_ 114 _ whom Afonso de Albuquerque had captured, and who had escaped in a skiff. This they did. These men did go to the Prester, and through them Queen Helen, who was the mother of the Prester at the time, learnt of how the Portuguese were in India. She sent an ambassador whose name was Mateus (Matthew), as I shall describe later. After these men had left to look for the Prester, the commander-in-chief remained for a further ten days in the Cape, waiting to see if any ship came by. But seeing that none did, as it was already winter, he left for Socotra on the 2nd of May, arriving there on the 4th. Since Francisco de Tavora had not brought all the provisions, he needed from Melinde, he ordered his men to fetch as many dates as they could from the island, which caused some trouble between the islanders and the Portuguese. However, they made peace in the end. After the end of winter, which he had spent trying to provide for the fortress in Socotra as best as he could, he sailed away on Our Lady’s Day in August. He made his way towards Cape Ras-al-Hadd (Rocalcate), with the intention of returning to Ormuz and, on the way there, to take revenge on the Sheikh of Calayate for the discourtesy he had shown him on his last visit there. On
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