Page:History of India Vol 6.djvu/130

84 FIKST STRUGGLE FOR THE INDIAN SEAS hold " and signed with his own hand a treaty of friendship written on gold leaf. The return of Da Grama to Lisbon in 1499 with a freight which repaid sixty times the cost of the expe- dition, called forth an outburst of mercantile enthusiasm VA8CO DA GAMA AND THE ZAMOKIN OF CALICUT. After a painting by Coke Smyth. such as had never thrilled a European nation. It seemed as if the Portuguese king and people were come into a sudden fortune beyond the seas. King Emman- uel, after loading Da Gama with wealth and honours, assumed the dignity of " Lord of the Conquest, Navi- gation, and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India." His claim to possess the non-Christian world to the east of the Atlantic dividing line was perfectly