The capital of this province is, as has been said, the city and port of Nueba Segobia, opposite and facing China and Japon, one hundred and twenty leguas from Manila.  It is so near China that from Cape Bojeador, one of the points or promontories of Cagayan, it is not more than a seventy leguas’ journey to the nearest towns on the coast of Chincheo, a maritime province of that great kingdom.  The greater part of the Sangleys who come to these islands are natives of that place.  For this reason, and because of the natural restlessness of the people of Cagayan, there has been established in Nueba Segobia a regular garrison, sometimes with fifty, and sometimes with a hundred, or even more, soldiers, as necessity demands.  Nueba Segobia contains the cathedral church and is the capital of the archbishopric of the province of Cagayan, just as the city of Caseres is of Camarines.  There are then, in the island of Luzon, not counting the archbishopric of Manila, which is the capital of the kingdom, the two archbishoprics above mentioned.  It must be noted that there are in this island many races and kinds of people, such as the Camarines, Camintanes, Tagalos, Panpangas, Sanbales, Ilocos, Cagayanes, and many others.  They differ noticeably not only in language and in physical characteristics, but also in disposition and customs.  But the Tagala dialect, that of Manila and the surrounding country, is a common language.  It is spoken and understood everywhere, not only by the above-mentioned natives of the island of Luzon, but by the natives of all the islands.  From this fact those who know something concerning the past of these people infer that the other nations of the archipelago have long carried on trade and commerce with Manila.  Because the island is the center of an infinite number of nations and barbarous people, some heathens and some Mahometans; and because of its nearness to and trade with the rich and powerful kingdoms of Japon and China, as well as for other reasons that might be mentioned, Manila is considered of greater importance in this governmental district than can here be indicated.

Judicial offices of the province of Nueba Segobia.  There is only one judicial office in Cagayan, the alcaldia-mayor of the entire province.

Province of Panay in the Pintados

The sixth province, one of those outside of Luzon, is the island of Panay, situated in the Pintados, one hundred leguas south of the city of Manila.  It is more fertile, and yields more rice and other provisions, than any other province of the kingdom except Manila.  Neither is there any province relatively more densely populated, for, although it is not eighty leguas in periphery, it contains thirty thousand of the most profitable and peaceable tributes in the whole kingdom.  The capital of this island is the town of Arebalo, which was settled by the adelantado Legaspi in fifteen hundred and sixty-seven, and enlarged by Don Gonzalo Ronquillo in fifteen hundred and eighty-two.