ecessary for the welfare of those two provinces, which are very
far from Manila.

_Item_: Will your Highness be pleased to give me a good master
shipbuilder, or authority to look for one, and another intelligent
person as shore-master, to assist in the despatch and repairs of
ships. He should be a Spaniard and not a foreigner, like the one
there now; for in former times, when Doctor Antonio de Morga, your
auditor, sailed out against a Dutchman who went to those islands,
while two ships were being prepared to attack the Dutch, two holes
were bored in one of them one night, and it began to sink, and the
sails were taken out and hid in the woods. It was not discovered
who did it, nor was any investigation even made. But one may readily
presume that some enemy to us did it; and indeed we can not settle
our suspicions on anyone. In order to investigate these and many other
actions worthy of punishment or correction which have occurred there
in these matters, and in others--for instance, that in other parts of
those islands they gave that same Dutchman food, and there was some
person who communicated with him; while it is even said that they
showed him how to get out of a harbor that he had entered, and from
which we considered it impossible for him to sail--and finally there
are many things to correct and reform, and burdens to be removed
from the Indian natives: for all these it is necessary for your
Highness to appoint a person there to make official visits through
the country. It is as necessary as the inspection itself that such
shore-master be a disinterested person and a resident of that country;
for if he is after money, he will do no good. Hence, if your Highness
be pleased to appoint such an one, there are ecclesiastical persons in
the Filipinas, as for instance the bishops, especially he of Cibu, Fray
Pedro de Agurto, who is a saintly man; an ecclesiastic, the archdeacon
of Manila, called Licentiate Don Francisco Gomez de Arellano, a most
zealous servant of God, and a father of that community--one who seeks
no money, but rather gives all his income in alms; also a Dominican
friar, the commissary of the Holy Office, who is an excellent man;
and another friar of the Order of St. Francis, called Fray Juan
Baptista. These men, besides having experience in the country,
and knowing what demands reform, are men disinterested and wholly
competent and capable. Entire faith can be given to any one of them,
with assurance. I