The religious came to these regions firmly resolved to live in poverty, as do the discalced Franciscan fathers, and to live by charity; but finding that alms were scarce, and that there was extreme poverty in the convents which are established here, they have asked that a gratuity be given them from the royal treasury. Since it was evident to this royal Audiencia, as being a well-known fact, that without such alms the religious could not be supported, or assist in religious instruction, we gave orders, with the consent of the fiscal, that an amount equal to that given to the friars of the order of St. Augustine be granted them, provided that a greater amount be not given to each Dominican convent than is given to the Augustinian friars, although the latter have more religious in their convents. They are very content and pleased with this order. Alms have been granted to four religious of the convent in this city, with pledges that they would secure the approval of the royal Council. This is a kindness which your Majesty can do them, if you so please; it is just, and they cannot live without it.

Your Majesty orders this Audiencia, by a decree dated January 11, 87, which has been received here, to investigate the modus operandi of the fathers of the Society [of Jesus] who reside in these islands: whether they look after the welfare of the souls of the people, and in what districts, and what result they have accomplished, what benefit would accrue by endowing for them a college in this city, and how the income for it could be provided, and for what amount. In regard to these questions it may be said that since the time of the arrival of these fathers in the islands until now, they have not been in charge of the souls of the natives, nor have they instructed them. Throughout the islands they have maintained one convent, which is in this city, where there have been generally from four to six religious. They have rendered very good service to the Spaniards, and have always attended very carefully to preaching and confessions, obtaining the same good results which they are wont to secure wherever they may be. They would do the same for the natives were there enough fathers, and if they had charge of the Indians. Although there are so few of these fathers, there have been and are some of great prudence, and learning, and highly esteemed, who could do excellent work in the college which they are attempting to open, if there were any inclination for it, in this city. But it would be useless, at present, to open a college, because there are in all this country no students to attend their teaching. For this reason, the Dominican fathers ceased to give instruction in grammar soon after their arrival here, although they attempted it with great earnestness. The case being as above stated, there is no necessity for a college, or the assigning of an income to them, unless your Majesty is willing to give them something for their subsistence. However, because of the poverty that they were enduring, this Audiencia has already ordered that the same amount of alms be given them as to the Augustinian religious—namely, one hundred pesos and one hundred fanegas of rice annually to each priest, to be given from the royal treasury. This kindness can be accorded them if your Majesty consents, and will be of great benefit to them.

In another royal decree of the same year, dated January 11, your Majesty orders that this Audiencia look after, and help in every possible way, the two hospitals established in this city, and report as to the best manner in which to provide for and remedy their necessities. This order will be observed very carefully, as your Majesty commands; and as in this country there is nothing with which an income could be furnished to them sufficient for the care of the many Spaniards who are treated there, your Majesty might order, if you so please, that enough Indians be allotted to them to pay to each hospital one thousand pesos, one thousand fanegas of rice, and one thousand fowls, this amount to include what is already given them. Although this grant may be only for a period limited to certain years, it will be an effective remedy for the distress which they now endure. All that the hospital for the Spaniards now has is the income from one village, assigned to it by Doctor Francisco de Sande when he was governor of these islands, which is worth one hundred and twenty gold taes (equivalent to 500 pesos) a year, more or less, and will continue for three years. This time seeming very short to the president of this Audiencia, Doctor Santiago de Vera, he ordered that the hospital receive this aid for six years, adding to it the income from another village, which amounts to seventy taes, or two hundred and fifty pesos, or a trifle more. Besides this, he also ordered that this hospital be given one thousand fanegas of rice and one thousand fowls; whereas for the hospital for the natives he only ordered one thousand fanegas of rice and one thousand fowls [which is not sufficient], and therefore great privations and hardships are suffered by those who are being treated there.

