“ Two of Ours, happening to enter a wretched rustic hut, found a man more than eighty years old lying upon some reeds. He was deprived of all his senses and his whole body was so worn out that the skin scarcely adhered to his bones—a living image of death. Our fathers pitied the man, and prayed to God for him that He would not deny His compassion to this most pitiable of men. Soon after, the dying man revived, and with great joy received baptism. ”

“ Our ship gave a lurch and foundered, carrying down with it all those whom fear of their inability to swim prevented from taking to the water—some of whom were armed—so that the majority of the men were carried down with the ship. Many who were very good swimmers were dragged to the bottom by the force of the suction. All our men who were still on the surface tried by all the means in their power to save their lives. It was the unhappy fate of some of them to reach the enemy's ship itself where those heretics hastened to receive them with pikes, and speared them with great cruelty. ”

“ The ministry of the Society is exercised with great profit to the city. A boys' school has been opened, and the Latin language is taught. Last year the most reverend bishop, the officials, and other leading men, in letters sent to his Catholic Majesty, made a full statement of the great spiritual harvest with which Ours in these regions exercise their ministry, among both Spaniards and Indians; and they also earnestly entreated that he would be pleased to render that residence permanent by some annual provision, in order that they might be able to continue to enjoy the labors of our fathers. ”

“ The old men—who are generally more perverse than the rest, and are unwilling to learn the Christian teaching—brought forward no other ground for the baptism which they so much desired than that their old age promised them no long life. Thus all by the divine grace were made children of God, and inheritors of eternal life.
The news that these had thus been added to Christ soon moved other islands also to desire our fathers. On one of these islands, within fifteen days one hundred and sixty adults and five children forsook the dark wilderness of infidelity for the light of the gospel. ”

“ For this reason we religious who are in this hospital, as servants of the poor who are cared for in it, entreat your royal Majesty with the utmost humility that you will grant us aid so that we can treat these poor people with somewhat more convenience; and we especially entreat your royal Majesty that you will favor us by commanding that the said four toneladas of freight be continued to us, as we are accustomed to ship the goods free of customs duties or any other dues, whether in this city of Manila or in Nueva España, or in any other parts of your Majesty's realms where your ships enter. ”

“ For each man of the enemy our ship had four Spaniards—not to mention the Indians and negroes, who helped very much—and a great deal of artillery, powder, and munitions and instruments of war; and they destroyed the enemy to such an extent that as many of our men as wished to do so entered it and took the banners and standards and other things belonging to the enemy, without having anyone appear on it, for they had retired to the bow. At this point our admiral's ship arrived, and with its artillery and arquebuses did some damage to the Dutch flagship ”

“ While a father was living in one little district, an Indian, crippled in both hands and feet, made his way straight to the father by boat, and that alone, to the astonishment of all—God and his guardian angel doubtless impelling the boat. ”

“ The said Don Francisco Tello writes that, although it has been decreed that the Indians shall not be condemned to pay money fines, it would be advisable to make them, although with due moderation, pay some fines in money, because on account of their disobedience and natural disposition they feel more the punishment of paying one real than that of a hundred lashes; the result is that we do not gain the expected result—namely, to have them engaged in cultivating the fields and raising fowls, cattle and other articles for the general need and welfare. ”

“ The people, both Spaniards and Indians, are also in constant dread of the Moro pirates, who ravage the coasts of the Pintados (Visayas) Islands, encouraged to commit these depredations by the late withdrawal of Spanish troops from Mindanao. In the face of all these difficulties, the government is also embarrassed by the poverty of the local treasury; its funds are wasted by unnecessary expenses and salaries, and lessened by frauds in the customs duties, and by other violations of the laws regarding trade. There are too many officials, both secular and religious ”

“ It was a delightful sight to see them swarming like ants upon the rubbish and the wall—men and women, young and old, powdered with dust and lime, carrying baskets on their shoulders and vying with each other in carrying off the ruins so as to clear the space. ”

“ It is a great disadvantage for conversions to our holy faith, and for the civilization of these same Indians, for them to be dispersed like wild beasts among the mountains. It would be a great relief for the burden on the royal conscience of your Majesty, if your ministers should execute the order given by your Majesty to reduce this people to settlements. As they now are, the labor of the ministers is immense, and the results are small; and they are unable to establish Christianity and civilization as they should. ”

“ In the building of churches on the encomiendas of these islands your royal treasury is subjected to excessive expenses by their being made, as they are, of wood. Your Majesty pays, for those which stand on the encomiendas belonging to your royal crown, two-thirds of the cost—one-third as encomendero, and another as king and lord. In those possessed by private citizens you pay one-third as king. As woods in this country decay very easily, they rot within five or six years, and it is necessary to build the said churches over again. ”

