liuelâ— â—is eyes grey and quicke his nose of a moderate size â—is beard and haire naturally blacke but now turned â—ray with age and cares his habit poore ordinary â—ut yet neat and decent His vpper garment accorâ—ing as the Priestes of India vse to weare reached â—owne vnto his ankles so that it serued also for a â—owne Those therefore who thus beheld him calâ—ed to mynd his exceeding courtesy and singular beâ—ignity vnto all men his courage magnanimity of â—art giuing way to no dangers or difficultyes whatâ—euer his perpetuall conteÌ„pt of death the very name wherof striketh such terrour into others his infinite â—esire to aduance Gods Glory and Religion his Huâ—ility equall to his magnanimity but specially his â—iety and sanctimony of life transcending farre the â—ighest strayne of other men They therfore made dolefull complaints because â—hat sweetnesse of behauiour that example of fortiâ—de that charity towards their sicke was taken from â—hem because Religion had lost such an excellent adâ—ancer thereof because the world was depriued of â—ch an vpholder and finaly because that new Starre â—as now vpon a suddaine set which gaue light to the â—ndians who before had laine in almost perpetual darâ—nesse and which had driuen away the foggy myst of the East by the radiant beames of Christs Ghospel Where was now one to be found to carry on the Christian Religion to the furthest part of the world Who should heerafter cure the Portugheses both corâ—orall spirituall diseases Who should succeed Xaâ—erius roome and place In the meane tyme whilst the Portugheses compassing his body feed both their eyes and thoughts with the most comfortable sight and remembrance of their dearest father and ouerwhelmed with teares wholy vnmindfull of themselues bewayled so great a losse Anthony the Intepreter who had attended vpon Francis all the tyme of his sicknesse and at his death ranne vnto the ship for Francis his Priestly habit which was kept therein When the Portugheses who were aboard vnderstood of Xauerius departure they also with streams of teares gushing from their eyes brake forth into lamentations and sighes being strucken not so much for their owne present griefe as for the sorrow which they knew it would cause in Perera their mayster who remayned at Malaca The Interpreter therefore returning backe with Francis his apparell and accompanied with the marriners weeping cloathed his body in Priestly garments as the manner is and by aduise of the Portugheses determined to put him into a woodden coffin as the Chineses are accustomed to doe which as the euent afterward declared was done certaynly more by diuine then humane prouidence to the end that those things which miraculously happened to his holy body might be made the more manifest Being therefore put in a woodden chest and his funeralls celebrated with the greatest solemnity that could be in so great penury of all things it was carryed forth by all the company to be buryed in the very shore of the Hauen Hauing there prepared a Graue and setled the Coffin therein it came into their mynds by diuine instinct to put vnto the body quick lyme to eate away the flesh that the bones might be afterward transported into India Opening therfore the Coffin agayne they couered the whole body with lime to the end the flesh might the sooner be consumed and so closing it vp they carefully buried it in the same place Then they heape togeather certayne great stones vpon the graue to serue as a marke to find it out by if any of the Society should chance to seeke after the same and so depart with many teares ful of exceeding griefe and sorrow for the losse of so worthy a man CHAP. XIII His body being found vvhole and incorrupt is carryed to Malaca and there agayne interred AFTER this at the beginning of the spring when the tyme was come that the shippe which brought Francis thither was to depart for Malaca the Chinese Interpreter of whome we spake before eyther out of the loue he bare vnto Xauerius or rather by diuine instinct goeth to the Mayster of the ship and sighing sayth What! sall we heere leaue Xauerius who came with vs as farre as India in a desert Iland of the Chineses amongst the barbarous people O what a man was he Did we not our selues behold his Heroicall sanctity both in life and death with these our eyes which all posterity shall admire Why should not we rather carry his sacred Body into India to remayne there where it may be honoured then leaue it heere where it wil be contemned I would quoth the maister with all my hart carry his body with me into India if the flesh were consumed from the bones that he might easily be transported Wherefore I will presently send expresly one to view the same and if the hope be answerable to my desire I will carry it along as you request not for your sake more then for my owne For I am not ignorant what great fauour I shall reape thereby of my Mayster Iames Perera who will certaynly receiue no small content and comfort also to haue Xauerius with him dead whome in his life tyme he so deerly loued Wherefore he