therefore be reported without evidence worthy of it, which is that of the first bishop of these tribes, Don Fray Miguel de Venavides--a religious of very superior virtue, as we shall tell in due time, who made a report from his bishopric to Clement VIII, at that time head of the church. This report, because of the person who wrote it, because it was written to the sovereign pontiff, and because it was written in fulfilment of the oath which he had taken, as bishop of this holy see, to obey and to report the condition of his church and bishopric to his Holiness, must be free from all suspicion. I know not in what way, but somehow it was printed; and there are many copies in our convent in Valencia. The report is as follows. "It is about eleven years since the Dominican fathers entered the province of Pangasinan. That which has happened in the conversion of the province, which at the present time is composed of Christians--there being, of course, a heathen here and there--is such that we must give thanks to God for it. The miracles by which these tribes have been converted have been the lives of the ministers, though there have not been lacking other miracles, for the Lord has now and then shown the power of His hand. There were at first six religious of this order; and when the Indians saw them, they immediately asked the fathers when they were going away. The natives saw no opportunity to drive them away from their country; and so much did they detest them that there was no means by which they could be induced to give the fathers anything to eat, even for money. Thus for the space of three years they suffered many hardships; but their rebelliousness could not outstrip the patience of the fathers. Besides all this, five of the fathers fell sick at once, and were in that condition for five months; but at the end of that time, God was pleased to give them their health without physician, or medicine, or comforts. Such was the treatment accorded them by the Indians, to say nothing of the fact that no one was converted to our holy faith. The bishop of these islands, Don Fray Domingo de Salazar, noticing this fact, begged the religious to leave the Indians and depart from their country. This he did at the request of many Spanish captains. It was true that these Indians were of all the tribes in the country the worst, the fiercest, and the most cruel--an unconquered tribe who celebrated their feasts by cutting off one another's heads. But the superior who was then at the head of the province was unwilling to take this step; on the contrary, he said, 'These bad Indians are the ones whom I wish my friars to convert.' After three years, during which they only baptized a few boys (for the natives were unwilling to give the girls), the Indians began to believe in the religious; and the beginning that the Lord chose for this was the following. When the Indians perceived the way in which the friars lived, the fasts and penances which they performed,