fathers of the Society (who are in some kingdoms of Japon) to be sufficient as workmen in so broad and fertile a vineyard.  On this account, it would cause great scandal among the converted and those to be converted, to see the opposition of one order to the others, since previously they held them all to be uniform in the purpose of the spreading of the gospel, and the religious to be vassals of one king and subjects of the one and only head of the church.  But in spite of the statements of the friars, the bishop ordered the said brief to be published and made known, with its penalties and censures.  Councils were held by the orders in the Philipinas and Japon, and they thought that they ought to appeal from the said brief to his Holiness; this was done before the said bishop, in order that his Holiness might understand the state in which affairs were in those lands, and, being better informed, revoke the brief.  It seems important, for the decision of this matter, that it be understood, from the description of Japon and from trustworthy accounts, that the preaching of the fathers of the Society, in the more than fifty years since they entered Japon, has not reached to within a hundred miles of the kingdoms of Quanto, where there are some convents of discalced Franciscan friars, nor has the merchandise of the Portuguese done so; but on the contrary the emperor—­having a particular fondness for those kingdoms, as being a patrimony of his—­at great cost has caused to be carried by land some of the merchandise which the Portuguese brought from China to Japon.  So then, neither is the Society limited in the bounds of its preaching, nor is the crown of Portugal in those of its trade; for even if six ships went there, instead of the single one that now goes from Macao each year, all that they should carry would still easily be consumed in the lands which are more than a hundred leguas distant from those of Quanto.  For from the island where Nangacaqui is, until the ship reaches Quanto, there are more than two hundred and twenty leguas of very thickly settled mainland.  Granting the prohibition which your Majesty has made that no merchandise beyond a certain stated amount should go from the Philipinas to Nueva Spana, on account of the great difficulties which result otherwise, it seems well worthy of consideration that goods bought from China in those islands of your Majesty should be diverted to Japon, from which so much silver is and may be obtained for the benefit of your vassals and the increase of their wealth and of your Majesty’s exchequer—­at least making unnecessary in the Philipinas that which is and may be brought from the lands of Piru and Nueva Spana, with benefit to both those colonies and the islands.  For the ships which go from the Philipinas to Nueva Spana it is of the greatest importance to have a safe harbor in Japon, in which to repair and supply themselves with the necessities for so long and dangerous a voyage—­because, for not having had it hitherto, great losses have