not through the fault of the father commissary, who ever treated them with great liberality and no less charity; but on the roads they met no people, but only buffaloes, and in the rainy season they experienced all these inconveniences.  Finally they came to the confines of Pampanga, where, forgetful of their hardships, they began to receive innumerable welcomes from those most devout fathers, who know how to show kindness to strangers, and all the more to their own who came to aid them, when they had suffered so much and were in need of all things.  Thence they went to Manila, where they were received heartily by our father Fray Juan Enriquez—­who had them rest, so that they should begin their labor in the Lord’s vineyard, for which they had been chosen, with greater courage.  Those who entered Manila in the company of father Fray Alonso Rincon, their commissary, were the following: 

1.  Father Fray Francisco Bibero, a Castilian, an eloquent preacher.

2.  Father Fray Diego Martinez, a preacher, from Mancha.

3.  Father Fray Antonio Portes, a preacher, and a Castilian.

4.  Father Fray Juan de Silva, a preacher, from Andalucia.

5.  Father Fray Juan Venegas, a preacher, from Andalucia.

6.  Father Fray Pedro de Torres, a preacher, from Andalucia.

7.  Father Fray Andres Verdugo, a reader, from Mancha.

8.  Father Fray Martin de Paz, a reader, and a Castilian.

9.  Father Fray Baltasar Salcedo, a preacher, and a Vizcayan.

10.  Father Fray Juan Basan, a priest, from Andalucia.

11.  Father Fray Juan Velasco, a preacher, and a Castilian.

12.  Father Fray Juan de Aguirre, a priest, and a Castilian.

13.  Father Fray Esteban de Peralta, a preacher, and a Castilian.

14.  Father Fray Pedro del Castillo, a preacher, from Andalucia.

15.  Father Fray Pedro Valenzuela, a preacher, and a Castilian.

16.  Father Fray Baltasar Jimenez, a priest, from Andalucia, who returned to the province.

17.  Father Fray Felipe Tallada, a preacher, from Andalucia, who returned to the province.

18.  Father Fray Rodrigo de Quinones, a priest, from Andalucia.

19.  Father Fray Juan de Ugarte, a priest from Peru, and a Vizcayan. [56]

20.  Father Fray Francisco Rubio, a priest, and a Castilian.

Three religious died, in Mejico and San Juan de Ulua, of whom very good hopes were entertained.  This has caused a great lack here as is the case when any sound religious is taken away.  For since so many die, if there is no one to hold the fortification, what has been gained must necessarily be lost.  For, if the devil learns that there are no soldiers, who doubts that he will return to gain the mastery of what was taken from him?  Those religious have labored exceedingly well, and some of them have become eminent linguists; and, God willing, we shall have to say much about them.  Our father provincial immediately distributed them through the four provinces, very wisely, according to the need of each.