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. 36]

Io4

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

[Vol. 36

which is in the same island of Terrenate where the
governor lives; he is the governor of all the other
presidios. The Dutch have a settlement in that
island with a good fort, all for the sake of the profit
[that they obtain from the] cloves and nutmeg. The
number of Christians there is small, although there
were many in the time of the glorious apostle of
Yndia, St. Francis Xavier. It has always been administered by religious of the Society of Jesus, as
well as the natives of the island of Siau, who are the
most affectioned to our holy faith. The Spaniards
of Terrenate are in charge of a secular cura belonging to the jurisdiction of the bishopric of Cochin in
Oriental Yndia; for the administration of those
islands has always been in charge of that bishopric
and province of Cochin, although the ministers of
the Society of Jesus have been appointed since the
time of the revolt of Portugal by the superior of
the said Society in the province of Philipinas. The
stipends of the cura and of the other evangelical
workers are paid from the royal treasury of Manila,
as are also the salaries of the governor and the
presidios. In the island of Terrenate is a house of
the Society of Jesus, whence they go out to administer the other islands and presidios. It has also a
royal hospital which is in charge of the discalced
religious of St. Francis. The cura of that island and
presidio was withdrawn to Manila when Portugal
rebelled, and the archbishop chose a cura from his
archbishopric; but it was a question whether he had
any jurisdiction for it, so that the appointment of
cura passed again in due course to the proprietary
cura, of the jurisdiction and bishopric of Cochin,
which is in actual charge of the said presidio [and