_ 60 _ and if he chose, the Ambassador would take the letters to where he was. When the king received the captain's message, he rewarded the two men with some rolls of very fine cloth. He sent word that he was very welcome and that he would come at once to Calicut, which in fact he did with a large retinue. With these men he sent us a pilot, who took us to a place called Pandarani below the place where we had first anchored, and we were now lying off the city of Calicut, because there was a good port there, where we could moor because the place where we were was a poor harbour, as in fact it was. It was the custom that the ships that came to this country should anchor there so as to be safe. Having seen the king's message, the captain ordered the sails to be hoist, because we were not comfortable there, and we went to berth in that port. However, we were not as far in as the pilot, whom the king had given us, wanted. After we were settled and moored in that port, a message arrived for the captain-major from the king, who was already in the city. He sent a man called a Wali, which is like an alcaide (who was always attended by two hundred men armed with swords and shields) to form an escort for the captain-major to go to the town of Pandarani, where the king and other distinguished men awaited.
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