Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 38).djvu/14

Rh laments the cruelty with which the Spaniards treat the natives in the labor of shipbuilding, and says that "at times, religious are sent to protect and defend them from the infernal fury of some Spaniards."

Then he describes Manila and the products of Luzón, in sketchy but enthusiastic fashion. He mentions with surprise the number of Chinese, besides mestizos and natives, who are maintained for the service of the Spanish colony there. The Chinese are, in religious matters, under the care of the Dominicans. Navarrete enumerates many prominent persons in Manila whom he knew, both laymen and ecclesiastics; and describes the hospitable and pious treatment accorded to the Japanese Christians (some of them lepers) who were exiled to Manila. He decides to leave the islands, and goes (1653) to Macasar; the hardships and perils of that voyage are vividly related. Buffeted by fierce storms, the vessel does not arrive at its destination until nine months after leaving Manila – some two months being spent at a Malay village on the northern coast of Celebes, where the Spanish passengers on the vessel suffer greatly from hunger. They finally reach Macasar, where Navarrete spends several years, in 1658 departing for Macao, to enter the Chinese missions. His narrative, although rambling and sketchy, is fresh and picturesque; and it indicates a keen and shrewd observer, and a man intelligent, enthusiastic, outspoken, and humane.

The Dominican procurator-general at Madrid represents to the Spanish government (1674) the evils arising from the "almost perpetual vacancies" in the episcopal sees of the islands, and their subjection to the secular government there; and he makes