Scarcely had the saint begun his prayer, when the sky began to be overcast with clouds; and by that time he had ended it, there fell down rain in great abundance, which lasted so long, till they had made a plentiful provision of water.  The enemy, now hopeless of taking the town, immediately decamped; and the king, with all his people, received baptism from the hand of Father Xavier.  He commanded also, that all the neighbouring islands, who held of him should adore Christ Jesus, and engaged the saint to go and publish the faith amongst them.  Xavier employed three months and more in these little voyages; after which, returning to Amboyna, where he had left his companion, John Deyro, to cultivate the new-growing Christianity, and where he left him also for the same intention, embarked on a Portuguese vessel, which was setting sail for the Moluccas.

That which is commonly called by the name of the Moluccas, is a country on the Oriental Ocean, divided into many little islands, situated near, the equator, exceeding fruitful in cloves, and famous for the trade of spices.  There are five principal islands of them, Ternate, Tidor, Motir, Macian, and Bacian.  The first of these is a degree and a half distant from the equinoctial to the north, the rest follow in the order above named, and all five are in sight of one another.  These are those celebrated islands, concerning which Ferdinand Magellan raised so many disputes amongst the geographers, and so many quarrels betwixt Spain and Portugal.  For the Portuguese having discovered them from the east, and the Spaniards from the west, each of them pretended to inclose them, within their conquests, according to the lines of longitude which they drew.

Ternate is the greatest of the Moluccas, and it was on that side that Father Xavier took his course.  He had a gulph to pass of ninety leagues, exceedingly dangerous, both in regard of the strong tides, and the uncertain winds, which are still raising tempests, though the sea be never so calm.  The ship which carried the Father was one of those vessels, which, in those parts, are called caracores, of a long and narrow built, like gallies, and which use indifferently sails and oars.  Another vessel of the same make carried a Portuguese, called John Galvan, having aboard her all his goods.  They set out together from Amboyna, keeping company by the way, and both of them bound for the port of Ternate.

In the midst of the gulph, they were surprised with a storm, which parted them so far, that they lost sight of each other.  The caracore of Xavier, after having been in danger of perishing many times, was at length saved, and recovered the port of Ternate by a kind of miracle:  as for that of Galvan, it was not known what became of her, and the news concerning her was only brought by an evident revelation.