the fleet of Portugal.
He found himself sufficient employment, during the time of the
navigation: his first study was to put a stop to those disorders which
are commonly occasioned by an idle life on ship-board; and he began with
gaming, which is the only recreation, or rather the whole employment,
of the seamen.

That he might banish games of chance, which almost always occasion
quarrels and swearing, he proposed some little innocent diversions,
capable of entertaining the mind, without stirring up the passions. But
seeing that, in spite of his endeavours, they were bent on cards and
dice, he thought it not convenient to absent himself, but became a
looker on, that he might somewhat awe them by his presence; and when they
were breaking out into any extravagance, he reclaimed them by gentle
and soft reproofs. He shewed concernment in their gains, or in their
losses, and offered sometimes to hold their cards.

There were at least a 'thousand persons in the Admiral, men of all
conditions: the father made himself all to all, thereby to gain some to
Jesus Christ; entertaining every man with such discourse as was most
suitable to his calling. He talked of sea affairs to mariners, of war to
the soldiery, of commerce to merchants, and of affairs of state to men of
quality. His natural gaiety, and obliging humour, gained him a general
esteem; the greatest libertines, and most brutal persons, sought his
conversation, and were even pleased to hear him speak of God.

He instructed the seamen daily in the principles of religion, of which
the greater part were wholly ignorant, or had at the best but a
smattering of it; and preached to them on every holiday, at the foot of
the main mast. All of them profited by his sermons, and in little time
nothing was heard amongst them, which was offensive to the honour of God,
or that wounded Christian charity; or touched upon obsceneness, or ill
manners. They had a profound veneration for him; with one word only, he
appeased their quarrels, and put an end to all their differences.

The viceroy, Don Martin Alphonso de Sosa, invited him from the very first
clay to eat at his table; but Xavier humbly excused it, with great
acknowledgments, and during all the voyage lived only on what he begged
about the ship.

In the mean time, the insufferable colds of Cabo Verde, and the excessive
heats of Guinea, together with the stench of the fresh waters, and
putrifaction of their flesh provisions under