dispatched presently a trusty person to open both the graue and coffin if his body were consumed with the lime to bring it away with him vnto the ship The messenger hastning to the graue diggeth vp openeth the Coffin putting the lime aside from of the body a wonderful thing to be spokeÌ„ he findeth it so wholy entiere incorrupt as if it had byn but newly buryed No ill sent or sauour rather 〈◊〉 most sweet and odoriferous smell did issue from it no putrefaction was there found at all no not so much a 〈◊〉 of the nose which vseth first to be corrupted Thâ— colour as fresh as if he had byn aliue his garments no whit consumed or hurt his flesh was fayre and soft 〈◊〉 nor had the very colour which dependeth of the lyfeâ— â—o much as once forsaken his visage so that he durst â—carcely touch him with his hands for that he seemed â—uen to be yet aliue Being therefore wholy astonished at the strangeâ—esse of the thing he presently acknowledged Gods â—uourable handy-worke therein and by the integriâ—y of his body he most highly valueth that of soule â—is admiration also so much the more increased beâ—â—use he knew Xauerius to be by nature not hoat and â—ry but cold and moyste and that it was now also â—e fourth moneth that he had layne thus buryed in â—uicke lime Fearing therefore lest he might be heerâ— deceaued he cut a little piece of flesh from off his high and carryeth it vnto the maister of the ship reâ—ting at large what he had seene and found and â—he piece of flesh which he had brought gaue credit 〈◊〉 the miracle Wherupon presently the maister marâ—ners and passengers being stroken into admiration â—egan to withall speed to run vnto the graue and finâ—ing euery
bodies of their filth he washed their linnen dressed their meate minced it smal and fed them with his owne hands He ministred phisicke to the weake he most louingly cheered vp those that were sad and put them that were out of hart in hope of recouery both of body and soule And thus by seruing all indifferently without regard of persons that with diligence alacrity he made euen those that were in health to beare him great respect and reuerence CHAP. XIIII Seruing the sicke he arriueth at Mozambicum ALL did indeed admire the singular sanctity of life which they saw in Xauerius his coÌ„tinuall diligence his feruent prayer meditating at set tymes and his fatherly loue and Charity to all without exception By which meanes he gained both the loue and respect of all the rest but especially of Sosa the Generall For although the King had vpon his setting forth very seriously coÌ„mended Francis to Sosa yet his owne vertue a most efficacious kind of commendations commended him dayly more and more vnto him For which respect Sosa both to fulfill his Kings command and out of his owne accord gaue him all things largely and bountifully Yet Xauerius himselfe liued alwayes by begging what he wanted of the passengers for Gods sakes and through zeale of pouerty in himselfe stirred vp others to charity and bounty Which practise he with such constancy reteyned that neyther the Generall himselfe nor any of his Honourable retinew could at any tyme draw him from the obseruance of highest pouerty But this one thing got Xauerius much more loue esteeme in the sight both of God and men to wit that sparing from his owne belly he would most freely deuide amongst the sicke all what he begged of the passengers and what was assigned him by the Generall For being resolute in keeping his purpose he eate very sparingly and of such meate as required no great labour to make it ready not so much to satisfy nature as to sustayne it Yet in this meane tyme his new care of helping the sick did not interrupt his old custome of teaching the Catechisme For euery day he both instructed the ignorant slaues marriners souldiers and other passengers in the mysteryes and precepts of our fayth also exhorted them by pious sermons to liue Christianlike And in all these labours you would haue thought him not to be tyred out but to grow stronger thereby Which was neuer more apparently seene then in this Indian voyage For besides his extreme labour this also was as it were added thereto that whilst he did all these things he passed the Torrid Zone and the Equinoctiall line not long after the tyme of the Equinoctium At which tyme there is commonly in that tract of the sea eyther through the scorching of the sunne which haÌ„geth ouer their heads or by the reflexion thereof vpon the still sea such an intollerable heate that the strongest men being almost burnt vp and consumed with heat and sweat do euen faint away and languish And no meruayle seeing the passengers being thrust vp togeather in close roomes of the ship can hardly draw their breath or at those tymes scarsely take any comfort eyther in meate or drinke For all their drinke and victualls being vsually corrupted by the vapors of the scalding sunne do for the most part loose their force and goodnes for a tyme vntil they be past the forsayd line Many times also the winds wholy ceasing there followeth for many dayes sometymes weekes