Interesting statistics of the houses and missions of the various religious orders in the islands are furnished (ca. 1612), at the royal command, by their superiors.  The Augustinians enumerate fifty-six houses with one hundred and fifty-five priests and thirteen lay brethren.  The Jesuits maintain two colleges (Manila and Cebu), six residences and two missions; in these are forty-five priests, twenty-eight lay brethren, eight novices, and eleven scholastics—­in all ninty-two religious.  Each “residence” is a center of missionary activity for all the Indian villages around it, in some of which are churches, and to others visits are paid more or less frequently by the fathers who live at the residence.  The Franciscans have forty-eight houses in their missions to the Indians, and four in the Spanish towns; they also maintain six hospitals.  They have one hundred and one priests and thirty-eight lay brethren, besides twenty-one religious in Japan.  The Dominicans have eighteen houses, and one hospital, with sixty-two friars; besides these, they have three houses in Japan, with nine religious.  The field occupied by the Augustinians is in Western Luzon, Panay, and Cebu; and the villages in which they minister number 58,800 tributes—­which, at three persons to each tribute, means a population of 176,400 souls.  The Jesuits conduct missions in Luzon, Panay, Leyte, Samar, Bohol, and adjacent islands; they have sixty-eight churches, besides those in Manila and Cebu, and are in charge of about 50,000 souls.  The Franciscans have missions in Luzon, with 80,000 souls; also some in Maluco and Japan.  The Dominicans also work in Luzon, ministering to somewhat more than 16,000 souls.

The viceroy of Peru writes to Felipe iii (April 12, 1612) in regard to the Philippine-Mexican trade, giving his report and opinion, at the king’s command, regarding the request of the Sevilla merchants that the Philippine trade be taken from Mexico and transferred to Spain and Portugal.  This letter is an interesting exposition of the theories regarding colonial administration then held by certain Spanish statesmen—­and, more or less, of the policy then pursued by the Spanish government:  for Montesclaros had already been a viceroy of Spanish colonies in America for nine years, at the time of this report, and was highly regarded by his home government.  He describes the progress of commerce since the colonization of the New World began, and shows that the markets of the latter are overstocked with European merchandise, and thus the profits of the trade are greatly decreased.  The viceroy carefully analyzes the proposal to transfer the Philippine trade to Spain, and shows its probable results.  The Manila merchandise is almost entirely silk; this could be replaced in Mexico with the cotton fabrics made by the Indians in that country, and the silk industry might be introduced into Mexico and made a success there.  Nevertheless, the Philippines would be injured by the suppression of their Mexican