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Not being sure how far it was to Melinda, and fearing to overshoot that port, he lay too every night; and on Saturday the 5th of February, lying over against a village of the Moors, named Pate , 103 leagues from Magadoxo, there came off eight terradas, or boats of that country, filled with soldiers, and making direct for our fleet, from whence we shot off so many pieces of ordnance, that they soon fled back to the shore, and our people could not follow for want of wind.
On the 2nd of February, 1499, the Portuguese found themselves at last abreast of a great town on the coast of Ajan, called Magadoxo, distant 300 miles from Melinda. Gama, dreading another reception like the one given to him at Mozambique, would not stop here, but while passing within sight of the town, ordered a general discharge of the guns.
This city is called Magadoxo, and stands on one side of the Gulf of India on the coast of Ethiopia , an hundred and thirteen leagues from Melinda, the situation of which I shall explain hereafter. Knowing this to be a city of the Moors, he would not stop at this place, but commanded many shots of ordnance to be fired as he sailed past.
The population was massacred without mercy, and the town pillaged and burnt. Upon Magadoxo, another town on the African Coast, Cunha tried but in vain, to impose his authority. The strength of the town and the stubborn resolution shown by the numerous population as well as the approach of winter forced him to raise the siege.
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