_ 81 _ The king then informed him that those who had acted in this way were bad Christians and that he would punish them. He then sent seven or eight merchants to examine the merchandise and buy it if they so wished. He also sent a high-ranking official with the factor. They were to remain in attendance and if any Moor came they were authorised to kill him without incurring any penalty for doing so. The merchants sent by the king were in that place for about eight days, but instead of trading, they lowered the price of the goods. The Moors no longer came to the house where the merchandise was kept and thus came to hate us so much that when any of us went ashore they used to spit on the ground and shout: "Portugal, Portugal", thinking that they would in that way annoy us, though from the beginning they sought ways to capture and kill us. When the captain realised that this was not the place to sell the merchandise, he promptly informed the king that he wished to send it to Calicut, just to see what he would do. As soon as the king received this message from the captain, he sent the Wali to assemble plenty of men to carry it on their backs and take it straightaway to Calicut, adding that this was to be paid for out of his own pocket, as the King of Portugal should not incur expense in his country. All this was intended to harm us, because he had
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