Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 07).djvu/234

 this city and to the Sangleys. He shall give an account to your Majesty, and a more exact one to God, of the injuries and loss that he has caused to this land. Had not your Majesty set matters right by sending a successor to him, and so good a one as you did send, he would have brought ruin upon this land; and, even so, he leaves it sufficiently harassed and afflicted.

The Sangleys who live in this Parián number ordinarily between three and four thousand, not counting the two thousand and more who come and go in ships. These, together with those residing in Tondo, and the fishermen and gardeners who live in this neighborhood, number, according to the Dominican fathers who have them in charge, from six to seven thousand souls. Four religious of that order are engaged in their conversion and instruction.

I have mentioned many small matters here, and it does not seem very considerate to write so long a letter to one who is so occupied in affairs of moment as your Majesty is; but my great zeal deserves forgiveness. For, considering how far distant these regions are, and how extraordinary are these people—of whom we have known so little hitherto, on account of the opposition shown by the Portuguese to our gaining any knowledge of them—it seemed right for me to send your Majesty a relation and more specific news concerning the matter, so that your Majesty may know what exists and occurs here in his realms, and