which is certain is so much that it alone would be sufficient to give glory to an entire religious order; and how much more to a small province--so small that there were many convents in España which alone contained more religious than this entire province. Under all these circumstances, for the Lord to give so many and so great saints to it is a special mercy; and however much we may strive to praise and give thanks for it, our praise and gratitude will never reach the obligation, which is far and beyond measure above our feeble strength. All these new causes of joy were necessary to temper the sorrow caused among the religious of this province by the rising of a large number of Indians, which happened on the sixth of November in this year in the most distant parts of the province of Nueva Segovia, in the region known as Yrraya. On the Friday before, a very large and beautiful cross had been set up in the court or cemetery of the church in the largest village there, which was called Abuatan. At this time the Indians gave every evidence of joy and pleasure and even of devotion to the Lord who redeemed us on the cross; but on the following Sunday, instigated by the devil, they burnt their churches and villages, and avowed themselves enemies of the Spaniards, and even of God, whom they left that they might return to their ancient sites to serve the devil in exchange for the enjoyments of the liberties and vices of their heathen state. Practically all those in this village, and many of those in another near it called Pilitan, belonged to a tribe called Gadanes. [27] This tribe was always regarded as one on a lower plane of civilization than the others, and more devoted to freedom, and enemies to subjection; for they were a race bred in the most distant mountains and the wildernesses of that province, and they had less communication and commerce than did the other tribes--not only with the Spaniards, but even with the rest of the Indians. It was these Gadanes, then, who became restless, and disquieted the other inhabitants of that region, though these others had always been very faithful to God and the Spaniards. They had even sustained many bloody wars with the neighbors by whom they were surrounded that they might not be lacking in the friendship which they had with the Spaniards, or in the subjection which they had promised them. But now these revolted and joined the insurgents, partly as the result of force applied by the Gadanes--for the latter greatly excelled them in numbers, and caught them unprepared for defense--and partly also carried away by their own natural desire for liberty, to which they were invited by the safety of the mountains to which they proposed to go. The mountains, being very rough, offered opportunities for easy defense; and, being very fertile, promised them an abundant living. The Gadanes had planned this revolt far ahead, and had appointed a day for it to occur some time later. Their purpose was to try to get