[Footnote 118:  Tatta is not less than seventy-five English miles from the mouth of the Pitty, and consequently sixty from Diul.—­E.]

When the lord ambassador left us, we requested he would send us word how he found the country disposed, and whether we might have trade there; and for this purpose, we gave his lordship a note in writing of what we chiefly desired, which was to the following purport:  “That our coming to this port was purposely to land his lordship; yet, as we had brought with us certain commodities and money, we were willing to make sales of such and so much of those as might suit, if we could obtain licence and protection for quiet trade; and, with the governor’s permission, would settle a factory at this place, to which, though now but slenderly provided, we would afterwards bring such kinds and quantities of goods us might be most suitable for sale.  The commodities we now had, were elephants and morse teeth, fine fowling-pieces, lead and tin in bars, and some Spanish dollars.  If we could not be permitted to trade, we requested leave to provide ourselves, with refreshments, and so to depart.”

The 30th September, the ambassador had an audience of the governor concerning all his business, to whom he shewed the firmaun of the king of Persia, as also the pass of the king of Spain, thinking thereby to satisfy the jealousy of the Portuguese residents at that place, who reported, on pretended intelligence from Ornus, that Don Roberto Shirley was come from England with three ships to the Indies, on purpose to steal.  They peremptorily refused to give credence to the Spanish pass, saying it was neither signed nor sealed by their king, in which they could not possibly be mistaken, knowing it so well, and therefore that it was assuredly forged.  On this, the ambassador angrily said, that it was idle to shew them any king’s hand-writing and seal, as they had no king, being merely a waste nation, forcibly reduced under subjection to the king of Spain, and mere slaves both to him and his natural subjects.  Yet the Portuguese boldly stood to their former allegations, insisting that the ambassador had other two ships in the Indies.  Then Arah Manewardus sharply reproved them for their unseemly contradictions of the Persian ambassador, and ordered them out of the room.

The ambassador then made a speech to the governor concerning our admittance to trade at his port, on which the governor expressed his readiness to do so, all inconveniences understood, and desired the ambassador to send for one or two of our merchants, that he might confer with them on the subject.  Upon this the ambassador wrote to us on the 2d October, saying what he had done in our affairs, and sending us assurance for our safe going and returning.  Being thereby in good hope of establishing trade at this place, if not a factory, and to make sale of the small quantity of goods we now had, Mr Joseph Salbank and I, by advice of the captain and others, made ourselves ready and went ashore that same morning in one of the country boats.  Our ship lay about four or five miles from the mouth of the river, from whence we had fifteen miles to travel to Diul, where the ambassador was, so that it was late in the evening before we landed there.