In another royal decree of the above-mentioned month and year, your Majesty orders that this Audiencia endeavor to maintain great peace and harmony with the bishop of these islands, and manifests your displeasure at some differences between us and him concerning precedence in seats, and in regard to the mode of settling Indian lawsuits. The whole trouble was this: the bishop claimed a seat on the same side of the church where the Audiencia sits; and, the latter being six or seven steps below the main altar, the bishop would have been higher than and directly in front of the Audiencia, with his back toward them. This being something unusual in other countries, it was suggested to the bishop that, until your Majesty could be consulted, he should not overstep the usual practice hitherto in vogue throughout the Yndias, and which had until then been observed with this Audiencia; and that he should not meddle with the decision of the Indian suits, in matters under the jurisdiction of the royal crown, as he had done. Since that time, as this seat was yielded to the bishop, there has been, and is, between him and the Audiencia, the agreement and peace and good understanding which should always exist, and affairs are managed in great friendliness and harmony, so that the people have always understood how much the Audiencia esteems, honors, respects, and reverences the bishop. We beg that your Majesty will appreciate the spirit in which this matter was settled. The aim of this Audiencia was to maintain its own preeminence, in the desire that your Majesty be thus better served, since it is through this that the Audiencia keeps up the authority and respect which are its due, especially in so new a country as this, where respect for these offices is of so great importance.

In the letter that we wrote to your Majesty via Malaca, notice was given of the arrival in these islands of the Dominican fathers, informing you that it was not expedient to send any more religious orders to this country. Of those orders already here—namely, the Franciscans, the Augustinians, the Dominicans, and the Society—it is very desirable that your Majesty send many religious, because there is a great lack of instruction; and unless many of each order are sent, the natives cannot be instructed as befits the duties imposed upon your Majesty's and the bishop's consciences, under whose charge they are, as the bishop will inform you in the letter that he is writing to your Majesty. We beg your Majesty to see to this matter and provide for it. May God preserve the Catholic person of your Majesty. At Manila, on June 25 of the year 88.

The licentiate Santiago de Vera The licentiate Melchor Davila The licentiate Pedro de Rojas Don Antonio Rivera Maldonado



Bibliographical Data

Foundation of Audiencia.—See Vol. V, p. 320.

Royal decrees of 1584.—The first is found in Santa Ines's Cronica, ii, p. 606; the original MS. is in the Archivo de San Francisco at Manila—pressmark, "caj. n. 2 (dra.), leg. 1." The second is in the "Cedulario Indico" of the Archivo Historico Nacional, Madrid; its pressmark is "Tomo 31, fol. 161b, n. 157."

Mendoza's History of China.—Such part of this work as relates to the Philippines is here presented; it is obtained from a copy of the Madrigal edition (Madrid, 1586), in the Library of Congress. Full details regarding this work will be given in the final bibliographical volume of this series.

Brief of Sixtus V (1586).—The text of this document is printed in Hernaez's Coleccion de bulas, i, p. 530; it is also given in Santa Ines's Cronica, i, pp. 524-527.

The remaining documents presented in this volume—which are translated from either the originals or transcripts thereof—are obtained from the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla; the pressmark of each is indicated as follows:

1. Income of royal estate. "Simancas Filipinas; descubrimientos, descripciones y poblaciones y gobierno de Filipinas; anos 1582 a 1606; est. 1, caj. i, leg. 3 25, ramo 16."

2. Letter by Davalos.—"Simancas—Secular; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y espedientes del presidente y oidores de dicha Audiencia vistos en el Consejo; anos 1583 a 1599; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 18."

3. Letter by Vera (1585).—"Simancas—Secular; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y espedientes del gobernador de Filipinas vistos en el Consejo; anos 1567 a 1599; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 6."

4. Letters by Guzman and Vascones. "Simancas Filipinas; descubrimientos, descripciones y poblaciones de las Yslas Filipinas; anos 1582 a 1606; est. 1, caj. 1, leg. 3 25;" this title varies slightly, as will be seen, from that of No. 1.

5. Memorial of 1586.—"Simancas—Eclesiastico; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes del cavildo ecclesiastico de Filipinas vistos en el Consejo ano de 1586 a 1670; est. 68, caj. 7, leg. 35." The latter part is obtained from a MS. in the Real Academia de la Historia; its pressmark, "Papeles de las Jesuitas, tomo 8, fol. 330-339."

