Storia do Mogor 105.2

105.2

They left the city of Dhakah together, at the head of forty thousand horsemen, in addition to infantry — these moved by land; and by way of the river he sent a large fleet commanded by Portuguese. These two forces reached, at a distance of one hundred leagues from Dhakah, a small fortress called Aso (Hajo), which, years before this time, the Assamese had taken from the province of Bengal. In a short time Mir Jumlah captured that fort. From this place he marched for twenty-eight days into the territory of Assam. The Assamese believed that if the fleet were destroyed it would be easy to eat up the land army. For it would suffice to block the way to supplies, and then the army would waste away. It was very easy to accomplish this, as the country is mountainous and the paths very narrow. For this purpose [73] a very powerful Assamese fleet appeared one day, and coming down with the stream in its favour, it looked as if it would swallow up all the Portuguese and their boats. But the latter warded them off, and the force of the current carried the Assamese past their goal, the Portuguese meanwhile making a great din with their mortars and matchlocks. When the Assamese had passed their enemy they veered, but the Portuguese fell upon them with such impetuosity that in a little the whole of that fleet was destroyed, some ships sent to the bottom, some captured, and altogether great loss being inflicted on the Assamese.