[Footnote 111: This Cape is in lat. 23° N. and long. 58° 45'E. from Greenwich.--E.]
Note.--In explanation of the disappointment of trade at Surat, &c. there is the following marginal note in the Pilgrims, vol. I. p. 490.--"These news at the Cape were, Captain Hawkins coming away in disgust, as denied leave to trade; the English being often wronged by the Mogul, in frequent breach of promise, as already shewn; for which they forced a trade in the Red Sea on the Mogul subjects. Which afterwards procured the privileges granted to Captain Best, as already related, lest the Moguls should have the sea shut up to them, and all their trade stopt. They were the more induced to grant these privileges to the English, on seeing them able to withstand the Portuguese, whose marine force had held the Guzerat people under maritime subjection, and made them afraid to trade with the English."--Purch.
S.2. Proceedings on the Coast of Persia, and Treachery of the Baloches.
Having crossed the gulf from Cape Rasalgat, on the 10th September we got sight of the coast of Persia, in the lat. of 25° 10' N. When some seven leagues from the land, we sent our skiff ashore to make enquiry concerning the country, and to seek out some convenient place in which to land his lordship, having Sir Thomas Powell, with two of the ambassador's Persian attendants, and Albertus, our own linguist, that we might be able to converse with the natives. They came to a little village called Tesseque,[112] where they spoke with some camel-drivers and other country-people; from whom they learnt that the country was called Getche Macquerona [Mekran], and the inhabitants Baloches, all living under the government of a king, named Melik Mirza, whose chief residence was some five or six days journey from thence, at a port named Guadal. They were farther informed, that all the country of Mekran paid tribute yearly to the king of Persia. When informed of our purpose to land the ambassador, they told us that, by means of Melik Mirza, his lordship might have a safe conveyance in nine days to Kermshir, in the province of Kerman; and from thence might travel in eleven days more to Ispahan in Persia.
[Footnote 112: Tize is laid down upon this part of the Persian coast, in lat 25° 25' N. and long. 60° 80' E. from Greenwich: Perhaps the Tesseque of the text.--E.]
We then sailed along the coast, and on the 11th of the month we sent our boat ashore with Sir Thomas Powell, accompanied as before, to make farther enquiries, and to endeavour to hire a pilot to direct our course for Guadal, as we were unacquainted with the coast. They came to a place called Pesseque, about a day's journey from Tesseque, where they had similar accounts with the former, all commending the port of Guadal as the best place at which the ambassador could land. Wherefore, being unable to procure a pilot, we resolved, with God's blessing, to sail to that place with all the speed we could. On the 13th, while on our way, we espied coming towards us from the eastwards, two great boats, called teradas, which were sailing along shore for Ormus. Whereupon, that we might procure a pilot from them, we manned our skiff sufficiently to bring them by force to our ship, if entreaties were unavailing, yet without meaning to offer them the smallest injury, or even to send them away dissatisfied.
When our skiff came up with them, instead of answering the hails of our men, they waved our skiff to leeward with a drawn sword; on which, thinking to fear them, and make them lower their sail, our men fired a random shot towards them, which they answered by firing another directly at our skiff, followed by half a hundred arrows, to which our men answered by plying all their muskets. But our skiff was unable to hold way with them, as they were under sail, and had therefore to return to the ship, with one man very dangerously wounded by an arrow in the breast, who afterwards recovered. As we in the ship saw the skiff returning without them, we hoisted out our long-boat, and sent her after the two teradas, we following with the ship as near the shore as we could with safety; for it was now of much importance that we should speak with them, on purpose to avoid their spreading scandalous reports of us in the country, which might have frustrated our chief hopes of landing the ambassador at Guadal, being the place we most depended upon, and being destitute of any other place for the purpose, should this fail, considering the unwelcome intelligence we had got concerning Guzerat at the Cape.
Our long boat, having fetched up with the teradas, drove them into a bay whence they could not escape; on which the native mariners sailed so far into the bay, that one of the teradas was cast away on the beach, and the other had nearly shared the same fate, but was saved by our men just without the surf. Most of the balloches leapt overboard, and several of them narrowly escaped drowning; while nine of them were brought by our men to our ship along with the terada, part of whom they had taken out of the water. There were originally twenty-six balloches in the two teradas, but all the rest escaped ashore by swimming through the surf. When these men came aboard our ship, they were found to belong to Guadal; and when told that we were sorry for the loss of their other bark, as we meant them no harm, but only wished to speak with them, that we might learn the navigation to their port, they were glad to learn we had no evil intentions, thinking we had been as merciless as themselves, and acknowledged their loss proceeded from their own folly.
We then informed them that we were bound for Guadal, on purpose to land a Persian ambassador there, and that we earnestly entreated the master of the terada, whose name was Noradin, to pilot us to that place, for which we would satisfy him to his contentment. Knowing that he could not chuse, he consented to go with us, on condition we would permit the terada and his men to proceed to Muscat, whither they were originally bound; but we did not think this quite safe, lest they might communicate news of our arrival among the Portuguese, and thought it better to take the bark along with us to Guadal, to manifest our own good intentions. Noradin accordingly consented, between fear and good will, and was much made of by us to reassure his confidence. On the passage to Guadal, we had much conference with him and his men, both respecting the state of the country, the character of their king, and the means of the ambassador travelling from thence into Persia. Their answers and reports all confirmed what we had been already told on the coast, and gave us hopes of success. The terada was about fifteen tons burden, and her loading mostly consisted in the provisions of the country, as rice, wheat, dates, and the like. They had a Portuguese pass, which they shewed us, thinking at first we had been of that nation. I translated this, to show in what subjection the Portuguese keep all the natives of these countries, as without such a pass they are not suffered to navigate these seas, under penalty of losing their lives, ships, and goods.