The second province [in the island of Luzon] and the principal one in importance and wealth, because of its extensive commerce and of the fact that it is in the center of the kingdom, is Manila. Within its jurisdiction are included other smaller provinces. These are the two lake provinces, Bonbon and Bay; and (the most important of all) Panpanga, which, at the outside, is not more than twelve leguas from Manila. This is an inundated valley, and yields a great amount of rice, owing to the richness and location of its lands, as well as to the wealth and superior character of its natives--among whom there are at present many who have aided and served as faithful subjects and friends, whenever opportunity has offered. In Panpanga your Majesty has as many as six thousand tributes in the four governmental districts and principal villages, among which are Betis, Lubao, Guagua, Mexico, and other smaller places. All the neighboring country, and particularly the royal magazines, secure their rice from this province [of Pampanga]. There must be in the province of Manila forty thousand tributes belonging to private individuals, and almost twenty thousand belonging to your Majesty. There must be in all more than five hundred thousand people, of whom one-fourth are Christians. In this, however, estimates vary. The adelantado, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, settled the important city of Manila in the year fifteen hundred and sixty-one, [24] after having lived for six years in the islands of Zubu and Panay, of which I shall speak more in detail in another place. _The judicial offices in the province of Manila_. The offices to which appointments are made in the province of Manila, not to mention the judicial officers of greater or less importance who are maintained by the city within its walls, are as follows: The alcaldia-mayor of the Parian or alcayzeria of the Chinese; the alcaldia-mayor of the coast near this city, its capital being the town of Tondo; the alcaldia-mayor of the Lake of Manila, ordinarily called Laguna de Bay; the alcaldia-mayor of Bulacan and Calumpite, one of the two alcaldias of Panpanga; the alcaldia-mayor of Panpanga, which includes the rest of the province; the alcaldia-mayor of Balayan and Bonbon, twenty leguas from Manila; the corregimiento of Mindoro and Baco, twenty-five leguas from Manila--which, although it is itself an island, is a division of this province for judicial and religious administration; the alcaldia-mayor of Calilaya, forty leguas from Manila; the corregimiento of Masbate, an island fifty leguas, or a little more, from Manila, between this island [of Luzon] and the Pintados. _Pangassina_