There is no doubt that other productions might be reared, but the rats are so numerous that they consume every thing, and very frequently the hurricanes destroy the seeds before they come to perfection. Every year a vessel was sent to carry the necessary supplies to the establishment, but as these hurricanes are very frequent, and many of the vessels were shipwrecked, it became fully ascertained that it would be impossible to maintain the station, and it was determined that only the Dominican friars should remain there, with a small escort, which was to be relieved from Cagayan as occasion might require. On Señor Basco the title of Conde de Conquista was bestowed, as a reward for his exertions in this undertaking; but it is very certain that if half the money which was thus expended in Batanes had been applied in the appointment and support of missionaries in Ylocos, Pangasinan, and Cagayan, his Majesty would have acquired many more subjects, and with much less risk. It is matter of astonishment that we should have quitted the old beaten track of employing precautionary and pacific measures for the conquest of the Indians, and have recourse to arms and expensive expeditions, merely because they make more noise, and appear more splendid: a proof of the insufficiency of these appeared on the following occasion in the mountains of the Igorrotes. In the year 1740, the Augustine friars had delivered over to the Dominicans the missions of Ytuy, or Ysinay, so that in conjunction with the missionaries of Panique, who had been established there the year before, the provinces of Pangasinan and Cagayan, by the south side, might be united. The Indians, Christians as well as Infidels, took umbrage at this alteration in the establishments, and a kind of civil war among them was the consequence, so that the Oidors Don Ignacio Azardun, and Señor Rebolledo, who were then inspecting the province of Pangasinan, deeming it necessary, sent troops to quell these disturbances. But a few years afterwards fresh discontents on the same account arose; and in the year 1756, many of the Christians became apostates, and, uniting with the Infidels, were guilty of the greatest excesses. They burnt several churches, murdered a great many of those who retained their attachment to Christianity, and losing all respect for the missionary fathers, they diligently sought their lives. This induced Señor Arandia to despatch an expedition in aid of the missionaries, to the mountains of the Igorrotes, which proved of very little effect; for the only purpose it answered was to drive the Indians to the recesses, from whence they again issued on the retreat of our forces. To attain the best mode of civilizing the Indians, it is necessary to know well their character and disposition: either from their turn of mind, which is naturally superstitious, or because Heaven wills it so, they are in general very much attached to the missionary fathers, and hold