_ 49 _ along this route and pay the same. It is for this reason that they are so interested in peace. Basra and the other places through which these goods pass have found great importance. The black cloths of Cambay and other places are used in Basra and the surrounding country and also by the Gizares. In Basra they pay 8% for these. Item: On the 8th August the Pasha of Basra gave me leave to go and see the galleys and the places where they are built. I found five new galleys, not one of them caulked, but otherwise finished. There was nothing lacking in them, the largest having twenty two benches, three having eighteen and one sixteen. Each galley has a capstan and cable on the poop and all the supporting beams have been installed which each needs, sealed and joined together so that they do not shift, and all the other necessary things. Item: The wood used in these galleys, which I touched with my own hands, is of beech and pine. The timbers are two fingers thick, and one palm or a little less in width, and between them they put some teak to strengthen the structure, because these planks are small in width and thickness and do not last long and split easily. Item: The joins in the timbers of these galleys are very fine and filled with wax. Their keels are narrow and
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