_ 124 _ for many reasons which could be given, principally because neither the foreign merchants and still less the people of the place gave credence to anything because they did not see a factor there, and also because they were terrified that any day strong feelings might be aroused against them whereby their possessions would be taken from them. There are also many other reasons about which one cannot write. On the second day, when I was about three leagues from the city, the King sent a very worthy man to find me with three or four others, together with thirty or forty musketeers in a vessel of the same kind as the barges in which they came to this place. Although it was rather distant, I was persuaded to disembark from my terrada and go with him. It was late, and he was unable to arrive in time to find the city gates open, and in order to be better received on the following day, as had been arranged, I stayed with this man in a house outside the fortress and slept there. On that night I was made welcome together with those in my company. As soon as dawn came, one hundred musketeers came to meet me, and together with them fourteen or fifteen worthy, well-dressed men, and they all led the way. Before I arrived at the city gate, a gentleman
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