But let us on to our list of works of general reading. Sifting the treasure-stores of authorities named in Retana and others, I find the following books of most value and service, whereof, though some few among them, and for that matter the highest in their respective classes, are no longer in print, yet these very masterpieces, if not obtainable by purchase, like many another priceless blessing, still are worth knowing by title to book-lover and scholar, who, if perchance he cannot have these repertories of human lore on his shelves, will know at least by what title to seek them on others. Of the Philippines and their neighboring archipelagos these works rank of the highest worth: The history of Mindanao, Jolo, and their adjacent islands (Madrid, 1667), written by the Jesuit, Francisco Combés--the most ancient detailed account of that region of Polynesia, known as the Archipelago del Sur, and invaluable beyond other guides to the ethnologist especially. Then an account of the establishment of Christianity in the Marianas Islands (Madrid, 1670?) similarly the oldest and at the same time most reliable history of these Ladrones, or robber, islands, so styled by early Spanish voyagers because of the thievish proclivities of the natives, every one of them in theory and practice an annexationist and protectionist to the back-bone, till the Jesuit missionary and scholar, Diego Luis de Sanvitores, author of this history, rechristened them Marianas, in honor (according to some chroniclers) of Doña Mariana of Austria, Queen of Spain, in loving and tenderest-hearted homage (according to others) of the Blessed Virgin, whose rosary that savant was wont to recite every day. [7] Then the story of the various religious missions in the Philippines entrusted to members of his Society by another Jesuit, Pedro Murillo Velarde (Manila, 1749), a rare and valuable work, whereof an accompanying chart, drawn in 1734, should, strictly speaking, be styled the earliest detailed topographical map of the Philippines. From the pen of the same scholar issued, too, an historical geography of that archipelago (Madrid, 1752), of much worth, the same as his chart, for its scientific details--albeit little known, it seems, to Philippinologists. Then we have the rare and deeply interesting history (Madrid, 1756) of some tribes in Luzon, hardest to convert--the Igorrotes, Tinguianes, Apayaos and Adanes, four races of Indians in the hill-country of Ilocos and Pangasinán, in spiritual charge of the Augustinians, a member of which brotherhood, Manuel Carillo, is the author.