_ 376 _ they had taken the necessary supplies he ordered the town to be burned. This was the last town on the Arabian coast which belonged to the King of Ormuz. He then set sail for the actual island where the king lived most of the time to see what he could find there. Chapter: XXXII Of the island of Ormuz, the city, the customs of its people, and of their preparations for war with Afonso de Albuquerque. The island of Ormuz, which Ptolemy called Armaro but which the residents called Gerum, lies almost at the entrance to the Persian Sea. It is some four leagues in circumference and lies ten leagues from the Arabian coast and three from Persia. It has many cities, towns, fortresses and flat areas there are neighboring islands. It is very dry and lacks all types of food, which has to be brought in from the other islands of Kishm, Larak and others as well as from Moghistan, which is on the mainland facing Ormuz. The same goes for water, as there are only three wells there which supply drinking water and which are a league from the city at a place called Corumbaca. Apart from this the water supply is from cisterns and brackish wells. There is a small mountain range on the island which on the side has a Sulphur deposit, and on the other a salt mine. Ships take the salt from there from two ports which have
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