and kept him three days in prison. The latter did not, however, a bit the more desist from his undertaking, but when he ran short of money to prosecute his suit, he sold all the clothes that he could do without to raise a small sum. He was detained for five months about this business, and yet had no means of communicating with the Armenian, from his ignorance of Persian ; the other being equally unable to speak either Portuguese or Latin. When they were called before the Court, Ferdinand recited the Lord's Prayer, whilst Isaac repeated the name of Benedict Goes with a few words of Portuguese ; and as nobody understood a word of what either of them said, the judge gave it as his opinion that they were talking in the Canton dialect, and understood each other perfectly ! Latterly, however, Ferdinand learned in about two months to talk Persian, and so was able to converse with the Armenian.
Sometimes the Mahomedans raised objections from the extreme discrepancy of their physiognomies, which they said evidently betrayed one to be a Saracen and the other a Chinaman. But Ferdinand answered that his mother had been Chinese, and that he took the character of his features after her. Nothing, however, moved the judge so much as what occurred one day when Ferdinand declared before the Court that Isaac was heartily opposed to the Mahomedan religion, and that in any case if he really did belong to that faith he would never touch pork ; and taking a piece of pork out of his sleeve he offered it to Isaac, and both of them began to eat it, to the intense disgust of the Mahomedans and to the amusement of the other spectators. Indeed when the Saracens saw this they gave up the case as hopeless, and went out of court, spitting at Isaac as they went, and saying that he had been deluded by that Chinese impostor. For it was true that on the whole journey neither Isaac nor Benedict had ever eaten pork, in order not to give offence to the Mahomedans ; or if they ever did so, at least it was in
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