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]

36 THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS [Vol. 36
Lordship at the palace, they bade one another farewell, and returned to their houses.
The sumptuous and royal mausoleum, which was
erected by the piety of this noble community, occupies the last place in this brief relation. In the
description of it, one finds his eloquence fail and he
is dismayed, and he can find no excellence in his art
that is proportionate to the measure of its grandeur
and majesty. The said alcaldes-in-ordinary and two
regidors assisted the fiscal auditor as managers in
the construction of that catafalque. They urged forward the work, and attended to what was done by
the best workmen and those who were most skilled
in the matter. Beyond doubt they saw fulfilled the
object of their vigilance, in the applause and admiration of all. It was a work that seemed born of nature rather than a contrived invention of art. In it
gravity was surpassed, richness gleamed forth, majesty was displayed, and method excelled; and its
brilliancy was dazzling, with so beautiful an arrangement and display of lights, without proving an
obstacle by their number or the lights paling, that
grandeur was never seen to greater advantage or
majesty more resplendent.
Its ground space and arch occupied all the space of
the principal chapel, until it met the very ceiling of
the temple; and had the capacity of the place allowed more, the execution of so extensive a contrivance would not have been confined to so narrow
limits. The height of the socle was six feet, and it
was thirty-nine feet wide. In the center of it arose
the catafalque, which was octagonal in form. It was
composed of two structures made after the best ideas
of architecture. The first structure was composed