_ 60 _ As many as twenty religious were maintained, and never more, because this was a house under a sub-prior. They were few in number, but great in virtue, yet they always responded to the many and various duties of that spiritual army until the kingdom changed hands in the year 1622, when it returned to the Moors to whom it had belonged in accordance with the mystic judgments of God. There were only ourselves there, converting many, including some from the royal house of Ormuz; and we established a seminary where we taught good behaviour, f0l. 111 reading and writing to the young sons of the residents of the place. In the hospital there we cared for all the Portuguese and we were the constant companions of soldiers at sea and on the land, and many religious died in these actions in the service of God and His Majesty. Ormuz lies 60 leagues from Muscat at latitude 27 degrees north. The King of Ormuz had a small island called Jarun, which is at the entrance to the Strait of the Persian Sea. This is only one league in length and a quarter of a league wide, and almost three in circumference. The city was very populous, inhabited by Moors and Christians, who must have numbered eight thousand souls. It was much frequented by merchants, Persians,
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