nddaughters of conquistadors,
who are calling aloud, and they refuse to allow them to enter. It is
a pity to see so pious desires disappointed. I petition your Majesty
to send me a royal decree that no limit shall be set to the number of
nuns that the convent may contain. The rule does not limit the number,
nor does any other convent throughout all these kingdoms. The city is
very rich, and food so cheap that fourteen libras of beef cost one
real; another real buys eight libras of fish; six libras of sugar,
one real; and fowls, salt pork, and all other things in the same
proportion; of salt alone, they have given us, on this last arrival
of the ships, three hundred and seventy baras [i.e., bahars]; also
a goodly supply of wine for the mass; and linen, which is very cheap.

Consequently we, these least important vassals of your Majesty, do
not need human aid, but the divine. That aid we have entreated from
the royal favor, so that no restriction be laid on the nuns that the
convent shall contain. It is a great pity to see how they hinder the
souls who serve God in so great perfection as those women who are
here, the natives of these kingdoms. I consider beyond any doubt
that they will be most devoted servants of God, who works marvels
in all those whom He shrives, and all set themselves to observe the
warnings of the gospel. An infinite number of little girls and older
orphans come weeping, with their widowed mothers, begging us for the
love of God to give them the habit. Since the king, our sovereign,
sent them so great a spiritual and temporal consolation, and since
their parents gained it for them by conquering this country at the
cost of their own lives, we all are so bounden. Beseeching our Lord to
prosper your royal Majesty, spiritually and temporally, with infinite
increase; and may He subject to the royal power of your royal Majesty
all empires and kingdoms that He has created for the greater honor,
glory, and increase of the faithful, and the exaltation of the holy
Catholic faith. Manila, July 31. Given in this convent of La Concepcion
of the discalced nuns of St. Clare, in the year 1626.

The most humble vassals of your royal and sacred Majesty,

_Jeronima de la Asunsion_, [23]

abbess, and her sisters,

_Ana de Christo Bicaria_
_Leonor [de] San Francisco_
_Leonor de Sant Buena Bentura_
_Lueysa de Jesus_
_Magdalena de Christo_
_Juana de San Antonio_
_Maria de los Angeles_
_Maria Magdalena_
_Ana de Je