On Purpose To Entice Him To Land Once More, The Moors Made A Mock Of His Goods, Pretending They Were Good For Nothing, And Did All In Their Power To Prevent Them From Selling.

Thinking that the zamorin knew nothing of all these transactions, he sent him an account of the whole five days afterwards, by his factor, of all that had happened, and of the injurious conduct of the Moors respecting the sale of the goods.

The king seemed much offended by these proceedings, sending the general word that he would punish all those who had used him ill, yet the kutwal remained unpunished. The king likewise sent seven or eight merchants of Guzerate, who were idolaters, to buy the goods, accompanied by an honest nayre, to remain with Diaz at the factory to defend him against the Moors. Yet all this was only done colourably, that the Moors might not appear to suborn the merchants; for these men bought nothing, and even beat down the price of the commodities, to the great satisfaction of the Moors; who now boasted that no person would buy our goods any more than they. Yet none of the Moors durst venture to our factory, after they heard a nayre was stationed there by the kings order. If they did not love us before, they hated us ten times worse now, and when any of our men landed, they used to spit on the ground in contempt, calling out Portugal! Portugal! But by the especial order of the general, our people took no other notice than merely laughing at their insolence.

As none of the merchants would buy our goods, the general supposed that this was occasioned by their being lodged at Pandarane, where none of the merchants of Calicut resided; and requested leave, by a messenger, from the zamorin, to have the goods removed to the city. This permission was immediately granted, and the king issued orders to the kutwal to see them removed, and even to pay the persons who carried them, that nothing belonging to the king of Portugal might be subject to any charges in his country. The general would not trust himself any more on shore, although Bontaybo, who frequently came off to visit him, advised him to wait on the king, lest the great credit of the Moors might again prevail over his mind. But considering this man as a Moor, the general never put much trust in him, nor informed him of his intentions; yet always received him kindly, and gave him money and other gifts, that he might bring him intelligence of what was passing on shore.

After the Portuguese merchandize was removed to Calicut, the general permitted one man daily from each of the ships to go on shore, to see the city and to purchase any thing they had a mind for; always taking especial care that one party returned on board before another landed. Our people were courteously received and entertained by the natives, and were even lodged in their houses occasionally.

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