_ 293 _ in the habit of taking them inland half a league, burying them in the sand when they feared some form of attack. And that being in such a situation, which was certainly the most likely thing to happen, it would be most difficult to dig them out as those sandbanks are unbearably hot during the summer, for it was the month of August, when the sun burned those sandbanks of the Tropic of Cancer and the soldiers could not stand even a quarter of an hour there, let alone the time it would take to dig out three hundred or more boats. And that when it was possible, which it was not now, to stay on for a longer time in that area, it would still be risky and dangerous, since the king of Lar would come to help them as the Arabs paid him large tributes. The Portuguese would not be able to withstand his attack, as it was well-known that he was able to attack with five or six thousand horsemen. And, on top of this, even if there was none of these problems, it was obvious that such an undertaking would be more of an affront than a credit, as it was not right that that fleet, in which almost all the forces of the state of India were invested, should be used for such a lowly purpose as to burn ten or twenty fishermen’s boats, since this was the greatest damage which they could do in the time available, as it would not be possible to dig out more, even if they took a whole day.
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