Note 29 — JESUIT MISSIONS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Reading edition
The provincial of the Society of Jesus in the Filipinas Islands, in a report to the king dated June 20, 1731, declares that the Society reckoned 173,938 souls in the 88 principal villages and some visitas which they were administering. This number, compared with the estimate for the preceding period of six years, showed an increase of 11,886 Christians; by this may be seen the increase which the population is steadily gaining—except that of the Marianas Islands, which has decreased. (Ventura del Arco MSS., iv, p. 307.) ↑