6. Letter by Chaves.—The same as No. 1, except that no ramo is indicated.

7. Letter by the cabildo.—"Simancas—Secular; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y espedientes del cavildo secular de Manila vistos en el Consejo; anos 1570 a 1640; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 27."

8. Letter by Sedeno.—"Simancas—Eclesiastico; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes de personas eclesiasticos; ano de 1570 a 1608; est. 68, caj. 1, leg. 42."

9. Letter by Salazar.—"Simancas—Eclesiastico; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes del Arzobispo de Filipinas vistos en el Consejo; anos 1579 a 1679; est. 68, caj. 1, leg. 32."

10. Letter by the Audiencia.—The same as No. 2.

11. Letter by Rojas.—The same as No. 9.

12. Letter by Moron. "Simancas—Secular; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes de personas seculares de Filipinas vistos en el Consejo; ano de 1565 a 1594; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 34."

13. Measures regarding trade with China.—The same as No. 10 (which is one of the papers grouped in this document).

14. Letter by Villamanriquez.—Same as No. 6.

15. Letter by Vera (1587).—The same as No. 12.

16. Letter by the Audiencia (1588).—The same as No. 2.



NOTES

[1] Something is apparently omitted here, perhaps a statement that the Audiencia shall make the necessary ordinance, to have provisional force (cf. section 310); but a careful examination of the original document fails to explain the difficulty.

[2] Andres de Aguirre was one of the Augustinians who came with Rada and Herrera to the Philippines with Legazpi's expedition. He was a native of Vizcaya, Spain, and made his religious profession at Salamanca in 1532. He was a missionary among the natives of Mexico from 1536 to 1564; the rest of his life was spent in connection with the Philippine missions, largely as an envoy for their affairs to the court of Spain. He died at Manila (where he was then prior of his order) in September, 1593. See sketch of his life and list of his writings in Perez's Catalogo religiosos agustinos (Manila, 1901), pp. 6-7.

[3] The symbol U was used, in accounts, to designate thousands, in the same way as the comma, or the comma with ciphers, is now used in numerical notation.

[4] The deposition of Juan Arze de Sadornel, which is very similar to this, contains some further items of information, summarized thus: "Prices are especially high when ships from Nueva Espana fail to arrive, or when a great number of people come on them. At such times, a jar of olives may cost eleven or twelve pesos, and a quire of Castilian paper four or five pesos. The so-called linen cloth is really of cotton, and is very warm and quite worthless. The Sangleys do not bring flour made of pure wheat. Three or four years ago, the pork, fowls, rice, and other produce of the country were sold very cheaply; now there is great scarcity (and has been for two years) of rice in the market, and its price has advanced from four tomins for six fanegas to a toston for one fanega. Consequently the poor inhabitants are suffering great distress, and cannot support themselves. Formerly a soldier could live on 15 or 20 pesos a year; now that sum will maintain him only one month. Many of the natives have died in the expeditions made to Maluco, Borneo, and elsewhere; and a plague of locusts has added to the distress in the islands. Sadornel is thirty-one years of age, and has spent thirteen years in this country."

[5] The "old style" calendar authorized by the Council of Nice (A.D. 325) was based on erroneous conclusions, and consequently contained an error which, steadily increasing, amounted to ten days at the time of its correction. This was done by Gregory XIII, in a brief issued in March, 1582; he reformed the calendar, directing that the fifth day of October in that year be reckoned as the fifteenth. The vernal equinox, which in the old calendar had receded to March 11, was thus restored to its true place, March 21. The "new style" calendar is also known as the Gregorian, from its founder; the system adopted by Gregory was calculated by Luigi Lilio Ghiraldi, a learned astronomer of Naples.

[6] "And he shall be a wild man; his hand will be against all men, and all men's hands against him."

[7] Joao de Barros, an official in the India House at Lisbon, wrote a history of Portuguese achievements in the Orient, entitled Dos feitos que os Portugueses fixerao no descobrimento e conquista dos mares e terras do Oriente (Lisbon, 1552), decadas i-iv (incomplete). The other historian here mentioned is Jeronimo Osorio da Fonseca, bishop of Silves in Algarve; the book referred to is De rebus Emmanuelis regis Lusitaniae (Olysippone, 1571).

