come to this city laden with goods—­as all kinds of linen, and silks; ammunition; food supplies, as wheat, flour, sugar; and many kinds of fruit (although I have not seen the fruits common in Spana)—­and the city has been so embellished, that were it not for the fires and the calamities visited upon her by land and by sea, she would be the most prosperous and rich city of your Majesty’s domains.  As I have written to your Majesty in other letters, this city has the best possible location for both its temporal and spiritual welfare, and for all its interests, that could be desired.  For on the east, although quite distant, yet not so far as to hinder a man from coming hither, with favorable voyage, lie Nueba Espana and Peru; to the north, about three hundred leagues, are the large islands of Japon; on the northwest lies the great and vast kingdom of China, which is so near this island that, starting early in the morning with reasonable weather, one would sight China on the next day; on the west lie Conchinchina, the kingdoms of Sian and Patany, Malaca, the great kingdom of Dacheu (the ancient Trapobana), and the two Xavas [Javas], the greater and the smaller; [35] and on the south lie the islands of Maluco and Burney.  From all these regions people come to trade in this city; and from here we can go to them, for they are near.  As to spiritual advantages, if we had preachers of the gospel to send thither, these regions all stand open to us, and we could gain good results from it, because Franciscan religious have gone to some of these places and have been well received, although on account of many wars and the lack of interpreters they were forced to return.  It is not so certain that they would be received in China as they are elsewhere; but up to this time no one of those who went thither has been killed or thrown into prison.

When I came, all the Sangleys were almost forgotten, and relegated to a corner.  No thought was taken for their conversion, because no one knew their language or undertook to learn it on account of its great difficulty; and because the religious who lived here were too busy with the natives of these islands.  Although the Augustinian religious had charge of the Sangleys of Tondo, they did not minister to or instruct them in their own language, but in that of the natives of this land; thus the Sangley Christians living here, were Christians only in name, knowing no more of Christianity than if they had never accepted it.  I was much grieved that a nation of such renown should lack priests to teach and instruct them in their own language.  This led me to make arrangements with Don Goncalo Ronquillo for a special location to be assigned to them for their own use, and priests were to be given them who should learn their language and teach them in it.  When this had been all arranged, and a priest had been appointed, the whole thing was undone through obstacles which arose at that time.  Then I appealed to all religious orders to appoint some