Page 54 - History of Portuguese in the Gulf_Neat

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22 THE TRAVELS OF PEDRO TEIXEIRA. JOURNEY FROM INDIA TO ITALY. 23

come of it. For, as we learnt afterwards, there were there continued. So, perforce, having lost an anchor and cable,
some Nihhelus, looking out for Portuguese shore parties, and very nearly run on the shore,1 which was close
to kill them ; and it was a wonder that none landed, as it aboard, the captain gave orders to bear away for Harmuz,
is usual enough to do. There had come there for shelter and in four days we ran eighty leagues; that wc had
of the isle, not far from us, a Moorish terrada1 bound on gained, with much toil, in five-and-thirty. In our return
the same voyage, and laden with cotton. Two terradas of we had sight of several pirates' terradas, never absent from
the Nihhelus approached her by stealth; and thinking to those seas; wherefore merchant ships sailing from Harmuz
take her at unawares, attacked her one night in the use commonly the convoy of Portuguese fustas. We got
morning watch, But the Moors defended themselves back to Harmuz on Friday evening, May the 21st, and
stoutly; and we, who heard the noise of fight, and saw anchored in the western port, thirty-nine days out; weary
the flashes, fired some guns to scare the enemy. And enough, and sore at heart.
making speed, we came upon them with daybreak ; on
seeing which, the thieves drew off, with much loss. Some
of the other side were wounded ; who came aboard us for
treatment, and from that on they kept us closer company.
CHAPTER III.
That coast of Persia is mostly mountainous, rugged and
How I sailed again from Harmuz, and came to the head of the Persian
barren, except that within it are some places where the
Gulf; and by the Tigris and Euphrates to the city of Basora.
natives cultivate the soil by irrigation from wells, and
We refitted and victualled ourselves in Harmuz, and
there breed some herds and flocks, which yield them milk,
started again on the 17th of June, hoping for a better
butter and cheese, for use and traffic.
voyage ; for that such as had tried it assured us that at
Along this coast we sailed for thirty-five days, with
that season the north-west wind was less constant and
much toil and trouble. Our provision began to fail; nor
violent. We did, indeed, find some difference, though less
could we renew it there, for all that shore is disturbed by
than they reported. This time we sailed outside of the
the wanton ravages of the Portuguese fustas,2 which com­
isle of Queixome; and ran up the same coast as on the
monly cruize there. When we had got to Chilao near
former voyage. We passed the shoals of Kane, and
Verdostam, a place in a sound between Point Vedican
beyond them the fortress of Rexel,2 famous for the
and the shoals of Kane,3 the head wind increased and
abundance, and good quality, of bread-stuffs, fruit and
vegetables in its territory. It belongs to the Shah, or
1 Terrada seems to have been a term applied to more than one
sort of small craft in the Indian seas. Commander Felix Jones gives
“Teradeh” as the name of a small fishing-boat on the Tigris, at
Bagdad (Selections from Records, Bombay, No. 43, N. S., p. 366) sheltering Bandar Baid Khan ; and the shoals of Kane are certainly
Karsten Niebuhr uses it for an open boat. [See Commejit. ofAf Dalb.} those of Ras-al-Mutaf, near whose northern end is Ras-al-Khan—
vol. i, p. 105, n.—D. F.] not that this name matters much in their identification, which depends
on position.
2 Small armed vessels, Anglicc, “foists.”
1 The fourth use of 11 dar al iravez” for “to run ashore,” in the
3 Chilao is probably Shilu, “four miles to the westward of Tahiri ” Vi age.
{Persian Gulf Pilot, p. 255). Bardistan is not far away, and is on all
recent maps and charts. The Point of Vedican is Ras Naband, 2 “ Reshire,” or Rishahr, close to “ Bushire.”