_ 312 _ on a raised sandbank. It has three small cells which Father Gaspar made for the meditations of a famous Yogi who was converted to our holy faith in that place (where he had a cave and a little house in which to live)(A). It was made there for no other reason than that since the devil was long worshipped there, the true God, Creator of the World, should be the more worshipped. It is not possible for the Institute of the Society to work from there without considerable detriment and a diminution of the spiritual fruit, because from there it is not easy for the Fathers who have not professed in the orders of the Hieronymites or the Cistercians to attend to the needs which arise and occur day and night. Also, this country is so taxing that I cannot tell Your Reverence whether it is more so in summer or winter, because it is extreme, except that in summer the heat is so excessive that there is nothing with which to compare it save Purgatory. So, when the Fathers lived in that hermitage, coming and going between there and the city was the cause of many dangers and fatal illnesses among them, and six Brothers died as a result of this sun and great heat.(B) (A) He is referring to Paulo da Santa Fe, a native of Ormuz. (B) On 1 Dec 1552 Fróis wrote of five brothers having died there (cf. Documenta Indica Vol II 456).
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