fifty horsemen to attend him. The Portuguese built a citadel, which the
succeeding governors took care to fortify; yet not so strongly, as to be
proof against the attempts of the barbarians, who many times attacked it,
and half ruined it.

As soon as Xavier came on shore, he went to visit the governor of the
town, to inform him of his intended voyage to Macassar. The governor told
him, that he had lately sent thither a priest of holy life, with some
Portuguese soldiers, and that he expected to hear of them very suddenly:
that, in the mean time, he was of opinion, that the Father and his
companion should stay at Malacca, till the present condition of the
Christians in Macassar were fully known. Xavier gave credit to the
governor, and retired to the hospital, which he had chosen for the place
of his abode. The people ran in crowds to behold the countenance of that
great apostle, whose fame was spread through all the Indies, and over all
the East. The parents showed him to their children; and it was observed,
that the man of God, in caressing those little Portuguese, called every
one of them by their proper names, as if he had been of their
acquaintance, and were not a stranger newly come on shore.

For what remains, he found the town in a most horrible corruption of
manners. The Portuguese who lived there, at a distance both from the
Bishop and the viceroy of the Indies, committed all manner of crimes,
without fear of laws, either ecclesiastical or civil. Avarice,
intemperance, uncleanness, and forgetfulness of God, were every
where predominant; and the habit only, or rather the excess and number of
their vices, distinguished the Christians from the unbelievers.

This terrible prospect of a sinful town, gave Xavier to comprehend, that
his stay in Malacca was necessary, and might possibly turn to a good