carry it out, by ordering the officers of the ships which shall come in the year 600 to leave there a couple of religious and ten soldiers as a guard. But as the ships arrived here from a different direction, and the voyage was a difficult one, the will of your Majesty has not been carried out. I believe this will be a work very important for the service of God our Lord and your Majesty; for in the year 1596 a religious of the Order of St. Francis, with a sailor, who were passing by the islands of Ladrones, disembarked from the almiranta "San Pablo" in the boats of the Indians of those islands, more than three hundred skiffs having come alongside of the said ship. The Indians took them on board and carried them to land where they remained during the period of a year, up to 1597—when, as the ships from Nueva España were again passing on their way to these islands, having as commander Don Lope de Ulloa, the said religious and soldiers [sic] arrived alongside the ships in the boats of the Indians, and were received on board. When they arrived here, the religious gave an account of what he had seen in the islands of Ladrones, saying that there were many islands thickly peopled with Indians, who are men of good stature, and strong. They are a tractable and kindly people. They regaled him and his companion, and showed them much respect. The land abounds in fish, rice, and camotes. They are heathen; but if the religious would enter there with love and tactfulness they would teach them. I hope in our Lord that He and your Majesty will be served in bringing those heathen to a true knowledge of God.
21. That farmers have not been brought from Nueva España for the introduction of agriculture,
