given to the said ward in his Majesty's
name in the province of Pampanga, in the encomienda of Macabebe,
which became vacant because of the end and death of Don Nicolas de
Rivera, who possessed it for the last generation. The building of the
said room and ward has been begun for more than two months; and the
foundations are laid in some parts by order of Captain Santiago de
Gastelu, citizen and regidor of this city. I entrust its work to him,
as he is a competent person. He has represented to me that, in order
that he may continue the work to the completion that is required, and
with the divisions and pantries that are necessary for its service,
it is advisable that he tear down a small old house, with some cells,
that are built close to the said work in the said hospital. There
live the discalced fathers of St. Francis, who have attended and
attend to the hospital. The men cannot continue further with the work
because the said old work is in the way, and because it is necessary
to make the foundations alike all over. As the said religious are
there, he could not begin to tear it down; while there was no place
where the said religious could be accommodated in the said hospital
because of its small capacity; nor was there room for the physician,
surgeon, barber, steward, and apothecary, who are the persons who
must live within. And likewise the house where the apothecary-shop
is located, and where the apothecary and steward live, he must tear
down in order to proceed with the said work. Likewise he must do
the same and tear down the church of the hospital in order to make
there a low living-room and an infirmary, where the soldiers of the
Pampanga nation who fall sick in this camp of Manila may be treated
and cared for, as they have no other place for it. A church is not
necessary in the said hospital, because another one for the infantry
is being built, as quickly as possible, next to the royal palace in
the Plaza de Armas, where all those who die in the said hospital will
be carried for burial. To say mass, confess, and console the sick
in the hospital, they will be attended by the regimental chaplain,
to whom it properly belongs. His Majesty has assigned a special pay
for that here. Consequently, the said religious can be dispensed
with and are not necessary, since they neither confess those who
go there, nor attend to anything else that is important. Therefore,
the father-provincial of the Order of St. Francis shall w