The Portuguese in the Sea of Oman

_ 132 _ demonstrated His love both on the road and in the country. People who happened to be present attested to us, that before the Brothers arrived in Ormuz, three or four craft of seamen(A) who were corsairs by profession, pursued him and strove to overhaul him, because they saw him sailing in a small tarada(B), which he boarded in Muscat so as to arrive more quickly. These men fired many arrows to kill him. He fell on his knees in prayer, but he was more aware of the merit derived from persecution than of the pain he might experience from it. Through God's benevolence the arrows turned aside, and they did not wound or even reach him or the Arab seamen he had bought with him. So, the pirates could not catch him up, despite being much lighter and better equipped, and they turned round. [Add. Five Fathers and twenty-seven Brothers remained in Goa, of whom Father Misser Paulo and two [sic] Brothers, Alberto de Araujo, Pedro de Almeida and Onufrio Rodriques, care for the children, who number 140: some are orphans (A) Nautaques, pirates, are vividly described by Correa Vol I p 793. (B) Terrada, a small ship, is described by Dalgado: "Tarrada (Arabic tarrad): Small, light vessel from Asia, made without nails, diversely described by our writers, who refer to it in relation to Ormuz in particular" (II 368). Consult also CORREA I pp 792-3.

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