The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803; explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commericial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century; [Vol. 1, no. 13]

I42

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

[Vol. 13

venient church. We cast our nets - or, to speak correctly, those of Jesus Christ - and the Lord pressed into them all the fish there were. Indeed, even if there
were no other return than this, I would consider
myself well repaid for having come from Espafia;
for all-the headmen and chiefs, the children, old
men, and women- prostrated themselves at the feet
of Jesus Christ, making public confession and asking
for the waters of baptism. The first time, we baptized
a hundred souls; the second time, the rest of the
people in the village, so that we did not know of any
perverse one remaining - although, at the beginning,
there were a few who resisted. When I arrived at
the village, I heard someone say in a loud voice: 'I
do not have to become a Christian;' but he was afterward converted, being unable to resist the Holy
Spirit. Another savage, fierce and intractable in disposition, after having heard the sermon on salvation
and hell, said that he would go to hell; and he maintained this so obstinately that he seemed to be possessed by the devil. He was arousing the same spirit
in others, as he was an influential man, respected by
those of the village. I told him of the terrible punishments of hell, and in return he asked what he was to
do if his ancestors and parents were there, and he
wished to be with them. I told him that he ought
first to try the fire, to see if he could endure it, and
I ordered some red-hot coals to be brought, that he
might make this test; but his hands were as hard as
his heart, and the fire had little effect on them. After
a few days had passed, however, he turned over a
new leaf, so completely that he went through the
plains and grain-fields, calling together his people so
that they might become Christians and be baptized