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Brbsio 4. item 95
INTTER FROM FATgER BUJLSAR BDRRSIRA TO FATHER AUIRt ALVAHES. 9.5.1609
(ATT, Cartiria dos Jesuitas, mago 36,; doc. 92)
After the last letters that I wrote to Your Reverence from this
Island at the end of February, Father Sebastia& Gomes and Father
JoID (elio went to Serra Leoa, and Father Jogo Delgado, Father
Ant6nio Dias and Brother Jolo Fernandes to Chauaqueo [Cacheu].
I trust in the Lord that they will arrive there safely and that
He will preserve their lives ,for the increase of Hio holy faith
and the salvation of souls, both in those parts and on thi Island,
where we, Brother Pero Fernandez and myself, remain at present in
good health, through the goodness of the Lord, and in order to
preserve it better we moved, when the Dadree left, to the Castle
which stands on an elevated site.
I have seen the sites where we could establish our house, and
at all of them I keep discovering many difficulties and disadvan-
tages. In past letters I was inclined towards the Praia site, but
after I had seen it and considered its peculiarities I was doubt-
ful if this site could be used. The drawbacks are these. All the
buildings, except that of the Council, and three or four houses
of little importance, have fallen down and are abandoned by their
inhabitants, and the body of the Church is without a root or any-
thing to cover it. There is no market-place, and no-one selling
anything; nor does it appear that the town has any people in it
other than those who are hpi     watch, the vicar on Sundays and
Saints' days, a magistrate who visits from time to time, and a
clerk. The reason why the inhabitants have abandoned this town,