This paper is divided into two parts. The first deals with the capture of Suhar by the portuguese and their Arab/Omani allies in 1616, and the second with a sketch of Ruy Freyre de Andrade's attitudes to the Arabs and the Iranians, as described by a Spanish eyewitness, Domingo de Toral y Valdes, in his autobiography in 1635, and by the chronicler Antonio Bocarro.