the religious, received them at first with so much disgust--soon came to see in what an error they had been, and how unfounded their fears were; for with the religious God sent to them light, teaching, true belief, healing for their souls, comfort in their sorrow, a wise rule of conduct, order and system in their manner of living, protection against those who wronged them, and, in a word, true fathers, not only in spiritual, but also in temporal matters. Hence within a few years, when the voluntary offer of their allegiance was asked for from them on the part of his Majesty King Felipe II, [56] to satisfy a scruple which he had felt with regard to the conquest of that province, one of the leading chiefs of the province, Don Diego Siriban, responded for himself and for his subjects that he gave his allegiance to the king our lord with a very good will, because of the great blessing which he had given them by sending religious to them. He went on to say "If we had known earlier the good that was coming to us with them, we would have gone to their countries to seek for it, even if we had been sure that half of us were certain to perish in the quest." The same thing was said by the whole village. Another village declared that they very readily offered their allegiance to his Majesty for having sent them Spaniards to deliver them from the tyranny of their chiefs, and religious to deliver them from the tyranny of some Spaniards. In general, the love that they feel for the religious is very great. Those who can have them in their villages are greatly pleased; while those who cannot be supplied, on account of the insufficient number, long for them. An evidence of this may be seen in the case of a great Indian chief named Bacani. Some years ago this man, who had no religious in his district, went to see the father provincial, and, falling on his knees, begged him with tears that he might receive some fathers. He offered in his own name, and in that of the other chiefs of his tribe, to gather in one village more than a thousand inhabitants, and for this purpose to leave his own villages and estates. The reason for this was that the villages were so small and scattered that it was difficult to give instruction among them; and hence the offer was made that many of them would assemble together in a new village, in some cases one or two days' travel distant from where they had been living. The inhabitants of another region, called Malagueg, who had no ministers, and to whom none could be given, built a house for them and bought a boat in which they might travel--for people generally travel by the rivers--planning thus to make it easier for religious to be given them, as soon as there should be any. In the interim they did not cease to ask for them very humbly, and left no stone unturned to bring it about that the religious might be sent. They did all sorts of things to get ministers to live among them, offering to abandon their vices, and