In February, reinforcement started arriving. The gunboat Pátria, which had steamed from Macau to Singapore, then to Soerabaja in the Dutch East Indies, where it was kept in port by the monsoons, finally arrived at Dili on 6 February. The Companhia Europeia da India, a company of 75 soldiers, about half of them Europeans, took passage on the British steamship Saint Albans from Portuguese India to Macau to Dili, where they arrived on 11 February. Finally, the British steamship Aldenham disembarked the African soldiers of the 8th Companhia Indígena de Moçambique in Dili on 15 February. Likewise, the Eastern and Australian Line sent 180 tons of coal for the Pátria. W. Pearse, a passenger on the Eastern and Australian ship, reported that some 400 prisoners-of-war coaled the Pátria under guard. The Pátria, commanded by First Lieutenant Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho, conducted bombardments of native strongholds between February and April 1912. A young officer aboard the ship, Jaime do Inso, has left a first-hand description of the effects of this bombardment on Boaventura's forces on the south coast. He reports that the sound of the artillery created confusion and caused as much a psychological damage as physical. The Pátria bombarded Oecusse, Baucau and Quilicai. The village of Betano was struck while the native queen  was convening an assembly of local chiefs, resulting in about 1,000 deaths. The Pátria also landed infantry troops that allowed the Portuguese to encircle Boaventura's forces and capture many prisoners. The Pátria was eventually reassigned to Macau, to protect Portuguese interests amidst the Chinese Revolution.

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