Note 79 — Chapters XX–XXII

[At length the attempts of the Augustinians to go to China bear fruit, and on June 21, 1575, Martin de Rada and Jerónimo Marín set sail for the great empire. The opportunity comes through the defeat and siege of the pirate Limahon. The Chinese captain Dumón braves the laws forbidding the entrance of foreigners into China, and conveys the missionaries to that country—whither they go rather in the light of emissaries of the government than as religious workers; for the governor, Guido de Lavezares, gave them three letters, one for the Chinese emperor, another for the viceroy of the province of Fo-Kien, and the third for the governor of Chin-Cheu. They are well received and borne through a portion of the land [237] in state. They receive audience, and later a banquet, from the governor of the city of Chin-Cheu, to whom they deliver the letter from the Spanish governor.]79