“ They never lack some one of Ours to aid their confessions; and they would need old priests the year round, if there were so many who understood the language, to hear the confessions of all. They greatly affect the holy communion, and report wonderful fruit from it. Every week, on Saturday, very many hasten to perform their discipline with the others; and more would come if the city gates which separate the Indians from the Spaniards were not closed at nightfall. Indeed many do not fear to creep through the little hole in the gates in order not to neglect that salutary penance. ”

“ The engagement with the enemy must be conducted with all diligence and care, whether in firing or in boarding his ships—whichever may be possible, in accordance with the best and readiest opportunity permitted by the weather. Should the enemy take flight on sighting our fleet, he must be pursued, until the object sought is accomplished.
Item: Should the enemy have left this coast when the fleet is despatched against him, and should information be received that he has gone to any other of these islands, then the fleet shall seek and pursue him, until he is captured or sunk. ”

“ The office is a superfluous one, and, as I say, has no duties; for everything which has to be done here pertains to the offices of factor and accountant. It would be well, if your Majesty is so pleased, to command that when this office of treasurer shall become vacant, in whatever manner, no other person shall be appointed to it; but that it shall be merged with that of the factor, as was formerly done. In this way the royal treasury will be relieved from paying two thousand pesos, which the said treasurer draws as a salary. ”

“ At the first volley from the artillery and arquebuses I swept the deck of the enemy, unrigged his main and mizzen masts, sent his yards and shrouds into the sea, burned his sails, and won and took into my power the flag at the topmast, the standard and flag at the stern, and the others which the ship bore. Then I sent on board of him a band of men with arms and a banner of infantry, who captured the poop and the cabin and took the shallop or long-boat which it had at the stern. All the enemy retired below the harpings and coverings at the bow. ”

“ For this country, where there is such a want of that kind of articles, and so many occasions continually arising in which they are necessary, it would have been of great importance and value; but the enemy is taking them away to buy with them cloves and pepper, and other drugs from these regions, as they are at present doing. For we have certain news that they went to the Maluco Islands, where they are anchored, and will leave the enemy there—who are most warlike, and who are most continually making war upon us—strengthened with arms like ours, whereby they will become skilful in their use ”

“ All natives residing in Manila who have not some employment are ordered to leave the city at three days' notice. The duties of the late Alvaro Çambrano, deceased, are to be assumed by others of the auditors. Provision is made for due inspection, appraisal, and sale of merchandise brought from China. All Indians belonging to the royal encomiendas must pay their tributes, even when they reside in Manila. The sum of three hundred pesos is appropriated to furnish and adorn the chapel of the Audiencia. The Chinese are forbidden to have godchildren, a practice which has led to many evils ”

“ He said that, with the consent of the Audiencia, he wrote to the viceroy of Nueva España, requesting him to fulfil that command by ordering the officers of the ships which were to sail for those islands last year, sixteen hundred, to leave there two religious, with ten soldiers for their guard. He added that this work would prove of great service to God, as those islands were thickly settled with Indians who were docile, and inclined to receive instruction; and that, if religious should enter that region, there is reason to expect that they would convert many of the natives. ”

“ He adds that, as the country is poor and has few sources of wealth, he thought that the Indians would be unable to pay tribute; but it was necessary to assure the safety and accessibility of that post, because that was the landing-place where the Terrenatan landed on his plundering expeditions against the Pintados, as he did in the year 95. The said governor, as he had so few men and so little military strength, decided to place a hundred soldiers in La Caldera, which is near [the river of] Mindanao, in order to assure safety for that place and to hold in check him of Terrenate. ”

“ The Indians of these Pintados Islands have by nature good dispositions and abilities. I have learned by experience with some few, who were brought up in our houses, from the time when they were children, that if there were several seminaries where the education of the youth might be carefully attended to, taking them out of the power of their heathen parents, while still children (for the latter would give them up willingly) , inside of a few years there would be a very prosperous Christian community in the sight of God and men. ”

“ To the Conde de Monterrey, my kinsman, and viceroy, governor and captain-general of Nueva Spaña, or to the person or persons in whose charge the government thereof may be: The kingdoms of infidels and enemies of our holy Catholic faith, with which the Philipinas Islands are surrounded, being so numerous and so great, the most advisable thing for its safety and defense is to settle it with Spaniards. That colony, I am informed, is not only not being augmented, but is not even being preserved in its present state ”

