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728 injustice and oppression must be false, abandoned it and returned to his old faith, and was discovered sacrificing as high-priest to the idols, with six of his people. Father Bernardino de Santa María, the vicar-general, admonished him in private, reasoning tenderly, but, as he persisted, he and his accomplices were imprisoned in the Dominican convent. The people clamored for his liberty, and the civil authority, fearing possible trouble, asked the priest to persuade Cociyopu to speak to his people and calm them. The king replied that his vassals were his children, and were righteously grieved; nevertheless he asked them not to add to his sorrows by violent acts. "It is the will of heaven," he said. "I am well treated and happy, and you must not break the peace." Nevertheless, he refused to recognize the jurisdiction of Bishop Alburquerque's commissioners to try him, because as a subject of the Spanish crown his case should go to the viceroy and audiencia, before whom it had been already laid. He went to Mexico about the year 1563, summoned to appear before the high court of the audiencia, and on his journey, though apparently in custody, was greeted everywhere as befitted the king of Tehuantepec, the son of Cociyoeza, grandson of one Mexican emperor, and brother-in-law of another. His efforts availed him nothing, however, for after spending a year in the endeavor to obtain justice, he was stripped of everything.

According to Bishop Zárate, affairs in this province were not in an enviable condition down to the year 1550. There were at the time very few priests and only two convents, of the Dominican order, one at Oajaca and the other at Miztecapan. On account of the unsettled affairs of Cortés the valley seemed to have been neglected, particularly by his sturdy enemy the