ver. The next
day, while we were giving thanks, they made a sudden attack on the
village, whereupon all the people fled. We two went to the mountains,
where we remained eleven days. Thence the enemy took their way toward
another village, where the father-provincial was, together with Father
Juan Lopez, [60] his associate, and other fathers. Before the enemy
arrived, they received the warning which I sent them. Consequently,
all took to the mountains, and the father-provincial and the other
fathers were among the mountains for a number of days, where they
suffered hardships. But our Lord was pleased to order that the enemy
should not reach that village nor the village where I was staying,
for fear of the narrowness of the rivers, lest they could not get
through them when they departed. But they went thence to another town
located on the seashore, and burned it entirely. The enemy also went
to other villages of our missions and burned them, and the fathers
escaped as by a miracle from their hands. When the enemy capture the
fathers they cut off their heads, as they did two years ago with a
father whom they captured. They treat the Spaniards whom they capture
in the same way. Consequently, we all go about as if we were soldiers;
our ships are laden with arms; and forts have been built in the chief
villages and fortified with firearms, with which to defend ourselves;
while forts are being built in the other villages.

All those coasts of this sea have been crowded with sentinels this
year, for it was rumored that many Dutch ships were to come, and they
always come to sight land at the cape of Espiritu Santo.

When we go from some villages to others, we cross many deep rivers,
which are all generally full of caymans or crocodiles. These [reptiles]
swallow a bull, a cow, or a deer even to their horns, thus causing
great loss. They also catch and eat the Indians daily.

There is a most abundant quantity of snakes, almost all of which
cause death when they sting. There is but one remedy for the wounds,
namely, if they happen to have a little of the earth from San Pablo. By
having it blessed, they are infallibly cured; and he who is treated
with this remedy does not die. There are other snakes which are not
poisonous. They are so large that they can swallow a large wild boar,
or a large deer, horns and all. A father and some Indians killed one
which was eating a hog; they ran up on hearing the grunts of the hog,
and speared a