The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803; explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commericial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century; [Vol. 1, no. 13]

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THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

[Vol. 13

This befell a father and a brother while journeying along a sandy tract, greatly fatigued by the heat
of the noonday sun, without any restorative or food,
and parched with thirst - in short, deprived of everything that might serve them as a relief or comfort;
yet enduring their suffering and with devout meditation offering to God that hardship, even desiring
that it might be increased if his Majesty might thus
be served. Unexpectedly and suddenly they descried
a man seated in the midst of the sand, with a collation
of fresh cocoanuts and other fruits; and so gracious
and serene was his appearance that he inspired admiration and pleasure. When the fathers and those
who accompanied them accepted from him those
delicacies, refreshing their heated bodies and appeasing their hunger, this man displayed unusual
satisfaction and joy, inviting them to partake of more,
since what he possessed was theirs, and he was a servant of the Spaniards. With this they continued their
journey (which otherwise would have been very
wearisome), giving thanks to Him who had thus
succored them in their dire necessity. Although at
the time the father took little notice of this incident,
afterward recalling the circumstances, as well as the
gracious manner of the man, he became convinced
that he must have been some angel. Nor was he far
out of the way, considering the occasion on which he
succored them, when they could not go any farther
on account of the oppressive heat of the season, and
the lack of food; the spot where they had encountered
him, a place where it had never occurred that they
found an Indian so solitary and, moreover, unknown;
and then his gracious manner and serene countenance,
and his generosity and liberality in sharing with