_ 130 _ able of the lands of Shah Tahmasp of him there is no news, and I do not know for what reason he permits his lands to be taken with So little trouble. When these two gentlemen arrive, | shall see their ways and how they live, and about all that I see I shall take care to write to you. The number of soldiers remaining in this place after it is settled will be about two thousand, among which there will be seven hundred picked, reliable men, useful for many purposes. I am not at all satisfied with the others, for they are all very drunken, dirty youths with no sense of duty and poor occupants of their position. There are about eight hundred cavalry, and the rest are musketeers, but they are only as useful as the equipment they have and bring with them. At present in this city there are really only five hundred men. The city is very well guarded by them. The city-gates are closed as soon as the sun sets and are open only when it rises. They have built nothing and it does not appear to me that they are doing anything now. There is a fortress right against the city-walls, which is lapped by the waters of the river. There is a captain in it with a hundred soldiers assigned to it. In this fortress are all kinds of military equipment, all their artillery and gunpowder and everything else they captured from the King of Basra, with
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