by flight, leaving their goods to be plundered by Ali Beg.  The fugitives took refuge in Mataro, a town only a league distant, whence they went to Bruxel, a fort about four leagues inland, belonging to Catani the sheikh or chief of a horde or tribe of Arabs.  The Arab officer who commanded there received the Portuguese with much kindness and hospitality, and protected them till the departure of Ali Beg, when they returned to Maskat.  On learning the ruin of Maskat, Gonzalo de Menezes, who then commanded at Ormuz, sent Luis de Almeyda with a squadron consisting of a galleon, a galley, and six other vessels, with 400 good men, to attack Ali Beg.  But Almeyda neglected the orders of his superior, and sailed to the coast of the Naytaques, intending to surprise and plunder the beautiful and rich city of Pesani[403].  But the inhabitants got notice of their danger and fled, after which Almeyda dishonourably plundered the city, to which he set fire, together with near fifty sail of vessels which were in the bay.  He did the same thing to Guadel or Gader, a city not inferior to Pesani, and to Teis or Tesse belonging to the barbarous tribe of the Abindos who dwell on the river Calamen in Gedrosia[404], and who join with the Naytagites in their piracies.

[Footnote 402:  Sanaa is about 80 marine leagues, or 278 English miles N.E. from Mokha, and 30 leagues, or about 100 miles nearly north from Makulla, the nearest port of Arabia on the Indian ocean.—­E.]

[Footnote 403:  Perhaps Posino on the oceanic coast of Makran, one of the provinces of Persia, is here meant, nearly north from Maskat, on the opposite coast of the entrance towards the Persian Gulf.—­E.]

[Footnote 404:  Gedrosia the ancient name of that province of Persia on the Indian Ocean between the mouth of the Persian Gulf and the Indus, now called Mekran or Makran.—­E.]

SECTION X.

Transactions of the Portuguese in India, from 1581 to 1597 [405].

Don Francisco Mascarenhas, count of Santa Cruz, was the first viceroy sent out to India after the revolution by which Philip II of Spain acquired the sovereignty of Portugal.  The honour and advantages conferred upon him on receiving this important office were greater than had ever been enjoyed by any of his predecessors.  He well deserved all rewards of honour and profit, having served with great reputation in India, particularly in the brave defence of Chaul, with an incompetent garrison, and hardly any fortifications, against the power of the Nizam, who besieged it with 150,000 men.  Yet his advancement on this occasion proceeded more from the policy of the king of Spain than the merit of Mascarenhas, to endeavour to gain the hearts of the Portuguese in India by his bounty.  On his arrival at Goa in 1581, the new viceroy found that all the Portuguese had already submitted to the government of the king of Spain, so that he had only to attend to the usual affairs of his viceroyalty.