time and route, which, even in fine weather, would take fifteen
or twenty days, or one or two months. They landed, where no little
danger awaited them, as the people tried to kill them. But at last
the Lord's mercy was not found wanting in that country, for through
it they went from land to land, until they reached Macan, a city held
by the Portuguese in the country of China. They were succored there
with great generosity, for in works of charity the Portuguese are most
generous. In Manila, they were thought to have been drowned. As such,
the masses and suffrages that are wont to be said in this province
of the order, for the religious who die in it, were said for them
in all the convents. Afterward, the Portuguese who came to Manila
informed Ours of the [above] event, whereat all rejoiced greatly;
for those regarded as lost were religious who were held in much
esteem. Two of them soon came, namely, father Fray Diego de Abalos
and father Fray Juan Gallegos The third, father Fray Francisco del
Portillo, went to the island of Hermosa, which belonged then to our
Spaniards, and took possession of a convent with the solemnity decreed
by law. Then he came back, and all three returned to their priorates,
to which others had already been appointed by our father provincial.

The enemy from Jolo had often made incursions, to the great loss of
the islands; for they caused many deaths, made many captives, and
occasioned not few expenses, which had been incurred for his Majesty
in opposing them, but all to no purpose. For either the Spaniards did
not try to look for them, or did not find them, or indeed, when they
met them, the enemy took to their heels; for on the one hand their
boats are swifter, and on the other they come more as soldiers than
our men, who seem to have inherited the carelessness and phlegm of the
country. And truly, I think injustice has been done to the Joloans,
and injustice should be done to no one, even one's enemy. But we
shall consider how God avenged the injuries committed by Saul on
the Ammonites, who did not stop until these were atoned for--which
was ended by David, who delivered to them all of Saul's descendants,
all of whom they hanged. And the scriptures say: _Suspenderunt eos in
patibulis in conspectu solis._ [70] For a criminal punished shines
like the sun in the sight of God. These Joloans were going to and
returning from Manila in the character of friends, taking and carrying
away necessaries to