_ 502 _ the waters of the Euphrates were swollen at that time, it was embarked in Bira. It appears that as I had information from Cyprus in a letter dated September of that year, from a Portuguese gentleman named Jose, formerly known as Luis in India, which mentioned that the same fleet was to be built in Basra, he concluded that there must be a bridge over the Euphrates. However, he did not know what to say about the wood in that area. With his arrival in Cyprus, from where it is possible to cross to Tripoli in one day, and with constant communication between one place and the other, how was it that he did not know and how was it that he could not write informing me about the amount of wood that had been taken there? The letter he wrote to me at that time will accompany this one, so as to clarify what I say and support my opinion of his flight from Tripoli. In August of the same year, I asked Andre Ribeiro, who was in that kingdom, what he knew about the wood there. He told me that he had made enquiries if any had passed that way, but he had heard no such news. He is an experienced man and soldier of India. For these reasons and
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