190 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



/ 



inculcated upon the governors of the conquered country 

 as the grand object to be sought after, as soon as 

 tranquillity was partially restored by the submission of 

 the Mexicans ; and the Cross, the sacred emblem of the 

 Catholic faith, was to be upraised in the remotest 

 corners of the country, and the natives instructed and 

 compelled to worship it, in lieu of the grotesque images 

 of their own idolatrous religion. 



To carry into effect these orthodox instructions, 

 troops of pious priests, of friars and monks of every 

 order, and even of saintly nuns, followed in the wake of 

 the victorious armies of Cortez ; and, girding up their 

 loins with zealous fervour and enthusiasm, and with an 

 enterprise and hardihood worthy of buccaneers, they 

 pushed their adventurous way far into the bowels of the 

 land, preaching devoutly and with commendable per- 

 severance to savages who did not understand a syllable 

 of what they so eloquently discoursed ; and returning, 

 after the lapse of many months passed in this first 

 attempt, with glowing accounts of the " muy buen indole" 

 the very ductile disposition of the savages, and of 

 the thousands they had converted to " la santa ft 

 catolica." 



Ferdinand and Isabel, of glorious memory, at once 

 beat up for volunteers. Crowds of Franciscan monks, 

 greasy Capuchinos, and nuns of orthodox odour, joined 

 the band ; and saints even of the feminine gender, long 

 since canonised and up aloft amongst the goodly muster 

 of saints and martyrs, put foot once more on terra 

 Jirma, and, rosary in hand, crossed the seas to participate 



