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ous what can be called play for gaining and losing money, and, in the convents of Manila, cards are not even played for amusement. I know this positively. As for some of them leading licentious lives with women, I will not say that it is false, although I could not say that I know of such. I believe, indeed, that there is much exaggeration in this as in other things, and that not one quarter of it is to be believed. An official, not at all partial to the friars, and who lived several years in Pangasinan, told me that he never could discover that any of the Dominicans who minister there had a sweetheart; and that, if perchance any of them had one, he concealed it very carefully, since he himself had never known any trace of it. Concerning that point, I will say, although it appears evil to many, that that offense is the most excusable, especially in young and healthy men, placed in the torrid zone. Nature must struggle continually with duty. The garb of the Filipina women is very seductive; and it is known that the girls, far from being untractable to the cura, consider themselves lucky to attract his attention, and their mother, father, and relatives share that sentiment with them. What virtue and stoicism does not the friar need to possess! Let those who criticise them on this point imagine themselves to be living in a village without relatives or friends, or any other fellow-countrymen, at least with whom they can converse; and then let them be candid. Don Inigo Azaola told me that, meditating on the reason why so many Spanish religious went mad, he thought that it had its origin in the continual struggle between nature and devotion. [102] In regard to usurers, there may be some among them who are addicted to trade, since the business carried on in the provinces consists chiefly in advancing money at seed-time, in order to receive the fruits at harvest time at a much lower price than is current in the market. Surely the cura who embarks in these speculations not only fails in his most sacred duty, [103] but even gnaws at and gives a deathblow to the principal base upon which rests the prestige and veneration enjoyed by the religious of Filipinas. Nothing infuses these weak and greedy islanders with so much love, surprise, and respect as does contempt for gold and for earthly goods. The generous minister, he who gives, will be considered as good, most good, and will obtain whatever he wants from his parishioners. T
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