y would not recant. Seeing their
constancy, they bound them to stones, with which they were sunk in the
sea. Twenty-six others, of varying ages, they also took to the said
baths; and having especially distinguished ten of these by torments,
they kept them for some time on the edge of the baths, repeatedly
asking them if they would give up their religion. At the same time
they poured upon their shoulders jars of that boiling hot water,
drawing from them cries of pain; until, becoming convinced of their
constancy, they drowned them in the said baths. Because the body of
one of them was not burst open like the rest by the heat of the water,
they cut it open in various places with a knife. In this torture he
died, and, like the others, was flung into the baths. Adding to these
two others who died of the terrible torture inflicted upon them, the
number of those who died in the province of Tacacu, by fire, blood,
and water was forty-seven. They went to rest and abide with Christ,
and will always be able to say with David: _Transivimus per ignem et
aqua e reduxisti nos in refrigerium_. [66] We would never finish if we
undertook to tell in detail all the particulars of these martyrdoms,
which we shall leave for a more extended relation, in which they may
be viewed; and great consolation will be had from the fact that those
Christians have endured such atrocious and unheard-of torments with
such constancy, for the love of Christ.

"Let us speak of the persecution which another pagan tono set in
motion against the Christians in his lands, adjacent to those of
Tacacu. They buried three of the martyrs whom the tono of Tacacu
had condemned, and three others were captured who were going there;
he ordered them to recant if they wished to save their lives, or
else they would be subjected to various torments, but these they
suffered rather than lose the life of the soul. Besides this, the
Japanese persecuted the Christians of that town, and others near
by, trying every means in their power to divert them from our holy
faith. Some of them were steadfast, and others wavered. The tono,
however, ordered them not to kill anyone then as a Christian, and this
order was obeyed--although two widows, named Maria, gave a noble [_word
illegible in MS_.] in order to show that they were more constant. They
insulted these women in many ways, putting them to shame; and
finally, as they were triumphant over every injury and torment,
they were set free.