154 H. HOSTEN ON 



profess, all wear their beads around their neck. The Christians of the Christianity of 

 Mogol are the best, and the most solidly grounded in our faith of the whole of this 

 East. This conclusion — absolute as it is — was reached by the late Fr. Thomas de 

 Barros. 1 He was some time in Mogol, and Rector of the College of Agra, and he would 

 say : ' The Christians are so poor, and yet they prefer to live in poverty, and, 

 though they could say to the Fathers : ' Take away your Christian ; I am dying of 

 hunger, and want to go to the Cassiz % and tell him I wish to belong to the law of 

 Muhammad, and he will give me rosind 3 at once, i.e. my daily sustenance,' yet no; 

 they do not do so. Hence, I say none are so firm in the faith.' To understand 

 this, you must take it as certain that whoever goes to the Cassiz, be he heathen or 

 Christian, and tells him he wishes to embrace the sect of Muhammad, is sure of a 

 daily ordinary ration, in proportion with his rank. I do not deny that some do at 

 times fall away ; but they are very rare, and it was when the Moors convicted them 

 of other crimes and threatened them with some grievous punishment. They aposta- 

 tised ad tempus (for a time) ; because, data occasione (rinding an opportunity), they 

 would acknowledge their error, and presently come to the Church to be reconciled 

 and protest their faith in the law of Christ. || 

 Foi 42V. " King Janguir gave our Fathers a garden near the City of Agra, used as a 



Gorastad * or cemetery, where we might bury our dead. He did the same in the City 

 of Laor, where we have a house. 6 In this garden, or Gorastad, which is entirely blest, 

 we have also a small vaulted chapel, where our dead Fathers lie buried very neatly; 

 there are stones above the tombs with the names of the deceased Fathers and the 

 year of their death.* And when some Christian dies, all the others assemble to 

 accompany him to the grave. He is carried in a coffin, after our manner ; before him 

 goes a procession of small boys vested in their white opas, 1 and singing the prayers; 

 in front is carried a copper crucifix surmounting a small staff and covered with a black 

 veil. Et hoc est mirum (and this is wonderful) that even some Moors, who were 

 friendly with some Christians, accompanied their corpses to the grave, helping the 

 Christians in carrying the coffin on their shoulders. And Fr. Francisco Morando told 



i I mentioned him among the Missionaries of Tibet (J.A.S.B., igio, 539); his name must now be added to those of 

 the Jesuits of Mogor. Details about him are still wanting. One Thomas de Barros entered the Society at Goa in 1610. 

 L'Abbe A. Launay (Hist, de la Miss, du Thibet , Lille, Desclee, 1903, I. 30) says he went to Tibet in 1640. Sommervogel, 

 Bibl. de la C. de J., states that he was for a time Superior of Mogor and Tibet, after which he became Rector of Daman, 

 Bacaim and Goa. He died at Rachol, April 13, 1658. Probably, he was Rector of Agra just before Fr. Botelho's arrival 

 in 164S. Fr. J. de Castro was Rector in 1641 ; after that date up to 1648 the catalogues are missing, and he is not in the 

 catalogues of 1649, '53, '55, '56, etc. (J.A.S.B., 1910, pp. 532-533)- 



2 From qasis: priest, rather than from qdzi : judge. 3 Rozlna: daily pay. 



+ Qabaristau : cemetery. The Portuguese of Calcutta at the beginning of the 19th century pronounced the word in 

 the same corrupt way. They do so still. I cannot imagine that gorastad stands for gora (white, a European) and sthan 

 or stan (a place). 



6 The place of the Jesuit house and cemetery at Lahore has not yet been determined. Sir Edward Maclagan and 

 Fr. Felix, O.C., of Antwerp, told me that they had made a diligent search. No old European inscriptions appear to have 

 been found ; 'out has sufficient attention been paid to Armenian ones ? 



« Cf. Appendix A, for the origin of the cemetery and the Mortuary Chapel of the Jesuit Fathers at Agra. 



1 Opa : a sort of garment without sleeves that comes down to the ankles. Cf. A. Vieyra Transtagano's Diet, of the 

 Port, and Engl. Lang., London, 1773. J. I. Roquette's Nouveau Diet. Port. Franc., Paris 1863, translates by : robe, lo g 

 garment, confraternity form. The meaning here must be " surplices." 



