They sailed on May 22, 1590, but Juan de Castro before he left
appointed Cobo acting superior of the province with full authority
during his absence, and in the latter's place as head of the Chinese
mission sent Juan de San Pedro Martyr.

There is no doubt but that at this time Benavides and Cobo were
the two outstanding Chinese linguists among the Spaniards in
the Philippines. To Benavides has been attributed [109] a Chinese
dictionary, and Schilling [110] uses the already quoted letter of Cobo
to prove that he also wrote a Doctrina in Chinese, but, granting that
such works were written by him, there is no evidence that they were
written in Chinese characters, and not in Chinese transliterated into
roman letters. The available evidence points to the fact that Cobo
was the only one who could then write in Chinese characters. Salazar
in his above quoted letter had said that "one of these two [have
learned] how to write also," and in the same letter he continued,
"Fray Juan Cobo, the Dominican religious--who, as I have said before,
knows the language of the Sangleys and their writing, and who is most
esteemed by them--is sending to Your Majesty a book, one of a number
brought to him from China." [111] Further witness to Cobo's amazing
knowledge of Chinese writing is given by Aduarte:


"He knew three thousand Chinese characters, each different
from all the rest, for the Chinese have no definite number
of letters nor alphabet.... He translated a number [of
Chinese books]; for like those of Seneca, though they are
the work of heathens, they contain many profound sayings
like ours. He taught astrology to some of them whom he found
capable of learning; and to bring them by all means to their