ground a third part of the city--with such swiftness that many had no opportunity to escape it (although the fire occurred about midday), and they perished in the flames; while the loss of wealth was so great that it can hardly be believed. Hearing the news of the fire, which was at some distance from our convent, the religious went to help extinguish it; for on such occasions as this they labor more and have more confidence than others. In a moment, as if it were flying, the fire reached our convent; and since there was no one to protect it, it was almost wholly burnt, the Lord leaving only so much as was necessary to supply a crowded shelter for the religious, without being obliged to go to the house of any other person. In this we were among the more fortunate who escaped; for the fire was so extensive that others had not even this small comfort. Many who on that morning were rich, and had great houses and great wealth, had that night no house where they might lodge or shelter themselves, such is at times the fury of this terrible element. At the beginning of October in this same year, this city, and consequently all the islands, were in great danger of being lost, because of a revolt against it of the Chinese who lived near it. The event happened in the following way. In the previous year, in one of the merchant vessels which come to this city from China every year there arrived three persons of authority, who are called by the Spaniards "mandarins." These are their judges or leading officers in war. They entered the city, borne on men's shoulders, on gilded ivory seats, having the insignia of magistracy: and they were received with the display due to ambassadors of so powerful a king. They had come to search for a mountain which a Chinese, named Tiongong, had described to his king as being all gold. The name of this mountain was Cavite, and from it he promised to bring back to China ships laden with gold. The mandarins made their investigations, for which purpose they carried Tiongong with them; and when they reached the place which he described, they found no mountain of gold, nor any sign of one. When they accused him of fraud and deceit, he answered, "If you wish it to be gold, it is gold" (referring to the ornaments which the Indians wear, and much more to the wealth of the Spaniards); "if you wish it to be sand, it is sand." All this was done in the sight of the Spaniards, who came there with a good deal of interest to know the reason why these mandarins had come so far away from their regular duties--and especially their chief, who was, as it were, sargento-mayor of the province of Chincheo, one of the most prominent officers in their army. The whole thing aroused suspicion; and the archbishop, Don Fray Miguel de Venavides, a friar of our habit and a religious of this province, urged the governor to send them back immediately, that they might not perceive how small a force the Spaniards had,