and no voyage like ours has been made here since, as we sailed on
March 25. Both vessels were very swift, the winds strong, and the
rain-showers must have been a help.

We were welcomed cordially in Manila, as they were not expecting a
company, for the procurator sent by the province--namely, the father
reader Fray Juan de Pineda [18]--was detained in Nueva España. When we
arrived, already the favor bestowed upon the province by his Majesty
(in a time when, as ran the news, little was expected) was already
being extended; for the news that circulated through the court was
not very reliable. But his Majesty, better informed, attended to
everything as a pious king. He sent religious to the province, and gave
the bishopric to Don Fray Pedro de Arce, as above stated. He gave also
an alms of two thousand pesos to the Manila house, and joined to it a
visitor-general, with orders to attend to whatever needed remedy. His
Majesty should be considered as a most kind benefactor of the orders,
and very thankful for the services that our order has performed in
these regions for him.

The first thing given attention was the examination of the papers of
our father master Fray Diego de Guevara. When they had been examined
in the definitorio, there were no objections possible. Therefore,
with humble mien, the venerable father definitors were very obedient,
and complied with the letters of our most reverend father. They
were much beholden for the favors received from our pious king, and
served him likewise in this thing that he ordered. Thus was our father
visitor-general received by the definitorio. He was visitor-general
for the entire province, since necessarily the body must obey the
movements of its head.