CHAPTER XLVIII The beginning of the conversion of the Mandayas, mountaineers of Nueva Segovia Although the conversions of the kingdoms of Japon and China turns thither much [missionary] effort [61] in España, since these kingdoms are so magnificent, and summons many noble spirits, that is not the only conversion; nor ought the others to be despised where the Lord more quietly (and perhaps in a humbler way) works marvelous effects among the heathen who are converted--and also among the ministers, who profit greatly by so noble a work. Many examples of this have been written in this history, which are confirmed by the events of this year among the Indians called Mandayas, who inhabit some remote and craggy mountains in the province of Nueva Segovia. Though this island of Luçon is the first which received the faith in these regions, having done so at the time when the Spaniards invaded it, there are still many regions in it where for lack of ministers the faith has not been preached, and where the inhabitants have never heard more of the gospel than if Christians had never come hither. This is true not only of a village here and there, but of whole provinces, each inhabited by its own race and each possessing its own language, though they are all within this great island. Such were these Mandayas Indians, the conversion of whom was begun in this year by father Fray Geronimo de Zamora, a native of Zaragoça, a son of the most religious province of Aragon--from whose report, and from that of two other fathers who for some time accompanied him, the following facts are drawn. In the provincial chapter of the year 1631 obedience sent this father as superior to the villages of Fotol and Capinatan, which are in Nueva Segovia near the aforesaid mountains. He had great joy in going there, for he immediately entertained great hopes of the conversion of these Mandaya tribes. They were as completely given over to their errors as if there had never been a preacher of the faith in this country, for they lived in mountains which were very rugged, although they were near the villages above mentioned. When father Fray Geronimo came thither and saw that these heathen sometimes came down for trade with the villages, he began to show them kindness, and to give them some trifles that they thought much of, until at last he secured their good will. For the time he did not speak of anything else, for they were not inclined to matters of the faith, much less to accept ministers who would interfere with the vices in which they lived and had been brought up. In this way a year passed, and at the beginning of the next year, seeing that they were more kindly disposed to him, it seemed to him that he could trust them; and he determined to go up to their villages. He was confident that even though they would not admit him as a teacher and preacher, they would receive him kindly as their friend and benefactor, who was not coming to take or to ask for