what they accomplish is only under the vigilance and urging of the missionary or the alcalde-mayor.  The Panay convent is near the Spanish fort at Arevalo, and the fathers have the privilege of treatment by the surgeon there—­“who, without being able to distinguish his right hand, bleeds and purges, so that in a brief time the sick man is laid in his grave.”  The creoles of Nueva Espana die early, and “do not reach their majority.”

In 1581, Fray Andres de Aguirre is elected provincial of Filipinas:  his many virtues and achievements are extolled by our writer.  Medina here takes occasion to advocate the policy of gathering the Indians into reductions and there teaching them the civilized ways of Europeans.  He makes interesting observations on the character and temperament of the natives; and complains of the opposition encountered by the missionaries from the Spaniards, “by whose hands the devil wages warfare against the ministry; consequently the religious tire themselves out, and the devil reaps what harvest he wills.”  But the Spaniards oppress the Indians; and, “if it were not for the protection of the religious, there would not now be an Indian, or any settlement.”  Moreover, it is the religious who are taming those wild peoples, and reducing them to subjection to the Spanish crown.  All these points are illustrated by anecdotes and citations from actual experience.  Under Aguirre’s rule as provincial, some extensions of missions are made.  Among these is Bantayan—­since that time abandoned by the Augustinians, as Medina records, and almost depopulated by the raids of Moro pirates.  An attempt is made to remove its inhabitants to settlements in Cebu Island; but they refuse to leave their homes.  Medina recounts numerous instances of cruel and oppressive treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, and of insolence and opposition on the part of the latter to the missionaries and their work.  With this, he also urges that the religious be allowed to inflict punishments upon the natives, when the latter are disobedient or commit misdeeds.  In this argument Medina makes a curious admission, especially as he writes after missionaries had labored sixty-five years in the islands—­saying of the Indians:  “For they detest, as a rule, church matters—­to such an extent, that they would even pay two tributes to be free from the church.  They love their old beliefs and revelries so strongly that they would lose their souls for them.  Without any fear, how would they attend to their duties?” The missionaries also desire to break up the native habits of sloth and vagabondage, by compelling the Indians to live in villages; but many Spaniards oppose this policy.  Medina recounts the difficulties between the friars and the ecclesiastical authorities, in Bishop Salazar’s time, regarding the religious jurisdiction of the former.

Further extension of missions is made during the provincialate of Fray Diego de Alvarez (elected in 1584).  Each district in which a mission is introduced or enlarged is described by our writer, who adds many pertinent and interesting observations on the natives and their character, their relations with the Spaniards, the affairs of his order, the progress of the colony, the products of the country, etc.