ride abroad with his train without having first received permission of the captain, which precaution is necessary because of the great trade carried on at this place.  The native language in this island is the Persian.  I embarked at Ormuz for Goa in India, in a ship on board of which were fourscore horses.  All merchants proceeding from Ormuz for Goa ought to go in ships carrying horses, because every ship carrying twenty horses or upwards is privileged from the payment of customs on all their other goods, whereas all ships having no horses have to pay eight per centum on their goods and commodities.

SECTION V.

Of Goa, Diu, and Cambaya.

Goa is the chief city of the Portuguese in India, in which reside the viceroy and his court, being many officers of the crown of Portugal.  From Ormuz it is 990 miles to Goa, on which passage the first city you come to in India is Diu, situated in a small island of the kingdom of Cambaia; and, though a small city, is the strongest fortified of any of those possessed by the Portuguese in India, having great trade, and loading many great ships with merchandise for Ormuz and the Red Sea.  These ships belong both to Moors and Christians; but the Moors can neither trade nor navigate in these seas, unless they have a pass or licence from the Portuguese viceroy, without which they we liable to be captured.  The merchandise loaded at Diu comes from Cambaietta, a port in the kingdom of Cambaia, about 180 miles up a strait or gulf called Macareo, which signifies a race of the tide, because the water runs there with immense rapidity, such as is not to be seen anywhere else, except in the kingdom of Pegu, where there is another Macareo or race of the tide still more violent.  On this account, and because no large vessels can go to Cambaietta or Cambay, by reason of the shallowness of the water in the gulf for 80 or 100 miles, the principal city of Cambaia or Guzerat is Amadaver or Amedabad, a day and a half journey from Cambay, being a great and populous city, and for a city of the Gentiles it is well built with handsome houses and wide streets.  In it there is a fine bason or canul, having many ships, so that it resembles Cairo, but not so large.

Cambay is situated on the sea at the head of the gulf of the same name, and is a handsome city.  While I was there it was suffering great calamity, owing to a scarcity, insomuch that the Gentiles offered their sons and daughters for sale to the Portuguese, and I have seen them sold for 8 or 10 larines each, which is of our money about 10s. or 13s. 4d.[124].  Yet if I had not actually seen it, I could not have believed that Cambay had so great a trade.  Every new and full moon, when the tides are at the highest, the small barks that come in and go out are quite innumerable.  These barks are laden with all kinds of spices, with silks of China, sandal-wood, elephants