_ 215 _ at nearly 1,500 talents, was added the evidence of very splendid plunder captured in the town. Then the commander of our fleet, according to his orders, sailed for the fertile Christian Island called Zacothora [Socotra]. It is an Island almost 90,000 paces in length supplied by the Saracens, situated near the coast of Arabia, and equidistant from the mouths of the Persian and Arabian Gulfs. We had ordered a castle to be built on that island, both as a convenient citadel to attack perfidious Saracen Mecca, and with the direct aim of destroying any future possibility of the Saracens’ freely sailing and passing through the Arabian and Persian Gulfs and carrying on maritime trade in that region. This trade was to a large extent supporting the peoples living in the lands around the Mediterranean. To carry out this task, our men were transporting a wooden castle distributed in pieces amongst the ships, which they could erect quickly upon landing and use for protection while they made a wall on the inside against the defenders. Truly our most merciful God was kind to our men; for when they brought the ships to land on the island, they found a very well-fortified castle, which we did not know was there. It had been built by the Saracens and was provided with a very strong guard.
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