_ 181 _ since the latter were Arabs and unfriendly towards our men, they didn’t even want to hear the message and came to the beach, making warlike sounds and showing great arrogance. There were a good 2000 of them, most of whom were archers, whereas we had 1000 men. When the commander-in-chief saw that his offer had been thus rejected, he determined to destroy the place and informed the captains of his intention. He told Afonso de Albuquerque to go in front and went ashore with many noblemen and other men, to lead an assault against the Arabs. The latter fought hardly and bravely and when our men finished landing, a fierce battle ensued. However, this did not last long because the Arabs could not withstand our attack and withdrew to a flat terrain, which made it easy for our men to set upon them and kill whoever they could seize hold of. They then set fire to the town, and as the Arabs saw they were being defeated they didn’t have the courage to face our men and ran away, deserting the place. The captains held our men back and told them not to pursue the enemy, for they were satisfied that they had killed many of them, whilst none of our number had died. After they finished burning the town they returned to the fleet.
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