_ 84 _ Your Highness would do well not to swerve from the Contract and agreement which I have made with them, because the Moors are used to making themselves mean; it is nothing to Ormuz xxx xerafins (thirty thousand xerafins) as a tax to pay, nor is it any great scandal to them; all the mischief lies in there not being a fortress of Your Highness, nor an establishment nor factory in which are employed Portuguese who understand what a thing Ormuz is, because Cojeatar keeps such watch and observation over this thing that it cannot be exceeded, because he is well aware what a great thing Ormuz is, for there is no one who looks on her but desires to carry it away, and knows that whosever wins her, will lord over her for ever, because he has nothing to fear excepting from the side of Persia, where he is very secure, owing to there being no shipping to take over the people. Your Highness should show honour to this Ambassador and manifest to him some of the things of your state, because the King of Ormuz has all sorts of things, both in his hunting such as many tents, falcons, dogs, ounces [sic], and horsemen who accompany him, as in being guarded at the door of his palace by many horses and many mules, as well as Captains and trusty men within the palace around him: written in Goa on the biij [8th] day of November 1512.
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