what they possessed, but merely to provide them with a good which they were without. That he might not make a mistake by following his own opinion, he consulted first with the father vicar-provincial of that region and some grave fathers of it; and after they had conferred, and discussed the case, they resolved that father Fray Geronimo should make the journey, while the others should pray to the Lord for a good result. Hereupon he most courageously went up into the mountains, about the end of January, taking with him some Indians whom he could trust and who were of good intelligence--acquaintances and friends of the Mandayas. It took him a day and a half of most laborious traveling to reach their first village, for they had to row up stream against the current, which is always strong and in some places terrible. The river runs between high mountains on both sides and in the middle of the stream there are great rocks, which make it very dangerous to go up--and still more so to go down, because the rapid current carries the boat against the rocks. They received him with great pleasure, and lodged him in one of their best houses, though it was built of thatch, after the custom of the country. Next to it the father had a building erected where he could say mass; and he sent round to the chiefs of the other villages to ask them to come to that one, and there he waited for them. They did so readily, because of their good will toward him; and, when they were all together, the father--standing in the midst of them in an open place, like St. Paul in Athens--expounded to them the mysteries of our faith, demolishing the delusions of their errors and the teaching of the devil, the Father of Lies, and saying much that was suitable for both purposes. To this they listened with attention, although the doctrine was new to their ears. God enlightened them within, and hence they did not answer as the Athenians did to St. Paul--some making a jest of it, and others saying that they would hear him another time as to this matter, while there were few that believed; but here all said at once that they believed what they were taught, and wished to receive this holy law, placing themselves in his hands to be disposed of as he thought best. Great was the joy which father Fray Geronimo felt at this answer, which was beyond his hopes; and he gave many thanks to the Lord, seeing that it was he who had accomplished the matter so well, so quickly, and with so little effort, though it was a great matter. He also thanked them, and confirmed them as much as he could in their good purpose; and he asked them as a proof of the validity of the promise which they had given him, to grant him, as sureties that they would not retract it, their infant sons in baptism. Without hesitation ten of their chiefs on the following day brought ten infants, their sons, whom father Fray Geronimo immediately baptized, offering them to God as the first-fruits of this new conversion.