National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

crenellated wall protecting its top still stands to its full height; a cannon lies
embedded in the floor.
From this high bastion, which lower down may contain casemates no longer
accessible, a large elevated terrace is reached adjoining the south curtain. From
the remains of less massively built walls which cover it, it may be concluded that
it bore quarters intended for officers, &c. On the northern (inner) edge of the
terrace there is a very deep pit, semicircular on one side and lined throughout
with hard reddish plaster, which probably was also a cistern. Local tradition
takes it for a dungeon. Rather high up in one transverse wall still standing there
are two œil-de-bœuf openings evidently meant for ventilation. Their elegant
framing with neatly cut slabs of stone suggests care having been bestowed upon
the construction of these quarters. From the eastern end of the terrace, close to
where it overlooks the approach to the main gate, stairs lead down to a very
large and high hall, now without a roof. From it the great central court of the
castle is reached through a well-preserved double gate, with arches of carved
slabs of red sandstone. High up two large windows splayed inwards give light
to this hall. Could it have served as the chapel of the castle?
Even in its ruined state this Portuguese fortress bears impressive testimony
to the firm resolve and thoughtful care with which the first European masters of
Eastern seas had planted their foothold on this small island at the gate of the
Persian Gulf. Considering the trying conditions of the climate and the utter
barrenness of the ground outside, life could have offered little attraction to those
who kept watch and guard over this base of maritime power. In the moist heat
prevailing here even at this the least oppressive season of the year I could not
think without dismay of the sufferings which life amidst these walls must have
entailed for those who defended the castle before it fell in April 1622, after a
two months' siege, to the combined attack of Persian land forces and English
ships.⁴ Deficiency of water and food supplies, together with increasing sickness,
helped to bring about surrender after a valiant defence.
Looking down from the height of the castle keep on the small village of
fishermen and the dumps of red oxide and salt which now form the only com-
modities of trade on the island, it was difficult to realize how this barren rock,
devoid of local resources and even of adequate water, could have held for cen-
turies an emporium proverbial for its wealth throughout the East and West.
An area about three-quarters of a mile in length and less than half a mile across,