) gives him
information which he had requested from Portuguese officials in India,
regarding the character and results of the trade between the Spanish
colonies and those established by the Portuguese in India and the
Eastern archipelago, and China. The continuance of this trade would,
they think, ruin the prosperity of the settlements in India, and
greatly injure the commerce of Spain, and deplete that country and her
colonies of their coin. At Salazar's petition, he receives from the
king (April 12, 1590) a grant of money toward the payment of debts
incurred by him in procuring the rebuilding of Manila in stone. On
June 20 of the same year, the members of the Audiencia, suppressed
by order of the king and replaced by Dasmarinas, notify the king that
they have surrendered their posts, and ask him for various favors.

Bishop Salazar writes to the king (June 24) a special communication
regarding the Chinese (or Sangleys) at Manila. He apologizes for
having formerly given, under a mistake as to their character,
a wrong impression of that people; and relates various instances
of their humane treatment of foreigners in their land. He blames
the Portuguese for having spread in China false reports about the
Spaniards, and thinks that by this means the devil is trying to hinder
the entrance of the gospel into that land. The bishop urges that no
hostile demonstration be made against the Chinese; for they are most
favorably inclined to the Christian religion, and many conversions may
be made among them. Most of Salazar's letter is devoted to the Chinese
residents of Manila, and their quarters there, which is called the
Parian. He narrates the gradual increase of the Chinese immigration
to the islands, their relations with the Spaniards, the establishment
of the Parian, and his efforts for their conversion. These last are
ineffectual until the coming of the Dominican friars in 1587; they
assume the charge of converting the Chinese, and build their convent
next the Parian, which brings the friars into constant and friendly
relations with the Chinese. An interesting description of the Parian
and its inhabitants is given; all trades are represented therein, and
the people carry on the manufactures to which they were accustomed
in China, but with a better finish, which they have learned to use
from the Spaniards. Salazar makes the enthusiastic statement that
"the Parian has so adorned the city [Manila] that I do not hesitate
to affi