to fear, was weak, and, moreover, the last of that strange dynasty was fighting in vain for his life against the Ottoman Sultans, just as the Portuguese were planting themselves in India. How easy the task was is obvious by one fact which cannot be disputed. The whole essentials of the work was done between 1508, when Dalboquerque paid his first visit to Ormuz, and December 1515, when he died at Goa-in seven years, and with a loss in battle which was trifling even in proportion to the small numbers engaged. The "great Afonso " had seized a central headquarters at Goa, had rendered the little coast Rajahs of Malabar tributary, had subdued Ormuz and taken Malacca. He had indeed failed to occupy Aden, but he had invaded the Red Sea, and had cruised there, no enemy daring to say him nay on the water. In short, he had fixed a strangle-hold on the great trade route of the East. It was no superhuman feat. A brutal man can cow a school of little boys by mere Schrecklichkeit. The greatness of the man, for some greatness there was, appears not in his strife with the Asiatics, but in the firmness of will wherewith he dragged his crowd of wrangling, vain, disobedient Fidalgos along with him. The spirit and the guiding rule of the man were of the simplest. The King of Portugal was "Lord of the Navigation, Conquest, and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India." The Pope said he was, and therefore his dominion was founded in grace. So Dalboquerque, sure of his right, for he represented the king, could approach Ormuz, burning towns in Arabia which did not submit at once, and sending captives whose noses and ears he had caused to be cut off in terrorem before him to be a warning. When off the island he demanded submission and tribute from the rulers of Ormuz because the King of Portugal was their lawful lord. Resistance was rebellion or treachery, to be punished by slaughter, fire-raising, and mutilation of prisoners; and so it was always and everywhere. and As the Portuguese were few, though far better armed than their unhappy victims, the work was not done without effort and displays of valour. Many Fidalgos fought fiercely against long odds. Some could show a fine spirit. There was Ruy d'Araujo, who is to be named for honour. He and some other Portuguese had been left behind at Malacca by Siqueira. When Dalboquerque appeared off the port with his fleet, they were held as prisoners hostages by the Malay rajah. Dalboquerque began by negotiating for the rajah's surrender. He found means to send a letter to Araujo, and to receive an answer from him. It was his wish not to risk the lives of the captives as far as was possible. Araujo told him to leave them to their fate, and to come on. So might some British officer have answered in a similar case during the mutiny. Yet Araujo is a shining exception. There respect the Portuguese had of was little of him and much themselves. The Fidalgos, who of his contemporary, Vincent were ready enough to ruffle de Sodre. That man having on the point of honour, made been stationed to aid the Rajah no protest against this defileof Cochin against the Zamorin ment of the white race. Of of Calicut, sailed away on a course, the result of this insane piratical cruise to the Red policy was the formation of Sea, leaving his ally and the the Goanese and similar mixed handful of his countrymen breeds. who were ashore in the utmost peril. He perished through mere self-willed arrogance and bad seamanship. In fact, all the vices which finally rotted the Portuguese settlements in the East were rampant even in their heroic age. The root of them, or perhaps one ought rather to say the fruit, was that they 3 were trying for the wrong thing, and therefore would not do right. Not the least deadly of their errors was that they endeavoured to form a mixed race, not only by encouraging, but by enforcing marriage with native women. They tolerated unions which were no marriage. They forbade the immigration of Portuguese women. An in Where the aim was mistaken and the spirit was vile, what could follow ? Only corruption and disorder. The whole Portuguese venture in the East was one unpardonable error. It began when the carracks sailed from Lisbon. They came overcrowded with passengers, a thousand or two thousand in a single ship, packed so tight that numbers had to sleep on the upper decks. No attempt was made to secure cleanliness. All the filth was drained into the ballast and the bilge. The carracks became floating pesthouses. It was calculated by the Portuguese that a third of those who sailed to the East died on the way. Few ever came back. Their places at cident of their early days re- home were taken by imported veals the whole scope of the es- negroes, who were married to sential baseness of their policy the white women. Portugal is (and its folly. When Vasco da full of negro blood, a fact Gama came to India as Vice- which accounts for a good deal roy on his third voyage, three we have seen and see. The Portuguese women hid them- Fidalgos sank out there into a selves in his ships. He had horrible mish-mash of mixed #them whipped in the streets breeds, in which the worst bruin Goa, and then married them tality of Europe was mingled to soldiers. It was done as an with the worst corruption of example. To whom and for Asia. For Portugal herself, the what? To the natives pre- Eastern Empire was an unsumably, to show them how relieved disaster. Her trade low was the level of the was conducted with Italian, VOL. CCXI.