, under arrest,
two prisoners--one of them Diego Ronquillo, a kinsman of the late
governor Gonzalo Ronquillo de Penalosa, charged with defalcation in
the trust of the latter's estate.

A Franciscan official in Spain, Geronimo de Guzman, sends to the
king (1585) certain recommendations regarding the government of the
Franciscan friars in the Philippines. An Augustinian friar, Jhoan de
Vascones, who has evidently gone from the islands to Spain, writes
in behalf of his brethren there (1585?) to ask the king that more
religious be sent to the Philippines and to other Oriental lands;
that these friars be sent from Spain by way of India instead of Nueva
Espana; that the authorities of India, secular and ecclesiastical,
be commanded to aid the friars in their missionary journeys; that
the latter be permitted to build monasteries as they may choose, "in
remote and infidel lands," without awaiting government permission;
and that the authorities at Manila be not allowed to send, at their
own pleasure, the friars to other lands.

From the _Historia del gran Reyno de China_ (Madrid, 1586) of the
Augustinian Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza, we have translated such matter
as relates to the Philippine Islands--portions of part ii, and of
the "Itinerary" appended to Mendoza's work. He narrates (book i,
part ii) the efforts of the Augustinian friars to carry the gospel
to the Chinese. These are unavailing until, after the defeat of the
Chinese pirate Limahon (whose exploits are narrated in some detail)
by the Spanish forces, a Chinese officer named Omoncon, who has come
to Manila in search of the pirate, forms a friendly acquaintance with
the Spaniards, and, in return for favors at their hands, promises to
convey to China some Spanish friars. For this mission are selected
Fray Martin de Herrada (or Rada) and Fray Geronimo Marin, with two
soldiers as an escort--one of whom is Miguel de Loarca, author of the
curious "Relation" which appears in Volume V of this series. They are
well treated by the Chinese, but are unable to establish a mission
in that land, and finally are sent back to the Philippines. In the
second book is related the voyage made by the Franciscans to China
in 1579. At first they ask permission to go thither, which Sande is
not willing to grant; but the conversion of a Chinese priest through
their efforts makes them still more desirous of opening a mission in
that country, and, Sande still refusing to allow this, they decide