ascend to either
place by the river in two hours. This town is not farther from Manila
than one day's journey. A quantity of wine is made there from a tree
that grows in its marshes, called palm or nipa. The house is wooden
and very poor. [115]

Moreover, the father provincial established religious in Mexico,
a town of Pampanga. It receives its name from its great abundance
of water. A great quantity of rice is produced there, and it has a
fine plain. The house and church are of stone. It has about three
hundred tributes. [116]. It is a priorate and has a vote, and one or
two religious generally live there. This town is quite exposed to
the inroads of the Negrillos and Zambales, and there are continual
misfortunes of murders, and it is quite common to find headless
bodies in the field. It belongs to the archbishopric of Manila, and
lies more than one day's journey from the city, either by sea or creek.

Chapter XXV

_Of the great oppositions suffered by the province in that time_

[However, in these early days, even, peace and quiet are not for
the religious; and they find their work hindered and even opposed
by encomenderos and other Spaniards who work much evil against them,
and turn the natives against them. Our author mentions certain cases,
for the entire truth of which he vouches, which show the manner in
which some Spaniards act.]

It happened while I was prior of Passi in the Bisayas, an encomienda
belonging to his Majesty, that some Indians had been drafted from
that district to man a fleet which was being built. Some of the poor
wretches, on the return from the expedition, desirous of returning to
their homes--seeing that after so long an absence they were detained
for other private works, now by this Spaniard and now by that one, who
seized them--fled. For the Indian acts without counsel, as he lacks
understanding. Very often, after having worked one month, and when,
within one or two days, they would be exchanged, they run away--thus
giving occasion to seek and punish them, and losing their wages,
and abandoning the axes with which they were working. It appeared
to a gentleman who was chief commander and lieutenant-governor in
Ylong-ylong, a port of Panay, an infringement of his rights that the
Indians should flee. Therefore, he sent two soldiers to look for them,
at the cost of the poor wretches. They came to the place where I was,
and told me why they came. I replied to them that they could