he said archbishopric (as well as all
the island) takes its name, occupies the same site as did the largest
settlement of the natives of this island when they were heathen,
who called it by the same name. It was conquered and happily united
to the Spanish crown on May nineteen, one thousand five hundred and
seventy-one (the same year of the establishment of the tribunal of
the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Mexico) by the valiant Miguel
Lopez de Legazpi, native [of Guipuzcoa: blank space in MS.], and a
former citizen of the said City of Mexico, whom his Majesty honored
with the title of adelantado of the said islands. The city lies
in fourteen degrees of north latitude. The governor lives there,
who is the captain-general and president of the royal Audiencia
which resides in that city, and consists of four auditors who are
also alcaldes of the court, a fiscal, and the chief constable of the
court. Their archbishop and the ecclesiastical cabildo live there,
the latter consisting of the accustomed dignitaries--three canons
(for one of the four canonries there was suppressed by his Majesty),
two racioneros, two medio-racioneros, one secular cura, who has
charge of the Spaniards, and another who has charge of the natives
and mulattoes. They are building at the cost of his Majesty a temple
for a cathedral, as that which they had before fell in the ruin caused
throughout those islands by the earthquakes in the year one thousand
six hundred and forty-four [sic; sc. five]. There is a royal chapel in
the Plaza de Armas for the funerals and ministry of the soldiers, and
it has a chief chaplain and six secular chaplains, all at his Majesty's
expense. There is a commissary of the tribunal of the Holy Office,
counselors, calificadors, a chief constable, and other employes. The
said commissary is necessary in the said city, and he will suffice for
all the jurisdiction of the archbishopric of Manila, with the exception
of the port of Cavitte. Because of the vessels that anchor at the said
city from foreign kingdoms, and because it is not easy to cross the
bay during certain months of the year, it is advisable for that city
to have its own commissary, as will be related later in the proper
place. There is also need of the chief constable, four familiars,
and two notaries. [There is] a house of the Misericordia with its
temple and two seculars as chaplains, where marriages are provided
[for girls]. There is another house, called Santt