It Was A Commercial Garrison Town Of The Arabs,
For The Purpose Of Carrying On The Trade Of The Persian Gulf, And At The
Same Time Withdrawing From The Oppressive Rule Of The Turkoman
Conquerors Of Persia.
- E.]
When Albuquerque arrived at Ormuz about the end of September 1507, Sayf
Oddin a youth of twelve years of age was sovereign, under the
guardianship of a slave named Khojah Attar, a man of courage but of a
subtile and crafty disposition. Hearing what had been done by
Albuquerque at the towns upon the coast, Attar made great preparations
for resisting the new enemy. For this purpose he laid an embargo on all
the ships in the port, and hired troops from all the neighbouring
countries, so that when the Portuguese entered the port there were
30,000 armed men in the city, of whom 4000 were Persians, the most
expert archers then in the world. There were at that time 400 vessels in
the harbour, 60 of which were of considerable size, the crews of which
amounted to 2500 men. Albuquerque was not ignorant of the warlike
preparations which had been made for his reception; but to shew his
determined resolution, he came immediately to anchor in the midst of
five of the largest ships riding in the harbour, firing his cannon as he
sailed along to strike a terror into the inhabitants, and the shore was
soon lined by 8000 troops. As no message was sent to him by the king, he
commanded the captain of the largest ship, which seemed admiral over the
rest, to repair on board of him, who immediately complied, and was
received with much civility, but in great state.
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