[29] Juan Francisco Combés was born at Zaragoza on October 5, 1620. At the age of twelve he entered the Jesuit order as a novice, at Tarragona; after six years of study there, he wished to enter the Philippine missions, and was therefore sent to Mexico to await an opportunity for going to the islands. This did not come until 1643, when Diego de Bobadilla went from Acapulco with forty-seven Jesuit missionaries, of whom Combés was one; five of these died in an epidemic, which carried away one hundred and fifteen of the people on the ship. Combés completed his theological studies at Manila, and was ordained in 1645, being soon afterward sent to Zamboanga. He remained in Mindanao twelve years, often acting as ambassador of the governors to Corralat and other Moro chiefs, and ministering in various places; in 1657 he returned to Manila, where he spent two years, and then three years in Leyte. He was then recalled (1662) to Manila, and tried to induce the authorities there to maintain the forts in the Moro country; but his efforts failed. In 1665 he was sent as procurator for his order to Madrid and Rome; but he died on the voyage, December 29 of that year. (Retana and Pastells's ed. of Hist. de Mindanao, col. vi-xix.) [30] Of the Caragas, Blumentritt says (Tribes of the Philippines, Mason's translation, p. 535): "In older works are so named the warlike and Christian inhabitants of the localities subdued by the Spaniards on the east coast of Mindanao, and, indeed, after their principal city, Caraga. It has been called, if not a peculiar language, a Visaya dialect, while now only Visaya (near Manobo and Mandaya) is spoken, and an especial Caraga nation is no longer known." It is quite probable that the term Caragas was only a local name applied by the people of this district to themselves or applied to them by the Spaniards; and if they ever did exist as a separate people they have been completely absorbed by the surrounding peoples. [31] The Mindanaos (properly Maguindanaos, "people who come from the lake") are mentioned by Pigafetta (Vol. XXXIII, p. 239); they live now, as formerly, principally about the Rio Grande, and they gave name to the island of Mindanao. They are Mahometan Moros and were the chief obstacle of the Spaniards in Mindanao, but were finally brought under control by General Weyler, and their power and importance is now almost gone. Their political achievements are the only ones of consequence ever made by peoples of the Philippines. See Census of Philippine Islands, i, pp. 466-467.