_ 62 _ These were built in the Malabar, because there is no wood in the Red Sea to build ships with, in order to pay for the spices and other goods which were brought from India, the merchants would send their factors gold coins from Aden, which are called serafins and worth 420 “reis”, as well as unminted gold, silver, copper, pewter, tin, vermilion, mercury, alum, verdigris, saffron, rosewater, coloured wool textiles, camel hair, painted Mecca velvets, brocade, coral and gold thread. All these things were taken from Alexandria up the river Nile to Cairo, from where they were carried overland by camels: to the city of Suez, which is situated on the cape of the Red Sea strait, on the coast of Arabia, on a three-day journey from Cairo. In Suez this merchandise is loaded aboard small ships which are called Gelbas. From here it was taken to Iudda, which is at a distance of 170 leagues from Suez, it was carried on Gelbas because it was safer, since it was dangerous for a large ship to cross these waters, due to the many ridges which lie between Suez and Iudda. Here they loaded them onto large ships and took them to Calicut, where their factors sent them all the things I’ve mentioned in return. In a single trip there and back they used to make enormous profits, often as much as 800%. As for the Sultan, he made much greater profits still, because every merchant who went from Calicut to
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