_ 575 _ carrack fell behind because however little sail the foists made they were faster than the carrack. I assure Your Highness that in these conditions the foists were greatly to be pitied, for the sea was so high and the waves so strong and towering that it was a great mercy that Our Lord saved us. In my foists there was no pilot saved myself. In the Gulf I came across some other foists, and at night I hoisted lights to show them the way, but only with great difficulty. Thus, we crossed the Gulf, in great fear, which took us many days. When we were close to the coast of India a storm arose in which the foists, I was guiding because they had no pilots and knew little about navigating - became separated, and I was on my own. My foist was sailing by the sun and dead reckoning to make for Dabhol, and at dawn on 20 August I was at the bar; but the bar looked menacing, with such heavy seas that I did not dare enter. I was afraid of the effect of the new moon, which was on the 21 of the month, and so I ran down the coast with a slack wind, and by the 23rd we had reached a river called Rajapur(A), where I went to shelter from the new moon. (A) 23 leagues from Goa there is a river called Çeitapur, eminent because it has the best and most beautiful bay of any along this coast. (D.João de Castro: Primeiro Roteiro da Costa da Índia, p. 31).The Visconde de
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