_ 94 _ I have finished levelling half of the land. The Governor’s arrival here interrupted me, so that I was not able to do it all. He gave orders for the fortress to be enlarged but he did not want to allocate to it more than the four hundred men it had. It seems to me that there is no need for this (enlargement) since no more men are to be given; a large fortress with only a few men is in a position of great weakness. I have already written to Your Highness about how disagreeable it is to have the Governors coming here. Your Highness defends his stance and says that if they have to go to Ormuz, they must come. On this basis, they all come. I am again informing Your Highness that nothing does you greater disservice than this because, on their arrival, the people abandon Ormuz for the most part. Since we take their houses from them, they destroy them by not repairing anything which falls down and burn the doors when they enter them. In addition, they commit man offences against the Moors and beat them up which seems very wrong to the foreigners. Although one man is punished the others are not, because they are so numerous that it cannot be done. Although the Governor has not come, all the culprits are known, and they are afraid that they will do it. I ask Your
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