PREPARATIONS FOR HOUSEKEEPING. 287 



ribs fell down before him, conducted him to their huts, 

 and gave him an invitation to return, and make them 

 a visit on a certain day. On the day appointed the 

 padre went with his sacristan, and found a gathering 

 of Caribs and a great feast prepared for him. He re- 

 mained with them some time, and invited them in re- 

 turn to the village of Palenque on the day of the fete 

 of St. Domingo. A large party of these wild Indians 

 attended, bringing with them tiger's meat, monkey's 

 meat, and cocoa as presents. They listened to mass, 

 and beheld all the ceremonies of the Church ; where- 

 upon they invited the padre to come among them and 

 teach them, and they erected a hut at the place where 

 they had first met him, which he consecrated as a 

 church ; and he taught his sacristan to say mass to 

 them every Sunday. As the prefeto said, if he had 

 lived, many of them would probably have been Chris- 

 tianized ; but, unfortunately, he died ; the Caribs re- 

 tired into the wilderness, and not one had appeared in 

 the village since. 



The ruins lie about eight miles from the village, per- 

 fectly desolate. The road was so bad, that, in order to 

 accomplish anything, it was necessary to remain there, 

 and we had to make provision for that purpose. There 

 were three small shops in the village, the stock of all 

 together not worth seventy-five dollars ; but in one of 

 them we found a pound and a half of coffee, which we 

 immediately secured. Juan communicated the gratify- 

 ing intelligence that a hog was to be killed the next 

 morning, and that he had engaged a portion of the 

 lard ; also, that there was a cow with a calf running 

 loose, and an arrangement might be made for keeping 

 her up and milking her. This was promptly attended 

 to, and all necessary arrangements were made for vis- 



