_ 533 _ materials he was bringing for it. He should also issue orders for the local people and the slaves of both the residents and the King to serve in the fortress, as it was being built for the common defense of all. Consequently, it seemed that it would be advisable to persuade them to do this. Trade with the Turks was forbidden under heavy penalty both in Ormuz and in any other part of India. Basra was to have no contact with these places because, although a fall in the revenues of the custom house of Ormuz might result from this prohibition, as some pointed out in their observations, it was still not something to which great attention should be paid, and similarly the benefit that the enemy could derive from this trade with them. In order to provide those places in that Strait with more strength and courage and to impede the provisions that the Turks of Basra were bringing from the islands of Gizara, and to ensure that they did not bring them with such security, His Highness should order the Viceroy to send up to fifteen oared ships, from foists downwards, to patrol the Strait of Ormuz, and he should make the person he considered best its captain. However, if he received information that the Turks were bringing a sizeable fleet, he should enlarge his in order, if need be, to be able to fight them.
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