last year above five hundred
and twenty-nine thousand souls; and they have the instruction of our
priests only, who are six in number. By their hands the most holy
waters of baptism have, in the course of a year, in this and other
islands, been sprinkled upon at least ten thousand nine hundred
heads. And this, in brief, is the harvest of this vice-province.

* * * * *

It only remains that your Paternity should cast your eyes upon this
new and tiny plant, separated from Rome by so great an interval of
distance and situated in the most remote parts of the world, as it
has also obtained the last place in the government of the Society;
and that you should show to it all kindness and favor by sending to it
some laborers with these words from the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah:
_Ite, angeli veloces, ad gentem conuulsam et dilaceratam, ad populum
terribilem, post quem non est alius._ [44] Thus they may bring unto
these places of darkness some light by their preaching of the gospel,
and all may bend the knee before the true God, the maker of the world,
and adore and revere Him.

These treasures the India of the Philippines offers to your Paternity,
and it is confident that by the divine grace and your blessing it
will offer greater ones. Finally, may our Lord protect and preserve
the health of your Paternity for many years, to the advantage of the
whole church and the increase of the Society. Your Paternity's son
and servant in Christ,

_Francisco Vaez_

Letter from Diego Garcia to Felipe III

Sire:

In the year ninety-nine I came to these islands, by order of my
general, to console and visit in his name the fathers and brothers
of our Society who reside in them. We were much pleased to see how
much has been done for the service of our Lord and your Majesty,
and the good of the Indians.

The Society of Jesus has in its charge a good part of the islands
called the Pintados, where the holy gospel had never been preached. In
the period of four years, eleven or twelve thousand have been converted
and baptized. Matters are now in such course that in a short time,
with the divine grace, there will be more than forty thousand
baptized. As the priests who are occupied in this conversion are
not more than thirteen, [45] the results, if there were many more,
would also have been incomparably greater. For the honor of God, I
beseech your Majesty to be pleased to command that workers be sent