Yet it is work which well deserves to be done. Prescott, the great American historian, has shown the interest attaching to the first conflict between Spanish chivalry and the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru; but when will an historian arise to tell worthily the story of the contact between the heroes of Portugal and the more civilized inhabitants of Hindustan? Apart from the fascination of this side of the subject, there remains the fact that for a century the intercourse between Asia and Europe remained in the hands of the Portuguese. The history of the Dutch and the English in the Eastern seas has its own peculiar interest, but they did not find their way in that direction until the nations of the East had been for a whole century in contact with Europeans, and until their attitude had been greatly modified by this contact. Besides, the Dutch and English both went to the East as traders, and not as conquerors, colonizers, and preachers as well. Far different was the intention of the Portuguese. Regardless of the small size and slender population of their fatherland, they dreamed of nothing less than conquering the mighty empires of the East, and imposing Christianity upon them, if need be, by the edge of their swords. Grandiose as this intention was, and full of inconsequence as the idea seems to modern eyes, which have seen with what difficulty England with its teeming population has managed to maintain its hold upon India, even while it has discouraged proselytism and protected native religions, there is something noble in the confidence of the Portuguese warriors in their God, and in their belief that through their means He would spread Christianity throughout the East. For the ambitions of the Portuguese were not confined to India; Portuguese adventurers actually established themselves in power in parts of Arabia, in Burma, and in the district of Chittagong at the head of the Bay of Bengal; Portuguese emissaries found their way to Pekin and Japan, closely followed by the missionaries of the Roman Church; and it was while on his way to convert the millions of China to Christianity that St. Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Indies, gave up his life. And, lastly, it must be remembered at what odds the Portuguese fought and tried to proselytize in Asia: at many months’ voyage from their homes and base of operations; only able to reach their destinations after sailing in feeble craft round the hardly known, unexplored, and dangerous coast of Africa; deprived of the modern knowledge alike of tides and winds, and of the means to promote existence in tropical climates; they arrived amidst the hostile millions armed only with clumsy arquebuses and their swords; and yet with all these drawbacks they were victorious in many hard-fought fights against more powerful armies than their European successors in the East ever met. Of course there are many blots upon this noble history, tales of