But That Shall Not Avail Him; For I Trust Yet
To Go Both Hither And Thither, And To Buy And Sell As Freely As He Or
Any Other.
There is a great deal of good to be done here in divers of our
commodities; and likewise there is much profit to be made with the
commodities of this country, when carried to Aleppo.
It were long for me
to write, and tedious for you to read, all the incidents which have
occurred to me since we parted; but the bearer is able to inform you of
every thing that has befallen me since my arrival in Ormus. It is my
intention to remain here in Goa; wherefore, if you write me, you may
send your letters to some friend in Lisbon, to be forwarded from thence
by the India ships. Let your direction, therefore be in Portuguese or
Spanish, by which they will the more readily reach me. - From Goa, this
20th of January 1584.
No, 7. - _Letter from Mr Ralph Fitch to Mr Leonard Poore_.
Loving friend, &c. Since my departure from Aleppo, I have not written
you, because at Bagdat I was ill of flux, and continued in all the way
thence to Basora, which was twelve days journey down the Tigris, when we
had extremely hot weather, bad fare, and worse lodging, all of which
increased my disease; besides which our boat was pestered with people.
During eight entire days I hardly eat any thing, so that if we had been
two days longer on the water, I verily believe I had died. But, thanks
be to God, I presently mended after coming to Basora. We remained there
fourteen days, when we embarked for Ormus, where we arrived on the 5th
of September, and were put in prison on the 9th of the same month, where
we continued till the 11th of October, and were then shipt for this city
of Goa, in the ship belonging to the captain of Ormus, with 114
horses[438], and about 200 men. Passing by Diu and Chaul, at which place
we landed on the 20th November, we arrived at Goa on the 29th of that
month, where, for our better entertainment, we were committed to a fair
strong prison, in which we continued till the 22d of December. It
pleased God, that there were two padres there who befriended us, the one
an Englishman named Thomas Stevens, the other a Fleming named Marco,
both Jesuits of the college of St Paul. These good men sued for us to
the viceroy and other officers, and stood us in such good stead as our
lives and goods were worth: But for them, even if we had escaped with
our lives, we must have suffered a long imprisonment.
[Footnote 438: In the narrative of Fitch, called 124, which might easily
be mistaken either way in transcription. - E.]
When we had been fourteen days in prison, they offered us leave to go at
large in the town, if we would give sureties, for 2000 ducats, not to
depart the country without the licence of the viceroy.
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