together such a calme that the ships are not able to moue to the great irkesomnesse and griefe of the passengers And as the intollerable heate of the sunne continuing almost throughout the whole Torrid Zone causeth vehemÌ„t feuers amongst them that passe vnder it so doth it also bereaue many of their liues At this time when sicknes came vpon them so fast in so great a mortality of marriners passengers as euen they who were well and had nothing to do could scarse breath Francis forgetfull of him selfe vnderwent the burden of all these inconueniences with courage answerable thereunto iudging it meet as he saw the sick mens incumbrances to grow greater so also to increase his diligence in helping them And albeit he was ready to languish away also through intollerable heate yet such was his courage of mind such the force of the holy Ghost who is euer a most sweet refreshment in heat that he applied himselfe no lesse carefully then before both in the seruice of those that were sick and ready to dy as also already dead Hauing thus sayled through the excessiue difficulties of the Equinoctiall line and being now passed about two thousand leagues a greater feare came vpon them theÌ„ before since they were to vndergo a greater danger For the Promontory of Good Hope a very vnfortunate place by reason of most cruell tempests and shipwrackes threatned to them no lesse pestilence mortality then they had already endured This Promontory taketh its name of Bonae spei or Good Hope for this reason that hauing once passed the difficulties dangers therof you then may hope for a prosperous nauigation For theÌ„ the African coast growing sharpe in the forme of a wedge runneth an huge way into the southern Ocean towards the frozen climate so as two most vast seas meeting from both sides of Africk and continually tossed with contrary windes make a most hydeous conflict with themselues And this hapneth especially in the monthes of Iune and Iuly at which time in those parts it is the midst of winter wholy contrary to Europe and in which moneth ordinarily they must passe that Promontory who go from Portugall into India And although the shippes to auoid that raging fury violence of the sea as much as they can vse to keep off a great way from land yet do they seeme to fly the danger more theÌ„ the domage For whilst they fetch a great compasse about the further they go from the Promontory the neerer they come to the frozen Zone so do neither auoid the cruell stormes nor yet escape the intollerable cold Wherfore although they be more secure from danger of shipwracke yet by reason of the vnusuall and vehement tossing of the shippes the passengers become extremely sea-sick and vomit And as the same could not but augment their disease who were already sick so also Francis his labour was of necessity increased therby especially when he himselfe being all frozen with cold sea-sick and full of loathsomenesse in his stomack did at the same time performe all those heroicall exercises of Charity But the diuine vertue which was in him ouercame the weakenes of his nature and his noble and constant courage held in the troublesome vomiting of his stomake And so when he was not able to help himself he failed not to help those that were sick euen in the most dangerous time of all Moreouâ—r he did not only affoard all the help and
yeares before Xauerius came thither The Country is very cold vnpleasant to the eye in many places mountanous and barrayne yet for the most part chaÌ„pion enterlaced with many fayre riuers by nature fertile although they do not till the ground by reason of their continuall warres so as it is more fit for vines oliues if it were ther with planted for want whereof there be very few vineyards and no oliues at all and yieldeth rather Rice then Corne. Neyther do there want mines of gold but skill to make it yet chiefly it excelleth in siluer mines for which cause it is called Argentaria Notwithstanding for that the Inhabitants are debarred from trafficque with the Chineses in tymes past it wanted many things which now the Portugheses haue by their commercement lately supplyed not without great profit to theÌ„selues And although there be frequent Hauens in the whole Country yet the Iland Ximus both because it hath more store of Port Townes and lyeth most commodious for the shippes that come from India is most of all frequented by the Portughese merchants There was at that tyme one King who ruled ouer all Iaponia called by the inhabitantes Dayrus whose raygne because Kingly Maiesty was now â—worne out amongst the Nobles began to depend vpon their pleasures The people of Iaponia compared with the Indians are white of complexion by nature most warlike and in vertue and vprightnesse doe farre exceed all other Nations which haue â—byn found out of late Xauerius therefore making his â—abode at Cangoxima which is the principall Citty of Saxuma before he would aduenture to set vpon the Iaponians soules thought best to seek out first all kind of wayes meanes how to do it chiefly to inquire of their manners religions