The first book of Part I consists of ten chapters, wherein is given a rapid survey of the country of China and its people and government; of certain social and economic conditions, and of its products. The second book, consisting also of ten chapters, treats of the religion and superstitions of the Chinese (wherein some peculiar parallels with the Christian religion are drawn), their mortuary and marriage customs, and treatment of the poor and infirm. The third book has twenty-four chapters, wherein are treated, in some detail, many different matters relating to China. These include an historical account of the kings of that empire; a description of the royal city; the fifteen provinces of the empire, their government, garrisons, and means of defense; laws of warfare; the royal council and its method of procedure; the judiciary and the execution of justice; scholarship and education; [21] ceremonies at banquets and on other occasions; their ships and certain of their occupations; and their morals. Our author finds interesting the use of artillery and the knowledge of the art of printing in China, prior to their invention in Europe. This part concludes with an account of Chinese courtesy to foreign ambassadors; and of the embassy to that country, entrusted to Gonzalez de Mendoza and other religious in 1580, by the Spanish king, but not carried into effect.]
Second Part of the History of the Great Kingdom of China
This second part is divided into two books and an itinerary, and discusses the following topics.
The first book contains in sequence the things witnessed and heard in that kingdom by Fathers Martin de Herrada, provincial of the order of St. Augustine in the Felipinas Islands, and his associate Fray Geronymo Marin, [22] and some soldiers who accompanied them.
The second, the miraculous voyage to this same kingdom by Father
Fray Pedro de Alfaro, custodian of the order of St. Francis in the
Felipinas, and his associates.
An itinerary of the father custodian of the same order, Fray Martin Ignacio, who went from España to China, and thence back to España, by way of East India, thus circumnavigating the world; the very remarkable things that he saw and heard during the voyage.
Book First
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 qualities of holiness, upright conduct, and learning requisite in that province. He was consecrated in Madrid in the year one thousand five hundred and seventy-nine. There are also, at present, three monasteries of religious—one of Augustinians, who were the first to enter these islands in obedience to his Majesty's orders, and have preached the evangelical law to the great gain of souls, and with no little suffering, many of them having lost their lives in this occupation; the second, of descalced friars of the order of St. Francis, of the province of San Joseph, who have approved themselves by their good example, and have been very useful in those regions; and the third, of Dominicans or Predicants, who have been of no less service. All of these have passed a certain time in these islands. Afterward the Jesuit fathers came to these regions; they have been of great help to the above-mentioned religious.
On their arrival at these islands, the Spaniards at once heard many things concerning the great kingdom of China, both through the relations of the islanders, who told of that country's wonders; and through what they themselves saw and heard, after a few days, from the crews of certain vessels entering that port with merchandise and very curious articles from that kingdom. These latter told them in detail of the greatness and wealth of that country, and the many things related in the first three books of this history. As soon as the Augustinian religious (then the only religious in those islands), and especially their provincial, Fray Martin de Herrada—a man of great worth, and most erudite in all branches of learning—were aware of the greater advantages possessed by the Chinese, who come to trade among those islands, in comparison with these islanders, and especially in the matters of civilization and ability, they immediately conceived a great desire to go to preach the gospel to those people, so capable of receiving it. With this object in view, they began most carefully and studiously to learn the Chinese language, which the above-mentioned provincial mastered in a short time, making also of the same a grammar and dictionary. Besides this, they gave many gifts and presents to the Chinese merchants, in order to be conveyed to their country. They did many other things, which are illustrative of their holy zeal—even to offering themselves as slaves to the merchants, in order that, in this manner, they might enter the country for the purpose of preaching. But all these efforts were of no avail, until the divine will showed another and better method, which will be related in the following chapter.