Ruy Freire went to besiege Ormuz with some ships, and the viceroy told him that he was going in person with [MS. holed] ships to capture it.

Father Geronimo Perez [61] had cut down, at a residence, a tree which was called nino, in order to dispel the superstitions of the Indians.  That tree was twenty-five brazas in circumference, and there are other trees of this species whose trunks are used by the Indians as houses. [62]

Father Muxica writes from Macan that Father Trigautio had come from China to Macan, and said that there were many highborn and influential people in China who were being converted, and that they were living very exemplary lives.  Manila, July 5, 1628 [sic].

II

A relation of events in the Philipinas Islands, and other neighboring kingdoms, from the month of July, 1628, to July,1629.

Continuing my project begun last year, I will proceed in this account to relate the events which have happened this year, without observing any other order than that in which they occur to me.

At half past one on the night of November 25, Our church fell, with so terrible a crash that it seemed as if the heavens were falling.  It was due to God’s great providence that it did not happen several hours later, for without doubt some of our fathers would have been caught in the ruins.  It is the third time that this church has fallen; for years ago, just as they finished saying the last mass, and locked the doors, the whole vault, which was built of brick, fell in a great earthquake.  If it had happened an hour before, it would have wrought great injury, by imprisoning beneath it all the people who were in the church.  Then six years later, in the month of September, on the same day, just as they were beginning to decorate the church for celebrating the feasts of St. Ignatius and St. Xavier, one large pillar and two arches fell, leaving the roof in the air, without any means of support for more than eight yards—­a thing which seemed miraculous; two of Ours were caught, but neither received much harm.  On this last occasion the ruin was greater, because one pillar, when it fell, carried with it half of the church.  Thus it remained, without repairs being possible; there was nothing to be done but to finish the work of destruction, and build a hut in which to accommodate our fathers in their ministries, until we finish the new church building and house—­which is a very good one, and well on its way to completion. [63]

On the twentieth of December, at eight o’clock in the evening, they omitted the holy sacrament in the Cathedral church of this city, because it had been stolen, together with the monstrance in which it was kept.  Diligent search was made for it, arresting some and putting others to the torture, and making earnest prayers to placate the wrath of God, but no trace of the thief could be found in these or any other ways, even to the present day. [64]