much importance to the service of your Majesty.
Inasmuch as this island of Luçon is so large, and as, for the preservation of the natives, we need some settlements of Spaniards to protect and defend them, and teach them our holy Catholic faith, it seemed best to send Captain Juan de Salcedo with seventy or eighty soldiers to people the coast of Los Ylocos, on the shores of a river called Bigan. There I ordered him to found the town of Fernandina in memory of the prince, our master[1] (may he live many happy years); and I continued to apportion, in the name of your Majesty, all that had been discovered and won over thereabout, reserving for your Majesty what had been ordered me through your royal decree.
The Chinese, in view of the kind treatment that they have always received and do receive at our hands, continue to increase their commerce each year, and supply us with many articles as sugar, wheat, and barley flour, nuts, raisins, pears, and oranges; silks, choice porcelains and iron; and other small things which we lacked in this land before their arrival. This year they gave me a drawing of the coast of China, made by themselves, which I am sending to your Majesty.
There is great need in these regions of Franciscan, Dominican, and Theatin religious, and of some ecclesiastics, for the conversion of the natives. The Theatins are much and especially needed; for, as an eyewitness, I know the great results that they have
- ↑ The first-born son of Felipe was Fernando, born in 1571; he died at the age of four years.. The town named for him is now called Vigan; it is located on Abra River, and is capital of the province of Ilocos Sur, Luzón.
