PREFACE

The larger part of the present volume is occupied with the Relacion of the Jesuit Chirino, begun in Vol.  XII, and here concluded.  In this work is recorded the progress of the Jesuit missions up to the year 1602, by which time they have been established not only in Luzon and Cebu, but in Bohol, Leyte, Negros, Samar, and northern Mindanao.  The arrival of the visitor Garcia in 1599 results in new vigor and more thorough organization in the missions, and the numbers of those baptized in each rapidly increase.  The missionaries are able to uproot idolatry in many places, and greatly check its practice in others.  Everywhere they introduce, with great acceptance and edification among the natives, the practice of flagellation—­“the procession of blood.”  Religious confraternities are formed among the converts, greatly aiding the labors of the fathers; and the latter open schools for boys, among both the Spaniards and the Indians.  In time of pestilence they minister to the sick and the dying; and they gain great influence among all classes.  They secure the good-will of hostile natives, quell a threatened revolt among those of Leyte, and reclaim certain outlaws and bandits.  The Spaniards also receive their ministrations, especially in Manila; the fathers adjust dissensions and family quarrels, and reform several dissolute persons.  The college at Manila prospers, and enlarges its curriculum.  The labors of the Jesuits effect certain important changes in social conditions among the natives.  Usury, unjust enslavement, and polygamy are greatly lessened, and sometimes entirely abolished, among the Indians in the mission districts; and most notable of these results, the fathers have much success in gathering not only their own converts, but even many of the wild and savage mountaineers, into villages under their personal care and supervision.

A new monastic order, the Augustinian Recollects, is permitted to send missionaries to the islands.  Little of importance occurs there in 1604; but among the Spaniards there is much fear of an invasion by the Chinese, in revenge for the late slaughter of their countrymen in Luzon.  Yet the cupidity or laxity of the officials has permitted the number of Chinese resident in the islands to increase beyond proper limits; and the archbishop of Manila endeavors to secure strict enforcement of the laws against this dangerous immigration.  The leading officials of the Augustinian order complain (1605) of their provincial as unscrupulous and overbearing, and ask for relief and the suitable adjustment of the affairs of their province.