_ 73 _ letter sent by Lourenço de Brito and took the Moor to Goa where the Sabaio wanted to have his head chopped off but because he was an honourable man they held him prisoner instead. However, the Moor managed to send Lourenço de Brito a letter hidden in a small ball made of wax informing him that in Goa they were building fifteen ships like our own and also atalaias and that the Sabaio was leaving for one of his cities which was being besieged by a King with whom he was at war. Before leaving, however, he summoned the officers who were building the ships and ordered them to make a list of all that was needed to build them. Whatever they needed was to be supplied immediately so that when he returned, they would be ready. If they were not ready, he would punish them severely. When the officers had completed the lists, he gave them to one of his Governors ordering him to deal with them as he was about to depart. About ten or twelve days later two ships arrived here a place which is next to Aden called Shehir, laden with cloths and stays; all this, my Lord, is true. Item: A year before the departure of Victory for Mecca, Jidda, Berbera and Zeila, seven ships full of spices left Calicut, three of which were lost in a storm is four quintale at eighty xerafins, a xerafin being worth three hundred and
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