_ 123 _ consider it appropriate to communicate it to you. Your Highnesses should believe, from what we have learnt from these men of what can be done, that there is no doubt that, depending on the distribution of the Christians(A) who are found, although they may not be confirmed in the Faith, nor totally knowledgeable of it, we should proceed and serve God by converting and confirming them in his Holy Faith to its great glory. Once they are confirmed (in the faith), the occasion will arise to destroy the Moors of those parts. It is to be hoped in Our Lord that the great commerce from which all the Moors of those parts are profiting and which is passing through their hands, although other persons and races remain unaware of this, under our command, and by employing our people and our ships, we may change everything and provide all Christendom in this part of Europe with all those spices and precious stones. This must be done with the help of God Himself, and may He in His Grace ordain our intentions and desires, which were ardently exercised in His service in the war against the Moors in our conquests in these parts of (A) Vasco da Gama appears to have arrived back from India under the impression, formed in India, that the Indians were generally Christians.
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