_ 518 _ things and not to grow rich. If the information were different, my opinion would also be different. I cannot help saying what shame it would be to us if we were to trade in Basra and not know anything about it. The little that is known is of such a kind that it cannot be trusted. According to report, India is very short of men. It should not be so, for it is now surrounded by greater needs, Your Highness must provide for this, and it must have more men than those appointed to offices. There used to be in India many men of worth and with much service experience who were appointed to office too late when they had lost those qualities. Now, three years of easy service are enough for men to be rewarded. About pepper, I wish Your Highness would take care and ask how there can be plenty of it, because without it, you cannot hold India or maintain Portugal. I might well tell you, as of a household thief, that if the Governor works as hard to send it as he does in other things which he likes to do, there will be a shortage of premises here in which to collect it. I tell Your Highness that no contracts nor standing orders will be of any use, for the Governor does not do what the situation requires. I can give plenty of proof of my father’s labour in the two posts he held. He sent
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