The relation which Xavier made to the Fathers of Goa, concerning the church of Japan, was infinitely pleasing to them:  and he himself was filled with equal consolation, in learning from them the present condition of Christianity in the Indies.  The missioners, whom he had dispersed before his departure, were almost all of them united at his return.  Some of them were come by his command, and others of their own motion, concerning urgent business; as if the Holy Spirit had re-assembled them expressly, that the presence of the man of God might redouble in them their apostolic zeal, and religious fervour.  God had every where blest their labours.  The town of Ormus, which fell to the lot of Father Gaspar Barzaeus, had wholly changed its countenance; idolaters, Saracens, and Jews, ran in multitudes to baptism:  the temples of idols were consecrated to Christ; the mosques and synagogues were dispeopled, ill manners were reformed, and ill customs totally abolished.  Christianity flourished more than ever in the coast of Fishery, since the death of Father Antonio Criminal, who had cultivated it with care, and in that cultivation was massacred by the Badages.  The blood of the martyr seemed to have multiplied the Christians:  they were reckoned to be more than five hundred thousand, all zealous, and ready to lay down their lives for their religion.  The gospel had not made less progress at Cochin, and at Coulan; at Bazain and at Meliapore, at the Moluccas, and in the Isles del Moro.  But it is almost incredible, with what profit the gospel labourers preached at Goa.  All the priests of idols have been driven out of the Isle of Goa, by order from the governor, and at the solicitation of one of the Fathers belonging to the college of St Paul.  It was also prohibited, under severe penalties, to perform any public action of idolatry within the district of Goa; and those ordinances, by little and little, reduced a multitude of Gentiles.  As for the Portuguese, their lives were very regular; amidst the liberty of doing whatsoever pleased them, they refrained from all dishonest actions; and concubines were now as scarce as they had been common.  The soldiers lived almost in the nature of men in orders; and even their piety edified the people.

But nothing was more pleasing to Xavier, than the conversion of two princes, who during his absence had been at Goa.  The first was king of Tanor, a kingdom situate along the coasts of Malabar, betwixt Cranganor and Calecut.  This prince, who was party-per-pale, Mahometan and Idolater, but prudent, a great warrior, of a comely shape, and more polite than was usual for a barbarian, had from his youth a tendency to Christianity, without being well instructed in it.  He was enamoured of it, after he had been informed to the full concerning the mysteries of our faith, by a religious of the order of St Francis, who frequented his palace.  In the mean time, the wars, which he had with other princes for ten years together, hindered him from