employ in this work, conformably to his great zeal for the salvation of
souls. How he did this we shall see later, each subject in its proper
place. First, I will say that the facility with which many ministers
of the Lord in the four religious orders learned the languages used in
their respective missions, even so as to preach and hear confessions
in them, seems a gift from heaven. The most tardy student of them,
if he apply himself moderately, spends no more than six months;
and one of Ours, Father Cosme de Flores, learned and mastered this
language, so that he could preach and hear confessions, in seventy-four
days--to the astonishment of our people, as well as of the Indians
themselves. The latter, seeing this facility, say that God, without
doubt, bestows it upon us, recognizing their needs. In truth these
languages are not very difficult, either to learn or to pronounce--and
more especially now, since there is a grammar, a vocabulary, and many
writings therein. The most difficult is the language of Manila (which
they call Tagal)--which, I have already said, Father Martin Henriquez
learned in three months; and in three more, he used it fluently. This
was the first of the native languages that I learned, to which and
to the others I shall profitably devote another chapter. [68]

Of the Languages of the Filipinas. Chapter XV.

There is no single or general language of the Filipinas extending
throughout the islands; but all of them, though there are many and
different tongues, are so much alike that they may be learned and
spoken in a short time. Consequently if one is learned, all are
almost known. They are to each other like the Tuscan, Lombard,
and Sicilian dialects of Italia, or the Castilian, Portuguese,
and Galician in Espana. Only the language of the Negrillos is very
different from the rest, as, in Espana, is the Vizcayan [_i.e._,
Basque]. There is not a different language for each of the islands,
because some of them--as, for example, Manila, and even Panai, which
is more than four hundred leguas smaller--contain several languages;
and there are languages each of which prevails in several islands. In
the island of Manila alone, there are six different tongues; in Panai,
two; in some others, but one. The languages most used, and most widely
spread, are the Tagal and the Bisayan; and in some regions of the
Pintados another tongue is also prevalent, called Harayan. The Tagal
embraces the greater part of t