_ 195 _ Then at night we went to see the captain of the fortress [Alvaro de Noronha], who was ill, and the Vicar [António de Moura]; and then we went to see Father Master Gonçalo who had not yet left for India, and had been very ill with fever for almost two months and a Brother, Francisco [Durão] who was with him, and also ill with fever, who had come with Father [Manuel] Morais. 10. Father Gonçalo and the brother were very happy to see us. So, Father, we left one set of invalids and found ourselves with others, not only these but in the whole town, because in about two months over four hundred had died here. Father António continued to hear confessions day and night; we arrived at Ormuz on 24 May and the fever lasted until September. There came a day when there were not enough Portuguese to bury the dead, and the people of the country took away the Portuguese to bury them. Up to the time of writing, Father António has been well, except that his eyes troubled him a little, but he never has stopped preaching and hearing confession. 11. As for me, Father, Father Master Gaspar sent me to this country not because I have the disposition and merit that it requires, but because when I went to Cape Comorin I took a chill on the stomach, and the purges and several medicines I took to rid me of it were of no avail.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy