and not with encompassing soldiers, should the gospel be preached. I give many thanks to God that this expedition, so much desired by me, started under the best auspices which could be desired; for it is being undertaken by special permission of the Pope and by a decree of your Majesty, and with the consent of the governor, of myself, and of the auditors of this Audiencia. This enterprise has caused great happiness to all the religious orders, and to all the inhabitants of this city; and many demonstrations of rejoicing on the part of all the Sangleys. May it please the divine Majesty that the end be as we all desire. Another event occurred at the time of the expedition, which gave us a great deal of pleasure, and kindled in us the hope that God was really about to open the gates of that great kingdom. The aforesaid captain who brought the two Franciscan friars to this city received a letter, which they call _chapa_, for the president, in which the latter is entreated to do justice to the captain who brought the letter, so that he might collect some money which was due him in this city; in the letter, he anxiously entreats the two great fathers Juan and Miguel, who know the language, to help the captain, for they are known in that country to favor the Sangleys. Their names occur twice in that chapa, the first letters of the two names being written in red ink, which is considered a mark of veneration among the Chinese. A Sangley woman who lives in Chincheo wrote a letter to Fray Juan Cobo, thanking him for having helped her husband in a matter of business. These were the first indications by which we knew that this expedition was starting under the guidance of God. So on Tuesday, the twenty-second of May, of this year ninety, I went to the church of the Parián, and said mass there; after which the two Sangleys who had offered their services went through a ceremony worthy of notice. They knelt down before the altar where I said mass, and remained there for the space of two _credos_, speaking to one another in their own language and holding each other's hands; after that they embraced one another, and I learned afterwards that they had sworn to each other friendship and fidelity. From that place the fathers went to embark, and I went with them, accompanied by many Sangleys. On account of a contrary wind, the ship in which they were going could not set sail; and there were sent, to tow it out, four champans, which are the small boats of the Sangley ships. They gladly pulled it out to sea, for more than a league, where we left them under God's protection, and returned to the city. The captains of two Sangley ships who are about to follow in the same course have asked me for letters for the religious, promising me to place them in their own hands, and I shall not fail to write to them.