400 PORTUGUESE HISTORY The king of Malacca, driven from his capital, posted himself on the river Muara^ within a* few miles of the town, where he attempted to entrench himself, but was pursued and attacked by Albu- querque, who drove him from his position, cap- turing his baggage and elephants. The Por- tuguese were thus left in tranquil possession o^ Malacca. Such is the detail of the first and greatest eifort of the natives of the Archipelago to resist the in- vasion of the European nations. The particu- lars now given will supersede the repetition of any similar narrative, and will illustrate the cha- racter of the unequal contest which the inhabitants of those islands maintained against the skill and courage of Europeans. Eight hundred Europeans, with six hundred Indian auxiliaries, arriving in an unknown country, capture an entrenched town, defended by thirty thousand native warriors, with the loss of eighty of their number, and surround- ed by hostile tribes, maintain themselves in their conquest. This fact is decisive. Whatever the Por- tuguese may tell us of the greatness and difficulty that the wealth obtained consisted of the spices brought to Malacca a»the entrepot of the tradC;, articles of little compara- tive value in the country, but estimated by the Portuguese at their then extravagant price in Europe Oi jewels and precious stones it is not to be supposed that much would have escaped the rapacity of a licentious soldiery in the sack of a town.
