Bardes is an island a short way north from the island of
Goa, and only divided from the main-land by a small river or creek.
- E.]
On the news of their departure being brought to Goa, there was a great
stir and murmuring among the people, as all much wondered. Many were of
opinion that we had counselled them to withdraw, and presently their
surety seized on the remaining goods, which might amount to the value of
200 pardaos; and with that and the money he had received of the
Englishmen, he went to the viceroy, and delivered it to him, the viceroy
forgiving him the rest. This flight of the Englishmen grieved the
Jesuits worst, as they had lost so rich a prey, which they made
themselves secure of. The Dutch Jesuit came to ask us if we knew of
their intentions, saying, if he had suspected as much he would have
dealt differently by them, for he had once in his hands a bag of theirs,
in which were 40,000 _veneseanders_, [442], each worth two pardaos, at
the time when they were in prison. But as they had always given him to
believe he might accomplish his desire of getting them to profess in the
Jesuit college, he had given them their money again, which otherwise
they would not have come by so easily, or peradventure never. This he
said openly, and in the end he called them heretics, spies, and a
thousand other opprobrious names.
[Footnote 442: This word _veneseander_, or venetiander, probably means,
a Venetian chekin. - E.]
When the English painter, who had become a Jesuit, heard that his
countrymen were gone, and found that the Jesuits did not use him with so
great favour as at first, he repented himself; and not having made any
solemn vow, and being counselled to leave their house, he told them that
he made no doubt of gaining a living in the city, and that they had no
right to keep him against his inclination, and as they could not accuse
him of any crime, he was determined not to remain with them. They used
all the means they could devise to keep him in the college, but he would
not stay, and, hiring a house in the city, he opened shop as a painter,
where he got plenty of employment, and in the end married the daughter
of a mestee, so that he laid his account to remain there as long as he
lived. By this Englishman I was instructed in all the ways, trades, and
voyages of the country between Aleppo, and Ormus, and of all the rules
and customs observed in the overland passage, as also of all the towns
and places on the route. Since the departure of these Englishmen from
Goa, there have never arrived any strangers, either English or others,
by land, except Italians, who are constantly engaged in the overland
trade, going and coming continually.
END OF VOLUME SEVENTH.
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