On the 6th of January, 1613, the Firmaun from the Great Mogul, in confirmation of peace and settlement of a factory for trade, came to Swally as a private letter; wherefore I refused to receive it, lest it might be a counterfeit, requiring that the chief men of Surat should come down and deliver it to me, with the proper ceremonials.  Accordingly, on the 11th, the sabandar, his father-in-law Medigoffar, and several others, came to Swally, and delivered the Firmaun to me in form, making great professions of respect for our nation in the name of their king.  The 14th we landed all our cloth, with 310 elephants teeth, and all our quicksilver.  This day likewise the Portuguese galleons came within three or four miles of us.  The 16th, I landed Anthony Starkey, with orders to travel over land for England, carrying letters to give notice of our good success.[87]

[Footnote 87:  Mr Starkey and his Indian companion or guide were poisoned on the way by two friars.—­Purch.]

The 17th, having received all my goods from Surat, I set sail at night, leaving these coasts.  The 18th we passed the four galleons, which all weighed and followed us for two or three hours; but we finally separated without exchanging shots.  The 19th, when abreast of Basseen, we stopt three Malabar barks, which had nothing in them, and from one of which we took a boat.  The 20th at night we were abreast of Chaul, both town and castle being full in sight.  In the afternoon of the 21st we were abreast of Dabul, where we boarded three junks belonging to Calicut, laden with cocoanuts.  The 22d in the morning, the Hosiander sent her boat aboard two junks, and at noon we were at the rocks, which are ten or eleven leagues N. of Goa, and six or eight miles from the main.  Two or three of these rocks are higher than the hull of a large ship.  At six p.m. we were abreast of Goa, which is easily known by the island at the month of the river, on which island there is a castle.  All the way from Damann to Goa, the coast trends nearly N. and S. with a slight inclination to N.W. and S.E. the whole being very fair and without danger, having fair shoaling and sixteen or seventeen fathoms some three or four leagues off shore, with good-anchorage every where.

The 24th we saw a fleet of sixty or eighty frigates or barks bound to the southwards, being in lat. 13 deg. 00’ 30”.  The high land by the sea now left us, and the shore became very low, yet with fair shoaling of sixteen and seventeen fathoms some three or four leagues off.  In the afternoon we went into a bay, where all the before-mentioned frigates were at anchor, together with three or four gallies.  We brought out a ship with us, whence all the Portuguese fled in their boats, and as two frigates lay close aboard of her, they had carried away every thing valuable.  Next day we examined our prize, and found nothing in her except rice and coarse sugar, with which we amply supplied both ships; and having taken out her masts, and what firing she could afford, we scuttled and sunk her, taking out likewise all her people, being twenty or twenty-five Moors.  The 26th we met a boat belonging to the Maldives laden with cocoa-nuts and bound for Cananor, into which I put all the people of the prize, except eight, whom I kept to assist in labour, one of them being a pilot for this coast.