ges, a number of students receive instruction, and
are sustained free of charge. The portion of the others who enter,
amounting, I believe, to one hundred pesos, is paid. Their results
are excellent. The liberality of those who haver come to Manila is
discernible in everything; for in works of charity they have given and
are giving very much, although those with wealth are very few. And
really the magnificence of all the churches and temples astonishes
me. All are finished and wonderfully adorned with jewels and silver
ornaments, without there being any building for which there is not
more than enough; and silver ornaments for the front of the altar are
seen in many churches of Manila. Indeed when those who have done this
are considered attentively they have made the expense once for all;
for by means of the silver, hangings which soon are destroyed and
damaged by the dampness in these islands, are done away with, But
the silver, when somewhat tarnished, regains its former luster, and
even more, by cleaning it. The work of the Society may be extolled
in all Espana. All this appears good, so that when the foreigners
return to their countries, after having finished their trading,
and sold their merchandise, they should take with them the news
of our temples; and that through the grandeur and majesty of the
temples, they may recognize the grandeur and majesty of Him who is
thus worshiped in this country. And this is one thing at which the
nations are most astonished, and especially the Japanese. They look
at the temples with great curiosity. This nation has also been tested
in Christianity. For up to today they have given to the church an
innumerable number of martyrs, both men and women, all notable. This
I have heard declared by the archdean Alonso Garcia, in the reports
made in Manila by order of his Holiness in the year 1631. In them
were described more than nine hundred martyrs, all notable, besides
the rest, of whom no knowledge could be had. Nearly all the orders
have Japanese priests, and they are excellent subjects; our order has
three. Two, Fray Miguel and Fray Leon, are holy men. The third has
not resulted so, although he is rather an interpreter and one well
grounded in everything. But until life is ended we may not praise
or condemn one. _Ante mortem non laudes hominem quemquam; lauda post
mortem, honorifica post consumationem_. [88]

Chapters XX-XXII

[These chapters deal almost entirely with Chines