There are five convents of religious within the walls of this city of Manila, and one of nuns; the church of La Misericordia, the seminary of Santa Potenciana, the cathedral church, and the hospital for the Spaniards or soldiers. That makes ten churches in all, and they are so near and close to one another that the divine offices can be heard from one to another, if one pays moderate attention. So small and narrow> is the district of the city, and so few the people in the churches, that if there was no more than one convent of religious and the cathedral church, they could be sufficiently taken care of and without too great fatigue [to the priests]. Although this was the fact of the case, the governor, a very few days after his arrival, began to build a church for his soldiers, saying at the beginning that the expense for the building was to be taken from the soldiers' own pay, and that no expense would be incurred by the royal treasury. But he did not keep his word, although the said church was fully built, together with some barracks and quarters for the said soldiers to live in. In the erection of it, more than eighty thousand pesos have been already spent, while the amount charged to the infantry is not in excess of sixteen thousand pesos. Consequently, it has been necessary that the remaining funds should be supplied from the royal treasury, although it would be more proper to expend that sum in building galleons to carry the goods of this city to Nueva España. For with galleons the royal treasury will be increased, and thereby will the governor obey the many and urgent orders which your Majesty has been pleased to issue in this regard; and the vassals and inhabitants of these islands would not be so ruined, and so hopeless of returning to their former state. It was all occasioned by the governor's resolution not to despatch any ships during the year of 635 and that of 637; and even next year, 639, there is little assurance that he will despatch them, for there is no money with which to prepare them. If that were done, we could entertain stronger hopes; because, as I write this, the usual succor from Mexico has not yet arrived, as only one very small patache was despatched last year, and there is doubt that it was able to reach port. On that account we are so perplexed and afflicted that it is even a special providence of God that we are able to breathe.