On board the Cruiser Castilla
12 August 1896
MRS. NARCISA RIZAL
MY DEAR SISTER,
I read the lines that you wrote me in the letter of Miss Josephine and I’m very glad to know you are well.
Today I have received the suitcase with many personal things. Tell Josephine that she has sent me the swallow-tailed coat (that I don’t need) but she did not include either the trousers or the vest; that she ought to send me more collars and cuffs and also some postage stamps of two cents apiece. You ought not to send any servant to bring me letters or packages for it is a useless expense. Send me letters and packages through the Cartería de la Marina, which is a cottage near the Capitanía General de la Marina and thus they will get here without much expense. [1]
The bearer of this letter is Prudencio Bulag, the sailor that the commander had the kindness to place at my disposal and to whom you can give all that you wish to send me. If you can, send me through him:
4 pieces Laguna chees of very good quality
3 pots paté de foie gras
24 mangoes and lansones
Prudencio is going to Trozo to greet our mother on my behalf and to pick up whatever she wants to send me,
I shall be very glad if my nephews study, taking advantage of Miss Josephine’s stay there.
You have not yet told me anything about the cost of the passage that we ought to pay the Macleod firm.
Love to all at home.
Your brother,
JOSÉ RIZAL
04-905 [Misc.]
[1] Rizal was kept aboard the cruiser Castilla while waiting for the boat that would take him to Spain on account of the outbreak of hostilities between Filipinos and the Spaniards. Only members of his family were allowed to visit him. As he wrote in his diary, the arrangement “disappointed me greatly, because it deprived me of the pleasure of visiting with my parents;” but he added, “What could I do except to follow orders?” (See Reminiscenses and Travels of Rizal, Rizal Centennial Edition, 1961, Vol. I)