The Portuguese
Said They Had No Commission To Treat Of Any Such Matter, And So The
Conference Ended, And They Were Dismissed.
Notwithstanding of the Portuguese being refused leave to go to the Khan,
they had licence that same night, and were sent over to treat with him
at Gambroon.
I could never know the certainty of the proposed treaty,
but shall here insert what I heard reported on the subject. They
proposed, in the first place, to the Khan, to raise the siege, and
permit them to enjoy their city and castle of Ormus as formerly, in
consideration of which, they offered to pay 200,000 tomans in hand, and
the yearly rent they had formerly paid to the king of Ormus, from the
revenue of the custom-house, which, as I have heard, was 140,000 rials
of eight or Spanish dollars yearly. But some said, besides the 200,000
tomans in hand, they offered as much yearly. [306] It was reported that
the Khan demanded 500,000 tomans in hand, equal to L172,418:10:7
sterling,[307] and an yearly rent of 200,000 tomans.
[Footnote 306: A toman, by the data in the text immediately following,
is about seven shillings; hence 200,000 tomans are equal to L70,000
sterling. - E.]
[Footnote 307: At the former computation, this sum is equal to L175,000;
and the conversion in the text gives 6s. 11-3/4d, and a small fraction
more for each toman, being very near 7s. which is more convenient.
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