This Portuguese Came
To My House Some Two Hours After, And Offered To Procure The Release Of
My Men And Goods, If I Would Be Liberal To Him.
I entertained him
kindly, and gave him great promises; but before he left the town, my men
and goods were sent off for Goa.
I had my goods ready about five days before I could get a clearance to
ship them, waiting for the arrival of Abder Rachim, which was the 3d
October; and two days afterwards the ship set sail. I was now left in
Surat with only one merchant, William Finch, who was mostly sick, and
unable to go abroad to do any business; all the rest of my attendants
being two servants, a cook, and a boy, which were all the company I had
to defend us from so many enemies, who went about to destroy us, and
endeavoured to prevent my going to the Great Mogul. But God preserved
me, and in spite of them all, I took heart and resolution to proceed on
my travels. After the departure of our ship, I learnt that my men and
goods had been betrayed to the Portuguese by Mucrob Khan and his
followers; for it was a laid plot by Mucrob Khan and the Jesuit Peneiro,
to protract time till the Portuguese frigates might come to the bar of
Surat, which was done so secretly that we never beard of them till they
had taken our barks.
So long as my ship remained at the bar I was much flattered, but after
her departure I was most unsufferably misused; being in a heathen
country, environed by so many enemies, who plotted daily to murder me
and to cozen me of my goods.
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