_ 300 _ all the regions of India which have such merchandise as is welcomed there. And the income of that port would be incomparably much less. Let he who can prevent this judge whether this is a good or a bad thing. As such a diversity of foreign people come to the port calling themselves merchants, and these not being from the Indian nations who, by their nature, are very weak, apart from some of those between Persia and the Greater Sea (the Caspian Sea), it would seem to be the right thing to have such an important fortress with such protection and caution as necessary. If the contrary were done, a sinister, unhappy outcome would be the result, as has been seen to occur throughout the world in other cities and fortresses. The good order which lies in the protection and guarding of the fortress at the moment, and that which has held for many years past, is this. All the Portuguese soldiers or merchants who leave India for Ormuz, whatever their social or financial status, receive every three months a payment which there they call quartel, for the time during which they live in the port. They enlist in one of the eight companies or squadrons of soldiers which guard the gates of the fortress during the day. It is the page of the captain of the fortress who gives permission for these payments, since he is given this
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