rtant Indians who were to go with them
through the Village and show them all that they wished to see. The
principal purpose of the Padres in soliciting this permission was to
make a beginning to their preaching; from that time on, in the presence
of Canek, of the Chiefs and of a great crowd of _Zamaguales_ or Common
People, they began to preach the Law of God...."

Fuensalida Preaches; Orbita Destroys an Idol. "With great attention the
Indians who were congregated there listened to the discourse of the
Padre Fuensalida...." For a brief time it looked as if the Padres might
attain success in the errand, but as we saw in Chapter III, Padre
Orbita, in anger, destroyed the idol of the horse and also the
tolerance of the Itzas.

"Having returned to the guest house, and having rested a little from
the toil of the Spiritual Battle and of breaking the Idol, the
Religious went to see Canek, who, although he already knew what had
happened in the Temple, and though they themselves spoke of it to him,
did not say a word about it, nor did he show anger on account of it. So
that the other Indians, seeing their Lord calm, became entirely
appeased, and spoke no more of the affair to the Padres. But it is true
that the Canek did not leave off wondering that they should have dared
to do such a thing as that."

The Padres Urge the Itzas to be Christians. "He made them sit down on
something which was like a small throne and on which he was wont to sit
himself; it was then raised and placed in the midst of them, and being
thus raised, the Padres discoursed for a long time concerning the
affairs of God and the Holy Catholic Faith...."

They Refuse because the Appointed Time has not Come. They told the
Canek that a previous Canek had promised Cortes to receive
Christianity. "... Canek replied: That the time had not yet arrived in
which their ancient Priests had prophesied to them they were to
relinquish the worship of their Gods; because the Period in which they
then were was Oxahau, which means Third Period[5.6] ... and so they
asked the Padres to make no further attempts in that direction at that
time, but to return to the Village of Tipu and then, on another
occasion, to come again to see them.

"Despite all this, Canek was the first to receive, with great pleasure,
a Cross which the Padres placed in his hands, and afterwards some of
his men received others. Canek gave the Padres permission, during the
days they were his guests