Briceno's Opposition. "And the Bishop perceived that the Religious were going without attention to temporal matters, for the Governor Francisco Ramirez Briceno, in spite of His Majesty's command that in such Cases the Necessary Funds for the Divine Worship and the Viaticum for the Religious should be given from the Royal Chest, did not wish to give anything to these men; nor did he wish to give them even the Despatch for which they asked in order that the Villages through which they passed might give them assistance, his excuse being that he did not have orders from the King, and that if they were killed by the Barbarians or by some Native Indians they had with them, or if any other misfortune should come to pass, the Blame would be upon him. The Bishop gave them, beside the Appointment, orders and aids which I have spoken of, many Crosses, Knives, Shears and other trifles and Charms from Spain so that they might treat the Indians well; and he comforted them, and put new life into their zeal for this good purpose. "The Citizens of Merida joined the Bishop in his joy and also in giving the Padres increased Alms; and the Former Governor Don Antonio de Figueroa gave them Rosaries, and Glass Beads, and the Citizens gave them these and many other things, and still others were bought with the Alms contributed by the _Encomenderos_. Even the Indians of the City and the Villages through which they later passed, the Chiefs, and Indian Women, gave them Clothing of the sort they were wont to use for the improvement [of the Itzas], in order that they might be given to the King Canek and to his Wife and to the other Chiefs of the Itzas." The Padres Set out. "The present Governor alone, Briceno, gave them nothing, and he even swindled them out of the Despatch of Favor and Assistance, saying that he would give it to them the day of their departure; then he said that they should wait for it at the Convent of Tikax, which is the last one in the Sierra. So that without the Despatch, but with the Blessing of God and that of the Bishop and their own Prelate, and asking all to recommend to God the good outcome of the Voyage, they set out from Merida for Bacalar, rejoicing, and on naked feet. "In a short space of time they arrived at the Convent of Tikax, for they feared that the rains would begin. When they had waited some days for the Despatches of the Governor, they received only a letter from him in which he said that he did not intend to give them the Despatches for the reasons he had already given them. The Padres greatly regretted the coldness on the part of the Governor merely because they feared that they would not have in Bacalar good Aid without the orders of the Governor; for it was necessary to take Boats from there to go up the Rivers from that Town to the Village of Tipu, where they were to make their Headquarters, according to the instructions of the Bishop."