Also it is worth while to narrate what happened in the province of Ambongan and the lake of Compongan through the preaching by Ours of the faith of Jesus Christ.  An Indian woman was very near the end of her life, and her husband and children were sad because at the time there was no father there to administer the sacraments; for Ours were at Butuan, whence they could not come without considerable delay.  The sick woman, seeing their sadness, told them to console themselves; for the most holy Virgin, their advocate, had appeared to her very beautiful and shining, and had told her to rejoice, for she would not die until a father should have come to confess her and give her all the other sacraments of the church.  That very thing happened, for within a month a missionary priest arrived there to visit and console those villages.  The sick woman heard of it, and had herself carried to the church, where she received the sacraments of penitence, the eucharist, and extreme unction, in the presence of that village.  She returned to her house, embracing a cross, to which she spoke innumerable tender words.  She died about midnight, leaving behind strong indications of having gone to enjoy the eternal rest.

Sec.  IX

Ours preach in Calamianes, and Cuyo

The fervor of our religious did not rest with what was accomplished in the provinces above mentioned.  Having obtained some associates, they determined to preach in Calamianes, islands which remained in their blindness and idolatry.  Their inhabitants were wild, and great sorcerers and magicians, who knew many herbs.  They used the latter to kill by means of the breath or expiration infected with a poisonous herb, as we have said above.  They are poor, not because of the sterility of the country, but because the Borneans, Camuzones, and others of their neighbors plunder them.

Those islands lie west of the island of Panai, which is one of the largest of the Filipinas, being eighty leguas long, but narrow in its breadth, and extends north and south from ten to twelve and one-half degrees.  They are small, for they are only four to six leguas in circuit, and that which is largest is twenty.  The chief islands, those most frequented by Ours, number nine.  In that of Butuagan [sic], the climate is not suited to deer; for they are not raised there; and if they are taken there they die very soon, without the reason being known, for all the Filipinas contain many of them.

That of Coron is also notable, as it is a ledge or rock, very high and rugged, which is fortified naturally by the crags that girdle it.  Its ascent is steep and intricate.  The Indians retire there as to a sacred place.  It cannot be taken except by hunger or thirst, and the crag or island is dry and barren, so that not a drop of water can be found on it.  Numerous birds resort thither, and there are also a great number of beehives [53] amid the hollows of the rocks, and a quantity of honey is produced, as well as wax, without its costing any care or labor.  The Indians gather that harvest, and, carrying it to other places, obtain the things needful for life.