<[f. 358/347]> Chapter III1 On how I, Father Pedro Paez, entered Ethiopia and on some things that happened to me on the journey

Before the priest, Belchior da Sylva, and the {[f. 404]} Portuguese sent the minute that we reported above, the superiors of the Society of India were very disconsolate and concerned at being unable to find a way to accomplish what they so strongly desired. With the many years’ experience that they had, they realized that the Ethiopian mission could not be carried out, let alone maintained, while the fathers were so far from the fortress whence the ships depart for Maçuâ and Çuaquêm, ports on this coast of Ethiopia. Therefore, Father Nicolao Pimenta, who was the visitor for India at the time, decided to set up a house in Diu, the Portuguese fortress whence these ships depart, which some Portuguese who lived there strongly desired and had requested. In order to make a start on this, he sent Father Gaspar Soares, a truly religious man who had great zeal for the good of souls, together with a brother. And so with great joy and contentment he embarked at once from Damăo, where he was at the time, without seeking any money or help from anyone, because everything comes aplenty to him who wants nothing and even to him who seeks his desire, and certainly to him who goes after the divine with all his heart. When he arrived there, however, the devil feared the ill that would follow for him if there was a house of the Society there, and hindered it as much as he could through his ministers, the heathen inhabitants of that fortress, and they were as powerful in countering this as they are in wealth (of which they have a great deal), for wealth often achieves what its owners want. The worst thing is that on their side they had many who should have favoured us in such a holy intent.