elves only in their own ship, for when good weather
and the quiet of the sea permitted, they went in the small boat or
lancha to the others, in order to console and confess those in need of
it. They gave them wholesome counsels, and encouraged them to serve
God our Lord as they ought. By such course they succeeded in gaining
great credit and esteem. The commander himself always approached them
with his flagship to salute them, and to ask after their health,
and whether they needed anything, while he commended himself very
earnestly to their petitions and prayers. He visited them in the island
of Guadalupe with the great following of his men, charging to them
the prosperous outcome of the fleet. Finally they reached the port of
San Juan de Lua, September seventeen, with the rejoicing common to
those who sail, and especially on those seas. They disembarked and,
after having rested for some little time, they took the road; this
they moderated by stopping several days in La Puebla de los Angeles,
[31] as guests of our calced fathers, where they received the friendly
reception and love that that province has shown to the discalced very
often because their beginning was in that form.

Since the strictness of that convent was then extreme, it lit up in
great measure the devotion and modesty of ours, the will of all going
well alongside the rare mildness of their customs. The more serious
inmates of the house did not fail to praise the humility, poverty,
and circumspect behavior of our fathers; and consequently not a few
of them were determined to follow their purpose and accompany them on
that holy undertaking, and to enjoy so good examples. They requested
this from the father commissary, but he, being so exact in matters of
attention and courtesy, excused himself prudently, in order not to
anger the prelates of the province; and, besides, because he had no
order from the king, nor any subsidy with which to pay the expenses of
any more persons than he had brought from Espana, although he esteemed
the desire that they showed to aid him. He went immediately to Mexico,
leaving the fathers of La Puebla very enamored and sad. They were
received in that magnificent city with kindness and extraordinary
devotion by the most learned father, Fray Diego de Contreras--to
whom was given, after a few years, the church of Santo Domingo, the
primatial church of the Indias. He was then professor of rhetoric in
the noted university, and rector