the insurgents. For so much war we must have greater aid
from Espana and Nueva Espana, so that the condition of these islands
may not fall lower.

I will conclude this relation with the fires that we have experienced
this year, which have been many and important.

The convent of St. Francis, the hospital, and other houses were burned
in Maluco. The convent of St. Nicolas (which belongs to the Recollects)
in Cebu was burned March 29; and that of St. Augustine and a great
portion of the city on April 8. It was a miracle that our residence
escaped, for the fire was near it.

Fire caught, at one o'clock at night on March 13, in the Parian or
alcaiceria of the Chinese, where more than twelve thousand Chinese
live, outside the walls of this city of Manila. Inside of five hours
it was all leveled. It naturally seems impossible that so large a
settlement, with wooden pillars which two men could not encircle,
could have burned in so short a time. But that must have been the
fire and punishment of heaven for the so horrible sins by which those
heathen Chinese have provoked the wrath of God. The church and convent
of St. Dominic, which is one of the most splendid wooden buildings
that there can be, escaped from the midst of this fire of Sodom. A
house owned there by the Society, which was even yet unfinished, was
also unburnt. All the rest was burned to the very foundations. The
inhabitants of Manila, who owned many of the houses, lost considerable
in that fire. But in the space of four months, most of that alcaiceria
has been rebuilt in squares and straight streets and uniform houses. It
presents a very beautiful appearance, and is as large as the city of
Manila itself. It is no wonder that a city should be built entire in
so short a time, when more than three thousand men have worked on
it. I do not know whether there can be any other part of the world
than Manila where there are so many workmen and so abundant materials.

[Volume i of the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library) contains the
following synopsis of another relation for the years 1627-1628.]

_Events in the Filipinas Islands from August, 1627, until June, 1628._

In August, 1627, Governor Don Juan Nino de Tabora left the bay of
Manila with the fleet, going toward the island of Hermosa in order to
drive away the Dutch who had established themselves there two years
before the Spaniards.

The fleet sailed out of season, for the relief ships from Nueva
Espan