afterwards learned, and had recourse to it in all their necessities—­making sacrifices to it after their custom, and anointing it with their oils, as they were accustomed to anoint their idols.  And our Lord exercising, moreover, His wonted mercy toward those who honored Him without knowing Him, did not act otherwise toward those who, in their ignorance of Him, were at the same time offending Him; He succored them most liberally in their needs, as a token and pledge of the greater favors which He had marked out for them when they should come to a knowledge of Him, and preserved for these times which they are now enjoying.  For which reason they had recourse frequently to this image in their necessities, calling it “the Divata of the Castilians;” for among them “Divata” is God, whom the inhabitants of Manila call Bathala or Anito, [40] as we shall see later.  The good Biscayan upon seeing the holy Child, was filled with a strange joy and happiness, and desiring to share it with the rest of the expedition, began to cry aloud in his own absurd language, “Bear witness to God, thou hast found His Son.”  The religious at once took possession of the image, regarding it as a good omen; and out of respect and devotion to it named the city that they founded Santissimo Nombre de Jesus, and placed the image in a church of their order erected in the city.  There it remains in highest veneration, and has wrought many miracles, particularly in childbirths, whence it is both facetiously and piously called El Partero ["man-midwife"].  Each year it is borne in solemn procession from the church of St. Augustine to the spot in which it was found, where a chapel has since been erected.  The procession takes place upon the same day when the discovery was made—­namely, on the twenty-ninth of April, the feast of the glorious martyr St. Vital, who is patron of the city, and as such that day is kept as a solemn feast in his honor.  One of the regidors, appointed each year for this purpose, brings out the banner of the city; he is on that day clad in livery, and invites the public to the festivals. [41] There are bull-fights and other public festivities and rejoicings, with many novel fireworks, such as wheels and sky-rockets, which the Sangleys make the night before; on this occasion they construct things well worth seeing, and which appear well-nigh supernatural.  The city of Manila holds similar festivities on the feast-day of the glorious apostle St. Andrew, who was chosen as its patron because, on his feast-day, the city was delivered from the blockade of the pirate Limahon.  At that time the city had no fortress or walls, or any stone buildings; and in all the islands there were no more than five hundred Spaniards, as I learned from one of them.  These few men alone compelled the enemy, who numbered more than a thousand fighting men, to withdraw from the city; and they even pursued and harried the pirates in such wise, by blocking the mouth of the river Pangasinan (where