_ 201 _ We spent our time in this way until the following Monday, also waiting for a captain of a castle nearby, which is in the domain of the King of Ormuz, to take his dues, which are three vintens per load. Because of these delays and slowness, we all fell ill on account of the great midday heat, which was such that there was no way to live, as tents are not enough, nor the men immersing themselves in water all day and night. I heard some of those merchants, mainly the Armenian who was accompanying the Mother Superior and there was no part of the world where he had not been that he had never seen anything like it. My face and legs peeled, which seemed to have wounds, caused by these evil conditions, and in this state of hardship we remained until the Monday, when, as I say, we left, which was 23rd July. This was after we had paid the dues and given a present to the captain of the castle, a flask of rosewater, two sugar loaves and two turbans. Most of us had fevers from the midday heat, and others had dysentery from going into the water. I, to protect myself from the pestilential wind, like fire, which was what most tormented us, and which in Ormuz they call Xamal - they say it comes from Basra and those adjacent islands, the Jijaras dressed my nether parts in a wide
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