_ 318 _ After he had been there seven days, the other nine ships of his convoy arrived, with which he entered the River Euphrates until he reached an island, which is found right near its entrance, called [Mouzique], where there was a small castle perched on a rock with some Turks. When they caught sight of our fleet, they immediately abandoned it. Having ordered some men ashore, who found the place deserted, the captain left them there to await the reply of the king of Basra and the Gizares. The Turkish Pasha, known in Basra as [Alibaxa], was a wise and very knowledgeable man. As soon as he received news of our fleet, he surmised that its captain had to have a secret understanding with the Gizares and Arabs of the interior. He was so astute that, immediately on arrival there, he seized all the roads by which it was possible to send mail. In that way, the letters that Dom Antonio wrote to the king and the Gizares fell into his hands. He himself wrote several forged missives in the name of the king of Basra himself and the Gizares, in which he explained to them that, as they were Moors and vassals of the Turks, he now wanted them to perform the service that they had earlier promised in other letters of theirs, which was to hand over to his keeping all the Portuguese ships that were there, and that as a token of this, he was sending
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