_ 83 _ because there are so many people in this country and so little food. And if at any time they thought that some of our men were about to mend the sails and had biscuits to eat, so many young children and grown men surrounded them and snatched them from their hands that, in the end, they were left with nothing to eat. As I have already mentioned, all those aboard the ships went ashore in twos and threes, each taking whatever he had to offer, such as bracelets, clothes, tin, shirts. These they sold, though they did not sell as well as, nor at the prices we had hoped when we arrived in Mozambique. For a very fine shirt, worth three hundred reals in Portugal, they gave two fanões here, which come to thirty reals in this country. However, here a sum of thirty reals is a lot. So, just as we reduced the price of the shirts we also lowered the price of other items, in order to bring something from this country, if only as a sample. From the proceeds of what they sold in the town, they bought both cloves and precious stones. After each had thus bought what he wanted, they all returned to the ships without anyone saying anything to them. When the captain saw how well- disposed these people were, he decided to leave a factor in this country with the merchandise, and a clerk and several other men with him.
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