Note 38 — Grau y Monfalcon’s Informatory Memorial of 1637

The first effect is the conservation of the Catholic faith, and the continuance of its promulgation, which has entered the rich and extensive regions of the Orient through the agency of both crowns of Castilla and Portugal. In that are seen so38 miraculous advances that it would be for the kings of España to disregard the obligation that they so much value, in [not] giving them the protection possible—so that while the faith does not advance, it may not decrease, nor lose what has been planted in the vineyard of God our Lord. This will be attained (humanly speaking), as long as the two extremes on which this mean depends do not fail, those two extremes being the states maintained by the two crowns in the Orient: that of Portugal, in India; and that of Castilla, in Filipinas. As India is the gateway for all the kingdoms that belong to this part of the straits, so also are the islands for these kingdoms about them, such as Great China, Japon, the Javas, Nueva Guinea, and the islands of Salomon—for whose discovery three voyages had been made from Lima at great cost, but with little result, although they could be reached with greater ease by sailing from Manila.