when
we render to you an account of our missions, I will now tell you of
the last one which I made in the two little islets of Maripipi and
Limancauayan, which for more than two years had not been visited by
any priest. The people were most eager to have some father to instruct
them; and when they knew that Brother Francisco Martin and I were
going to them, they made a great feast, and adorned with branches
of trees the streets of the village, and the shore as far as the
church. The boys and girls came forth, singing the doctrine and bearing
a cross, which was to me a most gratifying reception. Afterward, in
the church, I thanked them with tears for the affection which they
showed us. From the time of our arrival until we departed from those
islands, they were continually bringing us gifts from the products of
the land, such as wax, rice, and bananas, and other articles of more
value. When I undertook to make a list of those who sought baptism,
they asked me not to do so, since all those who were not converted
(who were very few) desired to become Christians; so I did as they
wished. The old men, who elsewhere are usually obdurate and stubborn,
and answer that they are now too old to learn the doctrine and begin
a new manner of life, here used this very same argument to induce me
to baptize them, saying: 'Father, consider that we are already old,
and soon shall end our lives; do not let us die without baptism,
since we are so anxious to be Christians.' With this good disposition
on their part, I began to preach to them, and our Lord was pleased
that they should all become Christians. They not orly learned the
doctrine, but discussed together the sermons and instructions in the
church and in their houses; indeed, so concerned were they about this
matter that they seemed to pay no attention to anything else.

"We were greatly aided in facilitating their instruction by the method
of [learning by] decuries which your Reverence imparted to us. Dividing
them by tens, as if in classes, some learned the _Pater-noster_, others
the _Ave Maria_; and thus they came to acquire with much facility
and ease all the prayers of the primer. I baptized one hundred and
forty persons, some of whom were old men of rank. One of them was very
anxious that his mother should become a Christian, and on the day when
our Lord accorded him this mercy he was greatly rejoiced; he made a
great feast, inviting the people to eat at his house, and furnish