Volume 32 / Book 2 — Chapter XLIII

A second expedition made by two fathers to the province of Sinay, otherwise known as Ytui, and the result of it.

They left Pangasinan for Ytuy December 6, 1632, the day of St. Nicholas the bishop; and since there is but little communication between the two countries—none at all, in fact, except that occasionally some natives on each side visit the other—there is no open road from one to the other, since the Indians have no need of one, making their way like deer through the thickets of the mountains. By their account, the journey takes four days; but this is estimated by their mode of travel, which is twice as rapid as ours. Father Fray Thomas was so eager to reach that region that he even wished to make the journey shorter, and he asked the Indians if they did not know some short cut. One of them responded that he did; the father asked him to guide them, and they all followed him. This was in an evil hour, for the short cut did nothing but to increase their labor, as it took them out of their way. The journey occupied nine days, over mountains and across valleys, and through rivers, streams, and marshes, which they came upon at every step—for the guide did not know where he was going, and yet they were obliged to follow him. The provision which they carried was but for a few days, since they did not expect so long a journey, and they carried it all on their own shoulders that they might not burden the Indians. Since the journey took twice as long as they had expected, they became very hungry, and thus suffered much, hunger being added to exhaustion. The sky was not kind to them on their journey, for it rained constantly on all these days and they had no protection; and the ground was as cruel, for the thickets abounded with leeches who attached themselves to the faces, the hands, and the feet of the travelers, and drew blood like a physician’s blood-letting. The Indians were not distressed by any of these things, or by the necessity of carrying the fathers on their shoulders across rivers or very bad places in the road, which shows the pleasure and affection with which they were taking the religious to their country. The fathers endured this no less well, being certain that they were not putting into a torn sack what they suffered for God.

Here in Manila the order has under its care a hospital for the Chinese, in which the sick of that nation are cared for. The province may place this at the head of its possessions, since there is scarcely a day in which some soul or souls of newly baptized do not pass to heaven. Very few are they who die without baptism, and very many are they who give their souls to God before the baptismal waters are dry on their heads. This is accomplished with so little effort on the part of the minister that it calls upon him only to make a little effort, and to go from his cell to the infirmary. I do not know whether there is any other hospital in Christendom of the character of this hospital, its principal end being the cure of souls, while for the cure of bodies it has its physician, its medicines, and everything needed within its gates, besides the food and the dainties called for by the palates of the sick. The effects of the divine predestination which are beheld in it are so many that they are almost ordinary, and are therefore not mentioned.