The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c21.110

v4.c21.110

Receiving little or no help from home, the Portuguese had allowed their fortresses to fall into a state of disrepair: the walls were ruinous and manned only by a handful of tattered soldiers with a few rusty cannon. Bāji Rāo cast covetous eyes on the fertile and almost defenceless island of Salsette with its green rice fields, groves and orchards. Here was a fruit ready to be plucked. The excuse, if one was needed, was afforded by the haughty Luis Botelho, the governor of Bassein, who grossly insulted the Peshwā's envoy by speaking of his master as a "nigger".¹