_ 310 _ brought about by the siege laid by the Turks in that year.(A) Many people died of their sickness and all the country was altered by the change in the weather, which varies every day and varies the condition of men and of everything else. 2. That year I did not have an opportunity to write to Your Reverence, because I was new to the country and because of the many confessions, sermons and visits which the circumstances required, so that there was no time even to furnish oneself with all the necessities. Perhaps you will not want to know of all these difficulties, because they are usual in the Society, through the goodness of the Lord, nor about the condition of the country and of what can be preserved here, and so I did not write of this; and because you will know from the general letter all the rest about it and about myself and the work of the Lord in this country.(B) 3. This city of Ormuz (in which His Highness possesses a strong and noble fortress) is situated on an island in the strait of Basra, between Persia and Arabia Felix. It is all salt, which makes it infertile, as will be known from the letters of Master Gaspar [Barzeu], whom God has in His glory(C). It has about ten or twelve thousand (A) Cf Couto, Déc, VI, cc, 18 and 20. (B) Cf docs. 35 and 47, which refer the reader to letters by Herédia. (C) Cf, e.g., Documenta Indices Vel 1 599.
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