When Pedro de Alvarado was laying waste the fair province of Guatemala with fire and sword during the early years of the conquest, he paid little heed to the presence of the priestly order. One of the friars, named Pontaz, of whom mention has before been made, took up his abode at Quezaltenango, and there lived in security, instilling faith and hope into the native heart,[VIII‑1] while another, Juan de Torres, for a time at least, labored in the vineyard under less easy circumstances at Patinamit. The spiritual wants of the Spaniards themselves were ministered to by the army chaplains and parish priest. But the clerical staff was not large enough to attend to the religious welfare even of the colonists. On the 5th of November 1529, the cabildo of Guatemala represented to the royal officers that half the colonists, being usually engaged in war, required the services of the clergy during their campaigns, while the population of the city at that time was such that two friars at least ought to reside there. They requested, therefore, that a suitable number of ecclesiastics and a sacristan be appointed with fixed salaries, and that the necessary church furniture and ornaments be supplied. This demand was made with some urgency, and the treasurer and auditor were given to understand that, if it were not complied with, the tithes would be retained and devoted to that purpose; whereupon his Majesty's officers declared that they were willing to grant the tithes for the year then current, but that future necessities must be provided for in accordance with the orders of the king. [Sidenote: MARROQUIN.] The spiritual needs of the community were partially relieved by the arrival, in 1530, of the licentiate Francisco Marroquin, who accompanied Alvarado on his return to Guatemala during that year. A few months later he was appointed to the benefice of Santiago, and after he had taken the customary oaths the cabildo assigned to him an annual salary of one hundred and fifty pesos de oro per annum.