ire and fervor increased,
and each day he became more fixed in his good resolution. One day a
father asked him why he did not cut off his hair, since he desired
to become a Christian. At once he made answer with much affection:
"The hair, Father, and nothing more? Do but grant me what I ask,
and I will cut off, not only my hair, but even my arm, in return for
baptism." This man was almost on the point of tearing out his eyes,
or cutting off his hand or foot, to his own shame.

But who can exaggerate the satisfaction and devotion wherewith they
receive in their villages these servants of the Lord, when the latter
go to visit them? This will be seen in an account of such a journey,
made by Father Juan de San Lucar, who himself thus describes it:
"I cannot express the satisfaction which was caused by our visits to
all these villages. We reached the first one, called Ibatan, in the
middle of the night. The people had already learned that we were
to go to their village, and, in spite of the late hour, they did
not weary of waiting; indeed, they were all waiting on the shore,
where they had lighted fires. As soon as we arrived, the leading
chiefs cast themselves into the water in order to take hold of our
boat; and we could not prevent them from carrying us ashore on their
shoulders. In the two weeks that we spent there, great was the fervor
of their attendance at our church, as well as the concourse of men
and boys on certain nights for the purpose of scourging themselves;
at the same hour the women throughout the village performed the same
exercises at their homes. Ten children and thirty adults were baptized,
and to some holy communion was granted after they had been prepared
by a sermon on that subject. All those who received the most blessed
sacrament manifested great unworldliness and exemplary virtue. In this
village there was an old woman, more than eighty years of age, blind,
deaf, and so sick and crippled that she could not leave her bed. Upon
several occasions we had passed much time with this poor woman trying
to persuade her to receive holy baptism; but she had never shown any
desire for it, and even stubbornly resisted. But the Lord took pity
on her and enlightened her, at a time when I was most forgotten or
distrusted. Her husband came to me as many as eight or ten times to
ask me to go to baptize her telling me that he loved her very much,
and it would cause him much grief if she should incur damnation; he
wa