of Cubu, who were pagans, [104] and easily converted.  And likewise in the island of Luzon, some native Chinese who were settled there, being people of greater intelligence, have recognized the truth of the divine law and are baptized and live as Christians.  As the rest of the people are Moros, it has not been possible to secure the desired result, on account of their resistance.  This may be attained, by the favor of God, if your Majesty be pleased to send the said number of forty to fifty religious, of the kind above described.

Second, your Majesty will be pleased to send also, with the said religious, a prelate, creating bishop or archbishop of the said city of Manila the reverend father Fray Diego de Herrera, of the order of St. Augustine.  The father is a man of learning and of good life, who has labored much for the conversion of the Indians of those islands.  With him send as many of the secular clergy as your Majesty pleases, who can act as prebends, canons, and chaplains; these likewise should be persons of learning and good life, and should all be subject to the above-mentioned prelate.

The third has to do with soldiers.  May your Majesty please to send five hundred soldiers here, who may be posted in the said island of Luzon, so that by their help the said governor can subjugate and settle the said island of Luzon, and discover other neighboring islands.

Fourth:  These said five hundred men can come at less cost, provided your Majesty be pleased to keep to the following order:  that the said troops should be collected in Espana under the pretext that it is done for the convoy of the fleet which goes from these kingdoms to the said Nueva Espana.  Accordingly, of the two hundred men who ordinarily are accustomed to go from Sevilla to Nueva Espana in convoy of the said fleet, one hundred may be left behind, the number of these hundred being supplied on the journey over from the number of the said five hundred; on the return trip of the said fleet from Nueva Espana to these kingdoms, the places of the said hundred soldiers may be taken by a hundred passengers, from those who generally come.  As a result, at each trip and return one hundred soldiers will be spared, and thus between seven and eight thousand ducats saved.

Fifth:  When the said five hundred men have arrived in Nueva Espana, on the very day when they disembark in the harbor of Vera Cruz, they shall go directly to the harbor of Acapulco, which is one hundred and twenty leagues, more or less, from the harbor of Vera Cruz.  For when the said troops arrive at the port of Acapulco, it will be more than two months since the fleet from the said island of Luzon will have arrived at the port of Acapulco.  So the troops can be embarked immediately on the said fleet, and make their way to the island of Luzon and other islands.  To try to raise the said five hundred soldiers in Nueva Espana would be impossible, on account of the great cost that would result; because each soldier would cost more than one hundred and fifty pesos as a gratuity (the sum usually given), or even a greater sum; and even if the said expense should be incurred, they could not arrive under the banner of the hundred soldiers above—­and that with great trouble and vexation, as is well known.