They gave him an account of the prices which they had settled, at which
he was amazed, and said on that account the King had ordered him not to
come, as they did not know the truth about the prices of the country;
and while they were thus taking in cargo there arrived the King of
Baraham, which is near there, and said that he wished to be a vassal of
the King of Castile, and also that he had got four hundred bahars of
cloves, and that he had sold them to the King of Portugal, and that they
had bought it, but that he had not yet delivered it; and if they wished
for it, he would give it all to them; to which the captains answered
that if he brought it to them, and came with it, they would buy it, but
not otherwise. The King, seeing that they did not wish to take the
cloves, asked them for a flag and a letter of safe-conduct, which they
gave him, signed by the captains of the ships.
While they were thus waiting for the cargo, it seemed to them, from the
delay in delivery, that the King was preparing some treachery against
them, and the greater part of the ships' crews made an uproar and told
the captains to go, as the delays which the King made were for nothing
else than treachery: as it seemed to them all that it might be so, they
were abandoning everything and were intending to depart; and being about
to unfurl the sails, the King, who had made the agreement with them,
came to the flag-ship and asked the captain why he wanted to go, because
that which he had agreed upon with him he intended to fulfil it as had
been settled. The captain replied that the ships' crews said they should
go and not remain any longer, as it was only treachery that was being
prepared against them. To this the King answered that it was not so, and
on that account he at once sent for his _Koran_, upon which he wished
to make oath that nothing should be done to them. They at once brought
him his _Koran_, and upon it he made oath, and told them to rest at ease
with that. At this the crews were set at rest, and he promised them that
he would give them their cargo by December 15, 1521, which he fulfilled
within the said time, without being wanting in anything.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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