with authority from himself and from the islands, to confer with
his Majesty upon several matters that he desired to see carried out,
and upon others which would prove advantageous to the islands. [31]
The captain found his Majesty in Portugal, gave him a few pieces of
gold and other curiosities which he had brought for that purpose,
and stated the matters of which he had come to treat. The result was
that his Majesty, among other favors, appointed him marshal of Bonbon,
for his hardships during this voyage, and the proper resolution was
made in the matters of which he had come to treat.

It was during the administration of Don Gonzalo Ronquillo, that the
first bishop of the Filipinas was appointed, in the person of Don Fray
Domingo de Salazar, of the Dominican order, a man of great learning and
piety. As soon as he arrived in the islands, he took upon himself the
management and jurisdiction of ecclesiastical affairs, which were at
first in charge of the Augustinian friars who had come at the time of
the conquest, and afterwards of the discalced Franciscan religious,
who had arrived at the time of the conversion. The bishop erected his
cathedral in the city of Manila, by apostolic bulls, with prebends paid
by the royal exchequer, until there should be tithes and ecclesiastical
revenues to maintain themselves. Moreover, he provided whatever else
was necessary for the service and decoration of the church, and for
the divine worship which is celebrated there with great solemnity
and display. Don Fray Domingo de Salazar took Antonio Sedeno and
Alonso Sanchez, both priests and grave members of the Society of
Jesus, with him. They were the first to establish that order in the
Filipinas, which, since that time, has been steadily growing, to the
great profit and fruit of the teaching and conversion of the natives,
consolation of the Spaniards, and the education and teaching of their
children in the studies which they pursue.