to its former prosperity. But it does not appear possible,
for the city has no citizens with capital who care to engage in the
building of any vessel. The city has a garrison of one company of seven
hundred soldiers, more or less at times, and other extravagances. It
has an alcalde-mayor, who acts as governor. He is also captain of
the company of the presidio, and usually is supreme chief of all the
Pintados. The latter are so called because all the male Pintados
tattooed their entire bodies with so excellent and well-designed
symmetry, that the best artist in Espana could learn from them. The
women tattooed the hands. But the proper name of these islands is the
Bisayas. Many tongues are spoken in them, for there are many islands
and many villages, and there is hardly a village that has not its own
dialect. But the chief tongues are the _Boholan_, which is spoken in
Sugbu, and the _Hiligain_, and they are very similar. These islands
have a bishop, whose see is located in the city of Santisimo Nombre de
Jesus. That city has a cabildo with its dignitaries, but in name only,
for it has no income. The bishops have been to blame, because they
have not been very active; for our sovereigns, through their piety,
would have assigned stipends, had these been proposed to them. This
bishopric has a large territory, and, in my opinion, is larger and
more extensive than the archbishopric of Manila. For it includes
the islands of Leyte, Samar, and Ibabao, [28] where the fathers of
the Society are carrying on their missions. This island was formerly
densely inhabited with Indians, but now the population is much less,
as is that of all the other islands. This bishopric includes the
island of Bohol, which is in charge of the same fathers. It can
be seen from the plaza of Sugbu, from which it is slightly more
than three leguas distant. I shall have to speak of it later. This
bishopric includes also the island of Panay, more than fifty leguas
distant, which is in our charge. We have thirteen convents there,
besides two more in the island of Sugbu, and besides the other three
belonging to seculars in the same island of Panay. [29] This island
is the granary of all the islands of this archipelago, and I shall
need to speak of it many times. This bishopric includes the island
of Negros, so called from its many Negrillos. It is bounded on one
side by Sugbu. In short, the islands subject to this bishopric are
almost innumerable. It extends to t