ty was erected under
his direction, and with his plans, supervision, and aid, which cost
him no little effort. This is the fortress that they call Guia,
because it is situated at the principal gate of the city which leads
out to the chapel of Nuestra Senora de Guia that stands in front of our
house. I once accompanied him when he went to furnish the plans for a
stairway in one of the principal houses; and he showed so much patience
and indulgence toward the errors which the Indians had committed in
his absence that he did not lose his temper in either word or look,
but merely had what was wrong taken apart and done over again.

Father Raimundo de Prado also preached with much enthusiasm and
devotion; but his principal employment was in the confessional,
where he exercised his calling to such advantage that there was
scarcely a man or woman who confessed to another priest. He also, at
the instance of the bishop, read in our house for the benefit of the
clergy, the _Materia de sacramentis_, which lasted, several months;
but after that was finished he read no longer, as he could not attend
to so many things.

Father Francisco Almerique began the study of the Chinese language,
in his zeal to aid in the conversion of the many Chinese who came to
Manila and whom we in the Filipinas call Sangleys. He effected several
conversions, in particular, that of a young man of much talent who had
studied their learning, and made more than ordinary progress, and was
about to be graduated in his own country. This young man, abandoning
his studies and ambitions for our holy faith, was solemnly baptized
in our church at Manila by the hand of the bishop, and took the name
of Paul, in devotion to that most glorious apostle, the teacher of
the Gentiles. I met him afterward and came to know him well, and
saw in him a Christian of the primitive church. Since it enters most
opportunely into this matter, let me relate how, having once seen an
honorable Spaniard commit some act by no means Christianlike, he said
to me: "Father, are not these Christians? and, if so, how can they do
this?" I was obliged to satisfy him by making a distinction between the
living and the dead faith, and the appreciation and estimation of the
things of God in contrast to the inclination and affection for earthly
things, which is so common among our Christians of long standing--to
the great scandal of the new converts, as this incident shows.

The Japanese who came to