to preach the faith of Jesus Christ, and to baptize, the natives have not known how to give any other name in their language to God our Lord, except that of Batala.  They are people easily converted to the faith, and in the short time while those religious have been in this island, they have gathered much fruit and have baptized many people—­men, women and children, who have all been baptized without any chief or native Indian of this land denying our faith.  Quite to the contrary, if they are questioned in regard to it, and preached to about it, they say that it is very sacred and very good.  Returning to the discussion of the way in which they conduct their feasts, it is as follows.

When any chief is ill, he invites his kindred and orders a great meal to be prepared, consisting of fish, meat, and wine.  When the guests are all assembled and the feast set forth in a few plates on the ground inside the house, they seat themselves also on the ground to eat.  In the midst of the feast (called manganito or baylan in their tongue), they put the idol called Batala and certain aged women who are considered as priestesses, and some aged Indians—­neither more nor less.  They offer the idol some of the food which they are eating, and call upon him in their tongue, praying to him for the health of the sick man for whom the feast is held.  The natives of these islands have no altars nor temples whatever.  This manganito, or drunken revel, to give it a better name, usually lasts seven or eight days; and when it is finished they take the idols and put them in the corners of the house, and keep them there without showing them any reverence.  As I have said, they all, from the least to the greatest, eat and drink to the point of losing their senses.  In the villages nearest the sea some do not eat pork, the reason for their not eating it, which I have already given, being that, in trading with the Moros of Burney, the latter have preached to them some part of the nefarious doctrine of Mahoma, charging them not to eat pork.  In this they act most childishly, and when, by chance any of them are asked why they do not eat it, they say that they do not know why; and if one asks them who Mahoma was and what his law commands, they say that they do not know the commandment or anything about Mahoma, not even his name; nor do they know what his law is, nor whence it came.  It is true that some of them who have been in Burney understand some of it, and are able to read a few words of the Alcoran; but these are very few, and believe that he who has not been in Burney may eat pork, as I have heard many of them say.  They swear by the sun and by the moon, and all the islands have this oath in common—­a fact that I have noticed since our coming to this land.  It does not seem to me that they are accustomed to worship animals, stars, clouds, or other things which many idolatrous pagans are wont to adore.  I believe, nevertheless, that they have many other