[8] Afonso de Albuquerque (born in 1453, died in 1515) was perhaps the most celebrated among the Portuguese conquerors of India; he was the second viceroy of the Portuguese possessions there, and founded its capital, Goa. From his letters and reports to King Manoel of Portugal a book was compiled by his son Afonso, entitled Commentarios do Grande Afonso Dalbuquerque (Lisboa, 1557); see also W.D. Birch's English translation, Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque (Hakluyt Society, London, nos. 53, 55, 62, 69, of first series). Therein may be found a history of the events mentioned in our text.

[9] Apparently referring to the practice of sodomy; cf. a similar statement in Vol. IV, p. 51.

[10] The archbishop of Mexico at this time was Pedro de Moya y Contreras, who had come to Mexico in 1571 as chief inquisitor of the Holy Office. On October 20, 1573, he assumed the duties of archbishop; and in 1583 was appointed visitador (i.e., inspector) of the courts, in which office he was engaged during three years. In 1584 he was appointed viceroy of Nueva Espana, surrendering this post, a year later, to Villamanrique. All these offices were held by him at one time. In June, 1586, he returned to Spain, where he died at the close of the year 1591. In January of that year he had been appointed president of the Council of the Indias.

[11] "The rumors of the occurrence of this metal in Panay and Leyte have failed of verification. Accidental losses of the metal by prospectors or surveyors sometimes lead to reports of the discovery of deposits." (U.S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 84.)

[12] The reference in the text is obscure as to the location of this fort; but Morga says (Sucesos, ch. iii) that Azambuja commanded at Tidore, and requested aid from Penalosa to conquer Ternate. "This fleet, after reaching Maluco, did not succeed in its object. From this time forward, succor of men and provisions continued to be sent from the Philippines to the fortress of Tidore."

[13] Gonzalo Ronquillo de Penalosa, who came to the islands as governor in 1580, died in 1583, before he had completed the third year of his service in that capacity. During his funeral, which was held at the Augustinian convent in Manila, sparks from a lighted taper accidentally set fire to the building, which quickly spread to others near by; and soon all the public buildings and the greater part of the city were destroyed in the flames. Before Penalosa's death, he had appointed his kinsman, Diego Ronquillo, his successor ad interim in the government. See La Concepcion's Hist. Philipinas, ii, pp. 86-89.

[14] Apparently a reference to Fray de Vascones, whose letter to the king follows this. This friar mentions himself as a "native religious" (indigeno religioso), in which connection may appropriately be cited Crawfurd's remark (Dict. Ind. Islands, p. 96): "The [Chinese] settlers, whenever it is in their power, form connections with the native women of the country; and hence has arisen a mixed race, numerous in the older settlements, known to the Malays under name of Paranakan China, literally, 'Chinese of the womb,' that is, Chinese of native mothers; and called in the Philippines, Sangley, a word of which the origin is unknown."

[15] Santiago de Vera had served in the audiencias of Espanola (Hayti) and Mexico; in May, 1584 he came to the Philippines as president of their Audiencia and governor of the islands. In that post he remained six years, until he was replaced (May, 1590) by Gomez Perez Dasmarinas, the Audiencia being then suppressed. All its members except Pedro de Rojas at once returned to Mexico.

[16] Apparently a lapsus calami for Miguel de Talavera, the name given by Santa Ines (Cronica, i, p. 219) who states that his commission was given by Monsenor Sega, apostolic nuncio; he went to Mexico in 1580, whence he directed the affairs of the Philippine mission during several years (pp. 226-229).

[17] The term "province" is here used by anticipation, as the Franciscan custodia of San Gregorio was not actually erected into a province until the following year (see brief to this effect by Sixtus V. post). A custodia is a group of religious houses not large enough to form a province.

[18] So in the text, and often elsewhere; sometimes (apparently with more correctness) Macau. The discrepancy may arise from an error made by transcribers, even those of contemporaneous date.

