The departure of the Spaniards from Mexico to the Felipinas
Islands, and the information obtained there of the great Kingdom of
China. Chapter I.


While Don Luis de Velasco, viceroy and lieutenant for the Catholic
king, Don Felipe, our lord, was in charge of the government of the
kingdom of Mexico, his Majesty ordered him to fit out a large fleet in
the Southern Sea, to levy the soldiers necessary for it, and to send
it on a voyage of discovery to the islands of the West. The renowned
captain Magallanes (when he circumnavigated the globe in the ship
"Victoria") had already given information about these islands. The
viceroy obeyed most carefully and assiduously his Majesty's orders. He
fitted out the fleet at great cost, and despatched it from Puerto de
la Navidad in the year sixty-four. As general of it, and governor
of the land to be discovered, he appointed the honorable Miguel
Lopez de Legaspi, who died afterward in the same islands with the
title of adelantado, one year previous to the entrance into China of
Fathers Fray Martin de Herrada, Fray Geronymo Marin, [23] and their
associates. The Spaniards explored the said islands, and colonized
some of them for his Majesty, especially that of Manila. This island
has a circumference of five hundred leagues. The city of Luçon (also
called Manila) was settled there. It is, as it were, the metropolis
of the island. In this city the governors who have gone to the
Felipinas since their discovery have, as a rule, resided. There
also a cathedral church has been founded, and a bishopric erected,
his Majesty appointing to this office the very reverend Don Fray
Domingo de Salazar of the order of Preachers, in whom are found the