ate of affairs.

"All these gaily dressed natives that one sees in the streets are,
I suppose, Christians?" Ned asked.

"No, indeed," the other said surprised. "What should make you think
so?"

Ned replied that, in America, he had found that the Spaniards
insisted on all the natives at once embracing Christianity, on pain
of death.

"The Spaniards," the young Portuguese said, "are lords and masters
there. The natives are weak and timid, and able to offer no
resistance, whatever. That is very far from being our position
here. We are, I can assure you, only here on sufferance. You can
have no idea of the power of some of these native sovereigns of
India. The Mahrattas, who live beyond the mountains you see on the
horizon, could pour down such hosts of armed men that, if they
combined against us, no resistance that we could offer would be
likely to be successful. And yet they are but one among a score of
warlike peoples.

"So long as we do not attempt to proselytize, and are content to
appear as merchants and traders, no general feeling exists against
our residence here. But I can assure you that, if it became known
in India that we were forcing the natives to accept Christianity,
the footing which we have obtained here would be speedily lost.
These people have regular armies. They may not, indeed, be trained
as are ours at home but individually they are very brave. They have
artillery of heavy caliber.

"In the South Seas, as you know, we endeavor to convert the
heathen. The people there are degraded savages by the side of these
Indians. But we do not adopt the strong methods which the Spaniards
have done. We have, in Portugal, a good deal of your English
freedom of opinion, and the Inquisition has never gained any firm
footing amongst us."

Upon one occasion the boys had the satisfaction of seeing a grand
Indian durbar; for the chief, on the corner of whose territory the
Portuguese had built their town with his permission, came in to see
the viceroy. The boys were surprised at the magnificence of his
cavalcade, in which elephants, camels, and other animals took part,
and in which the trappings and appointments were gorgeous, indeed,
while the dresses of the chiefs absolutely shone with jewels. The
attendants, however, made but a poor show, according to European
ideas.

There was at this time, in European armies, no attempt at regular
uniform, but there was a certain resemblance between the attire and
arms o