Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 06).djvu/138

 vessel, that they may be sent from the kingdom. On leaving China the little party separate into two divisions, the father custodian and one other going to Macao, that they may there learn the Chinese language thoroughly, while the other two return to Manila, which is reached February 2, 1580 "where they were received by the governor and the rest with great joy, and their fault in having departed without leave was pardoned." The father custodian reports from Macao a rich harvest field in Cochin China.]

[The first ten chapters of the "Itinerary" treat of the departure from Spain of the Franciscans (among whom was Father Martin Ignacio), in 1580, their arrival in New Spain, and matters relating to the New World. The voyage is by way of the Canaries, of which a brief description is given; thence to San Domingo or Española, passing on the way the island Desseada, or "land desired," and its neighboring islands—among the latter La Dominica, inhabited by the cannibal Caribs—and later Puerto Rico.