from this district, and I wonder that a man is left.  For the governors send soldiers from here to Maluco, Sugbu, Octong, and Caragan, where a fort has been built and is guarded by the men of Pampanga.  And although they do more work than the Spanish soldiers, they receive no pay, their food is scarce, and they are ill treated.  And yet it can be said of these Indians (and a strange thing it is), that although they are treated so harshly, it is not known that a single one has deserted to the Dutch in Maluco, where they suffer more than in their own country.  Many of the other Indians go and come.  When these soldiers leave Pampanga, they present a fine appearance, for the villages come to their aid, each with a certain sum, for their uniforms.  All this is due to the teaching of the religious of our father St. Augustine, whose flock these Indians are, and the children of their teaching.

Besides the above religious, the provincial established others in a settlement in the village of Bacolor, which is the best village not only of Pampanga, but of all the islands; for it has more than one thousand Indians under the bell [i.e., “who are Christians"].  It is about one and one-half days’ journey from Manila by sea and creeks, as in the case of the others.  It has the best meadow-land in the islands, and it all produces rice abundantly.  It is irrigated, as was remarked above of the others.  It has a celebrated church with its crucifix, which is entirely built of stone and brick.  The house is made of stone also.  The inhabitants are the richest and best-clothed of all Pampanga, and have the most prominent of the chiefs.  When the supply of religious is good, there are always three in this village, and there have even been at times four or five; for besides the stipend paid by his Majesty (who owns this encomienda), it has its own chaplaincies, founded by the said inhabitants of Pampanga.  It also has its own altar fund, which, although not very important as yet, will yield something for the support of those in charge there.  All the territory of Pampanga is surrounded by mountains where dwell Zambales and Negrillos, who descend to the villages for the purpose of head-hunting; for there is nothing so much to their taste as this.  A people without abiding-place or house cannot be punished.  They rest at night where they choose; and sustain themselves on roots and what game they bring down with their bows.  The children, as they are raised with this milk, and as they are given suck of human blood, die by pouring out their own blood.

Many misfortunes occur yearly, and we have only the pain of not being able to remedy them.  And although the Indians know this, they do not, on that account, watch more carefully or have greater vigilance over themselves.  On the contrary they proceed with so great abandon that one marvels.  If they are censured, they answer:  “What can we do, since there is nothing besides the will of God?” The same thing happens in regard to the crocodiles.