-NO. MCCLXXIX. Z German, Netherland, and English capital and goods. Her merchants were only the commission agents of Welzers or Fuggers and other bankers of Italy and the north. What came to her was booty gained by a few adventurers, and the hire of the ships. The proportion of them lost on the way out and home was enormous, and grew larger as time went on. On the day after the English and Dutch traders had intruded on the Eastern Seas, the whole flimsy and pretentious card-castle of Portuguese Empire began to tumble down, because its foundations were torn from beneath it. The ruin was not wrought by mere force. The English and Dutch assailants came bringing their own goods for trade, and undersold them. The number of their ships taken by the English and Dutch companies' captains was not very great-far less than the Portuguese lost by their own bad seamanship. Their power was not based on good administration and genuine trade, but only on the bullying supremacy of the strongest-armed man for the time being. It could last only so long as the north of Europe did not insist on trading to the Eastern Seas itself and directly. Portugal was poor, thinly populated, had no manufactures, and little to export. It could rule over the trade route only so long as it held a monopoly of the right to carry. One can imagine ways by which the Portuguese might have done better, and might have kept an honourable place when the inevitable end of their solitary rule came. By holding only a minimum of necessary posts, by giving the best of their thoughts and their attention to their ships and their seamanship, by working the port-to-port trade of the East fairly, and by abstaining from religious persecution, they might have gained honest profit for themselves while rendering a real service to Asia. When they lost, as they were bound to lose, the exclusive right to carry between the East and Europe, they could still have been honourably active in the Indies." But such a modest policy as this called for the direction of sober men of business, like the Governor and Company of the merchants of London trading to the East," or the Dutch merchants who combined to form the "United Netherlands East India Chartered Company." It was clean, and clear impossible for the Portuguese Fidalgos. At their best they were even as those knights of the Middle Ages who went to the wars in hope of growing rich by the ransom of prisoners. At their worst they sank to the level of the disbanded mercenaries of the fifteenth century who were branded for infamy with the name of "Ecorcheurs. It was a misfortune that Europe was first shown to Asia under so hideous a shape. MURDER DISQUALIFIES. BY ALAN GRAHAM. CHAPTER IX. "A room for the night and a meal. But meantime a glass of your famous whisky would be acceptable-for the stomach's sake." Rab Wilson was alert to notice the bearing of the visitors one to another, while re#taining his air of indifference. At the entrance of Rintoul, McNeil had by a hurried movement turned his back upon the bar. It was not to be, however. Rufus emptied his glass quickly, and moved confidently towards the bar parlour. "And whom have we here? There will be some one that remembers me, I'll wager," he said, pausing and looking down upon the three. His green eyes sharpened, his bold face took on a sterner look, as his gaze lit upon McNeil. Then he smiled easily and stepped into the circle of the fire. "Major McNeil, no less!" he exclaimed, his smile and his tone tinged with mockery. This is a far cry from our last meeting-place. I would hardly have thought that you took enough interest in my humble affairs to bring you all this way just to see me take possession of my estates. Still, it's a compliment, and I'm grateful for it." Rab Wilson was at a loss. He could not be certain if the surprise was genuine or assumed. It was quite likely, he felt, that it was a piece of play-acting, and that McNeil and his friend were in reality in the service of Rufus Rintoul. He inclined to that belief, indeed, in his total ignorance of Francesca Marinetti. The Honourable Thomas Owen, also, was intensely interested. It was his first meeting with Rufus, and he was delighted to find him such a formidable looking opponent. It promised well for the excitement of the contest. McNeil was thinking rapidly. His parting from Rintoul had been far been far from cordial, but nothing was to be gained by an open antagonism. He had, indeed, a half-formed desire to try his wits once more against the man who had so thoroughly beaten him once. Copyrighted in the United States of America. He rose with a smile, therefore, and offered his hand to the new comer. "This is a pleasant surprise, Mr Rintoul," he said cordially. "I think I heard you order a bed for the night, so I hope my friend and I will have the pleasure of your company to supper. Bubbly, this is Mr Rintoul - the Honourable Thomas Owen." With a sardonic smile Rufus Rintoul acknowledged the introduction. Rab Wilson he ignored as a mere country lout, and Rab gazed into the fire stolidly, with the air of a man unexpectedly thrown into the company of his betters. His mind, however, was far from being as blank as his face. "So, Mr Owen, your friend has brought you north to sample our fine Scots air?" said Rintoul, seating himself on the edge of the table and swinging a handsome leg. You couldn't have chosen a better spot than Dorning. If you think of stopping long I hope you'll do me the honour of calling at Dorning House. I shan't be in residence for a day or two yet, but as soon as I take possession I shall be delighted to see you both." "That's very good of you, sir," said Bubbly cautiously. "I should be very pleased to see Dorning House. So would McNeil, I'm sure. If you happen to be in residence while we are here, we shall certainly call." McNeil remained silent and let Bubbly talk. He felt sure that by his boasting Rintoul hoped to betray him into some admission, and he had already had sufficient experience of the would-be laird's methods. Bubbly led the conversation to the safe topic of the history of the ruined Dorning Castle, upon which Rufus discoursed learnedly and at length. Rab Wilson sat long enough to convince himself that he would learn nothing further to his interest from the conversation; then finished his beer, and, with a parting nod to McNeil, strode heavily out. No sooner had he gone than Rufus Rintoul turned an ironical smile upon McNeil. my "So, notwithstanding avuncular warning and advice, the lady is squandering her siller on a wild-goose chase," he said. "I daresay it brings grist to somebody's mill, though if ye'll excuse the mixing of the metaphor." McNeil flushed at the imputation, which he was not in a position to refute. As before, he was at a disadvantage with Rufus Rintoul, for he must maintain silence regarding the affairs of his mistress, whereas Rufus, being his own master, could shape his own policy. Bubbly, aware of his friend's difficulty, hastened to change the subject. "You talk in riddles, so far as I am concerned, Mr Rintoul," he said. Now there's one subject on which I'm something of an authority, as McNeil will admit, yet I'd like to have your unbiassed opinion on 8 technical point. Is the beer of Scotland really so vastly |