Marina, spoke very kindly to them, telling them to banish all fear from their minds, and to go and call their countrymen. The papas said they were very willing to fulfil his commands, but they must beg of him not to allow any one to touch the idols which stood in a building adjoining Cortes' quarters. Our general promised them faithfully that no harm should be done the idols, but observed, that they were mere lumps of clay and wood, wicked things, which were unworthy of the veneration they paid them, and that the whole of their idolatrous worship was the work of Satan. The Franciscan monks also put several questions to the papas respecting their idol worship, to which they returned very intelligent answers, promising for the future to abolish it altogether.
Thirty loads of maise and some fowls were now soon brought us, and Cortes inquired of the papas how many suns (that is to say days' journey) it was from this place to the people with the beards and horses. They replied, that it was seven suns to the township of Nito, where the men with the horses had settled, and they would themselves show us the way to the next township, but that on our road thither we should have to