r about and are forgotten by the
Christianity of those districts. The settlements that follow from that
point to Bolinao are so near to the black Zambals and Aetas that,
when the latter revolt, one cannot go there without running great
risk of his life. But when peace makes them tractable, some souls
are obtained for God. The villages of Uguit and Babayan, which have
recently been founded in this century with the converted blacks and
wild Indians, [Zimarrones] clearly attest that fact. In Mindanao
the territory conquered by our religious, namely, the district of
Cagayang and the province of Caragha, ought to be considered as the
rose among the thorns, oppressed by Moros, Mindanaos, and Malanaos,
and by infidel Tagabaloyes and Manobos. Of those peoples, the former
keep the evangelical ministers in continual fear, because of their
persecutions; the latter keep us in a perpetual mission for converting
them to our holy Catholic faith. As proof of the great and continual
advance of Christianity there, it suffices to state that at the end
of the last century the tributes which those who have been subdued
paid to the king did not equal the expenses occasioned to the royal
treasury by the maintenance of the said province; in the year 1720,
the expenses and collections were equal; but now the royal income
exceeds the expenses necessary for conservation. [34] Since the
expenses have not decreased--for there is always the same number
of infantry forces in the presidios of Tandag, Catel, and Linao,
to which all the expense is reduced--it is inferred that the royal
tributes have increased, and consequently the number of Christians.

739. There are so many heathen in the islands of Calamianes, especially
in the island of Paragua, that at least one hundred heathens will be
found for each Christian. In the island of Mindoro only the coasts are
conquered, and heathen fill all the interior of the island. The same
success as I said was obtained in the province of Caragha has also been
secured in the above two provinces; although a very notable decrease
of Christianity has taken place in them because of the invasions
of the Moros of which I shall speak later. The island of Zibuyan,
whose mountains are peopled by infidels--who, as they are exceedingly
obstinate in regard to conversion, give us considerable anxiety,
although some converts are obtained among them--is located in the
Romblon district. The island of Maestre de Campo, formerly pe