind of blockade, which lasted nine days, and
by which the Malays were starved into quitting it. “ In the attack,” says De Barros,
“ Alboquerque confined himself to capturing the bridge, at which he entrenched his
troops. In this position he maintained himself for nine days, until the Malays were
wearied out and forced to abandon the town. Among them, there was such hunger
that in order to pilfer a little rice from houses in which they knew there was a store,
they preferred risking their bodies against our steel to losing their lives through want
of food.” Chap. 6.
The preparation for and commencement of the first attack is thus mentioned by
De Barros. “ Next day, which was the vesper of St. Jago, before dawn and to the
sound of the trumpet, the captains in their boats repaired to the admiral’s ship, and
having received absolution from the priest, they instantly made for the land, Alfonso
Alboquerque making for the mouth of the river in order to capture the bridge, and
MALACCA ______________________
Alboquerque
giving the word St. Jag , m Pb bt iu the boats, replied to the
the soldiers set up a shout. Some M*» Qq ^ ^ air was rent with, a
cannon which the Malays ha the canaoaj aud the shouts, could not be
confusion of noises, so that t Pbole forming a doomsday of fear and terror,
distinguished * °mM°X y“ cons4ed of cannon (bombardas), band-guns (espingardas)
The arms of the Malay discharging small-darts, swords, daggers, spears and
bows and airow , P means of attack by the Malays were elephants, and with the
bucklers. Among othermiean « The king and his son,” say the Commenusual
result to those jhflji | P eieDhants seeing themselves pressed by our men, turned
to do this is said , backwards and fell on the Moors, throwing them into
° Tb ’ elephant on which the king was mounted, feeling the pain of its
confusion. ,, that guided it with its trunk and dashed him to the
g Z n d , T w h ic h the king, wounded in the hand, dismounted, and not being re-
^ ^ & & S Wt h ® 5 w r Be t T l l both quarters of the city “ From the
stc^ades wMch he had erected^ say the Commentaries, ^ a o d ’ Mboquerque
directed Gaspar de Paiva, with 100 men, now that the sea-breeze had set in, to fire
the commercial part of the town, and Simao Martinez, with an equal number, to do
the same to the king’s palace. When the fire took effect it consumed a great part of
the citv and the Moors, in consequence, kept at a distance from our people. P. 369.
A s s o o n as the Portuguese had become masters of the town, Alboquerque as a
reward to his troops, gave a general order to sack it, making an exception only
favour of the natives of the Malabar coast, and of the Javanese and Peeua,nf ’
had favoured his enterprise. No account is given of the total loss sustained by
Portuguese in the capture, but in the first attack the number of the wounded ^ stated
at seventy “ Of the Moors,” say the Commentaries, men, women, and children, an
infinite number perished by the sword, for no one was spared.
De Barros estimates the value of the plunder taken at 500,000 crusados which would
amount to no more than 62,2002. but Castaghneda reduces it to no more than two
fifths of that sum. All the authorities seem to agree that the number of canno
captured was 3000, most of them, in all probability, mere wall-pieces. This is the
amount given in the Commentaries. “ There were captured 3000 pieces of “ Ellery
2000 of them of brass, and among these, was one large gun presented to the king
of Malacca by the king of Calicut. The rest were of iron. All this artillery with
its appurtenances was of such workmanship that it could not be excelled, even in
Portugal. There were also captured matchlocks (espingardas), blow-pipes for shooting
poisoned arrows, bows and arrows, lances of Java, and divers other weapons,
which excited, the wonder of the captors. Besides these arms, much merchandise
of many kinds was taken. All this, and much besides not stated to avoid prolixity,
Alfonso Alboquerque ordered to be divided among the commanders and crews of
the fleet, taking to himself only six large brass lions which he reserved for his tomb.
These with a bracelet, some children of all the nations of the land, and some tributes
to be presented to King Don Emanuel and Queen Doiia Maria were all lost in the
ship Flor del Mar in returning to India. Let no one be surprised in perusing this
narrative, that in Malacca there were taken 3000 pieces of artillery, for Kuy de Arrujo
(a prisoner of Sequiera’s fleet), Ninachetuan (chief of the Talingas), and Alfonso Alboquerque
stated that in Malacca there were 8000, and this may be believed for two
reasons, first, that in that town, there was much copper and much tin, with smelters
as good as in Germany, and in the seeond place, that the city was a league m length,
and that when Alboquerque was effecting a landing he was fired upon from all parts,
from which it will appear that the number of guns was even small for the extent
that had to be defended.” Chapter xxviii. p. 380.
The Portuguese certainly considered the capture of Malacca one of the most
glorious of their Asiatic conquests. Castaghneda, speaking of the point at which the
chief resistance was experienced says of it, “ And Burely until this day, from the
time we began the conquest of India, was no enterprise undertaken so arduous as
the affair of that bridge, nor one in which so much artillery was employed or in
which so many were engaged in the defence. Moreover, from the play of the
enemy’s artillery, we received much damage before we had effected a landing.