_ 21 _ three thousand Indians and five hundred Portuguese had gone to the assistance of Basra and had all been lost and killed. There are many Turks in Basra because the Turk was building a base there from which to attack India, and [that he intended also to do so] with the other fleet in Suez, which he was having refitted; a captain had already left Cairo for this purpose. Although this intelligence, by the manner in which it is written and the ways by which it has come, can be given little credence, you may already have found out more reliably what has occurred and whether it is of such great significance. It is very important that I inform you of what I know here, and, as the last carracks already left two days ago, it appeared to me to be very much in my interests to send after them a small fishing caravel with the present letter so that if she catches them up, or one of them, she could give it to the captains of the carracks to give them to you as soon as they arrive. For the present neither the time nor the uncertainty of this intelligence have made it possible to do more than let you know how and whence I received it. You know very well how important this is, and it is unnecessary for me to point this out, as you can see for yourself. You understand very well what how this concerns my interests and the
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