Storia do Mogor 338.16.5

338.16.5

Two days afterwards the said Mīr 'Usmān came to visit them, accompanied by various officials, and he was received with much courtesy. They gave to him some pieces of cloth worth one hundred patacas, a tribute which he got out of them, and after this they were somewhat reassured. But those Portuguese I have named never had been in unison, and now they are at cross purposes. They are divided into various camps, each claiming the right to govern. It is for this and similar reasons that they lost their territories in India, as I shall recount farther on. It is now eighteen years ago (? 1686) that there was in this San Thomé a captain called Antonio Ferreira da Silva, who claimed control over the Mahomedans and declined to pay fifty patacas due to the dīwān. A eunuch who was then governor sent to him several times asking him to pay what he owed. He gave very little heed to these words ; finally he used threats of chastisement. The eunuch who ruled the country felt aggrieved, and went out against him with his soldiers. He sent a message that he must arrange to pay at once, and desist from interfering in matters of government, it being Mogul territory. He should behave himself as a trader, and not talk of chastising people. The message did not please the chief captain, and he made signs of resistance by force of arms, being thus the cause of his own death ; for the eunuch surrounded his house, killed him together with others in his company, and collected the money due.