Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/472

452 they were overtaken by messengers, who prevailed on them to return. The gang of miscreants refused, however, to leave the country; and as they did not cease to oppress the natives and vex the souls of the ecclesiastics, Testera and his colleagues were compelled, after a few months, to abandon this field of labor.

In 1537 a second mission, consisting of five friars, was despatched to Yucatan, and though they found the natives tractable and willing to receive the faith, they remained but two years. Not until about 15-45, when an evangelical crusade was undertaken in the New World by one hundred and fifty ecclesiastics from Spain, was any permanent mission established on the peninsula. Of this number several of those sent out to Guatemala were detailed for duty in Yucatan. Arriving at San Francisco de Campeche in charge of Father Luis de Villapando, they were warmly welcomed by the adelantado, who had now returned to the province, and the principal caciques being summoned into his presence, Montejo explained to them the purpose for which they had come. A convent, dedicated to Saint Francis, was founded at this settlement on a site which it occupies at the present day, and the doctrines of the faith were translated into the native dialect. The first to be baptized was the cacique of Campeche, to whom was given the name of Diego Ná, with the title of Don. This convert soon acquired the Spanish language, and henceforth acted as the interpreter of the ecclesiastics.