suspension of government with which necessarily those who do not know the path must begin. In order to govern the definitors, and to dispose of the offices, it is very important to have an acquaintance with the persons and to have visited the provinces and villages, in order to be free from arbitrary notions, and to enter upon the functions of his office from the first with a master's experience. The prior of Santo Domingo was vicar-general, and presided at the election. When he finished his term of office, that same year, the fathers of the convent chose as their prelate the father commissary, Fray Juan de los Angeles. He, by great importunity and the influence which God gave him in the minds of devout persons, freed the convent, which was then deeply in debt; and rebuilt the church which had been in ruins since the earthquake. He left that church very strongly built of stone, and greatly beautified by its corridors and galleries, and its many windows--which make it very sightly, and give it much light, extent, and beauty in the choir. It still remains today one of the best churches in the city. As the said father is still living, it will suffice to tell in due time all that he has done in this province, which has been much. It is certain that the province owes him a great debt for the honor he has conferred on it, and his works, although his love for it does not permit him to be idle. In July of that same year a patache came to these islands, quite beyond the scanty hope that we had. But the providence of God--which, as we have said so many times, measures the stability and preservation of this field of Christendom with a distinct rule, and not with ordinary ones--placed in the heart of the viceroy of Nueva España (since it had been two years since any ship had gone hence) to make the said patache go down to Acapulco from Realejo. [30] There he put aboard of it the situado and necessary supplies, and entrusted the vessel to General Christoval Romero, a perfectly satisfactory person, who had had experience in these lands, who was then detained at Mexico. It was our Lord's pleasure to grant him good winds, so that he reached these islands, although with the anxiety that one can understand; for he feared that already the Spanish name had been blotted out of them. The reason why no ship had sailed was that which we have said regarding the Dutch enemy; and for two years we had done no little in defending ourselves from their stubborn hostility. The said commander made port at the harbor of Lampon, either because it was suitable, as he feared the enemy, or because he could do no more. He learned there that the Dutch were still committing piracies along those coasts and endeavoring to recoup themselves for some of their past losses. Everything was a miracle, and no less than had happened many days in those ports; and the day when the said patache entered, God covered it with the shade of a cloud so dense that it was sufficient to hide it from