lOS DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. 
the furious displeasure of the king. The ladies 
of the court, too, who did not approve the mode 
of conversion which had been adopted in their 
case, resolved to avenge the cause of their sex. 
For this purpose, they chose the opposite bank of 
a rivulet which flowed before the garden of the 
missionaries as their place of bathing, where they 
exhibited themselves during the whole day, often 
in very indecent attitudes. The afflicted fathers 
laid their distress before the king, but soon found 
the evil doubled by this proof of the effect which 
it had produced. They had, at last, no remedy 
but to build a high wall in front of their garden. 
The next affair had a more satisfactory termi- 
nation. One of the fathers happening to go into 
a smith's shop, entered into religious conversation, 
and endeavoured to inculcate the truth, that there 
was only one God. The smith, smiling, observ- 
ed that he v/as mistaken, — there was another ; 
and in reply to the eager inquiry which this state- 
ment excited, added, that this other was himself. 
On investigation, it accordingly proved, that he 
had a numerous train of adorers, who maintained, 
that the admirable works which came from his 
hand, could be produced only by supernatural 
power. The fathers instantly dragged this new 
divinity before the- tribunal of the king. That 
prince, who had himself some pretensions to deity, 
