Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/185

Rh Dominicans remained, and the Franciscans, after a stay with them of six weeks, due partly to the easter celebration, proceeded to San Juan de Ulua, Valencia being invested with the additional power of inquisitor.

They arrived on May 138th, and although Cortés hastened to send officers and servants with orders to attend to their reception and comfort, the friars modestly declined every indulgence, and marched barefooted toward the capital, attracting no little attention from the natives. "Who are these so humble, yet so revered?" "What coarse and patched robes!" "Poor men!" Among the expressions thus employed was frequent the term motolinia. "What means the word?" asked Friar Benavente. "Poor," replied a soldier; '"'and it is applied, reverend father, to the humbleness of your appearance." "Then shall it be my name," rejoined the friar; and henceforth he called and signed himself Toribio Motolinia, a name spread far and wide during the following years as that of a zealous apostle. At Tlascala they sought, with the aid of an interpreter, to give the wondering natives an idea of their mission, and as they approached Mexico, its