r in two years, which must prove of vast importance; as
from that place, which is now possessed by the idolaters, all India and
Persia used to procure the whole of their gold; although the mouth of the
bay is under the dominion of a king of the Chaldeans[7], at which place
the trade is carried on with the idolaters by the Moors, who bring yearly
their ships from Cambaya laden with low-priced articles, which they
barter for gold. These goods are coarse cotton cloths, silks of various
fashions and many colours, but chiefly of the Turkish fabric. The king of
Quiloa, an island about sixty leagues from Sofala, it is said, will have
to quit that place from fear of the idolaters. At Quiloa all ships going
to Sofala have to stop and pay tribute, before going to the mine of
Sofala. When they get to Sofala, they have to remain there six or eight
months before completing their affairs; carrying from thence gold, ivory,
and wax, all of the best kind. After this they have again to touch at
Quiloa, and to pay a tax for their gold. Thence they go to Cambaya or
Mecca. In our ships there are twelve or fifteen agents of the king of
Quiloa, who pays a tribute yearly to our king of 1500 _metigals_, each of
which metigals is worth 150 ducats, or in all 225,000 ducats. That king
depends so entirely on the king of Portugal, that our king may dethrone
him whenever be pleases to send there a force of 1000 men, which would
oblige the king of Quiloa to run away; and it is believed this will be
done shortly, the thing being so easy, and by this means an yearly
revenue of 500,000 ducats would be secured.

If you have properly considered what those ships may bring which are
daily expected, you will find that they will at least import about 222
quintals of all kinds of spice: And we shall ship for you of all these,
using our endeavours that you may never be in want of them. Even after
the before mentioned treaty with the king of Calicut, no small risk still
remains to those who navigate to the Indies, on account of a certain
archipelago, containing about 14,000 islands[8], and owing to the
narrowness of a certain strait which is scarcely navigable. We shall
persist notwithstanding, as by custom and experience these dangers will
become of no consequence. At length we expect to have the glory of having
discovered almost the whole of the world, and those parts of it
especially to which the ancients never penetrated. It only remains for us
to go to the is