_ 375 _ que took all this artillery, saying he needed it to place it in the fortress on which the defence of the whole city depended. Rumours had reached him from various Moorish sources that a great fleet of the Sultan had left Suez. These rumours were false, having been spread by (xxx) against us. They gave Afonso d 'Albuquerque a pretext to take all the artillery the King possessed. The King had power over nothing Rais Nordin, the Governor, all the officials of the royal treasury and Reis Hamid had the artillery in their power. It seemed to Afonso de Albuquerque, before he took over the government of the kingdom, that they were the most absolute ministers, who between them, after the death of Rais Hamid, would take possession of everything. Nevertheless, when they perceived that in claiming the rest of the tribute which the King owed from past years Afonso de Albuquerque demanded an account of the all the sources of revenue of the kingdom, required the artillery, and also an account of the King's expenditure, it was a great problem for them. It seemed to them that, what Afonso d' Al buguerque wanted was to pass the responsibility of collecting the revenue of the kingdom to the officials he had in this fortress, and little by little, to remove them from their positions.
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