I beg your Excellency to favor me by commanding that ten fathers of the above-mentioned Franciscan order be sent to accompany me from this city to Xapon for the said object—­the said ten fathers to be Fray Pedro Baptista, Fray Vicente Vermeo, Fray Blas de la Madre de Dios, Fray Juan Pobre, Fray Diego Portero, Father Gonzalez, Fray Francisco Parilla, Fray Joseph, Fray Francisco Ribero, and Fray Andres (an unsettled priest).  Besides the fact that we shall all take as a favor the service done our lord, I promise in the name of the emperor and on his royal word that they shall be well received and well treated, and that no harm shall be done them; and if they become unwilling to stay, and are disinclined to do the work for which they have been taken thither, I promise to send them back to this city as they came.

[Letters from Fray Juan Cobos]

The bearer of this is Faranda Quiemo, a Xaponese, who goes in a new vessel, which has some red pictures painted on the poop.  She is a staunch ship, carrying one hundred and twenty men, Chinese and Xaponese.  It carries as a signal a red pennant at the stern.  Given at Cuxi, a port of Xapon, on October 29, 1592.

Fray Juan Cobos

[Addressed:  “To Gomez Perez Dasmarinas, governor and captain-general of the Filipinas Islands, at Manila.”]

Because of the uncertainty of the ocean, I send this note by another vessel which sails together with ours from this port, so that in case it reaches your Excellency before us you will not be alarmed on our account.  Our trip has been very prosperous, and, should the Lord preserve our health, we shall, as soon as we find ourselves in Manila, report to your Excellency how well we were received by the emperor and how well attended, thus honoring our lord the king, your Excellency, and our nation.  Nothing more at present, as I am writing these lines only in case our ship should prove less speedy.  From Xapon, province of China, [5] port of Cuxi, November 4.  Captain Lope Llanos kisses your Excellency’s hands; he is very ill with quartan ague.

Fray Juan Cobos

[Addressed:  “To Gomez Perez Dasmarinas, knight of the Order of Santiago, governor and captain-general of the Felipinas Islands.”]

The bearer is Antonio Lopez, a Chinese, who sails on the vessel of the Japanese Faranda as a token of peace, and to protect the vessel, so that no harm may be done to it.

Fray Juan Cobo

May Jesus be always with your Excellency.  It was found necessary that Antonio Lopez, the Chinese, depart in the vessel of Faranda Quiemo, who is the master of the Faranda who carries these letters and was the source of all these messages.  Although I leave the port in Xapon before him, the fortunes of the ocean are various, and he may arrive there first.  Glory be to God that our voyage has been very prosperous, as your Excellency will learn.  As this letter is only intended as a safe-conduct