_ 109 _ Portugal, and that he had come to make this city obedient to him; from, there he meant to go to Iudda and Suez in search of the Roumeliotes, whom he wanted to fight because the Arabs in India had told him that this was where the Sultan was building a fleet, in order to dispatch it against the Portuguese in India, and in order to save them the trouble and show them that he was not at all afraid of them he had decided to go in search of them. The governor replied in this fashion because he knew that the Arabs are very boastful but also very afraid of threats. Mira Mergena was afraid of the governor's threats and he sent him a present consisting of rams, chicken and a great deal of fruit, saying that this city belonged to the King of Portugal and that he could do absolutely as he pleased there. The governor, who wanted to frighten the Arabs even more and to induce them to surrender, pretended that he did not want to accept the present until a treaty of friendship had been agreed upon. In this way Mira Mergena's messenger would be specially glad if he accepted the present; the messenger told him to count on the city's friendship and the governor told him to think well about what he said; for it was only on this condition that he took the present. He told him to tell Mira Mergena to open the city gates if he was a vassal
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