No less remarkable was the conversion of another great chief of the village of Magaldan, called Casipit, who had been on the point of killing a Franciscan, so opposed was he to the faith. This Indian had already thrown him on the ground to kill him with a cruel dagger which they use, when the others hindered him. When now our order came to his country, he took it so ill that he went to Manila to arrange to have the friars withdrawn from his village; and to carry out the negotiation he offered his encomendero half his property, which was considerable. His wife, named Lalo, was first converted by the preaching of father Fray Pedro de Soto. She was baptized Doña Gracia. By her efforts the husband was converted and baptized, with the whole of his family and his large retinue. He used to gather the people of his village near the church, and to address them, urging them to works of mercy with plain and sensible words; but with such fervor and devotion that he made them all weep, even the religious who had concealed himself to overhear. He led a very religious life, directing his household in habits of devotion. So also did his wife; and the good people directed their slaves to pay as much attention to their religious duties as to the work they did for them. On one occasion, when one of his slaves died, and it was impossible to bury him in the churchyard, because of the floods, the old man determined to carry the slave to another village, which on account of its higher situation had not been flooded, and to bury him in the church there. The river was full of trees and logs which might overturn his boat, the current was very strong, and there were many whirlpools in it. There was also danger from the caymans, which at that period of the year are most dangerous, and most frequently attack small boats. Don Pedro was not ignorant of the risks for an old man like him, for he was more than a hundred years old, though he had lost none of his strength. In spite of the petitions of all of his family he made the effort, carrying the slave to the village of San Jacintho. The old man, when he got there, was all wet, and was chilled with the cold of the rain that had fallen and of the winds that had blown on him. He buried the slave and went home, happy in having fulfilled his duty so nobly. When one of his slaves died by accident, without having been able to confess, the good Don Pedro took it to heart as if it had been his own sin. From this instance may be seen how devoted Christians those Indians became whose conversion had been so difficult.] CHAPTER XXIII Some miracles wrought by God in Pangasinan at the beginning of the preaching in this province