hospital, as their only resource for care when ill, should receive an
increase of its present inadequate income, and new buildings should
be constructed for its use.

In 1594 Francisco de Ortega, Augustinian visitor-general in the
Philippines, presents a number of reports and petitions to the
king. The abstracts of these papers which are preserved in the Sevilla
archives are here presented. The first of these documents contains a
list of the islands, with a brief account of their size and population,
of the number of religious already at work in them, and of the number
yet needed. Next, Ortega asks for certain grants from the royal bounty
for his order: a fixed sum for the building of the burnt monastery; an
increased allowance for the yearly support of the religious, as prices
have risen; allowances of wine, oil, and medicine for the Augustinian
convent at Manila; and an increase in the number of religious provided
for it. He complains that the Dominicans are, by their mission to the
Chinese, intruding upon the rights of the Augustinians, and prays for
the establishment of a convent of Recollect Augustinians in a place
proposed by him. Ortega urges upon the king the temporal and spiritual
importance of providing religious ministers, of striving to gain an
entrance to China, of accepting the advances of the Japanese king
of Firando, of conquering Ternate, of resisting the Japanese tyrant,
and of pacifying Mindanao. He asks that more troops be sent to Cébu;
that the Spanish settlement there be raised to the rank of a city; that
the regidors be crown appointees; and that its people be permitted to
send their exports directly to Nueva España. He also advises that the
port of Cavite be more strongly fortified. A royal decree (April 27)
orders that one hundred religious be sent to the islands.

On April 22, 1594, a council of war is held at Manila, to agree