 In Adam Hochschild's 1998 book "King Leopold's Ghost", Hochschild characterizes Afonso as a "selective modernizer" because he welcomed European scientific innovation and the church but refused to adopt Portugal's legal code and sell land to prospectors.In fact, Afonso ridiculed the "Ordenações Manuelinas" (new Portuguese law code) when he read it in 1516, asking the Portuguese emissary de Castro, "What is the punishment, Castro, for putting one's feet on the ground?