pg. 4 preface

“Psalm 106.V 23 & 24.

Those who sail with Ships on the Sea / and conduct trade in great Wares / they see the Work of the Lord / and his wonder in the deep.”

Pg. 9-10:

From a writing by P. Jacob Ro of Goa end of December 1618 to his Brother, Paulus Ro / Royals Fiscal at Milan / to be delivered.

The countryfolk here are by Nature Slow and not strong / in color light-yellow Black although more Black / but not as curly in hair as the African Blacks / for years they have all been devoted to the idols [original term: Abgottern] / Land inwards they still persist therein. But the masses are Superstitious / they go naked just as God created them / except for a small Cloth with which they cover themselves somewhat. Some people are among them / who dress themselves in white / and these are Merchants who wait for trading / the others help themselves with Fishing and from the Palm Trees / their Food is nothing else but Rice / with numerous Spices and Things or salted fish.

[the letter continues to describe the fish the river provides]

Their little huts are a purely miserable poverty / and seem more like muckholes / than comparable to human houses. Their little boats are made from partly hollowed-out trees made such / that 12 or even 15 people can sail therein / as I myself have often seen / so that they never wither / they tie to one side three woods in a form assembled together / on that same side the little boat cannot turn around because of this gavel.

[he describes boats, that they can also build bigger ones, and that the Portuguese build ships such as those used in Europe]

These people have a strange form of dancing, as well as of Musical Instruments, which are totally not comparable to ours.

The City of Goa lies about ten miles from the Sea / along a Stream to the port and the Isle in which the City lies / the two cities are very beautiful and joyfully decorated with Palm trees and other trees / the People in this City are estimated at three times hundred thousand Souls / of which a quarter Heathen / and a quarter of Slaves / coming as well from Africa as other places.

The influx of merchants is great beyond all measure / currently there are hundred and fifty from the South / at Noon a ship came in / and yesterday several from the North / thirty more warships are constantly at sea / to keep the same safe from freebooters.

[he discusses winds and seasons, and 1 ½ page description of trees and fruits]

pg. 13

The Countryfolk make do with only Rice and Fish / good Meat is found in great quantities / the Poultry is very pleasing / the same, also the Bread / of which there is few except for what Portuguese use. So one can maintain oneself for a day from the Country with not more than two Milanese Soldi (which could be 2 Creuzer) [currency]. It is remarkable to hear / how highly esteemed the Portuguese are in this Land / they all want to be held for Nobility / and do nothing else than let themselves be used as Soldiers. Since the previous / is found here next to such a high spirit and joyfulness / also found with them / they should since long have been rulers over the whole of India.

pg. 14

The English and Dutch largely detract from / not only the country and the People / probably even more to the labor / and to the continuation of the Christian faith.

In the months of April and May of the current Year / in this Land throughout / Yes in the whole of India / there is a great part Beyond where is a heavy Illness / which rules like a Plague / for which no other counsel can be found but Bloodletting / while the Moors / and inland heathen people do not want to use these means it is (as said) there uncountable masses have died / before also the Mogor / who is a Greatly Powerful Potentate in Asia / and finding himself on the Battlefield with a mighty Warlord / had been strongly exposed to this and had taken a lot of People away.

More horrible is what happens in Bazaim [Vasai, about 70 km north of Mumbai] and in the surrounding areas. This Town lies hundred miles Northward from Goa / in a very fertile and pleasant sort of Country / because of many Portuguese / where the warfare must go / where there is a People who are also in hatred among themselves / slandered in enmity and Revenge. The P Rector of our College has found this unchanged and with additional findings / quite often from the Pulpit in the Teaching of the Catechism / and also in speech / punished the People and warned / that one would heed oneself / the hostage of the rightly wrath of God / to be before the hand / the same that also a pious Religious person with the old worldly name of Caspar de Nobrega / openly heard /

That a strong painful air a Mess in the Nerves / and not long ago a War with a neighboring King proceeded / so did men see fiery signs in the sky / and learned of terrible Roaring in the Sea / the People did not care for all this / nor let themselves be moved away from sinful life / yet everyone did not surrender the crazy World to those Divine warnings.

