An eminent student of Philippine life and history, James A. LeRoy in his "The Philippines, 1860-1898--Some comment and bibliographical notes" published in volume 52 of Blair and Robertson, Philippine Islands 1493-1898, praises this book (p. 141) as "especially valuable on administrative matters just prior to the revision of the fiscal regime in connection with the abolition of the government tobacco monopoly", and for its "data on land, commerce, and industry" 2. Before 1590, one of the Spanish officers in the Philippines, commenting on the climate of the Islands, declared, with considerable acumen, that Europeans could stand life and work here if they observed continence in regard to the use of alcoholic beverages. 3. See Morga's "Report of conditions in the Philippines (June 8, 1598)" in Blair and Robertson vol. 10. pp. 75-80, in which various abuses of the friars are set forth. This should be compared with the following pages of the same relation (pp. 89-90) on secular affairs, from which it will be recognized that the condition was not so much the resultant of one class as of Spanish national character. Cf. also, Anda y Salazar B. and R, vol. 50, pp. 137-190; and Le Gentil, Voyage (Paris, 1779-81), vol. 1, pp. 183-191. It would be hardly fair not to call to mind that the Filipinos are debtors to the friars in many ways, and the Filipinos themselves should be the last to forget this. For a good exposition from the friar point of view, see Zamora, Las Corporaciones-Religiosas en Filipinas: Valladolid, 1901. See also Mallat, Les Philippines (Paris, 1846), vol. 1, pp. 374-389. 4. The history of the Philippines is full of references to Chinese who came here for the reasons assigned by Rizal. The antiquarian will be interested in consulting a small work entitled Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca, compiled from Chinese sources, by W. P. Groeneveldt. 5 See B. and R., vol 34, pp. 183-191 for a description of the early Chinese trade in the Philippines, also translated by Hirth from Chinese sources, but evidently not the same as referred to by Rizal, 6. This citation is translated directly from the original Italian Ms. Rizal's account is seen to be slightly different and arises from the fact that he made use of Amoretti's printed version of the Ms., which is wrong in many particulars. Amoretti attempted to change the original Ms. into modern Italian, with disastrous result. It is to be regretted that Walls y Merino followed the same garbled text, in his Primer viaje alrededor del Mundo (Madrid, 1899). Dr. Antonio de Morga's book is perhaps the most famous of all the early books treating of the Philippines. Its full title is as follows: "Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas: Dirigido á Don Cristoval Gomez de Sandoval y Rojas, Duque de Cea, Mexico, En casa de Geronymo Balli, 1609." The original edition is very rare, and is worth almost its weight in gold. The manuscript circulated for some years before the date of publication.