death, which comes when God pleases, finished all their hopes; for it
brought him to his bed, and from that to a grave on April 19, 1616,
of a fever that carried him off in eleven days. During the course of
his sickness, the city made a procession from the _asse_ or cathedral
to [the church of] La Misericordia, [77] praying our Lord for his
health. At his death, they bewailed him with extreme sorrow.

Before dying he saw that his end was near, and accordingly prepared
himself by acts of faith and penitence, receiving the sacraments. He
ordered his body to be embalmed, and taken on the royal galley to
Manila, and thence to Jerez de los Caballeros, [78] where he founded
a convent of discalced Carmelite nuns. In the meanwhile the body
should be deposited in the residence or houses of the Society of
Jesus. Accordingly, in the residence of Malaca they celebrated the
church services for him. At the end of nine days, the body was taken to
the galleys anchored in the strait of Sincapura. There it was received
with a salute on May 2. On the fourth, sail was set toward Manila.

The fleet was composed of ten galleons, four galleys, one patache, and
three frigates. It carried three hundred pieces of artillery, eight
companies of Spanish soldiers, five hundred Japanese, two hundred
volunteers, sixty artillerymen, and two hundred sailors. [Without
signature. [79]]

_Letter from Father Juan de Ribera, [80] rector of the residence of
the Society of Jesus at Manila, in which he gives account of his
voyage to and from India, and of the unfortunate fate of the four
galleons that he took thence._

We set sail at Cabite November twenty-one, the day of the Virgin. In