, the Oba sent his own sou with those of some chiefs to be baptised and taught to read by the missionaries. Reading lessons - probably with catechisms in Portuguese - progressed very satisfactorily, according to Pires. The Ob i also gave orders that a church should be built in Benin City for the priests. Whether this was done is open to doubt, for although Benin tradition insists that Roman Catholic churches were built in the city, and even the sites are indicated with some precision,4 there is no documentary evidence for the existence of churches there