ent Medina makes a curious admission, especially
as he writes after missionaries had labored sixty-five years in the
islands--saying of the Indians: "For they detest, as a rule, church
matters--to such an extent, that they would even pay two tributes to
be free from the church. They love their old beliefs and revelries
so strongly that they would lose their souls for them. Without any
fear, how would they attend to their duties?" The missionaries also
desire to break up the native habits of sloth and vagabondage, by
compelling the Indians to live in villages; but many Spaniards oppose
this policy. Medina recounts the difficulties between the friars and
the ecclesiastical authorities, in Bishop Salazar's time, regarding
the religious jurisdiction of the former.

Further extension of missions is made during the provincialate of
Fray Diego de Alvarez (elected in 1584). Each district in which a
mission is introduced or enlarged is described by our writer, who adds
many pertinent and interesting observations on the natives and their
character, their relations with the Spaniards, the affairs of his
order, the progress of the colony, the products of the country, etc.

_The Editors_

December, 1904.

DOCUMENTS OF 1629-1630

Decree regarding mission appointments in the Indias. Felipe
IV; April 6, 1629.
Letter from Manila Dominicans to Felipe IV. Diego Duarte,
and others; May 12, 1629.
Letters to Felipe IV. Juan Nino de Tavora; August 1, 1629.
Relation of 1629-30. [Unsigned; July, 1630.]
Letters to Felipe IV. Juan Nino de Tavora; July 30 and August
4, 1630.

_Sources_: Of these documents, the first is obtained from Pastells's
edition of Colin's _Labor evangelica_, iii, p. 686; the fourth,
from the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), i, pp. 617-625; and
the remainder from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla.

_Translations_: All these documents are translated by James
A. Robertson.

Decree Regarding Mission Appointments in the Indias

The King. Inasmuch as I have been informed that--notwithstanding that
it has been ruled and decreed, in virtue of the prerogative of my royal
patronage, that the provincials of the orders in my Western Indias,
whenever they have to propose any religious for the instruction or for
the administration of sacraments, or to remove him who should have
been appointed, shall give notice thereof to my viceroy, president,
Audienci