[Rho describes seaquakes and natural violence as punishing signs from God]

The rushing and roaring of the Sea / steady Lightning flashes and weather strikes / in the sinister night / brought forth a great lamenting / in the whole City one hears nothing but crying and lamenting / as well as shouting for the mercy of God.

From a writing by father Jacob Ro to his mother in Milan. [Goa, December 1618].

I am well, in the grace of God / in this change of air / Land and Food / has caused me little damage until now. / on the Ship I was twice inflicted with a great Fever visiting me / which has been treated every time with bloodletting [...] of our Company [of Jesuits] nations of different languages, and of different natures / four Germans, five Walloons, or rather Flemish, three Italians, ten Portuguese / with the abundant charity of the Company [...] the usual food one treats oneself to / is milk and salted meat / only for the Sick something from a hen [...]

The merriment when one sees land from afar / and especially that of India / does not allow itself to be expressed [...] / we arrived in sight of Land / 40 miles away from Goa [...] when we went to the Land / the poor Countryfolk came with little wooden boats / as large that men can carry them in addition to merchandise / they reminded me of wooden basins we know /

[...]

and twenty or thirty came on our Ship / and offered of their fruits / seeing this these applied very little of their Clothing / as they mostly go naked in there. The Portuguese dress themselves stately / carry Weapons / coats / set up to the knees / therefore require a stump / I can not rightly describe the women’s clothes / I only think their head can be compared to how a mountain envelops itself in clouds / to compare / this is how the thinly made Veils appear / instead of the Copts / they seem here dressed up in the Venetian art / this is how I was informed / an abundance of all kinds of well-fragrant things / perfumed water is used / can be divided into small narrow / or small made bedsteads / which are covered with woven straw / carried by four Slaves / the same custom also applies to old Men and that of Clergymen

P 22

Which hangs on a long Cane / still close to the Earth

[describes a type of palanquin]

the Countryfolk however as pointed out / are very badly dressed / they will go as they have been created on the World / or they only wear a lower garment skirt / the Women wrap themselves in twofold cloths / so that one does not see them / the female slaves from Africa / go very naked. The Heathens dress themselves one part in a coat / which goes unto the knee / the Head they cover with a cloth / like a Turkish Turban / if one can obtain a Portuguese Hat / so he thinks himself proudly. The few who become Christian / arrange themselves a bit better in such matters / dress themselves in Portuguese style. When the people want to come into the streets / during the Sun / particularly the Portuguese / very dangerous / they attach a wide shadowhat on the Head or on a long Staff / to make shade / this Shadowhat is sometimes so numerous / that the churches are filled with it.

These People’s food is usually Rice / salted Fish / and fruits / so completely unlike ours / this the whole Year through / the meat is good although only Beef can be obtained / there is an overabundance of chickens / and excellently good / doves nests are found in the walls of houses / otherwise in this Isle / have not seen Birds / the Grape Wine comes from Portugal / the Water from sources is worthless

[description]

Pg. 23

Their houses are not better than those of the Farmers at home / built among the Palmtrees / most of what they do is fishing / among these people there are many which one calls Bramam / they are held to be very Noble / go well-dressed / among them one is neither poor nor rich / they are all equal. These days I am in the City come to a place / which finds itself full of Heathens / to search for Father- and Motherless orphans / as such Children / due to the force of the kings old treaty / and are brought to the Holy Faith / it happened that I attacked a Boy / who pretended to be an orphan / they contradicted themselves / I grabbed him by the Arm / all who were against it argued / not to take him along / nevertheless / they fear us very much.

