In chapter viii of decade x the Recollect labors in the islands of Masbate, Ticao, and Burias are reviewed. These islands which have been conquered during the early years of Legazpi's arrival in the archipelago are an important way-station for ships plying between Nueva España and the islands. The faith is introduced into Masbate by the Augustinians under Alonso Jimenez, who is called the "apostle of Masbate." The Augustinians, however, abandon that island and Ticao in 1609, and seculars have charge of the mission work there from that year until 1688. In the latter year the Recollects are substituted for the seculars in accordance with the plan of the bishop of Nueva Cáceres, that the district be given to a regular order. A decree of August 13, 1685 grants the islands to the Recollects as well as certain villages in Luzón. The latter are resigned by that order to the Franciscans, as they can be administered more easily by them, but the islands of Masbate, Ticao, and Burias are accepted by them in 1687. In 1688 the cession is made by the secular in charge at Mobó in the island of Masbate, to the content of the natives who welcome the Recollects. A good convent is founded in Mobó and three new villages, in addition to the six existing when the Recollects enter, are established. In 1726 another convent is founded in the district after the wreck of a galleon in order that the image of the Santo Cristo of Burgos which is carried by that ship and which is saved through the diligence of one of the passengers on the vessel, Julian de Velasco, may be properly housed. In reply to a petition of the Recollects in 1724 asking royal confirmation of the Masbate missions, a report on their work there is ordered. It is found that the number of families has increased from 187 in 1687 to 585 in 1722, an increase of 398 families or 1,592 persons. In 1738, there are 5,000 persons in the islands, and three new villages, one in Ticao, and two in Masbate. This means that the order has formed six villages and brought 3,252 persons to the bosom of the Church in the time that they have had control of this district. The number has been lessened by the invasions of the Moros. The conversions have been made among heathens, apostates, refugees from other islands--all of whom represent the worst elements. The Recollects have had to fight against the forces of nature, the Moros, and sorcery. They have persevered in the face of all manner of hardships--hardships that cause some of the missionaries who have been there to say that the Masbate territory offers more suffering than any other mission field. The extracts from Concepción cover in part the same field as the history by San Francisco de Assis; except the third, which tells of the restoration of the missions of Zambales to the Recollects, and gives a brief account of the judicial proceedings between that order and the Dominicans.