as one of the suppliants himself explained to me, to wear their
hair was honorable among them, and a custom of their nation, as with
us the wearing of mustaches or beard. But as I did not dare to act
in opposition to what the prelates and other judicious ministers and
religious are accustomed to do in this matter, I announced to them
my decision that, unless their hair was cut, I would not baptize
them. With this they submitted and obeyed, and in token of greater
submission to my intentions, Tuigam came to me on the morning of the
baptism, accompanied by others of his nation, and placing in my hands
some scissors, asked me to cut the first handful of his hair. This
I did, and another finished the task. From that time on none of them
made any objection to the rule; in fact, without our speaking of it,
they came to baptism with their hair cut like ours.

Father Diego de Aragon, of the holy Order of Preachers, had also come
to embark in the vessel. This truly spiritual, virtuous, and exemplary
man had been waiting during an entire year for the departure of the
vessel; and, on account of its inability to leave at that time, was
glad to live and remain with me in our house, for his own order has
none in that city. I received him very gladly, and with gratitude
to God our Lord, for the opportunity thus afforded me of serving
a person and order whom I so highly esteemed, and to which our own
Society is so much indebted, and which it recognizes here, there,
and in every region. He was a source of great edification to me--and
to many others of our Society who had come to me from Manila and who
were afterward my guests--by his great piety, austerity, eloquence,
penitence, and blameless and exemplary life. In this way time passed
until September of the year fifteen hundred and ninety-six, when,
the division and allotment of the fourteen fathers who had arrived
in the previous August having been made, I began to have guests
and companions--with whom I could not only maintain our ministries
in better condition, but also go to ascertain the condition of our
affairs in Mindanao, which upon the death of Father Juan del Campo,
were left, as we shall see, without a master. This college was finally
occupied by six of the Society, who were soon busied in ministering to
the Spaniards, Portuguese, Chinese, Bissayans, Tagalos, and many other
nations who resort to that city for trading and other affairs. Two of
us exercised the Chinese langua