g thus regulated on the coast of Fishery, the Father would
pass into the isle of Ceylon before his return to Goa. His design was to
gather the fruit of that precious blood which two years before was shed
by the king of Jafanatapan; or, at least, to see what inclination those
people had to receive the gospel, who had heheld the constancy of the
martyrs. Indeed, the death of the two young princes converted, who
pretended to the crown of Jafanatapan, destroyed almost all hopes of
planting Christianity in that isle. Notwithstanding which, Xavier
converted the king of Cande, who is one of the kings of Ceylon. After
which he went to the tyrant, who had treated the Christians with so much
cruelty, to try if he could work him, though against all human
appearances, to suffer the law of Jesus Christ to be preached in his
dominions, and to bring him also to be a Christian.

As reasons of state prevail most with princes, so the Father represented
to this infidel, that his throne could never he established but by the
arms of the Portuguese; that, if he once contracted with them a strict
alliance, he had nothing farther to apprehend, either from his enemies or
his subjects. The barbarian, who feared all things, both from within and
from without, forgetting that Don Alphonso de Sosa would have made war
upon him in favour of the two baptized princes, hearkened to the
propositions of peace, and even permitted the Father to explain to him
the mysteries of the Christian faith. The instructions of the saint
wrought so much upon the tyrant, that being changed, in a very short
space of time, he promised to embrace the faith, and labour to bring his
subjects into it; offering for the pledge of his word, to put his kingdom
into the hands of the king of Portugal, and to pay him such tribute as
should be thought fitting, without any farther demand in his own behalf,
than of two things. The one was, that the governor of the Indies should
conclude a firm alliance with him, as he had clone with other Indian
kings, who had made themselves vassals to the crown of Portugal; the
other, that, in order to hinder those revolts and troubles which might
arise from the change of religion, he might have a company of Portuguese
soldiers, to be entertained at his own charges.

Father Xavier, well satisfied to have thus succeeded beyond his
expectations, set sail for Goa, with an ambassador of the infidel king,
and arrived there on March the 20th, in the year 15