_ 138 _ instruction to the slaves. The respect and love that all the captains and soldiers of the fleet had for him was such that on Sundays and Holy Days, if there was sufficient time, they struck the sails and all the pinnaces and caturs rowed towards the galleon in which he was sailing, so as to hear him preaching and, having received his blessing, they once again continued their journey. In all the lands of the Moors, where the fleet took on fresh water, the first refreshment after setting foot ashore was that of his sermons. He immediately set himself to preach in Muscat, Kalhat and Diu, and subsequently in Bassein, where I found myself on his arrival there. From there I went with him to Chaul, which is twelve leagues away, to give him information about the Christians of Tana and Bassein, where I had spent a year with Father Belchior Gonçalves. On disembarking in Chaul, on the feast of All Saints, he preached with great fervour, because the captains of the fleet and the fortress, who knew nothing of his arrival, were waiting. Later on in the evening, the Brothers of the Holy House of Mercy, who were about to play music and stage bullfights, stopped everything, went and erected a pulpit for him in the field of Sao Sebastiao, and begged him to preach. After the procession, in which the Lord
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