and for the other islands, where I have distributed a number of cannon for their greater security and prosperity.
I send the relation of the islands and their villages, and of their inhabitants and industries, which was forwarded to me to send you. I would send a longer account if more time had elapsed since the receipt of your Majesty's royal decree, which arrived the twenty-fifth of the past month.
No papers whatever of Fray Martin de Rada[1] were left in this country; nor have I been able to discover any, although most diligent search has been made.
Among the other orders brought by this ship was one directing that a considerable sum of money be paid to Doctor Francisco de Sande. He says that this is due to him as salary; and for the payment of this is designated the greater part of the villages which belong to the royal crown of your Majesty. The fleets are maintained thereby, as well as other expenses of your Majesty here. This order is received with regret and sorrow, and the royal officials have sent a petition to this effect; and I too beseech your Majesty to declare if it be your royal pleasure that this man support himself at the expense of the royal service. May it be provided that we be not constrained thus in similar things.
In the ship that just arrived from Nueva España, there came eighteen descalced friars, a class of people who do much good in this land, on account of their mode of life and their poverty. Nevertheless, they come so eager to pass on to China that it would not
- ↑ Rada had died at sea, in June, 1578.
