The Portuguese in the Sea of Oman

_ 99 _ Khwaja Attar was very eager to see our fleet leave Ormuz, and after he had spoken to the King of his intentions and secret thoughts, he ordered a message to be taken to the Captain-in-Chief, saying that the city and everything was his and that since everything was in his power he should do as he wished. Then the Captain-inChief discussed it with the Captains. They felt they had worked enough and wanted to go to India, and so they were against the Captain-in-Chief in this matter. They said that as he had conquered and won the kingdom of Ormuz and had a document to show that it was a tributary, he should be content with so great an achievement and with so much money for the King’s expenses, and he should go the Viceroy and make him an report of this and them, if it seemed good to him, he would send a captain and men and a fleet, to make a fortress and keep a fleet at sea, and he would charge for it. To make a fortress now, they said, would be hard work and would take a great deal of time, and when it was made they would need to leave at least two hundred men, with guns and ammunition, which they not have; and if the fortress and men were left they would have no fleet to leave with them, because the ships could not be left, being no longer sea-worthy; and then if the fortress was built and

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