Sire:  In these islands resides a person named Hernando de los Ryos, a colonel, a man of much information concerning important matters, and particularly learned in mathematics and astrology, and possessed of such virtue and such uprightness of life, and so zealous and desirous of the service of God and your Majesty, and of the common welfare, that I know not if there be a man in these parts to exceed him in this; and may it please our Lord to give us many who shall succeed in being so disinterested in worldly things and earthly claims.  At any rate, in the secular estate, in my opinion and perhaps that of many good men, I know not if you will find in this country, or even for the most part in others, a man of more learning, respectability, and virtue, accompanied by other good qualities and gifts with which God has graced him, and which are so well employed and profited by, as in himself.  For his sole object is to serve God and desire his service and that of your Majesty, and the great good which can be accomplished in these regions; and he is not interested in the occupations and advantages of office, although it would be well indeed if all those who hold them had the qualifications that he has for them.  At any rate, he has refused and rejected some of the best offices of this country, particularly an offer to be a royal official of the royal exchequer of your Majesty, when I desired him to be so during my government, as I understood that he was a fit man for the service of God and of your Majesty.  It was impossible, however, to persuade him.  His intention, as I have understood, is to become a priest.  He has made a very peculiar instrument of general usefulness in many curious and important ways, particularly in navigation, for getting bearings and taking measurements, which are rendered very easy.  I do not send one to your Majesty, because he has not finished a book of description and explanation of this instrument.  I have persuaded him to send one to your Majesty, as I also shall do, as I consider it well that your Majesty should have information of the learning, virtue, and parts which are found in him, as it may be of use and importance for the service of God and your Majesty—­whom may our Lord protect many years of life, according to His power and the desire and need of us all.  Manyla, June 27, 1597.

Luys Perez Das Marinas

Memorial

Indeed, the desire which possesses me of serving your Majesty and ending my life in your service, as I am a humble vassal of your Majesty, was too mixed with awe to allow of this boldness, if Don Luis Perez de las Marinas, former governor of these islands, had not encouraged me and persuaded me to give information to your Majesty of several matters concerning these parts, as a person who has spent nine years here.  I could wish that it was with better reason, if time had been given me to finish a book which treats of the use of an astrolabe, very important for the service