Good reports come from Carigara and Paloc; the latter village is unusually prosperous because one of the Jesuits has aided the people to construct better dwellings.  They have abandoned their idols, and take pleasure in scourging themselves on Fridays.  At Dulac many baptisms have occurred, and various diseases, among them leprosy, have been cured by this sacrament.  A letter from Father Otaco, who is in charge at Tinagon, shows that idolatry has been abandoned, and immoral customs are almost uprooted.  He gives an interesting description of the methods pursued by the missionaries in their preaching, and by one of their native helpers in teaching his fellows.

In June, 1599, Diego Garcia is sent to the islands as official visitor of the Jesuit missions there, and he at once reorganizes and systematizes their plan and conduct.  Soon after his arrival there is a violent earthquake at Manila, which injures two of the churches.  The Jesuits receive much aid for restoring their building—­contributions from the Spaniards, and services from the Indians.  In an epidemic of disease among them much good is done by the confraternity established among the converts, and the sick depend upon the fathers for spiritual comfort.  When the people harvest their rice, their first care is to carry an offering of the first-fruits to the church.  As usual, the Jesuits here do much to better the lives of their penitents, both Indian and Spanish, reconciling those who were at enmity, and breaking up licentious alliances.  The pestilence extends to Antipolo and other villages near Manila, and both the missionaries and their converts aid the sick and the dying in every possible way.

The uprooting of idolatry in the Taytay mission has been effectual; various instances of this are related by Chirino, as also the cure of a lunatic by wearing an Agnus Dei.  Garcia, the official visitor, arrives at Cebu in 1600, and makes arrangements by which the Chinese there are cared for by other priests, the Jesuits being thus free to labor among the Indians.  But the harvest of souls is far greater than the few laborers there can reap and more are urgently needed.  Chirino relates some instances of conversion and pious deaths in that mission.

He then relates the progress of the mission in Bohol, citing for this purpose the letters of the two missionaries there.  The new converts display much devotion, and even the pagans receive the fathers kindly.  Many are converted, and some of their children are trained to instruct the people in the Christian faith.  Sanchez procures the destruction of many instruments of witchcraft in a certain village; and relates some marvelous cures made by administering the sacraments, and some instances of feminine virtue.

In Butuan (Mindanao) a rich harvest of souls is being gathered by Ledesma and Martinez; and even the infidels are very friendly to the new religion.  The converts are very devout, and will not countenance any pagan practices.  Certain miraculous cures are recorded.  The practice of flagellation is maintained in the Jesuit church there, as in other places.