Chap. II. Portuguese Empire in the Eaft-Indies. 65 7 
diately difpatched a Meffenger thither to fetch it. As foon 
as it arrived, Pinto caufed it to be fteeped in Water, which 
he gave the King to drink, and in the Space of a few Days, 
he found himfelf fo well, that he was able to rife and walk 
about, which he had not done for two Years. 
It is eafy to imagine what high Effe&s fo extraordinary 
a Circumftance as this muft neceffarily produce, and what 
Gareffes were naturally beftowed on a Stranger, who had 
fo fuddenly and fo unexpectedly performed fo great a Cure. 
The King ordered, all the Care imaginable to be taken of 
him, and the whole Court was employed in contriving how 
to entertain and divert him •, but in the midft of all this 
Joy and Satisfaction, there happened an unlucky Accident, 
which had like to have been attended with very bad Confe- 
quences. Pinto had with him his Gun, which was migh- 
tily admired by every Body that faw it, and the Operations 
of which filled them with Aftonifhment. The hereditary 
Prince was fo taken with it, that he would needs try to 
fhoot himfelf, to which Pinto would by no means content, 
telling him, it was an Inftrument to be managed with great 
Caution, and might do unexpected Mifchief in the Hands 
of a Perfon who knew not how to manage it. This, in- 
ftead of fatisfying the Prince, made him only the more 
eager, infomuch that he complained to his Father, and de- 
lired he would prevail upon the Stranger to truft him with 
his Gun; to which the Portugueze yielded, and promiled to 
go a fhooting with him the next Day. 
The young Man was fo impatient, that he was up before 
it was light, and on the fifth of Augujl was at Pinto's, 
Chamber-door before he was awake. He had too much 
Manners to difturb him, but unluckily fpying the Gun, 
took it out with him into the Court, and refolved to make 
a Shot. He put in a double or treble Charge of Powder, 
to which giving Fire, the Gun burft, cut his right Thumb 
fo that it hung by a Thread, and at the fame time a Piece 
of the Barrel ftruck him fo violently over the Ear, that he 
fell flat upon the Ground, and thofe who were about him 
thought he was killed. The Noife of this Accident was 
very foon fpread over the whole Town, where it was una- 
nimoufly agreed, that the Stranger’s inchanted Inftrument 
had killed the Heir of the Crown. The Noife made round 
his Apartment awakened Pinto out of his Sleep, who com- 
ing down without knowing what was the Matter, went 
direCtly to the Place where the Accident had happened, 
and feeing the Prince lying on the Ground, whom he took 
to be dead, he threw himfelf on the Body in the utmoft 
Agony. A Moment after came the King, the Queen, and 
the two Princeffes, all of them in a diftraCted Condition, 
and as foon as they faw the Prince fwimming in his Blood, 
and Pinto lying by him, they immediately concluded that 
the Stranger had killed the Prince *, upon which two Sol- 
diers advanced with their Swords drawn, in order to cut off 
liis Head ; but the King called out to them to forbear, 
lince he was determined he would firft extort from him the 
Reafon that induced him to commit fo vile a Fad:. 
The Reafon of this Stay of Execution was, becaufe a 
little before a Confpiracy had been difcovered, for which 
feveral Perfons had been executed the Day before ; and the 
King apprehended, without any Reafon, that this Addon 
might be an Effed to that Confpiracy. It is not neceffary 
For us to dwell upon all the little Circumftances of this Af- 
fair ; and therefore it will be fufficient to obferve, that 
when they were on die very Point of torturing Pinto, in 
order to make him confefs why he committed this deteft- 
able Murder, and who were his Accomplices, the Prince 
very luckily came to himfelf, and feeing how things flood, 
declared, with great Concern, that he alone was in the 
Fault, and that the Stranger knew nothing of the Matter ; 
wherefore he intreated that he might be fet at Liberty, and 
have Leave to come to him, which his Father immediately 
granted. It was then propofed, that they fhould fend for 
an old Bonze, who lived at feventy Leagues Diftance, to 
drefs the Prince’s Wounds, and to try if he could fave his 
Life. The young Man declared againft this, and faid, he 
fhould die before he came, and begged that he might be 
left in the Hands of the Stranger, who knew beft how to 
deal with him. The King thereupon called for him, and 
aiked, if he would undertake his Son’s Cure, which, if he 
performed , lie fhould think his Kingdom too fmall a Re- 
ward. Pinto declared he could promife- for nothing, hilt 
that he was willing to do all that lay in his Power, and that 
he had great Hopes of fucceedingj 
Upon this the Prince was left in his Hands, but not with- 
out a great Struggle oil the Part of the Bonzes, who declared, 
that ft the Stranger touched his Wounds, he would die that 
Night •, and that the beft thing the King could do was to 
offer' up Pinto as a Sacrifice to the Gods, and to fend an 
Exprefs immediately for the old Bonze before-mentioned. 
The Prince interpofed, however, fo warmly in Favour of the 
Stranger, and feme of the oldeft and wifeft Men about the 
Court thought the young Man’s Defire fo reasonable, that 
the King confentecl to it,, and the Prince being carried to 
Pinto's, Lodgings, he dreffed him as he had fecit the Eu- 
ropean Surgeons do, and in one Month’s Time there was 
no other Sign of the Wounds than the Scars they had left, 
and a little Deadnefs in his Thumb. The King and the 
whole Court were quite ravished with Joy at his unexpected 
Recovery, and befides a thoufand Bieffings and Thanks, 
made the Portugueze .abundance of magnificent Prefect?, 
befides fifteen hundred Taels in ready Money, which the 
King beftowed upon him as foon as the Prince was able to 
go abroad. 
While things were in this Situation, they had Advice 
that the Chinefe Ship was ready to fail ; upon which Pinto 
defired Leave to be gone, to which the King very unwil- 
lingly conlented *, but as the Stranger in lifted upon it, he 
ordered a Velle! to be equipped, in order to carry him back 
to the Hand of Tackxima , and font a Gentleman with him, 
furnifliing him alfo with all manner of Provifions and Re- 
frelhments. After his Return to that Kland, our Traveller 
remained there a Fortnight waiting for a, fair Wind, and 
then embarquing, arrived fafely at Liampo on the Coaft of 
China. This is, in few Words, the Account given us by 
Pinto himfelf : Let us now proceed to the other Difcovery 
of this Country made by the Portugueze , according to our 
Promife. 
In the fame Year 1542, three of the fame Nari Qr, oq t-p r- ■> 
by pure Accident into this Country, their Names were, 
Antonia Mota , Francifco Zeimoto , and Antonio Pexota , who 
in a Voyage from the Hand of Mac ajar to China , were 
thrown upon the Coafts of thefe Hands, and were exceed- 
ingly well received. Amongft other Acquaintance, they 
entered into a clofe Converfation with one Angero , a Man 
of a good Family, and confiderable Fortune ; but who was 
exceedingly troubled in Mind on account of fome Irregu- 
larities committed in his Youth, who heard them with 
Pleafure difeourfe concerning the Truth of the Chriftian 
Religion. About two Years after Alvarez Vaz , a Portu- 
gueze Merchant, came into the fame Country, and became 
very intimate with the fame Perfon whom he perfuaded to 
go to the Portugueze Settlements in India , in order to be 
converted and confolcd by the holy Difcourfes of the famous 
Francis Xavier ; to which at length he yielded, and having 
received Baptifm at Goa in the Year 1548, he the next 
Year accompanied Father Xavier and two other fefuits in 
their Voyage to Japan , where they immediately entered 
upon their Miflipn ; by the Progrefs of which, this Country 
was made fo thoroughly known to the Portugueze. , that if 
Mendez Pinto had not recorded his own Voyage thither it 
is very poffible we had never heard any thing of it at all 5 
but that he afterwards vifited Japan in Company with Fa- 
ther Xavier , and after the Deceafe of that induftrious 
Jefuit, whom the Papifts efteem the Apoftle of the Indies, 
he went thither again as Embaflador from the Viceroy of 
the Indies to the King of Bun go in 1556, fo that there 
feems to oe no juft vjrounds for calling any thing that he 
has written in Queftion. 
The Converfions made in this great Empire contributed 
not a little to fupport and extend the Portugueze Trade, 
which was managed with much Facility, and to a vaft 
Profit: For th q Portugueze being eftablifhed in China 
carried from thence vaft Quantities of Silk into Japan- 
where as all Ranks of People affed: to be cloathed in ft" 
There followed a prodigious Confumption, which enriched 
the Portumeze Merchants very foon to a high Degree *tho* 
it is fcarce credible, that as fome putcb° Writers report, 
they have fometimes carried home in one fmall Ship one 
hundred Tons of Geld. But this prodigious Succefs proved 
the 
