ABSTRACT

[251/1] I NOW arrived at Piple, 1 a maritime town in the Kingdom of Ourixa, 2 and a busy port frequented by many Asiatic nations owing to the large quantity of merchandise which came there from the twelve provinces of Bengala. 3 I here met Father Fray Sebastian de les Martires, 4 who had come in from Daca (or as the Mogols pronounce it, Daack) a few days before in order to travel to India, as I was doing. It was, for me, in the circumstances, a most welcome find, as I should have with me on that long dangerous voyage one to whom I could make confession, as also one who was a Brother of my own Order. Besides this most welcome spiritual discovery, I also made an important temporal and practical find in a big new ship 5 belonging to the Siguidar of those parts which he was sending to Cochim loaded with different kinds of [251/2] merchandise, the Commander being a noble Portuguese, Teotonio Viegas, 6 who had agreed to take the cargo in order to reach Cochim as rapidly as possible. He thought it a great acquisition that we should travel in his ship, for it was held by all people in those parts to be lucky to have Priests on board, and gave us the cabin at the stern, as there was no other. This arrangement thus satisfactorily concluded, we hoped to embark in a few days, but as the merchants had still not put all their wares on board, since some had not yet arrived, we were obliged to wait fourteen days longer for the ship. As soon as we were informed of this delay Father Fray Sebastian de los Martires left for Banja to see Father Fray Diego. Just then Father Baltasar de St. Ursula 7 arrived from Dianga in order to help with the work at Piple.