The fruit obtained by fathers Fray Lorenzo de Herrera, Fray Luís de la Fuente, and Fray Gabriel Alvarez in that conquest was considerable, for they reduced entire villages to the knowledge of our holy faith; in the beginning, they succeeded in inducing many children and old people who were about to die to have the good fortune to die as Christians. But they bore themselves with great caution and prudence, for they feared that it would be very difficult to preserve that field of Christendom unless those people were reduced, and removed to a more suitable site, secure from the continual wars which some villages waged against others. Thus many were led to settle in the villages of Ilocos, and others in those of Zambales. But what most hindered that so important reduction was the frustration of the hopes for the rich gold mines which so incited greed; for all those who went on that expedition were boasting that they were already Croesuses and Midases. It is certain that there are very wealthy mines and placers in the rivers, whence the Igolotes get the great quantities of gold which they have brought down to sell to the provinces of Ilocos and Pangasinán; but it appears that divine wisdom does not choose that they shall fall into our hands, for it was very certain that we would make an ill use of that benefit....
[Great sorrow is caused to the province by the death of Fray Diego de Ordáx, August 12, 1666. He was a native of the city of León, and had come to the islands in 1635. He became a missionary in the Bisayas, and was twice prior of Manila, and twice provincial. Most of his life in the islands was passed in the convent at Manila. In 1666 are celebrated the funeral ceremonies for Felipe IV, who died September 17, 1665.]
Governor Don Diego de Salcedo, considering the many oppressions that were experienced by the provinces near Manila from the continual cutting of timber and building of galleons--a necessary evil, and one in which the wrongs that are committed in it can be obviated only with great difficulty--very prudently determined to build the galleon "Nuestra Señora del Buen Socorro" in the province of Albay. He entrusted its execution to the commander Diego de Arévalo who was most experienced in maritime matters. He appointed him alcalde-mayor of the adjoining province of Camarines, for the better expedition of the timber-cutting, putting him under greater obligations [to do well] by the future reward of commander of the galleon which he was about to build. In order that that galleon might be built more quickly and finished sooner, he sent as chief overseer his lieutenant master-of-camp, Don Agustín de Cepada Carnacedo, who was then master-of-camp of the army of these islands for his Majesty, in order that he might live in the port of Albay. He did that with so great care that in little more than one year the largest and best galleon that had yet been seen in the islands was built--and very few so large have been seen in European seas, and extremely few that are larger. For that purpose the woods of Filipinas are the best that can be found in all the universe; because for the inside work, the ribs and knees, the keel and rudder molave is used--which is the hardest wood known; and at its disintegration it is converted into stone by being kept in the water. Lavang [141] is used for the sheathing outside the ribs; it is so strong and of such a nature that no artillery ball will pass through it; and the greatest harm that the ball can do is to stick in the wood without entering inside the ship. On account of that advantage the galleons of these islands are so formidable to the Dutch; for each one is a strong castle in the sea. When the galleon "Nuestra Señora del Buen Socorro" was finished, it sailed from Albay, August 28, 1667, under command of Diego de Arévalo, with Juan Rodriguez, a Portuguese, as its chief pilot. The patache "San Diego" left Cavite to accompany it, under charge of Admiral Bartolomé Muñoz. They had a fortunate voyage, and arrived in due time at the port of Acapulco.