such good proofs of her salvation, she passed away on the following day.  Among the persons who, to the edification of the people and the service of our Lord, have profited by the teaching of our fathers, was a woman advanced in years, and a native of China; her case is one of great importance, as her nation are so hard to reach, and so unwilling to receive the gospel; and so it does not seem beyond the scope of my plan to give some account of her conversion.  This woman had married an honorable Portuguese, who left her a widow some six years ago.  Most of her support is what she gains by the labor of her own hands, with the help of three slaves, in whose company she lives in a wretched house, apart from the crowd of the Chinese, dwelling therein in great seclusion.  Her confessions and communions are frequent, with excellent results.  She practices penance so severely that it has been necessary to moderate the rigors she inflicts upon herself, in long scourgings every night, and in fasts throughout the year, four days in every week; and even on the other two days she seldom eats meat.  Prayer is her one consolation, for which she has much natural aptitude in her excellent judgment, and supernatural aid in the gifts which the Lord communicates to her.  She is present every day in the church during the masses, hearing them always upon her knees.  Nothing so afflicts her as to know that God has been offended, especially if by those of her nation.  In short, she has offered herself entirely to our Lord, and He has plucked her with His own hand as a rose from among so many thistles and thorns.

Other interesting events, which occurred in Bohol.  Chapter LV.

In order to give a more detailed account of what took place at that time in the island of Bohol, I shall avail myself of two letters from Fathers Alonso de Umanes and Gabriel Sanchez, who were in that region; for in my opinion their account is given minutely and with pleasing and enjoyable simplicity.  Both of them, writing to the father-visitor, give him a detailed account of their labors, as is the custom in our Society.  The superior, Father Alonso de Umanes, writes as follows:  “As soon as we had returned from Sebu in last year, ninety-nine, as it was the season of Lent we busied ourselves in hearing confessions; and with remarkable devotion and promptness all this new band of Christians, without any reward, repaired to the sacraments—­even those coming to us who lived very distant from the village where we ordinarily reside.  The Christians throughout the island came together for the exercises of Holy Week, and many of those who were not yet baptized attended the divine services during all that week, with great devotion, also the feast of Easter, when a goodly number of them received communion.  Having fulfilled our obligations as to confession, we set out to visit some of the pagan villages, in all of which we found the people well disposed.  Those who most attended our preaching were the inhabitants