Manila also repaired to our church; and I
once saw them perform a very decorous and devout dance in a feast of
the most holy sacrament. Their mode of dress is decorous, and they
sing, to a slow and solemn music, marking the pauses by strokes with a
small fan grasped in the palm of the left hand; they move in time with
this, only stamping their feet, inclining their bodies somewhat. The
effect is most striking, and invites devotion, especially in those
who understand what they sing, which are all things pertaining to
the divine. In the year one thousand five hundred and eighty-seven,
one of them named Gabriel, a native of Miaco, reared in the Society,
brought with him to Manila as converts four other companions--who,
as soon as they arrived, were baptized with great solemnity in our
church and confirmed by the bishop, who treated us with the same love
and confidence as if he were of our religious order. On the feast of
St. Michael, the twenty-ninth of September of this same year, there
was a jubilee in our church, and the bishop desired to celebrate the
mass; on that occasion, six hundred persons received communion; for a
country and a Christian community so new as that one, this was a very
large number, and gave all the more consolation and edification to all.

In this same year occurred a miraculous conversion of an infidel. This
latter was crossing the river of Manila in one of those small boats
so numerous in the islands, which do not extend more than two dedos
[52] out of the water. As there are many caimans in this river
(which in that respect is another Nile), one of them happened to
cross his course, and, seizing him, dragged him to the bottom with
a rapidity which is their mode, by a natural instinct, of killing
and securing their prey. The infidel, like another Jonas, beneath
the water called with all his heart upon the God of the Christians;
and instantly beheld two persons clad in white, who snatched him from
the claws of the caiman, and drew him to the bank, safe and sound;
and as a result of this miracle he was baptized, with his two sons,
and became a Christian. The very opposite befell another Christian,
who, forgetful of God, passed every night to the other side of that
river to commit evil deeds. God, wearied of waiting for him, sent his
"alguazil of the water"--which is the name that we give there to
the cayman--who, seizing him, executed upon his person the divine
chastisement for his wickedness. All