ry equipage, and without other provisions
of life than grains of rice roasted or dried by the fire, which Bernard
carried in his wallet. They might have had abundantly for their
subsistence, if Xavier would have accepted of the money which the
Portuguese merchants of Firando offered him, to defray the charges of his
voyage, or would have made use of what the governor of the Indies had
supplied him with in the name of the king of Portugal: But he thought he
should have affronted Providence, if he should have furnished himself
with the provisions needful to a comfortable subsistence; and therefore
taking out of the treasury a thousand crowns, he employed it wholly for
the relief of the poor who had received baptism. Neither did he rest
satisfied with this royal alms, he drew what he could also from his
friends at Goa and Malacca; and it was a saying of his, "That the more
these new converts were destitute of worldly goods, the more succour they
deserved; that their zeal was worthy the primitive ages of the church;
and that there was not a Christian in Japan, who would not choose rather
to lose his life, than forfeit the love of Jesus Christ."

The journey from Amanguchi to Meaco is not less than fifteen days, when
the ways are good, and the season convenient for travelling; but the ill
weather lengthened it to our four travellers, who made two months of it;
sometimes crossing over rapid torrents, sometimes over plains and forests
thick with snow, climbing up the rocks, and rolling down the precipices.
These extreme labours put Father Xavier into a fever from the first
month, and his sickness forced him to stop a little at Sacay; but he
would take no remedies, and soon after put himself upon his way.

That which gave them the greatest trouble was, that Bernard, who was
their guide, most commonly misled them. Being one day lost in a forest,
and not knowing what path to follow, they met a horseman who was going
towards Meaco; Xavier followed him, and offered to carry his mail, if he
would help to disengage them from the forest, and shew them how to avoid
the dangerous passages. The horseman accepted Xaviers offer, but trotted
on at a round rate, so that the saint was constrained to run after him,
and the fatigue lasted almost all the day. His companions followed him at
a large distance; and when they came up to the place where the horseman
had left him, they found him so spent, and over-laboured, that he could
scarcely suppo