em, so that they would not take
the most salutary advice that could have been given them. The three
Dominican religious who were on board the ship were well received and
lovingly treated by the mandarin of that province. He took them to
the city and lodged them in his own house, giving them an apartment
where they could celebrate mass. This they did with as much quiet
and safety as if they had been at your court. The mandarin kept
them with him for one week, after which he allowed them to go to
their ship and proceed to Macan. I had this relation from the very
religious who were there. At present I am entertaining at my house a
man who came from Mexico in that ship, and who, being an eyewitness,
has told me of all the occurrence; but, since this account and other
events which occurred were reported to your Majesty two years ago,
and I am sure that the report reached its destination, I shall not
detain you with a more detailed account of those matters.

I have said all this in order to correct the wrong opinion held
about the rulers of China; and although it is true that they are
cautious and suspicious, prudently seeking to protect their nation
against the entrance of foreigners who might harm and disturb the
land, still, without any question, what has been said against them
is a false accusation; for until now we know of no person whom they
have killed for setting foot in their land, nor do we know of any
one whom they have thrown into prison for life, as the Portuguese
reported. If any of the Spaniards who went to that land received
ill-treatment at the hands of the Chinese, it was due to the evil
reports of us which the Portuguese spread among them, warning them
to beware of Castilians as a people addicted to stealing and seizing
foreign kingdoms; and who, as they had become masters of Nueva Espana,
Peru, and the Philipinas, would strive likewise to obtain China. The
people of that kingdom, being the most cautious people in the world,
believed quite readily what the Portuguese told them of us; and in
consequence they ill-treated the Castilians who went there. What I
say here is a well ascertained fact, known by people who have seen
themselves in great danger of being killed in China, just because the
Portuguese had pointed them out to the Chinese as spies. One of the
Franciscan religious whom I mentioned above has affirmed to me that
he himself had heard it said that the Portuguese had reported them
as spies, and th