via Kashgar and that there were many Christians in Cathay, which convinced Xavier that Cathay was the kingdom of Prester John rather than it being Ming China. (In retrospect, the Central Asian Muslim informants' idea of the Ming China being a heavily-Christian country may be explained by numerous similarities between Christian and Buddhist ecclesiastical rituals, which would make the two religions appear similar to a Muslim merchant. Moreover, there had been in fact a large number of mostly-Nestorian Christians in China and Moghulistan in the Yuan era (over a century before Góis). While Góis' expedition was being prepared, the most widely-read account of "Cathay" in the Persian- and Turkic-speaking Muslim world was perhaps the travelogue of Ghiyāth al-dīn Naqqāsh from 1420 to 1422; it does not mention any Christians within the border of the Ming China, but some editions of it mention "kafir worshiping the cross" in Turfan and Cumul.) After some communications between Xavier, the order's superiors in Goa, Niccolò Pimenta, the father visitor in charge there), and the authorities in Europe, it was decided to send an expedition overland from India to the Cathay mentioned by the Mughals' Agra to the Jesuits to find out what the country really was. Góis was chosen as the most suitable person for this expedition, as a man of courage and good judgment who was familiar with the region's language and customs. Akbar approved of the plans as well; he issued Góis with letters of safe conduct to be used during the part of the trip within the Mughal Empire, and he provided some of the funds for the expedition. In Cathay He left Agra for Lahore in late 1602 or early 1603 (sources differ), and in February 1603, he left Lahore with the annual caravan bound for Kashgaria's capital, Yarkand. His cover identity was that of an Armenian merchant with a somewhat unlikely name Abdullah Isái. He was accompanied by two Greeks chosen by Xavier: a priest, Leo Grimano, who travelled to Kabul, and a merchant, Demetrios, who also separated from Góis in Kabul but later rejoined him in Yarkand. Instead of the four servants given to him in Agra, he hired in Lahore a real Armenian residing in that city, Isaac, who accompanied Góis to the very end. Traveling via Peshawar, the caravan reached Kabul, where the caravan members spent several months. While in Kabul, Góis met "Agahanem", the sister