yearly tribute of 1,000 bags of plain rice and 500 bags of quality rice (probably Basmati). Batecala is also to agree to the exclusion of the Arab merchants from the city, that no pepper trade is to be carried at this port, and that no ship be allowed to travel between Batecala and Calicut. The treaty is set down in writing and signed. [Batecala is described by Correia as just a modest rice, iron and sugar port south of Onor; it was actually the principal port and sea outlet of the Vijayanagara Empire, and its primary line was the horse trade, specifically, importing large numbers of splendid Persian and Arabian horses for the armies of Vijayanagara princes.] Massacre of the pilgrim ship Late August/Early September 1502 – Business in Batecala done, Vasco da Gama sets sail towards Cannanore. They anchor in around Mount d'Eli, the common touch-point for ships on the Jedda-Calicut route, evidently intending to catch some prizes before proceeding. September 29, 1502 – After prowling around Mt. d'Eli for nearly a month with little success (they captured only one minor ship), captain Gil Matoso (on the São Gabriel), spots a large merchant ship carrying Muslim pilgrims returning from Mecca (or going to it, chronicles contradict). The ship, the Miri, is identified as belonging to a certain al-Fanqi, one of wealthier men of Calicut and said by some to be the Meccan factor in Calicut. Matoso chases the pilgrim ship down, which surrenders rather quickly, probably imagining that its master had enough money to ransom it off. But Vasco da Gama shrugs off all the offers. As the Portuguese crew plunder the ship and transfer its cargo, it quickly becomes evident that Gama intends to burn the ship with all its passengers – men, women and children – on board. When Gama proves deaf to their pleas for mercy, the passengers frantically attack the Portuguese men-at-arms with their bare hands, to no avail. October 3, 1502 – a day, eyewitness Thomé Lopes states, "I will never forget for the rest of my days". The pilgrim ship thoroughly plundered, on Gama's orders, the passengers are locked in the hold and the ship burnt and sunk by artillery. It takes several days to finally go down completely. Portuguese soldiers row around the waters on longboats mercilessly spearing survivors. The sinking of the Miri is an act that will instantly cement Gama's