Albuquerque was well aware of the effect his {77} conquest would have upon the minds of other native sovereigns. He received ambassadors from the Rájá of Vijayanagar, who plainly hinted that their master expected Goa would be made over to him. He also received ambassadors from the King of Ormuz and from Sháh Ismáil of Persia. These Muhammadan potentates had despatched their ambassadors to the King of Bijápur to incite him to join in a general war against the Portuguese. But when they found Albuquerque in possession of the city of Goa, they adroitly changed the purpose of their missions, and made overtures to him instead. Albuquerque received them with fair words. He had not abandoned his schemes against Ormuz, but he desired to stand well with Ismáil Sháh. He thoroughly understood the exact position of Ismáil, the greatest of the Sufi Sháhs of Persia, whom the Portuguese always called the Sophy, and that Ismáil belonged to the Shiah sect of Muhammadans, and as such was the enemy of the Turks, who were orthodox Muhammadans. Albuquerque nominated Ruy Gomes as ambassador to Ismáil Sháh, and the instructions which he took with him are very significant of Albuquerque's wide range of policy. Ruy Gomes never reached the Persian Court, being poisoned upon the way at Ormuz, but part of his instructions deserve quotation: 'You shall tell Sháh Ismáil how my Lord the King will be pleased to come to an understanding and alliance with him, and will assist him in his war against the Sultan; and that I, in his name and on his behalf, offer him the fleet and {78} army and artillery which I have with me, and the fortresses, towns, and lordships, which the King of Portugal holds in India, and I will give him all this same help against the Turk.'[8] [Footnote 8: Instructions to Ruy Gomes; Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. ii. pp. 114-118.] In his letter to the Sháh, Albuquerque lays weight also upon the advantages which might be derived from an alliance with the Portuguese: 'I believe that with small trouble,' he says, 'you must gain the Lordship of the city of Cairo, and all his kingdom and dependencies.... If God grant that this intercourse and alliance be ratified, come you with all your power against the city of Cairo and the lands of the Grand Sultan which are on the borders of your own, and the King my Lord shall pass over to Jerusalem and gain from him all the land on that side.'[9] [Footnote 9: Letter to Sháh Ismáil; Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. ii. pp. 111-114.]