Introduction

The Governour Don Francis Tello, to attend other Neighbouring D. Francis Tello neglects the Moluccos. Provinces, where greater Commotions were threatned, turn’d his Arms that Way; sending some inconsiderable Part, at several Times to the Moluccos; for he never went seriously about recovering those Islands, either because he apprehended, or had Intelligence of Dangers threatned by the haughty Japoneses, Mindanaos, and Chineses, or that he would not tread in the Track of those who ruin’d themselves in the Expeditions against Ternate. Yet our Men fought that Nation in other Parts; for being the most Warlike, and averse to the very Name of Spaniards, it never let pass any Opportunity of doing them Harm.

We have already mention’d the first coming of the English into those Seas, and the Care that was taken to obliterate the Example set by their Voyage, by fortifying the Streights of Magellan. It could not be effected, nor did our Fleet succeed in punishing, as was intended, those who had the Boldness to attempt that unthought-of Passage.

Since then, the Hollanders Dutch at the Moluccos. and Zealanders, supported by Rebellion and Disobedience, have sail’d into India, possess’d themselves of strong Holds, and erected Factories, transporting the Drugs, Precious Stones and Silks of Asia; and what is worse, possessing themselves of several Places, and rending the Spanish Monarchy. They have made several Voyages. What Island have they not pry’d into? What Barbarous Nation have they not encourag’d to Rebellion and [154]Tyranny; especially since Maurice of Nassau is possess’d of those Provinces, by the Title of Governour.

Philippines filled with Chinese

The Philippine Islands were now appointed for the Place of Arms, considering the great Delays Experience had shown there were towards Recovering of the Molucco Islands.

In the mean while, notwithstanding that Don Francis Tello was warn’d, how pernicious Inhabitants he was like to have in the Sangleyes, or Chineses, by whom the Islands of his Province began to be much peopled and fill’d, yet he allow’d them greater Liberty than was convenient; and the Municipal Laws which provided against this Disorder being forgotten or contemn’d, in a very short Time there were additional Towns of Chineses, Chincheos, and other such like Monsters, who were no better than Pyrates, or Incendiaries in that Country, which ought to have taken sufficient Warning by, and been well provided on Account of past Accidents, to shut up all Passages against such Enemy Nations.

Don Francisco excus’d their Resort, alledging, That they imported Abundance of Provisions and Merchandise, which is what usually enriches all Places; That no Men have such a consummate Mechanick Genius as they; That they are more assiduous and constant at the Works and Buildings than the Natives of the Philippines. He said, That all the Jealousy generally conceiv’d of them vanishes, if the Governour administers Justice impartially, and permits no private Cabals.

All these are, or appear’d to be frivolous Reasons, without any Force; and the admitting of such an Inundation of those People, prov’d very dangerous, as may be seen in the Sequel of this Work, by what happen’d to the Governour Gomez Perez.

It was a particular Providence of Heaven, that other Nations did not go about to League with this, or the Dutch, who have so strongly fix’d themselves in the Archipelago; for they might, without much Difficulty, have given us more Trouble than has been occasion’d by the Rebellion of the Kings of the Moluccos; to whose Country, and all others in India, great Fleets of Dutch resort, ever since the Year 1585, whereof Dutch Writers give an Account, and lay down in Cuts, even the smallest Plants they produce.

It does not belong to us to give an Account of the English, Dutch, or other Nations of India and Asia, or their Expeditions and Voyages; but only such as relate to the Conquest of Ternate and the Molucco Islands, or may have some Dependance on this Subject; but be it known, once for all, that every Year, some Northern Fleets appear’d, coming either thro’ New Streights, still unknown to our Discoverers, or those before frequented and laid down. But before we enter upon this Relation, it seems requisite to say something of Holland, the Head of the Neighbouring Islands, as that which is become most outrageous in India, and most covets the Account of Holland. Moluccos. The province of Holland is almost on all Sides encompass’d by the Sea, and the Ports of the Maese and Rhine, for about 60 Leagues in Compass.

