were very swift, the winds strong, and the
rain-showers must have been a help.

We were welcomed cordially in Manila, as they were not expecting a
company, for the procurator sent by the province--namely, the father
reader Fray Juan de Pineda [18]--was detained in Nueva Espana. When we
arrived, already the favor bestowed upon the province by his Majesty
(in a time when, as ran the news, little was expected) was already
being extended; for the news that circulated through the court was
not very reliable. But his Majesty, better informed, attended to
everything as a pious king. He sent religious to the province, and gave
the bishopric to Don Fray Pedro de Arce, as above stated. He gave also
an alms of two thousand pesos to the Manila house, and joined to it a
visitor-general, with orders to attend to whatever needed remedy. His
Majesty should be considered as a most kind benefactor of the orders,
and very thankful for the services that our order has performed in
these regions for him.

The first thing given attention was the examination of the papers of
our father master Fray Diego de Guevara. When they had been examined
in the definitorio, there were no objections possible. Therefore,
with humble mien, the venerable father definitors were very obedient,
and complied with the letters of our most reverend father. They
were much beholden for the favors received from our pious king, and
served him likewise in this thing that he ordered. Thus was our father
visitor-general received by the definitorio. He was visitor-general
for the entire province, since necessarily the body must obey the
movements of its head.

Our father visitor was especially charged by the court to inquire into
our Father Solier's acts; and, if necessary, he was to deprive him
of his office and declare it forfeited. But he found matters quite
different from those reported there, for he found Father Solier's
province under his government very much reformed, and his devotion
admirable. For our Father Solier was in all things a remarkable man;
and by his letter to the province and his systematic conduct of it,
and the manner in which he conserved it, one can see how well he played
his part. Thus if he had lost any of his luster in his dispute with the
chapter of the past _intermedium_, he more than made it up. And this
being so understood by our father visitor-general, he congratulated
Father Solier highly, and honored him to the utmost.

It appears tha