_ 165 _ Christianity and good intentions for the service of God; then of his honesty and good management of his lands, which gave us much pleasure. We resolved to send you, with these few ships laden with merchandise which we were informed were needed and profitable in his land, so that you may make a treaty of peace and amity with him in our name, if he is pleased to agree one with us, as we are confident, from what Vasco da Gama told us. We think that he should be so pleased, as he is a truly Christian king, because from peace and trade with us in his lands he will derive great profit, especially from being instructed and enlightened in the faith, which is what is of all things to be cherished; and then from the great profits he will have from the goods from our kingdoms and territories which we shall send to his country, and our countrymen who will take them. What is going now is only a sample, for we do not know if these or other goods are what he most wishes. One side of Fragment 19 has decayed and perished, so that the lines on one side which are incomplete at the end correspond, with others on the verso of which the beginning has been lost. Even so, it is possible to establish the following correspondences between the texts:
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