You know that in nearly all the schools the books are in Spanish, with the exception of the catechism in Tagalog, which varies according to the religious order to which the curate belongs.

These books are generally novenas, canticles, and the Catechism of Padre Astete, [65] from which they learn about as much piety as they would from the books of heretics.

Seeing the impossibility of teaching the pupils in Spanish or of translating so many books, I tried to substitute short passages from useful works in Tagalog, such as the Treatise on Manners by Hortensio y Feliza, some manuals of Agriculture, and so forth.

Sometimes I would myself translate simple works, such as Padre Barranera's History of the Philippines, which I then dictated to the children, with at times a few observations of my own, so that they might make note-books.

As I had no maps for teaching geography, I copied one of the province that I saw at the capital and with this and the tiles of the floor I gave them some idea of the country.