_ 13 _ otherwise. So if the King of Ormuz did not protect the merchants’ ships with his fleet he would lose much of the revenue they pay him in port and customs dues. When Afonso de Albuquerque, the Captain-in-Chief, arrived in port with his ships and with flags flying, there were many merchants bound for Ormuz, and they all got into boats and visited the Captain-in-Chief, each taking him a present of money and things to eat, and they told him that they were traders who were crossing the sea with their merchandise to buy and sell without doing harm to anyone, and that they put themselves into his hands and would do what he ordered. The Captain-in-Chief replied through Gaspar Rodrigues, the linguist, who knew all the languages well, saying that he would not harm them since he was pleased that they had come to submit to the flag which was that of the King of Portugal, lord of all the seas in the world. If they had not submitted, he would have ordered their ships to be burnt; for this reason, they were safe, and because they were in that port, which belonged to the King of Ormuz with whom he was going to make a treaty of peace and friendship. He said that they should return to land and tell the Sheikh to trust him the come and speak with him, and they would make a treaty of peace and friendship as
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy