Storia do Mogor 265.26
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 265.26
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265.26.1
The greater part of the persecutions suffered by the missionaries who do not come from Portugal is caused by the Portuguese and the local Christians, who admit no other arguments but what the Portuguese tell them. The Portuguese in this India here, under cloak and in the name of their king, do such things against missionaries that it is impossible a king so pious and so Catholic, eager for the extension of the holy faith, could be aware of all the persecutions suffered by the missionaries and done to them under his name. For I have seen such things, and have had very certain knowledge that the king does not consent to them. But nowadays the Portuguese are in such a condition that they use their king's name to vent their own passions, and on seeing anything to be gained, they interfere and say at once it is according to the king's order. If they do not see any convenience to themselves they say, on the contrary, that they make no account of their king. Thus it is a sorrow fit to make one weep tears of blood to behold such improper methods, so widely divergent from those they followed in the days of old. The Portuguese, in any negotiations they have with the Moguls or the rajahs in India, are accustomed to send priests as ambassadors. It appears to them that by so doing they make certain of success; but by the experience I have had, and from what I have heard from the leading men at the court, there could not be a greater error committed.
265.26.2
For it causes everybody to think of and estimate the King of Portugal as an impecunious king, who is unable to provide the requisite expenses for an ambassador, and therefore sends faqirs; for such is their conception of the position of these fathers. They have veneration and consideration for these whenever they see them exempt from worldly business. On the contrary, directly they mix in temporal concerns they think slightingly of them and of the princes who send them; for they hold it as true that states governed by the counsels of faqirs must be badly ruled, because the profession of a faqir is to live far apart from all the affairs of this world, and to consider nothing but things of God. Hence proceeds the little estimation in which the natives of India hold the King of Portugal. They see on the one side that in Goa and in all its provinces nothing is done without the advice of priests ; on the other hand, they see that the Portuguese do not have in their territories abundance of commerce, which is also one of the grounds from which they infer the greatness of a king. The reason for their having these opinions is that the Mahomedan faqirs never mix themselves up in any matter of government or politics ; on the contrary, they flee from them. It is the same for the Hindus with their jogis, who hold the character of priests, as I have stated in my history. [Pages 246 and 247 are blank.]
265.26.3
[248] There are to be seen commonly in this country a want of the fear of God and of love to one's neighbour. I will relate here some cases which happened in my sight of a diabolic nature. It is a practice very common among the Hindus and others, which does not fail also to lay hold of the Christians living in this country, who from want of true faith allow themselves to be persuaded into such-like errors. A woman wished to become with child, and not succeeding with drugs, had recourse to a magician. His orders were that at midnight she should go and stand below a large forest tree which in India is called badd (bad, bar). It produces a small red fruit. Here she was to perform the sacrifice as to which he had instructed her. She then became pregnant, and the tree referred to became sterile, and never yielded fruit so long as it lived. In Bassahim (Bassein), a town of the Portuguese, there was a well-born woman — I will not mention her name — who wished to have a son to whom to leave her wealth. Secretly she had recourse to a magician, who by diabolic arts made it so appear that she was really pregnant, with all the signs that women have who are about to bring forth. When the time came she was seized with pains, and several ladies came to assist, and she brought forth a tray full of sand ; thereupon the delivery was complete. She lost all the great expenses she had gone to in preparing a feast for the occasion.
265.26.4
There was another case in Sao Thome about the same time. A young friar had a woman-servant who cooked for him. This woman threw such a spell over him that he could not exist without her for one moment. Anyone who went to visit the friar was an annoyance ; he sent them away as soon as possible, and the few words he uttered would all be in praise of the serving-woman. This friar fell ill of diarrhoea, and was already almost at the point of death. In place of fixing his mind on God to secure salvation for his soul, his whole concern was for the servant. At this time there arrived some friars from Goa, and seeing him thus forsaken, knew that he was bewitched. They seized the negro woman, and by force of torture made her relieve the friar of the spell she had thrown over him. After this happened he could not bear to see her or hear her name. It did not take long to cure him of his disease (? the diarrhoea).
265.26.5
I will tell you another instance. There was a Portuguese called Thome Borges de Villalobo, an inhabitant of Sao Thome. To recover after an illness he moved with his family to the foot of the four hills, which are three leagues from Sao Thome. After some days had passed he felt relieved of his illness. But one night, failing to get to sleep, he went out to walk about the town by moonlight. Hearing in a house the sound of dancing and the tinkling of bells, his curiosity led him to look through a peep-hole in the door. There he saw two small boys, well clothed, with bells on their feet, wearing jewels, and holding bows and arrows in their hands. Opposite them was a magician seated on the floor, holding a rod with which he struck the ground. To the sound of these strokes the children danced. From time to time the magician uttered a cry, and by reason of the gyrations made by the boys in dancing, their eyes became as flaming coals of fire, their faces heavy and fearful to behold. When this condition arrived, they swooned and fell to the ground as if dead.
265.26.6
The man's wife, awaking, saw the door open and her husband absent from the room. She went to look for him, and found him lying senseless at the magician's door. Hastening home, she brought her brothers and servants, and in dead silence they removed him to his house. There they began to lament. The lady [249] who owned the house, hearing the weeping, came to them. She was told what had happened to the husband, found lying in front of such-and-such a door. The old lady showed amazement, so that all present were more disturbed than before. Upon seeing this the old lady consoled them, saying that she knew a cure. Leaving home, she had recourse to the magician, who appeared in about an hour. Entering the house, he said there had been too great temerity in seeking to see things which did not concern one. All the relations entreated him to tell them some cure. He gave the man certain fumigations, and placed medicine upon his eyes. After one hour had passed the patient began to move, and when morning came he was able to tell his story, as I have above recounted it. After that he went back to Sao Thome. At the present time the widow of that Portuguese, being now seventy years of age, lives in my house, and the poverty in which she was left has forced her to do this.
265.26.7
In the days when I was at Agrah I went to pay my respects to the brother of Shaistah Khan, who was called Faracfal (Falak-fal), which means ' The Diviner.' He was a very ugly man, and never appeared at court for fear the people would joke at his odd physiognomy. This gentleman had a magician who gave him much information about what was going on. In my presence the magician raised his head and voice, saying that apples, pears, peaches, and several other fruits would fall. Accordingly, in the sight of all there present, they began at once to fall. This was a thing to be remarked on, for at that season there were no such fruits in that country. He offered me some to eat, but I declined to take them, knowing them to be a product of magic, so I thanked him for his kindness. This thing he could do whenever he liked.