re; and that, as was proved by the books of the royal treasury,
in the year 1687, anterior to our possession, there were only one
hundred and eighty-seven families in the whole mission, while in the
year 1722, there were five hundred and eighty-five: so that in the
space of thirty-four years they had increased by three hundred and
ninety-eight. For that reason the governor, Marques de Torrecampo,
gave his king June 30, 1727, a very favorable report of our discalced
order in the terms of this honorable clause. "The district of Masbate,
in charge of the discalced Augustinians, has had an increase of 398
whole tributes through the apostolic zeal of those ministers. They,
not only in that district, but also in the rest of these islands,
dedicate themselves to the propagation of our holy Catholic faith
with the greatest toil and with the most visible fruit."

1117. These increases will be of greater moment if we consider that,
if the families be reduced to the number of four persons each, as
is customary there, the said district consisted, at the time it was
given to us, of 748 souls, and in thirty-eight years it had increased
to 2,340, the increase amounting to 1,592 persons. But sixteen years
later (namely, the year 1738, when father Fray Juan Francisco de
San Antonio printed the first volume of the history of his seraphic
province of Philipinas), those increases were almost doubled. [61]
Then directing his pen to the end that leads to truth, he assures
us that there are new villages in the island of Masbate with three
thousand three hundred and forty-five souls; in that of Ticao, two,
with four hundred and seventy-five persons; and one in that of Burias,
with one hundred and eighty. Whence it is inferred that three more
villages were newly established: namely, in Masbate, those of Navangui
and Baraga; and in Ticao, that of San Jacinto, at the port so named,
where the ships now stop for fresh supplies, before taking to the
open sea. Also the number of souls has increased to one thousand six
hundred and sixty by the impulses of the preaching of our reformed
branch, aided efficaciously by divine grace. All the increase of this
district since it has been in our charge has been six newly-created
villages, and three thousand two hundred and fifty-two souls brought
to the Catholic bosom. And we even ought to infer that many more have
been converted, for by the invasions of the Moros, which are told at
length in the third volume,