Antoniotto Usodimare told his creditors he had been sent to Gambia as an ambassador of King Afonso V of Portugal, to negotiate a peace treaty with the "King of Gambia", and that he was scheduled to return the next year to escort his counterpart, the Gambian ambassador, back home. More to the point his creditors were interested in, Usodimare anticipated he would likely make enough money on this second trip to fully pay them off. The letter expresses the first known mention that melegueta pepper might be found in the Guinea region and a rare mention of maritime insurance being taken by Henrican captains.