[19] This is evidently the Sangley friar mentioned by Santiago de Vera in his letter of 1585 (see p. 75, ante). Perez says (Catalogo, p. 21) that Juan de Vascones (Bascones) was minister in the following villages: Calumpit in 1580, Bulacan in 1583, and Hagonoy in 1585; and that he died at the last-named place in 1586.

[20] This friar was originally a soldier, but abandoned military life to enter the Augustinian order. In 1576, he was appointed by Felipe II, with two other friars, to go as an envoy to the emperor of China; but various obstacles prevented them from going thither until 1584, and the effort proved to be a failure. Mendoza thereupon collected various narratives written by Spanish and Portuguese missionaries who had visited China, and therefrom compiled (especially from that of Martin de Rada) the Historia here described. In 1607 Mendoza (then bishop of Lipari) went to Nueva Espana, and was there made bishop of Chiapa, and afterward bishop of Popayan. He died about the year 1620.

The title page reads: "History of the most notable things, the rites, and customs of the great kingdom of China; gathered not only from books of the Chinese themselves, but likewise from the relation of the religious and other persons who have been in the said country. Made and compiled by the very reverend father Maestro Fray Juan Goncalez de Mendoca, of the order of St. Augustine, apostolic preacher, and penitentiary of his Holiness; whom his Catholic Majesty sent, with his royal missive and other things for the king of that country, in the year M.D.LXXII. Now recently enlarged by the same author. To the illustrious Lord, Fernando de Vega y Fonseca, of the Council of his Majesty, and president of his royal Council of the Indias. With an itinerary of the New World. With license. Madrid, at the shop of Pedro Madrigal. M.D.LXXXVI. At the expense of Blas de Robles, bookseller."

[21] In this connection three Chinese characters are given, the first to be printed in any European book.

[22] Jeronimo Marin was a native of Mexico, where he became an Augustinian friar in 1556. Coming to the Philippine Islands in 1571, he acquired the Bisayan, Tagal, and Chinese languages, and spent many years in missionary labors among those peoples. Afterward he went to Spain, where for a time he had charge of the Philippine missions of his order; and finally returned to Mexico, where he died in 1606.

[23] In the text, Martin—evidently a misprint; accordingly, we have corrected it to the proper spelling, Marin.

[24] Reference is here made to part i, book ii, chapter vii of Mendoza's Historia.

[25] Either a reference to the few small islands which lie near the coast of the province of Ilocos (Luzon), or an erroneous mention of that province as an island.

[26] The author of the "Relation of the Filipinas Islands" which appears in Vol. V.

[27] Alonso de Alvarado was one of the Augustinian friars who accompanied (1542) the expedition of Villalobos; in 1549 he returned to Spain. Again coming to the Philippines in 1571, he labored as a missionary among the natives of Luzon. Appointed provincial of his order there in 1575, he died at Manila in May, 1576. See Retana's Zuniga, ii, p. 563*, and Perez's Catalogo, p. 11; the latter states that Alvarado was the first Spaniard in the Philippines to learn the mandarin dialect of the Chinese language, and that he ministered to the Chinese converts there.

[28] As a result of this journey, Loarca wrote a memoir entitled Verdadera relacion de la grandeca del reyno de China, etc. A MS. which is evidently a copy from the original of this document is preserved in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid; its press-mark is "J.—16, 89," and "MSS. 2902." It is possible that Mendoza, in writing his Historia, had access to Loarca's work.

[29] An officer, superior to the captains, charged with the discipline and instruction of the regiment; he exercised the functions of fiscal, and had the right of intervention in the commissary department and in all expenditures. (Nov. dicc. lengua castellana.)

[30] Pedro de Alfaro was at the head of the first band of Franciscan missionaries who came to the Philippine Islands, and was the first custodian and superior of that order in the ecclesiastical province of the Philippines. In the autumn of 1579 he went to China, where he founded a mission at Macao. While on a voyage to India, in June of the following year, the ship was wrecked, and Alfaro perished. See account of his life and labors in Santa Ines's Cronica, i, pp. 113, 120, 130-140, 160-178. As that writer distinctly states (p. 124), the Franciscans reached Manila in June, 1577—not in 1578, as in our text.

