d man in this
city who does not know it. This year, as I have heard reported, the
original of that decree has been sent to his Majesty. The archbishop
held various meetings with the religious, and they agreed to defend the
said provisor to the death, as they said, if necessary. The governor,
in order to remedy these troubles in so small a community, desisted
from his purpose, and tried to conduct the matter along smoother
channels. He offered the said provisor the chaplaincy-in-chief and
vicariate of the island of Hermosa, in a letter of the following tenor:

"It is necessary for his Majesty's service that your Grace go to serve
in the island of Hermosa as chaplain-in-chief, and vicar of those
presidios. [You will receive] three hundred pesos salary per year,
the altar fees, and the fees from the confraternity of the soldiers,
which has been lately instituted; and, with these and the pay, you will
be able to live well. Thus will certain irreparable disadvantages,
that might ensue if you do not accept this service for his Majesty,
be avoided. And inasmuch as I have received letters from the said
island of Hermosa this morning, in which the governor begs me to send
him such a person very speedily, your Grace will make the decision
to depart, so that this same champan may return to Cagayan, whence
it and one other are to take fifty native soldiers, so that the two
may go together. May our Lord preserve your Grace, as He is able. The
palace; October eight, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five.

_Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera_"

Although the governor does not state the motive in this letter, his
motive was to remove the occasion for disputes; and also because the
commandant of the island of Hermosa, Francisco Hernandez, wrote him
a letter, part of which is as follows:

"There is a religious in this island called Fray Lucas Garcia, [53]
of the Order of Preachers. He is judge-provisor; and I have so many
debates with him at present, and he is so crazy to govern, that he
is hurling many shafts at me, without heeding that I am serving
him to my utmost in everything, and that I am endeavoring to aid
him in all that arises. He is much given to suits and questions,
even going so far as to prevent the ringing of the animas [54] at
night or the singing of the _alabado_ hymn. It may be that in regard
to the most holy sacrament and the pure conception of our Lady the
Virgin Mary, who was conceived without the taint of o