Malacca was under the dominion of the kings of Siam, until the Saracens, who traded thither, becoming powerful, first made it Mahometan, then caused it to revolt against the lawful prince, and set up a monarch of their own sect, called Mahomet.  There was not, at that time, any more famous mart town than this, and where there was a greater concourse of different nations.  For, besides the people of Guzuratte, Aracan, Malabar, Pegu, Sumatra, Java, and the Moluccas, the Arabs, the Persians, the Chinese, and the Japonians, trafficked there; and accordingly the town lay extended all along by the sea side, for the convenience of trade.

Amongst all the nations of Asia there is not any more inclined to pleasure; and this seems chiefly to proceed from the mild temper of the air.  For there is an eternal spring, notwithstanding the neighbourhood of the line.  The inhabitants follow the natural bent of their complexion; their whole business is perfumes, feasts, and music; to say nothing of carnal pleasures, to which they set no bound.  Even the language which they speak participates of the softness of the country:  It is called the Malaya tongue, and, of all the orient, it is the most delicate and sweet of pronunciation.

Don Alphonso Albuquerque conquered Malacca in the year 1511, and thirty thousand men, with eight thousand pieces of artillery, and an infinite number of elephants and ships, were not able to defend it.  It was taken by force, at the second assault, by eight hundred brave Portuguese, seconded by some few Malabars.  It was given up to pillage for three days; and the Moor king, after all his endeavours, was forced to fly with only fifty horsemen to attend him.  The Portuguese built a citadel, which the succeeding governors took care to fortify; yet not so strongly, as to be proof against the attempts of the barbarians, who many times attacked it, and half ruined it.

As soon as Xavier came on shore, he went to visit the governor of the town, to inform him of his intended voyage to Macassar.  The governor told him, that he had lately sent thither a priest of holy life, with some Portuguese soldiers, and that he expected to hear of them very suddenly:  that, in the mean time, he was of opinion, that the Father and his companion should stay at Malacca, till the present condition of the Christians in Macassar were fully known.  Xavier gave credit to the governor, and retired to the hospital, which he had chosen for the place of his abode.  The people ran in crowds to behold the countenance of that great apostle, whose fame was spread through all the Indies, and over all the East.  The parents showed him to their children; and it was observed, that the man of God, in caressing those little Portuguese, called every one of them by their proper names, as if he had been of their acquaintance, and were not a stranger newly come on shore.

For what remains, he found the town in a most horrible corruption of manners.  The Portuguese who lived there, at a distance both from the Bishop and the viceroy of the Indies, committed all manner of crimes, without fear of laws, either ecclesiastical or civil.  Avarice, intemperance, uncleanness, and forgetfulness of God, were every where predominant; and the habit only, or rather the excess and number of their vices, distinguished the Christians from the unbelievers.