_ 41 _ Written in Goa on 11 December 1563. Simão da Costa With this letter is the following report: Report which I, Simão da Costa, wrote. regarding Basra for our Lord the King. Item: The island of Morzique emerges at the mouth of the river of Basra and divides it in two. One branch is called the river of Basra and the other that of Arabia. Those coming from Bahrain and Katif enter through the latter. Three quarters of the way from the mouth of the river to Basra the island ends, at which point the river becomes one. The distance from there to the city of Basra makes up the other quarter of the way. As previously mentioned, at the end of the island the river becomes one and the distance up the river to the fortress of Basra is twenty-five leagues. Beyond the island of Morzique, next to Persia, there is a small and very luxuriant island. Item: From the entrance of the river Basra until you reach fresh water the channel is three, four or five fathoms deep. From the point where there is fresh water to the end of the island of Morzique it is seven or eight fathoms deep. After you pass the island the river becomes larger, and in the middle, it is twelve or more fathoms deep.
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