was pleased with the information, and sent one of his brothers with many presents to entreat that they would come to make him acquainted with every thing contained in the songs of the Indian merchants. The Fathers received the ambassador with great kindness and much satisfaction to themselves, and determined that one of their number should return with him to the cacique. The chief went to the entrance of the village to meet the missionary, treated him with great veneration, and after having been made to comprehend the mysteries of the new faith, he fervently adopted it, burnt his idol, and became a preacher to his own subjects.”
After this glorious triumph of peaceful persuasion, over force and cruelty, the fathers returned to Guatimala, and the following year resumed their operations with similar results. In numerous instances they succeeded in collecting the Indians into villages, and brought them to form themselves into societies, and submit to be governed by reasonable laws.
Impatient of this slow though certain process, the Spanish governor despatched troops to the neighbouring provinces, and in some instances subdued the natives; but in others the instant the troops were withdrawn, the villages were abandoned, and the roads blocked up by the Indians.
