_ 350 _ As there was no pepper and it was said, no money, the carracks were loaded late, and I myself even later than them, and as result I was not able to until 23rd February, short of more than two thousand quintals of pepper and other goods, which the ship could have carried if they had been any there(A). It is truly wonderful to see what happens in the world, and in this case only one who sees it with his own eyes can say this about India and its affairs. It is sixty years now since pepper was discovered in this land, and there is never any money to buy it, the contract for it is never made, there are no weights for weighing it, there is no guard to prevent it being taken to Mecca and such places, and nothing is done to put any of these thing to rights, although our King gives me rewards to those he uses than any other prince in the world. The Turks have taken Aden, in the Strait of Mecca, and Basra and EI Katiff in the Strait of Ormuz, and also Bahrain, which is close to it. The fortress received no help when it needed it, and there is no more to be said in this matter. (A) See the letter from Jorge Cabral, Governor of India, to the King of 21 Feb 1550, published in Documentacão IV, no. 84, pp. 488-499.
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