Then while I watched and prayed in a frenzy, the boat came on its way and approached closer to me; but when it was come near, and they on board catched sight of me, they halted for awhile, and sailed round me, as though to make sure of my conditions, and then came on slowly, making a prodigious display of such weapons as they had, and all for fear lest I might be disposed to fight with ’em. But I holding up my hands empty, for to make it evident to them that I was unarmed, they came up close, and dragged me from my spar into their vessel, that was but a poor skiff or fishing-boat, with three men aboard on’t. But when they saw me clearly, they drew back from me and talked in whispers, then seized their arms, and made as though they would kill me. And upon this I cried out to them in Persian and Guzeratty and also in Portuguese that I was an Englishman and a shipwrecked traveller, and that they should show me pity and bring me to some one of our factories, where they should be suitably rewarded for their care. But ’twas all in vain, for the tongues of these parts of the Indies are altogether different from those of Surat, and the men came against me threatening me, and I thought that among their words I could make out that they spake of Hollanders. Now I was much exercised to know whether these men served the Dutch, and believed that I was their enemy, or whether they were hostile to ’em, and considered me a Dutchman. The utmost that I could do was to assure them by signs that I desired peace, and cast myself on their mercy, and at the last they bid me in gestures place myself in the stern of the boat and abide there quiet. Then, towing the spar behind, they made sail for the land, which I could now see, though at some miles’ distance. Sailing then towards the coast, we come presently in sight of a great city that stood upon the shore, with a fair harbour wherein lay two or three ships. I could see that this place was well defended with great walls fitted for the working of cannons, and there was also a high fort that commanded the harbour. There was several spires, as of churches, to be seen above the walls, and some distance away from the town behind stood a great hill, with a church or temple upon the summit thereof. The walls and houses of the city, such parts at least as I could see of them, glistered and shone in the sunlight as though they had been built of marble, so that the whole place had an air of great elegance and dignity.