nothing lefs than the deitrudlion o f the Europeans. It is évident
he had great reafon to fufpedt his new guefts, for Albuquerque,.
among other reqjiefts, deiired leave to eredl a fort to iecure his
countrymen from any future attacks. This the king knew was-
only a prelude to the fubjedtion o f him and his fubjedts to a foreign
yoke. The refufal was followed by the landing o f the Portuguefe
; feveral fevere Ikirmiihes enfued, which, as ufual, ended
with the defeat of the Indians. The city was forced, and the palace
taken by ftorm, but though the king found means to efcape
with all his valuable effedts, Albuquerque got two hundred thou-
fand ducats to his ihare o f the plunder. Among other means of
refiftance, the Malay es placed in the way o f the aflailants a fort o f
chevaux de frisse with poifoned points. No people are fo expert aa-
the Malayes in that dreadful art. The city was alfo defended by
three thoufand cannon, a number o f artillery furprifing in thofe
days. The monarch fled to the woods, where he foon died o f
grief. This fuccefs o f Albuquerque's itruck all the neighboring;
nations with admiration. The king of Siam, and the princes o f
Sumatra and Java, and the other neighboring ifies, fent to him.
embaffadors, and various rich prefents.. Thofe from Java very
politically prefented him with fpears and darts* all kinds of hoftile
weapons, and pieces o f embroidery reprefenting the warlike exploits
o f their mailer, to impreis on the ftranger an idea of the
valor o f the Javanefe monarch.
T he Portuguefe from time to time fortified Malacca in a
manner fuitable to its importance, and it became the greateil emporium
in India. By this wife itroke of policy, Albuquerque gave
to his country the poflefEon o f the gold, the gems, the fpices,.
a and.
. S T R E IG H T S O F M A L A C C A ,
and other rich productions o f India ultra Gangem, and its
iflands, as he did before thofe-of Hindoojlan, by the capture o f
the famous city o f Goa.
T h e Portuguefe continued in pofleflion o f Malacca till the
year 1641, when it was wrefted out o f their hands by the
Dutch, after a fix months fiege. The governor is accufed by
hiftorians o f treachery, and to have been bribed into a furrender;
but it is certain that he did not give the place up till after the
moil gallant defence. The Dutch, fenfible of its value, paid the
utmoil attention to its fortifications, and to every thing that
could revive the antient commerce, which had almoit funk to
nothing, by the tyranny and ufual ill conduit o f the Portu-
guefe.
T h e city had in their time feveral fine churches, and numbers
o f monaileries ; and the Jefuits a noble college, in which
they exercifed great hofpitality. All thefe o f courfe fell to
decay under the reign o f the fons o f Calvin. Sharp as they
are, they were outwitted by the fons o f Rome : the religious of
the feveral convents made a requeft to the conqueror, that they
might be permitted to quit their houfes in folemn procefiion ;
each carried a large waxen taper in his hand, within which were
concealed their diamonds, and all the lefler treafures. The victors
were defrauded o f the fruits o f their valor, and, as Sonnerai
fays, their commander loft his head, on his return to
Holland, for not having fagacity enough to difcover the trick.
Malacca is exceedingly large ; much of it is built o f itrong
bamboo, but the feveral flone buildings, among them the governor’s
houfe, make a confpicuous figure. A narrow but deep and
E a rapid
E x p e l l e d by
t h e D u t c h .