engineer (whom he had carried to the
islands at his own expense) to make examination of the iron mines;
this reconnaissance had given satisfactory results, for the engineer
had begun to work the mines with so good success that he had taken out
nearly 600 arrobas [of iron], and was continuing to operate the mines.

In another (but undated) letter on the same subject, he mentions the
improvements that he had had to make in the walls of Manila; and says
that he had ordered four forts to be built in the interior of Luzon,
in order to push forward the conquest of the infidel peoples. He also
repeats much of what he had said in the preceding letter. [59]

WHY THE FRIARS ARE NOT SUBJECTED TO EPISCOPAL VISITATION

The reasons that the governor and the royal Audiencia of the Filipinas
Islands apparently might have had for suspending the execution of the
royal decrees, which were repeatedly ordered to be observed in favor
of the right of the royal patronage, from the year 1624 to that of 1656
[sic] have been as follows. [60]

First, the consideration of the zealous observance of [their rules
by] all the orders in those islands; the zeal with which they busy
themselves in their ministries; the new conversions that are made daily
in certain portions of the islands; and because if the religious are
forced to that subjection [to the diocesan authorities] they will
surely fall into laxity, and consequently, will lose the zeal that
they today exercise, as experience shows in the orders throughout
America that have entered that subjection.

Second, because of the few seculars that there have always been in the
islands to take charge of those missions; for when these were most
numerous here was in the years 24, 28, and 34, for then the city of
Manila had 400 citizens, and Cebu, Oton, Nueva Segovia, and Arevalo had
nearly 200 more. Now the representative citizens throughout the islands
do not number 60. Then if in that time, when the islands contained most
Spaniards, there were no secular priests, how can there be any today
when there are not 60 citizens in all the islands, while the number
of priests is steadily growing less in America, where the Spanish
settlements are large and populous and are continually increasing?

So great is the lack of the secular clergy that they cannot even
take care of the missions in their charge. For there is no district
belonging to the seculars, especially outside of the island of Manila