Meanwhile, the parts of Japan occupied by the missionaries had been the seats of serious commotions. The king of Bungo had indeed confirmed his power by suppressing an insurrection; but his brother, the king of Nagato, had been driven from his throne and defeated and slain by Mōri Motonari, a relative of the late king; and during this civil war the city of Yamaguchi had been sacked and burnt, and the missionaries obliged to flee for their lives to Bungo. There, too, a new insurrection had been attempted, but again without success; though the king still kept himself shut up in a fortress at a distance from his capital. He returned, however, to receive Nugnes, which he did very graciously, but resisted, on grounds of expediency, all his exhortations to make an open profession of Catholicism. Thus disappointed, Nugnes, after sending Gago to establish himself at Hirado, thought it best to return to Goa. [Illustration: THE KINTAI BRIDGE, SNŌ] On arriving in Japan, the zeal of Pinto had speedily declined, and he had begun to sigh for his liberty. Perhaps he was alarmed at the appearance of Cosme de Torres, who, from being plump and portly, had, under the thin diet of the country, and the labors of the mission, grown to be exceedingly lean and haggard. At all events, it was found impossible to revive his fervor, and, as the Jesuits wanted no unwilling members, it was decided to release him from his vows. He returned with Nugnes to Goa, whence, not long after, he sailed for Lisbon. In his book he relates his last visit to Japan, but with no mention of his having joined the Jesuits,—of which our knowledge is drawn from the published letters of the missionaries, including one dated in 1554, and written by Pinto himself, from the college at Malacca, addressed to the scholars of the college of Coimbra, and giving a sketch of his travels in the East.