1896.] HE. D. Maclagan—Jeswit Missions to the Emperor Akbar. 65 
Of one of his companions, Pinheiro, we know little beyond what 
is shown in the letters quoted below. He seems to have been the first 
of the Jesuits on these missions to turn his attention seriously to the 
people rather than to the Court, and he was for many years pastor of 
a considerable congregation in Lahor: but he also exercised a certain 
amount of influence with the Emperor. 
The remaining member of the party, Benedict of Goes, was per- 
haps the most remarkable as he is certainly the best known of the three. 
Born at the Azores in 1562, he had served as a soldier in Portuguese 
India and had while in that position abandoned himself to a life of 
dissipation. When not yet twenty six years of age he had suddenly 
repented of his sins and had turned Jesuit. The mission to Lahor 
was his first piece of notable service, but after eight years had passed 
the accounts received of the country of Thibet induced his superiors to 
send him on the adventurous journey with which his name is now chiefly 
associated. On January 6th, 1603, he started from Agra disguised as 
an Armenian and travelled by way of Kabul and Yarkand through 
the heart of Thibet to Sao-chen on the confines of China, arriving there 
in 1607 only to die.!] 
The Father Provincial’s report of November 1595 with its enclosures. 
Our first information regarding this mission is contained in a report? 
of November, 1595, from the Provincial at Goa tothe General of the 
Society at Rome, which encloses three letters of great interest. 
The Mission had gone by sea to Daman and thence to Cambay, and 
the first of the Provincial’s enclosures:is a letter despatched by Father 
Pinheiro from Cambay. He tells of the eagerness of the people to attend 
the services held by the Fathers, and describes among other curiosities 
the hospitals for animals and the customs of the Jain sectaries whom 
he calls ‘ Verteas.’? At Cambay the Mission met the Emperor’s second 
son, Sultan Murad, formerly Monserrat’s pupil, who accorded to the 
Fathers a brief but favourable audience in the citadel on the evening 
before the Nativity, and shortly afterwards left the city for Surat. But 
on New Year’s day when he was only a league from Cambay, he sent a 
summons to the Fathers, which reached them at 3 a.m., while they were 
celebrating the feast of the Circumcision. Completing the service they 
hastened to the camp, where they found the Prince in full darbar and 
were interrogated by him regarding the climate and customs of Portugal, 
1 Yule’s Cathay and the way Thither II 549-596. 
2 See Peruschi’s Historica Relatio, (p. 43 above). 
3 sc.? Birtia. Their religion he says is contained in Gujarati books (libris, 
litteris et notis Guzzarati) cf. p. 70 below. 
de te 8) 
