_ 92 _ to such an extent that they had to beg for alms. An old citizen of Goa assured me that one of them had lived in the grounds of the Misericódia of Goa under a large tree which was still standing and, like another Belisarius, begged for alms, saying ‘Give to one who was blinded so that they could take his kingdom’. Such cruelty is not surprising, for ambition gives boldness for greater crimes. Description of the island of Ormuz and what it contains. The island of Ormuz, formerly called Jarun by the Moors, is situated 27 degrees north. From the point of Turunbagh to that of Kahuru, it is two and a half leagues long, and in circumference [sic]. It lies in the Strait two leagues from the coast of Persia and ten leagues from the coast of Arabia. It is shaped like an elbow, high on the seaside, and is very subject to earth tremors. Of itself, it consists only of hills of salt growing each year from streams of salt, which low for much of the year and in summer congeal to look like very white snow. There are some hills and mines of good sulphur, but of water tyhere is only a very small and salty stream which King Ferragut Shah discovered in his garden at Turunbagh in 1593. He made several tanks for this water in the garden he created there, and there are some rainwater systems elsewhere on the island.
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