The Portuguese in the Sea of Oman

_ 245 _ In the same year (1585) The King sent a letter to the viceroy Don Duarte de Meneses, Lisbon, on the 15th of February 1585, mentioning what he had heard about Ormuz:(42) VIII. Matias de Albuquerque, Captain of the fortress of Ormuz, informed me that, of the four hundred soldiers sent to that fortress, the majority were incompetent and of no earthly use, and that one hundred and twenty were aboard the galliots, protecting the ships from the Sind, laden with merchandise for that fortress. It was completely deserted, so he tried to gather the soldiers inside (for that reason he once more ordered houses to be repaired for their lodgings, and allowed them two and a half pardaus a month, and their bed and board paid). However, he could not manage to persuade them to take up (42) Document no. and reference.

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