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out from Lisbon started on nothing more nor less than a succession of filibustering raids. Their objects were to confirm the power of Portugal in the regions already reduced to subjection, to extend the conquest in new directions, and thus to squeeze the kings and the populations of the East dry of all the wealth which they could be made to yield, employing for that purpose every device which cunning could suggest, and which force, courage, and an unscrupulous ruthlessness could translate into action.

When Diogo Lopez de Siqueira reached Cochim he found the affairs of Portugal in a condition which was far from edifying. The viceroy for the time being was Dom Francisco Dalmeida, but the great Alfonso Dalboquerque, fresh from his furious battles in the Persian Gulf, claimed that the government ought to be handed over to him by virtue of certain documents, giving him the reversion of the viceroyalty, which he had received from the King prior to his departure from Portugal. Dalmeida was very loth to resign his authority to any man, least of all to Dalboquerque towards whom he seems to have entertained a lively feeling of dislike, and at the moment of the arrival of Siqueira the position had become extremely critical. Dalmeida, recognising this, thought to find a way out of his difficulties by inviting Siqueira to assume the governorship of the Indies, declaring that if this could be arranged he, Dalmeida, would forthwith set out for Portugal taking Alfonso Dalboquerque with him. The prudent Siqueira, however, would have nothing to do with any such