One is currently working in S Paul’s Convent / the number of children to be baptized extends itself up to six hundred / and the ones that I also finally teach / all of these / men and women / old and young / are dressed in new clothes / all distinguished hearts at Goa

[describes where the mission is at Goa, as in the letter to his brother]

Pg. 24

These baptised were also thrown into a house / as herein prescribed / are given a Name from the Catechism / in the Children’s teaching / and are taught in what they then come to know from the Christian faith / as long as they persist in the Heathen faith / they let a lock of hair grow in the middle of their head / their Ceremonies are Diabolical / among others they commit once per year three days and nights consecutively / not to eat / nor to drink / their priests (outside Goa) go completely naked / as well as others / sprinkle themselves with iron shavings / can well be named Martyrs of the Devil. This People quite young get / married at eight and ten years old. The Women use themselves so / one ring put on one side of the Nose / and in the Ears they hang Messing Braces / such as those that one uses elsewhere to put on the bridle for leading horses / at the Arms and toes on the feet / they wear Messing Rings / The few that have taken on the Christian faith / do not wear anything hanging in the ears / and go dressed more honorably.

Pg. 27

From another writing of Giacomo Rho to his friends

Pg. 27

The Countryfolk are not completely black / as the black Moors / with a little yellow in it / like Olives / their Clothing is not a span wide in linen / except for those who take themselves for something better here in Goa / dress themselves in Portuguese style / they are a weak and powerless People / yet very ingenious / as they want to settle themselves in all sorts of Handywork / they eat Rice / which they use very well / and very different from with us / to know. The heathens are still many here / living in hard stubbornness /

There is a Sect / to be held more for Mahommedans than for Heathens / dress themselves wholly in white / greet nobody / apply themselves completely to all kinds of trade / and are mocked and laughed at by Christians. An unspeakable crowd of all kinds of People of various Nations / one sees here / from the Orient from China / Japan / Malaca / Ormus / of the mighty Potentates of the Mogorlands / and from the red Sea / from the Occident / from Africa / and St. Lorenz island / from Europe / Portuguese / Italians / Dutch / etc. In summa it seems to me an assembly of all Nations.

Pg. 38

Father Nicolas Trigault

[the other writings and descriptions in the document focus mostly on the voyage by sea and later arrival in China. They do not feature such lengthy descriptions of Goa or India. Trigault only mentions that]

In India everything is as it has anciently stood [since Antiquity]

[and maintains a dichotomy of Christians versus heathens throughout his writing, both for India and China]

1.  Edited volume based on letters compiled, and possibly edited, by multiple missionaries traveling together on an expedition led by Flemish P. Nicolas Trigault, from Lisbon in April 1618 to its ultimate destination of Macao in April 1619, andof which some members resided in Goa before traveling onwards to China (for which they are better known).
2. The psalm cited in the preface is sometimes labeled differently, such as 107 23.30, cfr. It implies that both seagoing merchants, navies, or missionaries witnessed the work of God on the oceans, and thereby frames these entire observations in a Semitic theological framework.
3. The designation ‘Indian Voyage’ signifies not only India, but Asia more widely.
4. Another version of the source exists in Italian (its original source language), and is accessible via the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. See the ‘Related Literature’ section. The translated German version of this source has been checked against the Italian version in order to clarify inconsistencies. The Italian version seems to have more details, and slightly different formulations, than the German version this translation is made from.

Ro, Giacomo, Lettere del Padre G. Ro della Compagnia di Giesu doppò la sua partenza di Lisbona per la Cina 1618 : Scritte al Sign. Aless. Ro P.C. suo padre in mezo al océano, et poi de Goa capo delle Indie orientali, Milano: Bidelli, 1620. [Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München, Jes. 625 m]. [accessed via https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/ZOSX46W7VBQZGHXXOQNM2IOKUWNTXAWP]

Golvers, Noël, Libraries of Western Learning for China. Circulation of Western Books between Europe and China in the Jesuit Mission (ca. 1650-1750). Vol. II: Formation of Jesuit Libraries. Leuven: Ferdinand Verbiest Institute, 2013.

Mungello, D.E., Curious Land: Jesuit Accomodation and the Origins of Sinology, University of Hawaii Press, 1988.