Before proceeding with our relation, it will not be out of place to tell our readers, although in few words, something about the island of Luzòn and the city of Manila, as it is the metropolis of the kingdoms that the crown of Castilla has there. It was given that name, then, since the Spaniards have owned it, from a chief village so named, distant two leguas from Manavilis, which is corruptly called Marivelez. It was also called Nueva Castilla. It is the largest island in the Philippinas, and extends farthest north of all those islands. It is the most populous in nations and tribes, who exceed the others, both in bravery and in the light of reason, with well-known advantages. Its least altitude is scant thirteen degrees, and its greatest ten or nine and one-half. Its circuit, without taking into account certain bays, comprehends four hundred and twelve leguas. Those who make it three hundred are in error, for they do not consider its position. It is all very fertile, and has many large rivers, that of Cagayan or Nueva Segovia being more swollen than the others. They are all navigable, more or less. Ships enter that of Manila at full tide with one-half their cargo, but the galleys enter it generally without any trouble. It furnishes a location for the aforesaid city, on a certain very pleasant and beautiful site on the shores of the sea. It is a point made by the Pasig River in sight of the bay. That bay is affirmed to be one of the largest and best that men can see in all the world, for it is thirty leguas in circumference, and has an island of six miles at its mouth, where a sentinel is always stationed. It sustains more than one hundred thousand persons daily with fish, counting the Sangleys and Japanese, and the villages that are settled on its shores. When Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legaspi took it by force of arms, May nineteen, one thousand five hundred and seventy, ten thousand houses beautified it, and it was the court of the king, Ladya [_sic_] Solìmàn, a follower in part of the religion of Mahomet. The same general rebuilt the city, and left it its former name of Manila--also the proper name of the island--in the following year of seventy-one. He made it the capital of the rest of the archipelago, as it was very suitable for the concourse and commerce of China. Its streets are pleasant and spacious, and without crossways or turns; for they are all straight, and have beautiful buildings of stone, which vie with those of España that are considered well made. It is strong by art and by nature, because of the many creeks and swamps that surround it, together with the great wall of stone built according to the style of the moderns, with not a few ramparts. It is well defended with artillery, and has an excellent and important fortress, supplied with all that is necessary, even as the most noted forts that are renowned in Europa. Finally, it is now the finest and richest city of all those of its class that are known in the world.