No More Learning

The eagerness of the Moors now contributed to the safety of Gama. Their
principal merchants were admitted to a formal audience, when one of
their orators accused the Portuguese as a nation of faithless
plunderers: Gama, he said, was an exiled pirate, who had marked his
course with blood and depredation. If he were not a pirate, still there
was no excuse for giving such warlike foreigners any footing in a
country already supplied with all that nature and commerce could give.
He expatiated on the great services which the Moorish traders had
rendered to Calicut; and ended with a threat, that all the Moors would
leave the zamorim's ports and find some other settlement, if he
permitted these foreigners any share in the commerce of his dominions.

However staggered with these arguments and threats, the zamorim was not
blind to the self-interest and malice of the Moors. He therefore
ordered, that the admiral should once more be brought before him. In the
meanwhile the catual tried many stratagems to get the fleet into the
harbour; and at last, in the name of his master, made an absolute demand
that the sails and rudders should be delivered up, as the pledge of
Gama's honesty. But these demands were as absolutely refused by Gama,
who sent a letter to his brother by Monzaida, enforcing his former
orders in the strongest manner, declaring that his fate gave him no
concern, that he was only unhappy lest the fruits of all their fatigue
and dangers should be lost. After two days spent in vain altercation
with the catual, Gama was brought as a prisoner before the king. The
king repeated his accusation; upbraided him with non-compliance to the
requests of his minister; urged him, if he were an exile or a pirate, to
confess freely, in which case he promised to take him into his service,
and highly promote him on account of his abilities. But Gama, who with
great spirit had baffled all the stratagems of the catual, behaved with
the same undaunted bravery before the king. He asserted his innocence,
pointed out the malice of the Moors, and the improbability of his
piracy; boasted of the safety of his fleet, offered his life rather than
his sails and rudders, and concluded with threats in the name of his
sovereign. The zamorim, during the whole conference, eyed Gama with the
keenest attention, and clearly perceived in his unfaltering mien the
dignity of truth, and the consciousness that he was the admiral of a
great monarch. In their late address, the Moors had treated the zamorim
as somewhat dependent upon them, and he saw that a commerce with other
nations would certainly lessen their dangerous importance. His avarice
strongly desired the commerce of Portugal; and his pride was flattered
in humbling the Moors.
After many proposals, it was at last agreed, that
of his twelve attendants he should leave seven as hostages; that what
goods were aboard his fleet should be landed; and that Gama should be
safely conducted to his ship, after which the treaty of commerce and
alliance was to be finally settled. And thus, when the assassination of
Gama seemed inevitable, the zamorim suddenly dropped his demand for the
sails and rudders, rescued him from his determined enemies, and restored
him to liberty and the command of his navy.

As soon as he was aboard[60] the goods were landed, accompanied by a
letter from Gama to the zamorim, wherein he boldly complained of the
treachery of the catual. The zamorim, in answer, promised to make
inquiry, and punish him, if guilty; but did nothing in the affair. Gama,
who had now anchored nearer to the city, every day sent two or three
different persons on some business to Calicut, that as many of his men
as possible might be able to give some account of India. The Moors,
meanwhile, every day assaulted the ears of the king, who now began to
waver; when Gama, who had given every proof of his desire of peace and
friendship, sent another letter, in which he requested the zamorim to
permit him to leave a consul at Calicut to manage the affairs of King
Emmanuel. But to this request--the most reasonable result of a
commercial treaty--the zamorim returned a refusal full of rage and
indignation. Gama, now fully master of the character of the zamorim,
resolved to treat a man of such an inconstant, dishonourable disposition
with a contemptuous silence. This contempt was felt by the king, who,
yielding to the advice of the catual and the entreaties of the Moors,
seized the Portuguese goods, and ordered two of the seven hostages--the
two who had the charge of the cargo--to be put in irons. The admiral
remonstrated by means of Monzaida, but the king still persisted in his
treacherous breach of faith. Repeated solicitations made him more
haughty, and it was now the duty and interest of Gama to use force. He
took a vessel, in which were six nayres, or noblemen, and nineteen of
their servants. The servants he set ashore to relate the tidings, the
noblemen he detained. As soon as the news had time to spread through the
city, he hoisted his sails, and, though with a slow motion, seemed to
proceed on his homeward voyage. The city was now in an uproar; the
friends of the captive noblemen surrounded the palace, and loudly
accused the policy of the Moors. The king, in all the perplexed distress
of a haughty, avaricious, weak prince, sent after Gama, delivered up all
the hostages, and submitted to his proposals; nay, even solicited that
an agent should be left, and even descended to the meanness of a
palpable lie.