And hauing diligently sounded them all out he found the matter for the most part thus to stand to wit that the whole Nation was of a very tractable disposition and for the most part cannot endure any double dealing They haue no great store of gold riches or wealth and therfore as most commonly where there is least money there also is least seeking after it their study is least about such kind of things Neyther do they account any thing more dishonourable then to increase their wealth substance by trafficque or any other art So as their manner of lyfe is vpheld by the direction of pouerty yet in such sort that they hyde the same with a neat and handsome adorning of their bodyes They stand very much vpon their dignity and reputation so that you would thinke them therin most perfectly to resemble the auncient Romans They do all for the most part euen children place their greatest delight in martiall affayres nor do they ordinarily take content in any thing else Notwithstanding which is incredible to be spoken or heard although they be of such couragious spirits and so much giuen to bearing of armes yet they absteyne from all quarrels amoÌ„g themselues reseruing the vse of their weapons for tyme of warre agaynst their enemies For the Iaponians haue such gouernement ouer themselues and their passions that they seeme therein to be of the sect of Stoickes And to see a Iaponese brawling chafing or wrangling one with another is amongst them accounted a monstrous thing Wherfore the better to auoid all occasion of contentions they neuer deale about any businesse of importance or coÌ„trouersy by themselues but by a third person And this they obserue not only with strangers but also with their friends and those of the same household with them wherby they conserue quiet of mynd in themselues and peace with others They take very great delight in hunting in so much that they eate no flesh which is not gotten by that meanes They can no more endure mutton swines-flesh beefe or veale then we can dogges or horse-flesh They absteine from milke and cheese as we do from raw bloud They keep hennes and geese not so much to eate as for their recreation pleasure They do therefore seldome eate flesh which when they doe is alwayes Venison They feed for the most part on fish fruite herbes and rice and by the meanes of their temperate dyet they are very sound and healthfull liuing ordinarily vntill they be very old vnlesse they meete by chance with some violent or vntimely death At least we may learne by this their liuing so well vpon a little that Nature is content with few things although sensuality be neuer satisfied Adulteries are with them most seuerely punished They absteine altogeather from dyce-playing and such like games deeming that by those meanes men become desirous of others goods They are also so farre from theft and robbery that they iudg nothing more vnworthy in a man for which cause they condemne felons to the gallowes the most disgracefull of all punishments amongst them They vse cleanlinesse in their dyet neatnesse in their attyre and most courteous ciuility in all their meetings salutations and conuersation wherein the men are not more exact then the children nor the Nobility then the Country people You would belieue they were all trayned vp togeather to ciuill and courtly behauiour in the same Kings Court But these guifts of nature are obscured by pride a malady deeply rooted in this Nation For they so contemne other nations in respect of themselues that they are for the most part very arrogant and insolent in their carriage towards strangers This one thing only excepted they want nothing but the light of the Ghospell being of themselues a nation if there be any in the world borne and in a manner framed to al ciuility For euen the country people themselues are very ingenious desirous of learning in so much that as euery thing seemeth most conformable to reason so they do most willingly imbrace it They are very attentiue to discourses especially of God and diuine matters They are moreouer commonly very good schollers therfore so much the more apt to receiue Christian discipline Now when Xauerius had vnderstood these and many other things which for breuities sake I omit of the disposition manners of the Iaponians making also iniquity after their Priests Religions he found things standing almost in this manner to wit that they account those things most of all their Gods by whose meanes they receiue help Some therefore do worship the Sunne others the Moone and others other Gods There be also among them certayne Men held for Gods which they had from the Chineses Amongst whome are Xacas and Amidas But there is no greater villanny or impurity then among their Priestâ— whome they call Bonzies so that you may easily know whose Ministers they be For hauing brought in that heynous sinne which is not heere to be named of preposterous lust they haue cast such a thicke mist before the Iaponians eyes that being not able to discerne such impurities they commonly account that most detestable crime of al