his subjects, who accompanied and guarded him with great fidelity. All this had happened before the religious came to the province, for if father Fray Diego had been in it the alcalde-mayor would not have done what he did. Father Fray Diego saw that if he could convert this Indian many more would be sure to follow him to the church, and determined to attempt his conversion. For this purpose he prepared himself with many prayers and masses, and the tears of himself and the other religious, in return for which the Lord caused the Indians to appoint a place where father Fray Diego might come and speak with him. Father Fray Diego gave him the assurance that no other Spaniard would come there, and that there would be no Indians in ambush and no trickery. They conversed with each other, and father Fray Diego was able to give Siriban such assurances that he came down with his following to the village of Pata, put himself like a lamb in the hands of father Fray Diego, and began like a child to learn the Christian prayers and doctrine, desiring to receive the law which the religious taught. He was occupied in this up to the end of Lent; and at Easter was baptized in the city of the Spaniards with seven other chiefs. These were the first adult Christians of this province of Nueva Segovia. Don Diego, as Siriban was named, had as his godfathers the alcalde-mayor and some other leading Spaniards. This was a day of great joy for the villages; and Don Diego Siriban and his associates became very friendly to the Spaniards. Don Diego was very grateful and was a great aid to Christianity; he attracted many to the faith, not only by his example, but by his words. Many adults now began to be baptized; but the greatest and most certain harvest was that of the children, because the Lord at this time sent a great plague of epidemic smallpox throughout the province. It was so malignant that it did not leave a child alive; and that the children might have eternal life the Lord enabled the religious to baptize them throughout the time of the epidemic. The result was a great harvest of souls for heaven, sent from a land which always before had supplied a harvest for hell. The new preachers of the gospel kept constantly baptizing children; and, as this activity was so sure and certain in its results, they took great delight in it. They already forgot and despised all the hardships which they had suffered in their long voyages, their dangerous infirmities, and their exhausting journeys, being pleased with the taste of fruits which were so plentiful, which came so early, and which were so agreeable to God. God also showed himself to be pleased with the good services of the religious, in receiving from their hands such abundance and such gracious first-fruits. The religious also promised themselves marvelous results from their labor, which had commenced so wonderfully. Not only here, but in all the churches which have