man, who was as it were the superior of it. He was seated on a little platform about a palm's breadth in height, with a small mat on it, and the others sat on the ground. Without saying anything, I sat down next to the old man--at which they smiled, thinking that I had done so because I did not understand the custom of the country, which did not permit that. We both showed each other much courtesy by signs, and I by using some words of their language which I knew, although, because I did not put them together properly, they laughed much. They gave me a collation of some fruits; and the sacristan immediately took me to his temple, which was at some distance from the house. It had a sort of cemetery about it, surrounded by some slightly raised stones which divided it from the rest. The door to the temple was small, and the temple itself was arched, round, and small. (Here follows a full account of the appearance of the temple. Some description of their prayers and of their religious customs is also given. Aduarte states, upon the authority of the Portuguese religious, that these native monks are vicious and licentious in the extreme.) I finally reached the ship of our people, and on both sides we told each other what had happened.] CHAPTER XLVII The wars which followed in the prosecution of this embassy [By the sufferings and danger which we had passed through, the Lord had prepared us to endure those which were to follow. To protect the ship, some of the men had encamped on a little sand island in the middle of the river. On one bank was the town (i.e., Chordamuco) of the natives, near which there were about two thousand Chinese, some settled here, others who had recently come from China as traders, with their merchandise, in five large vessels, which they kept in the river near the town. They had controlled the natives, and resented the coming of the Spaniards, thinking that the latter had come to disturb or take away the superiority which they had. So they sought for an opportunity to quarrel with them, seeing that the Spaniards were few and that they were many. Whenever the men on the ship went to buy food on land, the Chinese tried their patience by annoying them without any reason. By orders of the captain, Blas Ruyz de Fernan Goncalez, they endured this annoyance, though sorely against their will. The captain sent a message to the king asking him to bring the Chinese to order. The king spoke fair words, but did nothing. Finally, the anger of our men got beyond their control. On the Sunday after Easter, when all had received communion, three or four were in the town with the captain's permission. One of them came back with his sword drawn, saying that the Chinese had chased and abused them, and that they had not dared to violate the captain's orders. The troops armed themselves, and, breaking away from all restraints, went to take vengeance on the Chinese. I went along to calm the Chinese, if I could,