Storia do Mogor 265.11.7

265.11.7

I will insert a small affair that happened to me on the same occasion. In Goa there was a well-born man called Lourenco da Cunha, who pretended to be my friend. On my taking leave of the viceroy, at the time when I was about to start for the Mogul army to undertake negotiations for the State, this man carried me to his house, where I stopped all night. He asked me to convey in my boat a box containing various Chinese curiosities, which might be worth fifty rupees, hoping to sell them in the army. I excused myself for two reasons. The first was that the goods were not suitable for Mahomedans, being images of tigers, cats, cocks, et cetera. The second was because the things could not be carried safely, owing to the difficult marches we were to make. On hearing these objections he said nothing, but at midnight while I was asleep he made over the said box to the boatman with an order to inform me after I had reached the army. When I arrived at the army the boatman told me about this box, but at the time I passed the matter over in silence. The next day my friend Lourenco da Cunha turned up and demanded from me four hundred and fifty rupees for the goods he had put into my boat. My arguments were of no avail, he talking preposterously.