[31] Agustin de Tordesillas was one of the Franciscans who first came to the Philippines. At the time when he went to China with Alfaro, Tordesillas was at the head of his convent in Manila. See account of this mission in Santa Ines's Cronica, i, cap. vi-ix.

[32] Named by Santa Ines (Cronica, p. 108), Juan Bautista Pisaro (alias "the Italian"), and Sebastian de Baeza, this last the name of a town in Andalusia. They left Manila on this voyage at the end of May, 1579.

[33] The title-page of this "Itinerary," as well as some portions of the text (notably the first chapter), are widely different in the first edition of Mendoza's Historia (1585) from the Madrigal edition of 1586 (which we follow). See the Hakluyt Society's reprint (London, 1853) of Parke's translation of Mendoza, vol. ii, pp. 207-209, 232. The Franciscan here mentioned was Fray Martin Ignacio de Loyola, a relative of the Loyola who founded the Jesuit order.

The title-page reads: "Itinerary and epitome of all the notable things that lie on the way from Espana to the kingdom of China, and from China to Espana, returning by way of Eastern India, after having made almost the entire circuit of the world: Wherein are recounted the rites, ceremonies, and customs of the people of all those parts, and the richness, fertility and strength of many realms, with a description of them all. Compiled by the author himself, both from what he has seen, and from the account given him by the descalced religious of the order of St. Francis."

[34] Documents relating missionary efforts in these islands will be published later in this series.

[35] An expression of the opinion, then current in Europe, that the New World was either an extension of the Asiatic continent, or separated from it only by a narrow sea.

[36] "The Philippine archipelago comprises 12 principal islands and 3 groups, adjacent to which are 1,583 dependent islands" (U.S. Philippine Gazetteer, pp. 4, 69).

[37] This paragraph, here enclosed in parentheses, is found at the beginning of the Madrid copy of this document (see Bibliographical Data). Other additional matter found therein will be similarly indicated throughout.

In the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer Library), a paragraph at the beginning of the "Memorial" states that the general junta was held on April 20, 1586, in accordance with an edict issued (on the day preceding that date) by the Audiencia. The assembly decided that Sanchez should be sent to Madrid, bearing a suitable memorial to the home government stating the needs and wishes of the colonists; and that other conferences should be held by the various estates and interests represented, to decide upon its contents. On May 5, the Audiencia insisted that Sanchez should accept the office of envoy, which he did on the same day.

[38] Here, as elsewhere in this document, we have represented by italic side-heads the marginal notes on the original MS. They are written in a different hand, and were probably made by some clerk of the Council.

[39] The stated times of devotion of the Catholic church.

[40] A note on the margin of the Madrid MS. at this place reads, "or at least in Acapulco."

[41] A tax formerly paid to the government by those not belonging to the nobility.

[42] A word used in America to signify an Indian village newly consecrated to the Christian religion, and evidently transferred from there to the Philippines.

[43] At this point the Sevilla MS. ends, and it lacks any signature; there is reason to fear that the latter half of this copy—apparently, from the marginal notes, the one sent to the Council of the Indias, and used in their deliberations—is lost. The remainder of the document is translated from the Madrid copy, which is fully signed by the notables of the islands.

[44] For mention of the localities where these minerals are found in the Philippines, see U.S. Philippine Gazetteer, pp. 83-85.

[45] Jesuit missionaries had already found their way into the Chinese ports. Cretineau-Joly states—Hist. Comp. de Jesus (third edition, Paris, 1859), i, p. 402—that in 1556 Melchior Nunez visited Macao and Canton, where he became acquainted with the mandarins; but the repressive Chinese laws prevented him from preaching the Christian faith. In 1563, three Jesuits visited Pekin; and in 1581-83 three missionaries of that order became established at Macao and Canton—Michel Ruggieri, Mateo Ricci, and —— Pazio. During 1600-10, Ricci was a missionary at Peking, where he was greatly esteemed by the emperor and other leading Chinese, on account of his scientific and linguistic attainments; he is said to have been the first European to compose works in Chinese. See sketch of his life in Yule's Cathay, ii, p. 536.

