_ 66 _ Last year, although only four foists had come, not a single Portuguese remained in Kalhat, and he Guazil of Kalhat with the approval of our Lord the King, had thrown them out of the port and not allowed them to take on any water. If ten or twelve ships were now to come any soldier, I should have to help him oppose them with Portuguese and Moors; and there was not more than two and a half months before these Turks would come. At the end of June carrack came to Ormuz from Mecca and brought a merchant who is a native living here in Ormuz, and he told me that he had come by way of Mocha and there were seven or eight oared vessels there. He had not seen more, but the Turks had kept him there for three days without letting him go outside the gates so that he could not go and warn the foists that Your Lordship had send to the Strait; and that the ships were prepared, expecting the foists to come and enter the gates. He thinks that these eight ships were on their way to Kalhat and Muscat. Because I think that this information is correct, I ordered nine foists and the capturs here to be made ready to sail for Muscat at the end of this month of July, to lie in wait for these Turkish foists if they come in August or at the beginning of September. I am writing to Sheikh Rabia and the Guazil of Kalhat to prepare the best tarranquins they
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