seen them.  The churches are beginning to be furnished with the images which the Sangleys make, and which we greatly lacked before; and considering the ability displayed by these people in reproducing the images which come from Espana, I believe that soon we shall not even miss those made in Flandes.  What I say of the painters applies also to embroiderers, who are already producing excellent embroidered works, and are continually improving in that art.

What has pleased all of us here has been the arrival of a book-binder from Mexico.  He brought books with him, set up a bindery, and hired a Sangley who had offered his services to him.  The Sangley secretly, and without his master noticing it, watched how the latter bound books, and lo, in less than [blank space in Retana] he left the house, saying that he wished to serve him no longer, and set up a similar shop.  I assure your Majesty that he became so excellent a workman that his master has been forced to give up the business, because the Sangley has drawn all the trade.  His work is so good that there is no need of the Spanish tradesman.  At the time I am writing, I have in my hand a Latin version of Nabarro bound by him; and, in my judgment, it could not be better bound, even in Sevilla.

There are many gardeners among the Sangleys, who, in places which seemed totally unproductive, are raising many good vegetables of the kinds that grow in Espana and in Mexico.  They keep the market here as well supplied as that of Madrid or Salamanca.  They make chairs, bridles, and stirrups of so good a quality and so cheaply that some merchants wish to load a cargo of these articles for Mexico.

Many bakers make bread with the wheat and fine flour which they bring from China, and sell it in the market-place and along the streets.  This has much benefited the city, for they make good bread and sell it at low cost; and although this land possesses much rice, many now use bread who did not do so before.  They are so accommodating that when one has no money to pay for the bread, they give him credit and mark it on a tally.  It happens that many soldiers get food this way all through the year, and the bakers never fail to provide them with all the bread they need.  This has been a great help for the poor of this city, for had they not found this refuge they would suffer want.  The Sangleys sell meat of animals raised in this country, as swine, deer, and carabaos (a kind of Italian buffalo, whose flesh is equal to beef).  They also sell many fowls and eggs; and if they did not sell them we all would suffer want.  They are so intent upon making a livelihood that even split wood is sold in the Parian.  The city finds most of its sustenance in the fish which these Sangleys sell; they catch so much of it every day that the surplus is left in the streets, and they sell it at so low a cost that for one real one can buy a sufficient quantity of fish to supply dinner and supper for one of the leading houses in the city.