[46] A somewhat blind allusion to the decline of the Portuguese power in India, which began in the first decade of the sixteenth century, with the conquests of Albuquerque and others (see note 8 ante). The arbitrary and tyrannical rule of the Portuguese exasperated the natives, many of whom revolted. It will be remembered that in 1580 Portugal was subjected to the dominion of Spain—including, of course, its Oriental colonial possessions. The statement in the text evidently means that, of the Indian states subdued by the Portuguese, many have acquired so much strength that they have been able successfully to resist their conquerors, and little therefore remains for the Spaniards, who are now in possession of the Portuguese domains.

[47] The Sofi are a peculiar sect of Mahometans, organized about 820 A.D. For account of early relations and intercourse between the Chinese, Persians, and Armenians, see Yule's Cathay, i, pp. lxxxii-lxxxviii.

[48] A reference to the St. Lawrence River, then little known, but by which, it was conjectured, might be gained a route to the Sea of China, which was generally supposed to lie not far west of the North American coast.

[49] This document forms part of the group "Measures regarding trade with China;" but its subject-matter renders its location at this point more appropriate; consequently it has been transferred hither. The works printed in italics at the beginning of certain paragraphs in this document are, on the original MS., written as marginal notes—probably by a clerk of the Council of the Indias.

[50] In the original MS., section 8 does not appear—probably a mistake in numbering the divisions of the letter.

[51] The phrase foro (an old form of fuero) interior is but another expression for the ecclesiastical forum conscientiae, or forum poenitentiae. The reference is to cases of conscience, which should in this case be left entirely to the bishop's decision.

[52] This was Pedro de Moya y Contreras: see note 10, ante.

[53] A reference to the residencia, or judicial investigation, to which each royal official was liable (vol. IV, p. 71, note 7).

[54] In the original, ochenta only—y cinco evidently omitted by some oversight, as the date is written "1586" at the end of the document.

[55] Alvaro Manrique do Zuniga, Marques de Villa Manrique, was viceroy of Nueva Espana from October 17, 1585, to February, 1590.

[56] The reformed Franciscans were commonly called Observantines, from their stricter observance of the rules of their order.

[57] According to La Concepcion (Hist. Philipinas, ii, p. 92), the plans for this fort were made by the Jesuit Sedeno; and it was named Nuestra Senora de Guia ("Our Lady of Guidance"). He adds that the artillery was cast (at Baluarte) under the direction of a Pampanga Indian—whose name, Morga says, was Pandapira.

[58] Considerable copper ore is found in the Philippines, in many localities; but these deposits are little known, and have not been worked—except in northern Luzon, where "copper ore has been smelted by the natives from time immemorial. The process ... consists in alternate partial roasting and reduction to 'matte,' and eventually to black copper. It is generally believed that this process must have been introduced from China or Japan. It is practiced only by one peculiar tribe of natives, the Igorrotes ... Mean assays are said to show over 16 per cent of copper." See U.S. Philippine Commission's Report, 1900, iii, p. 235.

[59] Sulphur deposits abound about the numerous active and extinct volcanoes in the Philippines ... The finest deposits in the archipelago are said to be on the little island of Biliran, which lies to the N.W. of Leyte. See U.S. Philippine Gazetteer, p. 85.

[60] The ancient name of the city of Kioto, which was formerly the capital of Japan; it lies 250 miles S.W. of Tokio.

[61] This exploit was performed by Thomas Candish, on Nov. 4, 1587, off Cape San Lucas, the southern point of Lower California. After some six hours' fight the "Santa Ana" surrendered; her crew and passengers, numbering 190 persons, men and women, were set ashore, with supplies and provisions; the rich cargo—consisting of silks, damasks, perfumes, food, and wine, with 122,000 pesos' worth of gold—was plundered; and the ship (a galleon carrying 500 tons of goods) was burned, with all that the victors could not carry away. Candish then set sail for the Philippines, which he sighted on Jan. 14, 1588; but his small force of ships and men did not permit him to do more than cruise through the archipelago during a fortnight, when he departed toward Java. See Candish's account in Hakluyt's Voyages (Goldsmid ed.), xvi, pp. 30, 35-45.

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