Within it are contain’d 29 wall’d Towns, whose Names and Situation does not belong to us to speak of, nor of those of Zealand, or the other Provinces subject to them. The Curious may read Lambert, Hortensius, and Montesortius. The Natives are descended from the Ancient Catti; and forasmuch as Erasmus of Rotterdam, which is in Holland, describes it in his Chiliades, we will abridge what he there delivers at [155]large, out of Affection to his Country.

The Learned, say he, agree, and it is a probable Conjecture, that the Island Tacitus mentions, lying from Tacitus l. 20. the Rhine to the Ocean, is that we call Holland; which I am oblig’d to Honour, as owing my first Breath to it; and would to God we could honour it as it deserves. Martial charges it with being rude, or unpolished; and Lucan with Cruelty. Either these Things do not belong to us, but to our Ancestors, or we may value our selves upon them both. What Nation is now known, whose first Fathers were not more uncouth than their Posterity? Or when was Rome more highly commended, than when its People knew no other Arts but Tillage and Warfare? Erasmus spends Time in proving, that it is the Nature of Holland, not to relish Martial’s Wit; and that this is not the Effect of Rudeness, but a Gravity worthy Imitation.

Then he makes an Exclamation, saying, Would to God all Christians had Dutch Ears! And that if still any one shall contend, the Nation is in the Wrong, in having stopp’d theirs to all Poetical Delights and Allurements, and arm’d it self against them; the Dutch valu’d themselves upon being comprehended in that Reflection, which did not displease the Ancient Sabines, the Perfect Lacedemonians, and the Severe Catos. Lucan call’d the Batavi, that is the Dutch, Cruel, as Virgil did the Romans, Vehement. Erasmus adds, That the Customs of these Nations Erasmus of the Manners of Hollanders. are Familiar, inclining to Meekness and Benignity, and not to Fierceness; because Nature endow’d them with a sincere Disposition, free from Fraud and Double-Dealing, and did not make them subject to extraordinary Vices, except the Love of Pleasure, and Excess in Entertainments. This is caus’d by the Multitude of Beauties, which are Incentives, by the several Sea-Ports on the Ocean, the Mouths of the two Rivers, Rhine and Maese; the perpetual Felicity of the Soil, water’d by other Navigable Rivers; and the Fish and Foul in the Ponds and Woods.

No Province of so small a Compass, contains so many Cities of a considerable Magnitude, and so Populous, excellently govern’d; so full of Commodities, Arts and Trade. It abounds in Men indifferently learn’d. Erasmus himself, in Conclusion, owns that none of them arrives to singular Erudition. This Account, which in all that is natural must be own’d not to exceed, affords Arguments to condemn and convince the Author of it, and the Nation it self. All that Part of the World where Religion and Politeness flourish, is acquainted with the Diversity of Opinions all those Nations espouse, of Protestants, Puritans, Calvinists, these the most Numerous; Huguenots, Lutherans, and all other Sorts, too long to enumerate, and not to our Purpose. Since Erasmus confesses that his Country does not produce any Persons of eminent Learning, why do they take upon them to decide Controversies in Religion? Why do they incroach upon Councils? If they are of such an excellent Disposition, and have such a modest Genius, The Authors Reflections on them.

Why do they cast off that Piety, whereof there are such ancient Testimonies in our first Fathers, so much honour’d by the primitive Charity of the true Church? It is true, as Erasmus says, that they are of a kind Temper, but Tenacious of whatsoever they once espouse; the same moves us to pity them the more, for the Difficulty of dealing with Positiveness in Minds that are not given to change. Let no Man believe but that under that seeming Meekness in Behaviour, the highest Degree of Pride lies [156]A Spanish Author cannot forbear these Reflections. couch’d. What greater Pride than to scoff at the most ancient Church? At its Apostolical Traditions? At her universal Agreement?

At the Miracles God has wrought, to approve the Catholick Doctrine? And what Error can be more inexcusable, than to follow the New Opinions of unlearned and vicious Men, such as the Arch-Hereticks were; and to live under a Necessity of not laying down their seditious Arms only to defend Impiety grounded on Ignorance, and the Extravagancies of their Passions? What House is there in those Cities which Erasmus extols, wherein all the Inhabitants profess and follow the same Way of spiritual Salvation? When the Father is a Calvinist, the Mother is often a Huguenot, the Son a Lutheran, the Servant a Hussite, and the Daughter a Protestant. All the Family is divided, or rather every particular Person’s Soul is so, and at best doubts of all. Wherein does this differ from Atheism?

