it seems to me that he, too, would be very fit for this country.  Gomez Perez Dasmarinas brought with him a nephew named Don Fernando de Castro, of as good family as was his uncle, or even better.  I have often conversed with him, and know much about him that is good.  I know that he is a very moderate man, and has much fear of God; and he is well inclined to take advice when occasion arises.  These islands and the king’s exchequer would also gain much if this man were governor.  He likewise has much experience on these lands and seas, as he has been several times commander on the voyage to Mexico, and went to China on the occasion of the death of his uncle, Gomez Perez.

I do not care to write concerning Don Francisco Tello, as when this arrives another will already have been appointed, and he will go to his home; may God guide him, and give him good fortune and penitence for his misdeeds.  What I write concerning the great evil of having a ship go to China from these islands to trade—­at any rate near where the Portuguese are, and even in all parts of China—­is at present so true that, if this evil be not remedied, these islands must be ruined, and the Portuguese will be destroyed.  The Catholic faith must lose much; and I hold it certain that there will be a war between us and the Portuguese, for they have sought to take up arms with less cause than this, or even have taken them up, against the Castilians there in Macan.  In short, they will not allow themselves to be ruined, and that so evidently for merely the interest of the Castilians; but it is not for the interest of the Castilians, but that of the governor and auditors, and their retainers.  The Portuguese know well, and so do we all, that this is not the will of the king nor of the Council.

I write also that it is necessary to correct the freedom, ignorance, and boldness of certain religious.  I am still of the opinion which we all had at that time, that the brief which Father Alonso Sanchez secured from Gregory XIV, giving the bishop power to make visitations, in person or by any clergyman, of the religious and their mission villages, is certainly a most damaging one.  Although no doubt some superiors of the religious orders deserve to have this put in execution at times, yet the religious orders are the walls of the church, and it is not well to treat them thus.  But likewise it is necessary that the pope establish some order in the irregularity which your Grace will see described in my letter for the Council.  Let the bishop keep his place, and the religious theirs; and let this divine work of preaching the gospel be continued, which is our greatest desire.  If the captain of infantry tries to take up the duties of the master-of-camp, and the soldier those of the captain or of the general, it will go ill with the war.  I am sending the Council the letter which I am writing to the pope—­first, because I wish that the Council should see first what I have to say to