“ To remedy the exorbitant charges for fees in the inferior courts, all suits appealed to the Audiencia must be accompanied by a sworn statement of the fees thus paid. The bonds accepted in law-suits must be more reliable. Auditors are given special powers in expediting the cases of persons imprisoned. Interpreters are not allowed to trade with the natives, except in the presence of a magistrate. The accounts of guardians of minors shall be examined by the probate judge. Attorneys are restricted in bringing new suits between Indians. ”

“ I find no basis on which people could rest their opinion that there should be in these islands the said archbishop and bishops; for the population of them all does not exceed six hundred Spanish citizens, and the one bishop who was in this city was sufficient. One is sufficient for all matters which might arise of which the prelates take cognizance, or which are necessary, for they are very few and unimportant; and those who appeal to the metropolitan go to Mexico and return in one year. ”

“ As soon as news of the enemy reached this city, Don Francisco Tello, governor of these islands, sent soldiers as scouts along the Camarines coast, with orders to hide all the provisions, as he was unaware of the generous supply that the enemy had. It is quite true, as the English themselves said, that they could have had as much as they wanted, by paying for it.
Captain Pedro de Arseo and Captain Christobal de Arseo Etaminchaca, both of the infantry, were also ordered to go with a command of men along the coast to form ambushes, should the enemy land. ”

“ Official inspection of affairs in the islands must be made by the auditors; and the royal officials must put a stop to the importation from America of money for investment in the China trade. The cathedral at Manila must be completed, and the hospitals aided; and nuns will be sent for Santa Potenciana. The Jesuit seminary for Indian boys should be cared for; and Acuña is to ascertain its condition and needs. He must investigate the question of abolishing the Parian, and see that religious teachers are provided for the natives of the Ladrones Islands. ”

“ In this way the sons of the country will be encouraged; and the cost of bringing masters from España, and maintaining them with a perpetual salary, will be saved to the royal treasury. In great part there will also be saved the expense of bringing ministers from Europe, since they will be trained in this country—where they are used to the climate, and know the language of the natives. Although at present we cannot found so organized a university, at least they can be graduated in arts and theology, which are the sciences lectured upon in our Society. ”

“ Although, as there are so excellent judges and officials in the Audiencia of Manila, it is reasonable to believe that justice is administered therein, I have learned that in certain cases there has been laxity, and especially in two—namely, when Melchor Ramirez de Alarcon, being intoxicated in the said city of Manila, and being reprimanded by his son-in-law, Pedro Munez, gave the latter a blow with his fist, receiving in return nine dagger-thrusts, of which he died; and when, in the city of Cazeres, Captain Pedro Cid killed Joan Martin Morcillo in a duel. ”

“ The rest of our men—it may be seen what sort of men they were—seeing that the vessel was settling little by little, and that the enemy did not cease to serve their guns, huddled together in fright as they saw their ship filling with water—a state of affairs which would make others undertake not only the exploit of boarding the ship and mastering it, but even more difficult enterprises. ”

“ In the city of Manila, on the twenty-second of March, one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine, the president and auditors of the royal Audiencia and Chancillería of the Philipinas Islands examined the petition of the licentiate Geronimo de Salazar y Salzedo, fiscal for his Majesty in this royal Audiencia, that the collectors of the royal tributes of the king our sovereign, in this city and its environs, may collect tribute from all the Indians who are found therein, notwithstanding any obstacle or excuses whatever which may be offered by the said Indians, or by any encomenderos. ”

“ In this residence four priests and three brethren give their energy to cultivating the vineyard of the Lord. They go afoot through the rivers, the pools, and the marshes, the water often reaching to their navels, and the sun burning above them. But since their labor is wrought through the love of God, He, in His unmeasured kindness, never deprives them of His solace in the utmost perils. ”

“ The religious who are there are in great poverty; for they have no income, nor do they receive any alms from the people. The said procurator entreats from you a very moderate consideration, on account of their poverty. This being evident to the said governor, he ordered that to them be given annually, for such period as should seem fitting to him, two hundred pesos and two hundred fanegas of rice, as an alms, from the treasury of the fourths from the encomiendas that are without instruction. ”

“ For after the flocks of the heathen were gathered in one place they were converted to God with such earnestness, so completely without pretense, that I can say nothing else than that God their Maker and Redeemer has desired by some peculiar favor in their calling to add them to His flock—inasmuch as within two months two thousand mortals have yielded themselves to the laws and customs of Christ, by accepting baptism. ”

“ If any such objection is made, let it remain with the commission, and dispose of it by appealing from the governor to the royal Audiencia, where the question will be decided on examination and review. In the meantime the said title shall not be assumed, for there are many people in these islands whom we are bound to remunerate merely for their own services and those of their fathers, because they are poor and needy, and what we have to give is so little that, even if it were divided among the citizens, many of them would have to remain unprovided for. ”