It is positive Atheism. This Division, unworthy of wild Beasts, is the Occasion, and a Sort of Mathematical Necessity, that these People cannot be united among themselves in true Peace. For those Things are the same to one See the latter part of the Preface. another, that they are to a Third; so that almost all these having different Notions, as to God, they cannot of Necessity be united among themselves, as differing in the most essential Part, which is the having an uniform Notion of God in Religion. Let no Man believe, that because they are not at War among themselves, it is Love that is the Occasion of it.

The Ground of their false Tranquility is to be call’d a Cessation, and not Peace. These are the People who have unhing’d Loyalty and the Christian Religion, before settled in the Islands, and remotest Parts of Asia, making Excursions from their own Country, as far as China, their raging Avarice being grounded on the Advice given them by the Queen of England, and on Malice, because King Philip the IId had shut up the other Ports of his Kingdoms against them; so to endeavour to reduce them to the Truth and Submission, by taking from them the Advantages of Trade.

Dutch first sail to the Moluccos. The first Dutch Fleet that came to the Molucco Islands, after the English, in the Year 1598, shall be here spoken of. Some prime Men, for the Sake of their Country, as they said, and to gain Reputation, met in Holland and Zealand, and fitted out six Ships and two Brigantines, to sail into India. The first Ship they call’d the Maurice, the Admiral in her being Jacob Cornelius Neck, born at Roterdam, and the Master Gonaert Jansk; the second was the Amsterdam, and in her the Vice-Admiral Vibrant Darkik; the other Ships were the Holland, the Zealand, the Guelder, and the Utrecht; The bigger Brigantine the Friezland, and the smaller the Overissel.

They carry’d 160 Soldiers, besides Mariners, and saild from Roterdam on the 13th of March. Off from Sluys, on the 4th of April, they had such a dreadful Storm, as might have discourag’d them from Proceeding, and the Ship the Holland was almost disabled; but still they were drove on by the Weather to the Texel, and thence to Debenter, and in Conclusion they got into the Ocean. They met another Ship returning to the Low Countries, which presented them with 10000 Oranges, and having distributed them among the Men, they made a general Rejoycing, for the baptizing of 25 Men, aboard the Ship the Guelder, on the 10th of May. Barrels must be a Mistake. On the 11th they anchor’d at Barrels, and on the 15th at the Island [157]Madera, and again on the 17th at the Canaries, Gomera, and Palma, passing by those of Sal and Santiago, which are those of Cabo Verde, they furl’d all their Sails, and drove in a Storm, in 29 Degrees Latitude.

On the first of June they took a Sea Tortoise which weigh’d 143 Pounds. On the 15th of the same Month, Gerrit Jans, either provok’d by Wine or a worse Spirit, cast himself into the Sea, from the highest Part of the greater Brigantine. The next Day, aboard the Ship Guelder, in which the new baptised Men were, they saw a large flying-Fish, which clapping too its Wings, Fell into the said Ship; but they saw the same Sort of Fishes fall upon their Vessels at other Times.

On the Eighth they cross’d the Line, and began to distribute a Pot of Wine to every six Men; but on the 25th of the same Month, for Joy of having pass’d the Ridges of Rocks before Brazil, which run to the Southward in 18 Degrees of South Latitude, they allow’d three Pots to every seven Men. Such a thick Fog fell that they lost Sight of the smaller Brigantine; the Zealand soon found her again, and discover’d many Cranes standing on the Tops of the Reeds, or Canes, that grew out Tall and of an equal Height above the Water. On the 24th of July, they came to an Anchor at the Cape of Good Hope, whence they sail’d again on the 15th of August with Stormy Weather, all the eight Vessels together, the Sea there boiling up as a Pot does upon The Sea seems to boil up. the Fire. This Motion, like boiling, was seen for about a Musket Shot in Length, and the Breadth of a Ship, and all this Space was cover’d thick with Weeds, which they pass’d over by main Force, without any Danger.