f numbers that are suffered by the Indians in all the
Western Indias on account of the labor in the mines, the Order of
St. Dominic especially, who administer the province of Pangasinan,
have tried with all their might to cover up this information, on
account of this fear which possesses them.

Many years ago I learned something of this, but I sided with the
others who gave little credit to it, owing to the little knowledge
that we had. But as time is a great discloser of secrets, while I
was discussing with some religious the difficulties of the future
which the kings of Espana, the successors of your Majesty, must meet
in maintaining this country if there were in the country itself
no wealth or sources of profit which would oblige them to do so,
I succeeded in securing a great deal of information concerning the
wealth which is there. Particularly, he who is now archbishop [49]
told me that a religious of St. Dominic--the vicar of a village named
Vinalatonga, who was named Fray Jasinto Palao, and who at that time
had come from Luzon to this kingdom [_i.e._, Espana]--had shown him
some rocks which an Indian had brought him from a mine, and which
appeared extraordinarily rich, beyond anything that had been seen. But
he enjoined the bishop to secrecy, because he himself had heard it
in the same manner. I, who desired the preservation of that country,
took occasion to make friends with that religious, in order to inform
myself the better under pretence of curiosity. I asked him to tell
me what he knew of those mines, whereupon that religious (who was
already en route for the return to the islands) told me that what he
had said was true; and further he said: "No one knows as much about
those mines as I, because some Indians came down from the mountains
and I entertained them. They told me that there was a great deal of
gold up there, and that of what they took from the mines, half the
ore was gold." And he said that when one of them, who was already
somewhat versed in our tongue, saw reals of eight, he said to him:
"We have much of this metal there, Father, much in the mines; but
Indian wants nothing besides gold." I conferred with the bishop of
Nueva Segovia (as that province falls under his jurisdiction), who was
Don Fray Diego de Soria, a Dominican, and with another religious, the
provincial of the same order, named Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina,
in regard to this matter; and I gave them so many arguments to incline
t