_ 152 _ men less than those listed. At this, he gave in and told me to come to his house next day and he would assemble all the merchants. I could then talk to them and he would help as best he could. I got him to swear to this on the Koran and bade him farewell. I then went to the Commander to report what had transpired, which pleased him greatly. Item 10: Early the next day, I made the same speech to the merchants that I had made to Otemetearaja. They thought my idea fair and agreed to allocate the Commander ten percent of their slaves. I arranged for four men, plus eight helpers, to collect them in the royal square of Upim, where they lived. Item 11: Every day before dawn, I went to the house of the said captains to make sure they collected the slaves and brought them to the fortress. Your Majesty can well imagine the scale of this enterprise, with 350 men every day, sometimes 400, turning up. It seems to me that the person who organized it is worthy of reward. Item 12: I leased the Malacca mint for 145,000 reals per year in tin. Tristam de Ga had it for four months. Item 13: When the city was captured, I advised the Commander to collect all the tin that he could lay his hands on, because the inhabitants of Malacca price it above all
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