At that period, this province was found very deficient in religious, on account of the many vacancies caused by death; on this account the ministries lacked the service which their extent and the arduous nature of some rendered necessary. Accordingly, as soon as the chapter-session adjourned the first care to which the new provincial devoted himself was to choose a well-qualified religious who might go as procurator to the two courts of Roma and Madrid, where the discords of the troubled chapter of the year 1671 had made a strong impression. For this purpose a private chapter-session was assembled, and therein a very judicious choice was made for this position, that of father Fray Juan García--a native of Las Encartaciones, and a minister in the province of Ilocos. The necessary despatches were given to him, and he embarked in the same year for Nueva España, in the galleon "San Telmo;" it was commanded by General Tomás de Endaya, a most successful man in these islands, where he died as his Majesty's master-of-camp for them, in the year 1745. This religious had a prosperous voyage, and arrived at Nueva España and Roma; he successfully fulfilled his commission in all respects, and afterward returned to this province with a mission of religious, in the year 1679, so long was he detained in the negotiations at Roma and Madrid. Through the peaceful rule of Don Manuel de León, in which term all was prosperous and fortunate, the Filipinas Islands began to take breath after the troubles of so many preceding years; and in a short time they were gathering new strength and vigor. Don Manuel de León was a man of very good intentions, and had the excellent virtue of being very disinterested--which is very important in these regions, where the vice opposite to that has temptations so ready to make one fall headlong into the abyss of greed, which causes so many wrecks, as the root of all evils. Trading vessels came frequently from China, of which country the Tartars had gained entire possession; the Chinese, therefore, having laid aside their defensive arms, strove to accommodate themselves to the times, being anxious to repair the losses caused by war with the gains from trading--which is more adapted to their disposition than is war, Mars giving place to Mercury. The Chinese trade is the mainstay of the maintenance of Filipinas, by means of the silver which comes from Nueva España, which is the blood that gives life to this land; for from China come the stuffs necessary for clothing, from the shirt in their delicate fabrics to the needle and thread. Thence comes the fine earthenware which is, with reason, so celebrated throughout the world as choice and inimitable, because the material and clay of which it is made are found in no other place. Thence come drugs, and very rich coloring stuffs--especially vermilion, which is the best in the world. Finally, one cannot imagine any exquisite article for the equipment of a house