Note 10 — Decade Fourth

The province of Butuan—so called from the river of that name which flows through it and renders to the sea the tribute of its so abundant waters, while the sea enters the land for one-half legua—has wide borders and plains where numerous people live who resemble the Caraghas in their customs and ceremonies. However they are not so rude in their behavior, perhaps because they were softened by the evangelical law, which they once enjoyed. However, they abandoned that law because the ministers abandoned them.10 That holy conquest was undertaken with great resolution by father Fray Juan de San Nicolàs, one of the eight, who with a spirit [206] apostolically bold planted the standard of the cross in the town nearest the seashore. He subdued its inhabitants by his gentleness, and attracted them to the bosom of the Church by sermons in their own language. Those sermons produced a great fruit, not only among those country people, but also among the traders who came from other districts to traffic.