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128 BY PATH AND TRAIL. be an apostle out of due time," tells us why, according to men of the world, he was a fool. " I take pleasure in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecu tion, in distresses for Christ's sake." On another oc casion when writing to the Christians at Eome, he says that to men of the type of Mr. Pascal, the heroism of martyrs, confessors and missionaries, is foolishness; that ft is impossible for the natural or worldly man to understand the things that are of the kingdom of God. And now, let me. record for the edification of my read ers, the deeds of fraternal love and self- denial wrought among the savage tribes of this unhospitable land centu ries ago by men whose heroism and success, Mr. Pascal and men like him try to explain by human discipline and human organization. In an earlier chapter I dwelt pass ingly on the attempt of the Spaniard Otondo to establish a settlement on the shores of the Bay of La Paz. For eighteen months the Spanish colonists tilled and coaxed a sandy soil and they reaped cactus, sage brush and dis appointment. During these eighteen months not one drop of rain fell upon the soil, now dry and parched as the tongue of Dives. Otondo, in disgust, broke up the settlement, called off his men and sailed away for Man-zanillo. ' With Otondo ' s colonists, when they left Chalca, Sinoloa, went three Jesuit priests, one as cartographist to the expedition, and the two others as missionaries to the natives. They now pleaded to be permitted to re main with the tribes, for already they were mastering the language and dialects and had under instruction nearly four hundred adults and children. Father Copart tad already begun the composition of a " doctrina" or short catechism in the native dialects. He experienced |
