The Portuguese in the Sea of Oman

_ 571 _ month(A). I do not know why he was unwilling to take shelter in some of the anchorages within the entrance, but he decided to venture outside, and as soon as we went through, we suddenly found the wind very strong and wintry, with such squalls that the foists were in great difficulties. We sailed along the coast and came across a convenient inlet, which we entered with some difficulty. The Governor with the galleons anchored out at sea a little way off. It was about an hour after midday when he came there, but before sunset he made sail with all the galleons and left the foists in this inlet, quite ruthlessly, and set off for India. He might have gone to Bander Barum(B) or Qiãn, as did one of the carracks of his company. The Governor sent her to Qiãn with orders to tell us all that he was going on to India. He reached the coast of India in such rough weather that he could not make Goa and went on to Anjediva, where he anchored on 8 August. Eight hundred Portuguese had died in the Strait, from sickness or by the sword(C). (A) Dates confirmed in the Roteiro. (B) Bander Barum, on the Arabian coast of the Gulf of Aden, 14 15'N,48° 59' E. (Visconde de Lagoa, Glossário da Antiga Historiografia Ultramarina Portuguesa, I,p.122). (C) Manuel Coutinho estimates the losses at 1500 men (letter cited, Corp.Cron.I,Maço 71, Doc.17), which is surely an exaggeration. It is

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