_ 324 _ son and everyone else. The fleet consisted of six galleons, six caravels and twenty-five or twenty-six well-equipped foists. With their sails set, they continued their voyage (to which we shall return later). The Viceroy paid five hundred men for Ormuz. He divided them among four or five ocean-going merchant ships, which were to sail with Bernardim de Sousa, to whom the viceroy gave a beautiful galleon (whose captain was Rui de Castro), in which three hundred men were embarked. He assigned him two more oared vessels, with an official order that when he arrived in Ormuz, he was to hand over the men to his son Dom Fernando de Meneses and the galleon to Dom Antão de Noronha for him to sail to India in it. As all these captains left Goa during the month of March when winter closes in on Goa when all activity ceases, we shall continue with the story of Dom Fernando de Meneses. When his fleet left Goa he continued his journey as far as Mount Felix, where he decided to stay and wait for the carracks from Achin and Cambay, for which he kept a careful lookout. He ordered some light foist to go to the mouth of the Strait to gather intelligence about the
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