_ 80 _ us an account of the wars that were being waged in those parts, and of how much they endured to retain those few Catholics that were there. These letters were sent to you lastyear.(A) This year we have not received their letters from them, nor did we have any reliable news. However, an Abyssinian told us who came from there to Bassein that the king of the land(B) had had some great wars with the Turk and had suffered some defeats, and that the Turks had become masters of the coast. For this reason the Portuguese who were there had joined with the Fathers and they had all gone together into the interior of the country. He also said that a Father had died, whose name he did not know,(C) but he knew that he was neither the Patriarch nor Father Emmanuel Fernandes, because these he knew well. The same man told us that some Moors had taken on the charge of carrying letters and money to the Fathers by way of Mecca,(D) and that on account of these wars they (A) See Documenta Indica Vol IX 530. (B) Sarza Denghel, Emperor of Ethiopia (CF BECCARI X 498-99). (C) Father Gundisalvo Cardoso, on 22 May 1574, killed by bandits. (Cf Seb Gonçalves, Hist II 297-8). (D) See Doc 9, 5.
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