_ 122 _ Simão da Cunha sighted land and disembarked. He built his base and set up his artillery. Without attacking the Moor with an armed troop or allowing word to be sent to them, he opened fire. The Moor, who had many people inside the fortress and a lot of provisions, began to defend himself. This island of Bahrain is very unhealthy and was especially so when Simão da Cunha went there in October and November, so his men began to fall ill. Thus, he reembarked and left without taking any action. Between there and this port of Ormuz, more than one hundred men died and after they sailed from here until their arrival in India, another 200 people died. So, out of the 400 men he had taken with him, 300 or more had died. He also died, as did two other noblemen, who came with Nuno da Cunha. I believe, Sir, that God did India favour when Nuno da Cunha died because, I assure you, Sir, he was a good-for-nothing, and he would have done something else whereby India would be destroyed. If it had been someone else who arrived in Bahrain, he would have entered it immediately because the fortress was made of clay and, if bombarded by any small piece of artillery, would have collapsed. He was, God forgive him, a great friend of mine and showed himself to be a great servant of Your Lordship; he, therefore, acted in your interests.
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