with tears of a tender affection in his eyes, and blushing in his
countenance, answered him, that he could not but be astonished, that he
should pitch upon a man, so weak, and pusillanimous as himself, for an
enterprize which required no less than an apostle: that nevertheless he
was ready to obey the commands of heaven; and that he offered himself,
with the whole power of his soul, to do and suffer all things for the
salvation of the Indies. After which, giving leave to his internal joy to
break out, and to diffuse itself, he more confidently said to Father
Ignatius, that his desires were now accomplished; that for a long time he
had sighed after the Indies without daring to declare it; and that he
hoped, from those idolatrous nations, to have the honour of dying for
Jesus Christ, which had been denied him in the Holy Land.

He added, in the height of these transports, that at length he saw that
clearly, of which God had often given him a glimpse, under some
mysterious figures. In effect, Xavier had frequently dreamed by night,
that he carried on his shoulders a gigantic and very swarthy Indian; and
opprest with this strong imagination, he groaned and sighed, in that
uneasy slumber, as one out of breath, and labouring under an intolerable
burden; insomuch that the noise of his groans and heavings waked those
who were lodged in the same chamber; and, one night it happening that
Father Laynez being awakened by it, asked him what it was that troubled
him: Xavier immediately told his dream, and added, that it put him into a
sweat, with big drops over all his body.

Besides this, he once beheld, either in a dream, or in a trance, vast
oceans full of tempests and of rocks, desart islands, barbarous
countries, hunger and thirst raging every where, nakedness, multiplicity
of labours, with bloody persecution, and imminent dangers of death and of
destruction. In the midst of this ghastly apparition, he cried aloud,