e display, without manifesting any
surprise or wish to possess anything he saw, refusing also to accept the
different articles which were offered to him. The only object about which
he seems to have asked a question was a statue of the Blessed Virgin, and
when he heard the Bishop repeat the story of the Mother of Christ, just as
the friars had first sung it in his mountain home, he knelt down to
receive the image from his hands, with great veneration, and afterwards
delivered it to one of his attendants, cautioning him to carry it with the
greatest care and reverence.

The visit fortunately passed off without any friction between the
Spaniards and the followers of Don Juan, and at its close, Las Casas and
Fray Rodrigo de Ladrada accompanied the cacique back to his country,
intending to penetrate still farther into the interior of Coban where the
natives were but little known to white men. Two caciques, whose names as
Christians were Don Miguel and Don Pedro and whose tribes were near to
Rabinal, rendered much help in carrying out this plan, and so well did
everything promise, that the two friars would have remained in the
countries of Tuzulatlan and Coban to prosecute their missionary labours,
but for a summons from their companions in Guatemala recalling them
thither in May of 1538.

The Bishop Marroquin, who had prompted the summons, assembled the
community and explained that the urgent need of more clergy in his diocese
had decided him to send some of them to Spain to induce other friars of
their own and the Franciscan Order to come to his assistance. The choice
of the envoy for this mission not unnaturally fell upon Las Casas, for he
had often made the journey, was well acquainted in Spain, where he had
many and powerful friends, and was well versed in the ways of the court.
Fray Rodrigo went as his companion, and before quitting Guatemala, he went
to take leave of the cacique Don Juan, who was much dejected at the
departure of his friends.

The two travellers repaired first to Mexico, where a chapter of the
Dominican Order was held on August 24, 1539, in which Pedro de Angulo was
named prior of the convent in Guatemala, and Fray Luis Cancer was
designated to accompany Las Casas and Ladrada to Spain. During his stay
in Mexico, Las Casas saw the Viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza, who was
inclined to share the view that humane treatment of the natives promised
better results than violence, and willingly combined w