They rested the first night in a heathen temple in the island of Coxiqui. [34] The priest of the idols removed the images, and left the temple unoccupied, and the fathers consecrated it and set up in it an altar. The Japanese were very curious about the new missionaries, and were greatly pleased with them. They were welcomed in a few days by some Japanese gentlemen, who made them a very ceremonious greeting and welcomed them in the name of their king. They were escorted to the court of the tono, where they were honorably received. The black and white colors of the habit pleased the Japanese, for these are customary in that country; while the eating of fish as an ordinary article of food is very common in Japon. They also greatly admired the devotion of the fathers to study, for they esteem their boncos [or "bonzes"] in proportion as they are learned; but what above all they admired was the contempt of these fathers for comforts and worldly advantages. The favor with which the religious were received enraged the priests of the idols, who insisted that the Japanese princes who had become Christians had been unfortunate. They mentioned the instance of Don Augustin Tzunotami, [35] a great and valiant lord who had been destroyed by the emperor; also that of Don Francisco, the king of Bungo, [36] who had been conquered and lost his life; while this kingdom of Satzuma had been protected by its devotion to its gods, and especially to Faquiman, who is their god of war. It was no wonder that two Christian princes should have been overwhelmed when thousands of heathen had suffered the same overthrow, but the idol priests passed that over. The emperor intervened, and enacted a decree that no king or tono, and not even any gentleman of distinction, should become a Christian. The king of Satzuma, however, would not banish the religious, but gave them permission to build a church and a house. Not infrequently, however, they were forgotten, and did not receive their customary supply of rice. The fathers converted the family of the man in whose house they lived, and made a chapel in the oratory of the house. The queen was desirous of seeing the image of the Virgin which was set up in the chapel; and it was carried to the palace, and there worshiped with the greatest respect by the chief personages of the court. The king, being unable to make up his mind how to treat the religious because of the opposition of the emperor, permitted them, at their request, to return to the island of Quoxiqui, where they had landed, and where they had something of an establishment. Here they suffered from the rigors of the Japanese winter in a wretched hut. They had insufficient food, and received very small alms. In case of illness, it was impossible to give the sick man any treatment, or even proper food. The Lord, however, preserved them; and the tono at last, pitying them and being edified by their way of living, offered them a town,