Page 67 - History of Portuguese in the Gulf_Neat

ICINGS OF HORMUZ. r 69
168 APPENDIX A.
The people of Harmuz are mostly white and well-conditioned,
the men courteous, and the women good-looking. They all
speak Persian, though not of the best, and all the natives are 'j
Moors, some Xyays who follow Aly, and others Sunys, who follow
Mahamed, of which last is the king. Besides these there are
many Christians, Portuguese, Armenians, Georgians, Jacobites,
and Nestorians, and many heathen, Baneanes, Bangasalys, and
Cambayatys,1 and about a hundred and fifty houses of Jews.
Although the isle produces nothing of its own, all supplies are
imported in abundance, and everything fetches a fair price, and
is sold by weight. The climate and air are healthy, and disease
is rare in summer, because the terrible heat and profuse sweat
dispose of all ill-humours. But in autumn one pays for any
irregularities of the summer. To conclude, Gerun is a place of
general resort and open mart2 for all the world; and there are
exchanged all sorts of goods, and as much of them as any could
wish, brought from many lands by merchants of various nations ;3
of which matters I will treat no more in particular, but return to
my narrative of its foundation, which happened, as has been
said, in the year 700 of the Moors’ calendar, being a.d. 1302,
when it received the name of the ancient city, which it keeps to
V this day.4
It throve exceedingly for the next two hundred years, so that
; it dominated the most part of Arabia, and much of Persia, and
all the Persian seas as far as Bagora. And so it lasted until
its conquest by the Portuguese, whereupon it began to decline,
the East, and Asiatic masons love to mix in it ingredients dictated by
fancy or tradition, such as galls and sugar. But I think that some­
thing more than ashes must have been used in the cement described,
i
the manufacture of which was apparently a trade secret, confined to
“ Arates que son officiates de aquello,” i.e., to a trade guild. [A very
similar description of a building material used at Gombroon is given
by Mandelslo (Travels, Bk. in, p. 10).—D. F.]
1 These are all Indian. The Banians (properly Wdnis) of Gujarat
are well known. “ Bangasdlys” is not the name of any race or sect,
and it is probably a slip for “ Bangdlys ;” at least there is some
confusion. A “ Bangasdly” would be a warehouseman, or the super­
intendent of a government warehouse, more or less “bonded,” which
is a very old institution in the East. The derivation of the word
seems a little doubtful, but it survives in Calcutta as “Bankshall”
{vide Hobson-Jobson under that word). A merchant called Ioghed
Bangsaly is mentioned below, Appendix B. Cambayatys are men of
Khambayat, which we call “ Cambay.”
2 This must not be taken to mean that it was a “free port” in the
modern English sense, but only an “ open door.”
3 Cf. the Dominican’s account in Appendix D, infra; Barbosa,
p. 41 ; Castanheda, Liv. n, cap. 58 ; Linschoten, vol. i, p. 47 ; Pyrard,
vol. ii, p. 239.—d. F.
i a
Con el nombre del anliguo, como oy se llama”
by reason of the oppression and violence of the Portuguese captain
and his officers, lying too far away from such as might have
amended the same.1
Ayaz Ccyfin reigned ten years in Gerun, or Harniuz, and some-
say that he died at the end of that time, in the year 711 of the
Hyxara, a.d. 1312. Others relate that when he had set all
things in order in that new dominion, he handed it over to Amir
Ayzadin Gordonxa, son of Salhor and Biby Zeyneb, and de­
scended of the ancient kings, and returned to his wazirate of
Calayat, in Arabia, where, after a while, he died. The title “ Bibi,”
which I have mentioned several times, is Persian for “ Lady.”
Amir Ayzadin Gordon Xri, sixteenth on the list of kings of Old
Harmuz, and second of the New,2 proceeded on his accession to
confirm his peace and amity with Neim, king of Keys, of whom
Ayaz had had the island. So he sent ambassadors thither, but
dealt in such conditions and reserves, that Neim, finding him
bent upon some change, determined to anticipate him, and raised
troops for an invasion, using the aid of Malek Ayzadin, governor
of Xyrdz.3 Now, of various causes of quarrel by him set forth, the
chief was that his customs were wrongfully diminished by Gor­
donxa, who detained at Harmuz the ships of India bound for
Keys.4
The governor of Xyraz joined him with many and good troops,
and they sailed together for Harmuz, whence Gordonxa came
forth with his people, and awaited them at Sirmion,1, a place in
the isle of Broct or Queixome, with intent to hinder them from
watering. Here he heard that ten laden ships of India, bound
for Keys, were in the channel between Harmuz and Larek, which
is an isle four leagues south of Harmuz, towards Arabia. He
sailed out with his fleet, engaged and took them, and carried them
1 This seems to be pretty plain speaking,and would probably have got
the writer into trouble had he written in his own country and language.
However, it entitles him to the more credence when he gives a good
character to Diego Munis Barreto, captain in 1604 (Voyage, chap. ii).
[But see my note thereon, supra, p. 19. Ant. Gouvea (op. at., p. 15)
speaks in similar terms regarding the malpractices of the captains of
Hormuz, details of which will be found in Barros, Couto, Correa, &c.
Cf. also Pyrard, vol. ii, p. 241 ; and Whitewa/s Rise of Portuguese
Power in India, p. 296.—D. F.]
2 The kings of Insular Hormuz never quite relinquished their terri­
tories on the Persian and Arabian mainlands. [As mentioned above,
p. 162, n, Barros and Couto ascribe to this man the founding of
the island kingdom of Hormuz.—D. f.]
3 Cf. what follows with the details given by the Dominican trans­
lator in Appendix D, infra.—D. F.
4 Cf. Imams of ' Omcbi, p. 416.—D. F.
6 This port of Sermion seems to be represented by the modern
Basidu, or Bassadore. [See supra, p. 19.—d. f.]