No More Learning

He was appointed admiral of the eastern seas, with an
annual salary of 3000 ducats, and a part of the king's arms was added to
his. Public thanksgivings to Heaven were celebrated throughout the
churches of the kingdom; while feasts, dramatic performances, and
chivalrous entertainments (or tournaments), according to the taste of
that age, demonstrated the joy of Portugal.

Pedro Alvarez Cabral was the second Portuguese admiral who sailed for
India. He entered into alliance with Trimumpara, king of Cochin, and
high priest of Malabar. (See Bk. x. p. 302. )

Gama, having left six ships for the protection of Cochin and Cananor,
had sailed for Portugal with twelve ships, laden with the riches of the
East. As soon as his departure was made known, the zamorim made great
preparations to attack Cochin--a city situated on an island, divided by
an arm of the sea from the main-land. At one part, however, this creek
was fordable at low water. The zamorim having renewed the war, at
length, by force of numbers and bribery, took the city; and the King of
Cochin, stripped of his dominions, but still faithful to the Portuguese,
fled to the island of Viopia. Francisco Albuquerque, with other
commanders, having heard of the fate of Cochin, set sail for its relief;
the garrison of the zamorim fled, and Trimumpara was restored to his
throne. Every precaution by which the passage to the island of Cochin
might be secured was now taken by Pacheco. The Portuguese took the
sacrament, and devoted themselves to death.
The King of Cochin's troops
amounted only to 5000 men, while the army of the zamorim numbered
57,000, provided with brass cannon, and assisted by two Italian
engineers. Yet this immense army, laying siege to Cochin, was defeated.
Seven times the zamorim raised new armies; yet they were all vanquished
at the fords of Cochin, by the intrepidity and stratagems of Pacheco. In
the later battles the zamorim exposed himself to the greatest danger,
and was sometimes sprinkled with the blood of his slain attendants--a
circumstance mentioned in the Lusiad, bk. x. p. 304. He then had
recourse to fraud and poison; but all his attempts were baffled. At
last, in despair, he resigned his throne, and shut himself up for the
rest of his days in one of the temples.

Soon after the kingdom of Cochin was restored to prosperity Pacheco was
recalled. The King of Portugal paid the highest compliments to his
valour, and gave him the government of a possession of the crown in
Africa. But merit always has enemies: Pacheco was accused and brought to
Lisbon in irons, where he remained for a considerable time chained in a
dungeon. He was at length tried, and after a full investigation of the
charges made against him, was honourably acquitted. His services to his
country were soon forgotten, his merits were no longer thought of, and
the unfortunate Pacheco ended his days in an alms-house--a circumstance
referred to in the Lusiad, bk. x. p.