SECTION II.

_Letter from certain Merchants and Bankers of Spain,[1] to their correspondents in the cities of Florence and Venice, respecting a treaty of peace and league between the kings of Portugal and Calicut._

We have been informed by those who were on board of the fleet which sailed from Lisbon to India in May 1502, and returned on the 15th December 1503, that the king of Calicut has concluded a peace with our sovereign on the following conditions. As a compensation for the slaughter of our men, he is to pay 4000 _bahars_ of pepper, equal to 12, 000 quintals. That the Moors shall not be allowed to trade there from any place whatever, excepting only those who are natives of Calicut; and that these even shall not be permitted to trade with Mecca. That our king, if so inclined, may build a fort at Calicut, and shall be supplied with a sufficient quantity of stones, lime, and timber for that purpose by the zamorin, paying for these on delivery. That the king of Calicut shall aid and favour the Portuguese in all things, and that it shall be competent for our king to appoint one of his own subjects to administer justice among the Portuguese resident in that city, even with the power of life and death, and without appeal to the zamorin. That when any of our people shall revolt from or be disobedient to our commercial agent, they shall immediately be delivered up to be judged by the aforesaid Portuguese consul.

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