_ 144 _ He ordered the galleys to enter Muscat from the east and “make a great noise” so that our people would neglect the landward side. When warning was given of the approach of the enemy by land, some confusion arose among the residents. Some of them went with their weapons to wait for the enemy at the gates in order to defend them against him, and there “they inflicted wondrous damage on the Turks”; but as they were small in number by comparison with so many enemies, they retreated to the city and from there to a village in Matrah. The Turks entered Muscat when it was already light, [p. 105] sacked the houses and collected what they had seized in three carracks which were in the port; at night they returned to the galleys. When news of this attack reached the Captain of Ormuz, D. Gonçalo de Menezes, he immediately sent a catur which, together with a foist belonging to the people of Muscat, was to watch the galleys while he put together a fleet to attack them. He commissioned two merchant carracks and a galley which were in Ormuz and, in addition, five rowing-vessels, and placed D. Luís de Almeida in command as commander-in-chief. In eight days this fleet set sail, and four hundred soldiers were embarked in it with provisions for two months, for
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