_ 489 _ believed they, or some other great confusion, were alone responsible for the large and unrestricted quantities of spice arriving in Alexandria. Added to this the fact that last year’s naus had not arrived in India, it was thought that no spices at all would arrive in Venice. Consequently, the price rose much higher than usual in that city. The merchants in Alexandria considered themselves free to set the price as they pleased. So, as I say, when this happened and let Your Highness have no doubt- it was the justification used by the Venetians and Germans, since they told me so themselves that was the reason for the increase in the price of the pepper and drugs in Venice. Your Highness will see this news and other details in Tomas de Cornossa’s reports to me, which I am sending with this letter. Your Highness has every right to be displeased with the way things are going, and a great deal needs to be done to redress this damage. If peace and ease of trade in the Red Sea are so prejudicial to Your Highness’s interests, how much harm can war, and mutinies do? May God at least grant that the naus coming from India bring enough cargo so that we do not go short, because the Moors have a surplus.
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