158  SPANISH  STATE  PAPERS.
1581.
rather  turbid,  and  they  are  told  that  there  will  be  no  sale  for  it
here,  although  Don  Antonio  values  it  at  a  great  sum.
The  number  of  Portuguese  who  have  joined  him  hitherto  do  not
exceed  20  persons,  of  no  note.  There  arrived  in  a  ship  from  Lisbon
recently  a  young  Commander  of  St.  John  named  Silva,  and  Vimioso
sent  from  France  another  young  man  named  Geronimo  da  Silva,
who  has  a  sword  mark  on  his  left  cheek  and  another  wound  on  the
right.  With  him  came  a  Portuguese  pilot  named  Gaspar  Alvaro,  a
little  man  of  50,  and  they  both  returned  to  France  together  two
days  afterwards.
The  insurance  which  I  wrote  they  were  trying  to  effect  on
property  being  brought  from  Terceira  is  again  being  attempted,
the  insurers  being  Simon  Centurion,  a  Genoese,  on  behalf  of  another
Genoese,  Biagio  Rinaldo,  who  lives  in  Terceira.  The  insurances  are
on  the  merchandise,  gold,  silver,  pearls,  and  jewels,  coming  in  the
ships  "  Pelican  "  and  "  Jacques  de  Ocaiia  "  to  Bordeaux,  or  any  port
ill  Brittany  or  England.  Some  merchants  here  have  already
underwritten  2,000Z.  of  it  at  8  per  cent,  premium,  on  condition  that
if  these  ships  should  be  seized  by  your  Majesty's  fleet  they  are  not
to  pay.  As  this  is  not  a  great  business  centre  they  will  not  get
much  more  underwritten  here.
