death of Archbishop Serrano). An image of the Virgin Mary is seen to
weep, as if lamenting the ravages made by pirates in the Pintados. In
these raids several of the Jesuit missionaries have narrowly escaped
death. The Dutch in Java have been attacked by the natives, and are
menaced by the Portuguese there and elsewhere. The Spaniards go to
Camboja for lumber, and Dominican missionaries go with them to labor
among the heathen. Affairs with Siam are not yet restored to a peaceful
condition. The missions in Cochinchina and Tonkin are doing well. The
Chinese, at war with the Tartars, borrow aid from the Portuguese at
Macao. In Japan the Christians are being exterminated by torture and
death. There was talk of expelling the Dutch from that country; but
news arrives there of the destruction of a Japanese ship off Siam by
the Spaniards, and the Japanese begin to talk of uniting with the Dutch
to attack the Spaniards in Formosa and even Manila. "The Philipinas
Islands are at present in a ruinous condition." A postscript to this
relation describes an encounter between a small Spanish ship from
India and a large English ship, at Fayal, in which the former saves
itself, after inflicting much damage on its opponent.


The Editors

October, 1904.






DOCUMENTS OF 1625