Now that I am in my kingdom I beg father Fray Alonso Ximenez to come to it, and to bring with him father Fray Diego. I promise to build them churches and convents, and to give permission to all in my kingdom to become Christians. Though I have shown the two chofas [18] great favor and wish to keep them in my kingdom, they are unwilling to stay, because there are no religious here." The two captains wrote in the same strain to the fathers, begging them to come and reunite this kingdom with the Church. The governor of Manila saw how much could be done for the service of the king by sending the soldiers for whom the king of Camboja asked; but they were in such need of men and money that they could not well meet his desires. For this reason, a knight of the Habit of Calatraba who had been governor of these islands, by name Don Luis Perez das Mariñas, promised to pay the expenses of the expedition from his own fortune. The enterprise thus being made possible, we two religious of the order for whom the king of Camboja asked were obliged to go; and with us some religious of the Order of St. Francis, who were much beloved by Don Luis. There were equipped for the expedition two vessels of Spanish build, of moderate tonnage, and a galleot. The preparations were made (as preparations usually are made by the hand of servants of the king) slowly and faultily, as was seen by the results. We did not set out for some months, and our ships were so badly equipped and so weak that they began to leak as soon as the voyage began--a forewarning of the evils that we afterwards suffered, in which the poor knight Don Luis was disappointed, while all of us who accompanied him paid for the inadequacy of the preparation. [19] Since we were so late, the pilots decided to follow the course by the gulf of Haynau to go round the shoals by the end in latitude seventeen, because in that way the wind would be favorable; while if they rounded the end in latitude nine, which was the regular course, the wind would be adverse. They left Manila September 17 [1598], with one hundred and fifty soldiers and sailors. In the flagship Don Luis, who went as commander, took with him father Fray Alonso Ximenez and the two Franciscan fathers. He directed me to go in the ship of the second in command, [20] giving that officer orders to govern himself by my advice. Within six days the vessels were scattered in the storm and were all lost, no one knowing anything of the rest, and each one supposing that the others were continuing their voyage in safety. The galleot met with the best fortune, for, although damaged, it reached a friendly port, was repaired, and continued its journey. The flagship was obliged to cut away the mainmast, and sailing under its foresail, ran aground in China on the eve of St. Francis. All who were on board had to save themselves by swimming, and lost even their clothes. In the ship of the second in command, in which I was, the mainmast broke