_ 152 _ green branch or anything of use except mines of salt and sulphur, and about three wells of water without any other save from cisterns, or brackish. Although it is so sterile it is well furnished with every sort of provision, with all the game and fruit both fresh and dried that is found in Spain, and others very different from ours, all of which come from Persia in great abundance. The city is situated on a point of the island, with two very good ports within bays, one to the east and the other to the west: and in front of the city on the same point stands the fortress, against which the sea beats, with two entrances, one to the city and the other to the sea, so that it is possible to enter and leave it without approach from the sea or embarkation being hindered. This city of Ormuz is the most celebrated entrepôt and sea-port in the world, in which there is more concourse and trade than in all the markets of the orient or occident, and a very large port for all the horses that go from Arabia and Persia to all parts of India, by which the Portuguese, and through them all the Moorish kings of India, are provided. So it is the most important fortress that the kings of Portugal have in the region of India, and from which greatest harm and failure would result if it were lost. In addition to providing great profits for the royal treasury it is the key to the strait, and in those parts
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