A Moor resided there who pretended to have miraculously recovered his sight by a visit to this holy place, and that his ancestors had been accustomed to entertain a light in the chapel.  There was a tradition that the church, of which this small chapel was all that remained entire, was built by St Thomas, when he preached Christianity to the Indians, and that he and two of his disciples were here interred, together with a king who had been converted by his miracles.  In consequence of this information, Don Duarte sent Ernanuel de Faria, with a priest and a mason to repair this chapel.  On digging about the foundation on one side which threatened to fall, they found about a yard below ground a tomb-stone with an inscription implying “That when St Thomas built this church the king of Meliapour gave him the duties of all merchandize imported, which was the tenths[170].”  Going still deeper, they came to a hollow place between two stones, in which lay the bones of a human body with the butt and head of a spear, which were supposed to be the remains of the saint, as those of the king and disciple were also found, but not so white.  They placed the bones of the saint in a China chest, and the other bones in another chest, and hid both under the altar.  On farther inquiry, it appeared by the ancient records of the kingdom, that Saint Thomas had come to Meliapour about 1500 years before, then in so flourishing a condition that it is said by tradition to have contained 3300 stately churches in its environs.  It is farther said that Meliapour was then twelve leagues from the coast, whereas its ruins are now close to the shore; and that the saint had left a prediction, “That when the sea came up to the scite of the city, a people should come from the west having the same religion which he taught.”  That the saint had dragged a vast piece of timber from the sea in a miraculous manner for the construction of his church, which all the force of elephants and the art of men had been unable to move when attempted for the use of the king.  That the bramin who was chief priest to the king, envious of the miracles performed by the saint, had murdered his own son and accused the saint as the murderer; but St Thomas restored the child to life, who then bore witness against his father; and, that in consequence of these miracles, the king and all his family were converted.

[Footnote 169:  Heraldic terms, implying that the three upper arms of the cross end in the imitation of flowers, while the lower limb is pointed.—­E.]

[Footnote 170:  The strange expression in the text ought probably to have been the tenths of the duties on importation.—­E.]