and therefore the whole reception fiesta was a failure. And when
they desired him to go out of the city again, in order that he might
enter with solemnity, he said that he did not wish them to carry him
in procession as if he were a penitent, and so he remained there.




DESCRIPTION OF THE PHILIPPINAS ISLANDS


The governmental district of the islands commonly called Philippinas
comprises seven principal provinces, not to mention many other
islands and smaller provinces within its jurisdiction. Five of these
principal provinces are in the island of Luzon, which is four hundred
and sixty leguas in periphery and extends about from the thirteenth
to the twenty-first parallel. One can travel two hundred leguas in a
straight line on this island, for it is even longer than this. From
east to west, between the Cape of Spiritu Santo (the first sighted when
coming from Nueba España) and the bay of Manila, it is eighty leguas;
and from south to north, between the same bay and Cape Boseador,
in the province of Cagayan, which is opposite Japon and China, it is
one hundred and twenty leguas. The capital of Cagayan is the city of
Nueba Segobia, which was settled by Governor Don Goncalo Ronquillo de
Peñalosa in fifteen hundred and eighty-one. The shape of this island
of Luzon, taken as a whole, is more like a semi-quadrant than anything
else, although there are many irregularities in places. Some parts
are narrow, because of the numerous arms of the sea which bound and
penetrate the island; but in some parts, principally those on the
north side, the island grows broader and more spacious, as I will