d it has become
a general practice throughout all these islands. I have often seen an
Indian woman approach the basin of holy water with her babe in arms,
and taking some in her hands, give it to the little one to drink,
so ordinary and universal is this devotion.

In Bohol, within only eight months, they gained the village of Baclayun
with its hamlets (which was the first station that our Society
maintained in that island), besides the villages of Lobo (which is
a river of much volume), where more than three thousand souls were
instructed and catechized, as well as many in the villages of two
other islands adjacent to Bohol. In all those places were baptized a
large number of those best prepared and able to receive the sacrament,
among them the good old Catunao (whom we mentioned above) with his
wife. Between the two, they surely had lived two hundred and thirty
years, and the woman was younger than he, Our Lord did not see fit to
take him away until He had repaid him for his good services in having
been the guide who introduced Christian people into the Filipinas. He
was always seated, for he could no longer walk. So satisfied was he at
being baptized that during the remainder of his life (which was little
more than a year) he was continually repeating, with much delight,
"Jesus, Mary."

Of the Island of Mindanao. Chapter XXXVI.

Mindanao is closer to the equinoctial line than the islands of Ibabao,
Leite, Sebu, and Bohol, and is larger than almost all those four
together. I shall say no more of its richness and fertility than
that it is not inferior to the most fertile of all of them. Besides
that, it is this island only that abounds in civet and cinnamon. The
cinnamon grows among the mountains, and the civet is obtained in
large quantities from the many civet-cats which only this island
breeds. The natives in nearly all of the island are friendly; but
in the southern part along the river of Mindanao (which they call,
and is, another Nile in its grandeur and breadth), the people, with
those of some adjoining districts, are rebellious and turbulent,
and are enticed by the Ternatans, who have introduced there the
doctrine of Mahoma. As a result, both of those peoples are enemies,
not only to us, but to our friends in the same island. An incident
occurred there which I shall not fail to relate, to show the valor of
those islanders. While the Spaniards had their camps and garrisons
stationed on this river, togeth