_ 77 _ no way this could be done, because the gates of the place where we were staying were closed, and many armed troops were inside, guarding us so that none of us could go outside unless we were accompanied by many men. Then they proposed once again that we should hand over the sails and rudders to them. At this the captain insisted that they were not going to be given any of those things, since the Samorin had ordered him to return to his ships, without any condition. They could do what they liked with him but he was not going to surrender anything to them. The captain and the rest of us were inwardly depressed, though outwardly it appeared that we were taking no notice of what they were doing to us. The captain said that since they would not let him return to his ships, they should allow those who were dying of hunger to go. They replied that they must stay and that if they were dying of hunger, they should resign themselves, because they were not worried in the least about it. While we were in this situation, one of the men whom we had lost the previous evening, arrived and told the captain that Nicolau Coelho had been waiting for him with the longboats ashore since the previous evening.
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