The marvellous country, or, Three years in Arizona and New Mexico.: Containing an authentic history of this wonderful country and its ancient civilization ... together with a full and complete history of the Apache tribe of Indians .../ By Samuel Woodworth Cozzens. Illustrated by more than one hundred engravings.

36 FATHER KINO'S DETERMINA'ION.
followed until suddenly its waters were lost in the earth.
After describing the astonishment with which he beheld
the vast volume of water seemingly disappear before his
very eyes, he says, "But I ought not to be astonished at
anything I see, for it is a country full of all that is stralige
and wonderful, possessing more marvels than I could tell
of, were I to write for a year."
After spending some months in this portion of the country,
and trying in vain to instruct the people in the religion which
he preached, he finally determined to retrace his steps.
Commencing his weary journey homeward, he again passed
through the same country that had so delighted him,
only to become more determined than ever to plant the
cross there, and teach the inhabitants the doctrines of the
Catholic church. After an absence of more than four years,
Father Kino found himself once more at the monastery
from which he had set forth on his perilous undertaking,
firmly resolved to enlist the aid and sympathy of the church
to enable him to return, and, in the name of the cross,
take possession of the country through which he had passed.
This determination necessitated his making a journey to the
city of Mexico, where he proposed to lay the matter before
the head of the church. Fired with the thought of the
beauties of the country, of its immense mineral wealth,
of its industrious and peaceful inhabitants, his eloquence
soon overcame any feeble opposition that he encountered,