ABSTRACT
The news of Ruy Freyre’s arrival at Muscat, the way in which he had escaped from the hands of the English, and his capture of Soar, so cowed all the inhabitants of the districts bordering on the Strait of Ormuz, that each man’s only thought was securely to hide his own women, children and goods; this applied more especially to those on the Persian coast where it was a common saying amongst them,—“Now I perceive Heaven’s punishment against the Persians ! Ruy Freyre is in Muscat; the Persians have no houses, children, women or goods other than what Ruy Freyre wishes to leave them.” As a result of this panic they either swore allegiance to the King of Ormuz, or else evacuated the sea-shores.
