this took place in Manila,
in which place Ours were not long confined; they went forth, and
dispersed through the islands, the number and variety of which we
shall now describe in greater detail.

Of the number and size of the Filipinas Islands. Chapter VI.

The islands properly called the Filipinas begin at the large island
of Burnei, not far from Malaca, which serves as a roadstead for the
Portuguese who sail for Maluco. This island extends from the first
or second degree on the south of the equinoctial line to about
the eighth degree on the north side. The Mahometan king of this
island, although he retained his own religion, rendered obedience
as a vassal of the crown of Castilla when Doctor Francisco de Sande
[53] was governor of the Filipinas. The island of Siao [54] is east
of Burnei and about six or eight degrees latitude toward the north;
its king and his subjects are Christians, converted by the fathers
of our Society who live in Maluco. To render homage to the crown of
Castilla, he came to the court of Manila at the time when Gomez Perez
de las Marinas, knight of the habit of Santiago, was governor of the
islands. On this journey he was accompanied by Father Antonio Marta,
an Italian, the superior of the Society in the islands of Maluco,
and by his companion, Father Antonio Pereira, [55] a Portuguese. I
had them all as guests in a house at Tigbauan, in the island of Panai,
where for two years I was instructing those peoples, to their profit
and my own satisfaction, as I shall later relate. I do not mean Cian,
but Siao, for that is the name of the island. Cian is not an island,
but the mainland between Malaca and Camboxa, contiguous with Great
China and Cochin China. By journeying northward from the two islands
of Siao and Burnei, one may traverse in his course from island to
island the whole extent of the Filipinas; and, by going east and west,
their entire width. Passing through Sarrangan, Iolo, and Taguima, which
are three distinct islands, one reaches the great island of Mindanao,
whence one comes to the island of Manila, the metropolitan see; as well
as to Babuyanes, Hermosa Island, and the greater and lesser Lequios,
which include many islands. Of the more northern islands, besides those
already named, those which are known and are most populous are: Manila,
Mindoro, Luban, Marinduque, Cabras, Tablas, Masbate, Capul, Ibabao,
Leite, Bohol, Fuegos, Negros, Imares, Panai, Cagayan, Cuyo, Calamianes,
Par