_ 233 _ men and the help of the Portuguese it would be possible to eject these Turks from Basra. They had taken possession of the terradas so that they should not come here with new articles, and when Shah Tahmasp’s men withdrew to their own territory and the fighting ceased, they let the terradas come to Ormuz. It is my opinion that the only way to move against the Turks in Basra is to take them by surprise because in this way they will all be defeated. If they were afraid of the Portuguese coming, there is no doubt that many men would come from Baghdad, and they could do so within eight or nine days. What Your Lordship orders will be carried out in every way because this will be the best of all. If a ship is coming here, Your Lordship should write to tell me what you think about what I am writing now. The weather is bad and the winds contrary, and it would take a terrada twenty days to get here. These took thirty-two days. Domingos Barbudo writes to tell me that the islands where the men of [Gizar] live number three thousand and sixty, there are thirty thousand riflemen there, but the worst thing is that they have many captains because each island has its own force, and there is often disagreement among them.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy