This is the most trustworthy relation that your Majesty can have, in
order that your Majesty may see clearly the great need for ministers
who shall labor for the conversion of these infidels, and for the
preservation of those who have already received the faith, but are
falling back into their idolatrous practices, because they have been
abandoned by those who baptized them. Many of the islands named in
this relation I have visited personally, and concerning the others
I have been informed by those familiar with them; and, although it
is not possible to know the exact truth, I have tried to ascertain
it as nearly as I could. All of these islands are included in your
Majesty's kingdom; all pay tribute, and in sufficient quantities
to entitle them to receive instruction. Since your Majesty has in
your dominions so many and so excellent religious and ecclesiastics,
who, if your Majesty give the order, will prepare to come hither,
may your Majesty feel so strongly the ills of this land and its lack
of religious workers, that you will order to come hither as many as
are needed for the salvation of the great number of souls who are
perishing here for want of religious teaching. Your Majesty should
understand that, when we speak of such an island or town having so
many tributarios, we mean married men, or two single men who make one
whole tribute; so that when there are one thousand tributarios, it
follows that there must be two thousand persons. And it will happen
most frequently that the number will reach three or four thousand,
counting one or two children to each household. From the foregoing
your Majesty will realize clearly the countless number of souls under
your Majesty's charge, and who are waiting for your Majesty to provide
them with ministers of religion, in order that they may be drawn out
of their present darkness, and placed on the pathway of salvation. At
Manila, June twenty-fifth, 1585 [sic; should be 1588].