had no intention of acting well, he began, as a good captain, to prepare his camp.  He cleared away the palms from his camp, and intrenched himself carefully, in order that when the Indians, according to their custom, should attack him, the result would not be so harmless to themselves that they would not regret it.  The Spaniards then began to make their raids into the land, collected what food they could find, and captured what Indians they met.  Once they were so fortunate that, besides bringing back to the flagship quantities of rice, and many swine and fowls, which food was being despatched with all rapidity, they captured six Indian women.  Among these was one who occupied so commanding a position that she promised to have Tupas come to the flagship, by means of her husband, who was one of the foremost chiefs of the island.

At this time, the commander began to be established in the island, and accordingly desired to discuss the founding of a city there, to be called Santisimo Nombre de Jesus.  He marked out the lines, assigned homesteads, and began to apportion them to those who were to remain there.  It was all done according to the plan of Father Urdaneta, who was the chief mover in everything.  He marked out a triangular fort, which was constructed rapidly; for the commander took charge of one side, the master-of-camp of another, and the other captains of the third.  A site was assigned for the cathedral.  Also a site was given to our order, so large that, of a surety—­and I agree thereto—­the liberality of the Christian commander can only be praised, as well as the zeal of our religious, whereby it appeared that that must amount to something important some day.  They did not found their house, as one author says, in the house where the most holy Child was found, for that house was next to the cathedral.  There is a very poor hermitage there today.  It must be venerated more greatly, for as the devotion went on diminishing, so likewise did the worship.  Its roof is of nipa, or palm leaves, which are used as roofing for houses.  The sides are boards, and no care, so far as I know; is taken to sweep it.  Our convent is situated very far from it, on the shore, which is swept by the vendaval.  Between its rock wall and the shore, which is but a short distance, is to be seen the first cross erected there by our men. [31] Now it has a stone base, and it is enough that it has not been destroyed, inasmuch as we take but little care of antiquities.  Although the convent should be the best and most esteemed in the province, as it is, in short, the ancestral house that declares very well our antiquity in the islands, it is, I know not why, the poorest and neediest.  It may have been that, as all the wealth passed to Manila, and the capital of the province was established there, this other city was neglected; or because, as the city was declining, so likewise the convent declined.  After the above-mentioned acts, those first conquistadors were ordered to make a solemn