_ 35 _ recognise but also to guess “qui a seris venit usus ab annis” always. I have spent 8 years in India and should have a reasonable understanding of this country, especially as it has been my practice to apply necessary and old-fashioned principles whose worth has been tested and proved by experience. That is why I can predict the outcome of certain important events, as in the case of Ormuz, Calicut, Malacca and Goa wrote to Your Highness about Calicut saying that the more we conquer by force, the greater shall be our defeat. As to the stability of Calicut, it has always looked secure to me and recently two very rich naus escaped capture. One was from Mecca and the other from Cambaya and you may thank your captain in chief that they were saved. The one exception was a zambuco which was sent alone to Cochim and because of some obstacles in Calicut, was captured by paraus with two or three of our sailors. its capture our neighbours have behaved worse than before. Since I also wrote to you about Malacca, and I thank Domingoa Lopes for finding a way for me to have been so readily believed. As regards Ormuz and Goa, I have said and I have many witnesses here that they would be lost. It is my impression that Your Highness sends over captains and governors who have little love for India and I shall
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