bones of a human body with the butt and head of a spear, which were
supposed to be the remains of the saint, as those of the king and
disciple were also found, _but not so white_. They placed the bones of
the saint in a _China chest_, and the other bones in another chest,
and hid both under the altar. On farther inquiry, it appeared by the
ancient records of the kingdom, that Saint Thomas had come to Meliapour
about 1500 years before, then in so flourishing a condition that it is
said by tradition to have contained 3300 stately churches in its
environs. It is farther said that Meliapour was then twelve leagues from
the coast, whereas its ruins are now close to the shore; and that the
saint had left a prediction, "That when the sea came up to the scite of
the city, a people should come from the west having the same religion
which he taught." That the saint had dragged a vast piece of timber from
the sea in a miraculous manner for the construction of his church, which
all the force of elephants and the art of men had been unable to move
when attempted for the use of the king. That the _bramin_ who was chief
priest to the king, envious of the miracles performed by the saint, had
murdered his own son and accused the saint as the murderer; but St
Thomas restored the child to life, who then bore witness against his
father; and, that in consequence of these miracles, the king and all his
family were converted.

[Footnote 169: Heraldic terms, implying that the three upper arms of the
cross end in the imitation of flowers, while the lower limb is
pointed.--E.]

[Footnote 170: The strange expression in the text ought probably to have
been the tenths of the duties on importation.--E.]

An Armenian bishop who spent twenty years in visiting the Christians of