Note 18 — Letter Written by a Citizen of Manila to an Absent Friend (continued 2)

There is an evident play on words in this passage. The original reads: “Que le auian hecho papa ó papilla y que con el les auian querido dar papillas.” “Papilla” is the diminutive of “papa”—meaning “pope,” or “pap”; and the phrase dar papilla is used to mean “deceiving by insidious caresses.”