the last moments of his life, namely, that he would commend them to God in glory, provided that he went there, as he had good hopes of doing.  After the conclusion of the services for a death so fortunate and so bewailed, they soon arrived—­May tenth—­at the islands that they were seeking.  Having disembarked first, according to the order that they bore, on the island of Zibu, the discalced were lodged in the convent of our calced fathers, the venerable bishop, and that example of prelates, Don Fray Pedro de Agurto, as we saw in his life, having gone out to receive them in procession.  That most illustrious man desired that the new missionaries should not go further, and offered them a foundation and whatever they wished, in order to exercise themselves in the conversion and salvation of the infidels.  It was impossible to assent to so many kindnesses, for their immediate passage to Manila was unavoidable, in order that the governor might see the despatches and the decrees from Espana, which it was necessary to present to him.  After having given the bishop the thanks due, they had to set out as soon as possible.

Before proceeding with our relation, it will not be out of place to tell our readers, although in few words, something about the island of Luzon and the city of Manila, as it is the metropolis of the kingdoms that the crown of Castilla has there.  It was given that name, then, since the Spaniards have owned it, from a chief village so named, distant two leguas from Manavilis, which is corruptly called Marivelez.  It was also called Nueva Castilla.  It is the largest island in the Philippinas, and extends farthest north of all those islands.  It is the most populous in nations and tribes, who exceed the others, both in bravery and in the light of reason, with well-known advantages.  Its least altitude is scant thirteen degrees, and its greatest ten or nine and one-half.  Its circuit, without taking into account certain bays, comprehends four hundred and twelve leguas.  Those who make it three hundred are in error, for they do not consider its position.  It is all very fertile, and has many large rivers, that of Cagayan or Nueva Segovia being more swollen than the others.  They are all navigable, more or less.  Ships enter that of Manila at full tide with one-half their cargo, but the galleys enter it generally without any trouble.  It furnishes a location for the aforesaid city, on a certain very pleasant and beautiful site on the shores of the sea.  It is a point made by the Pasig River in sight of the bay.  That bay is affirmed to be one of the largest and best that men can see in all the world, for it is thirty leguas in circumference, and has an island of six miles at its mouth, where a sentinel is always stationed.  It sustains more than one hundred thousand persons daily with fish, counting the Sangleys and Japanese, and the villages that are settled on its shores.  When Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legaspi took it by force of arms, May