The great comfort which the religious commonly felt in their ministry both in life and in death [In spite of the sufferings of the religious in this region--the heat, the strangeness, the homesickness, the poverty of their life--they had great joy in their work. The aniteras, or priestesses of the devil, who became Christians, often told them that as soon as they came to heathen villages the devil left the houses in which he was worshiped, which were wretched little hovels. They dreamed that they saw their anitos in the form of carabaos, or buffaloes, and of black men; and that they likewise suffered greatly at such times, because the devil was so much their owner that he used to enter them visibly--one of them, who was the mistress of the others, saying that he entered her in the form of a shadow, and in that way gave his oracles. The aniteras were, as the Indians said, beside themselves and out of their minds at such times. Many miracles were wrought by the fathers, and they had great joy in the marvels which the Lord showed them in permitting them to save by holy baptism children and others who were at the point of death, from eternal damnation. The bishop of Nueva Segovia, Don Fray Diego de Soria, writing to his great friend, father Fray Bernardo de Sancta Cathalina, or Navarro, on March 24, 1608, said that when they had come from the province of Ylocos, they had been detained in a port for two weeks by as heavy a storm as if they had been in Segovia itself, and that they had suffered much on the road; but that now they felt consoled by what they had found in the province, which was a perfect picture of Pangasinan. He reported that in the mountains of Fotol and Alamonag they had confirmed more than six hundred Indians; and that even the little boys and girls knew the definition of the sacrament of confirmation. He reports that the religious of the province are very harmonious, especially those who came from the college of Alcala, to which they purpose sending a golden cup worth a thousand pesos, hoping that the college may pay for it with missionaries, which will not be simony. He goes on to say that he had been three days in the village, and that they had already confirmed eight or nine thousand Indians. The cup of gold was sent, but never reached its destination. His remarks with reference to the college of Alcala are due to the fact that several of the religious who came over on various expeditions had been supplied by that college. Among them were some of the most devoted of the missionaries--for instance, the bishop himself, father Fray Bernardo de Sancta Cathalina, and father Fray Juan Cobo. The report of this father may well be followed by that of father Fray Francisco de San Joseph, or Blancas, [2] who wrote from this province of Nueva Segovia to the father provincial, father Fray Miguel de San Jacintho. His letter is given in full by Aduarte; the substance of it is as follows: "I have seen with my own