We Chose To Begin Our Mission With The Lady Of The Village, And
Hoped That Her Prejudice And Obstinacy, However
Great, would in time
yield to the advice and example of her husband, and that her
conversion would have a
Great influence on the whole village, but
having lost several days without being able to prevail upon her to
hear us on any one point, we left the place, and went to another
mountain, higher and better peopled. When we came to the village on
the top of it, where the lord lived, we were surprised with the
cries and lamentations of men that seemed to suffer or apprehend
some dreadful calamity; and were told, upon inquiring the cause,
that the inhabitants had been persuaded that we were the devil's
missionaries, who came to seduce them from the true religion, that
foreseeing some of their neighbours would be ruined by the
temptation, they were lamenting the misfortune which was coming upon
them. When we began to apply ourselves to the work of the mission
we could not by any means persuade any but the lord and the priest
to receive us into their houses; the rest were rough and untractable
to that degree that, after having converted six, we despaired of
making any farther progress, and thought it best to remove to other
towns where we might be better received.
We found, however, a more unpleasing treatment at the next place,
and had certainly ended our lives there had we not been protected by
the governor and the priest, who, though not reconciled to the Roman
Church, yet showed us the utmost civility; the governor informed us
of a design against our lives, and advised us not to go out after
sunset, and gave us guards to protect us from the insults of the
populace.
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