The End of the Spanish in Cambodia

Don Luis Dasmariñas tried to leave El Pinal in Canton and return to Manila.

But the weather did not permit this, nor was the vessel large enough to hold all of Don Luis’s men for the voyage.

Don Luis remained until Captain Francisco Rodrigues arrived with the ship from Manila, and joined him.

They distributed their men between the two ships and made some purchases with what this last ship had brought from Manila.

They returned to Manila leaving a few men in El Pinal who had died of sickness, among whom was Fray Alonso Ximenez, the principal promoter of this enterprise.

The Only Remaining Ship Arrives

The galliot was one of the ships of Don Luis Dasmariñas’s fleet.

• It had Luis Ortiz and 25 Spaniards

This ship is so inadequate to resist storms at sea. But it arrived in Camboja without being wrecked.

In the city of Chordemuco, they found Diego Belloso and Blas Ruys de Hernan Gonçalez with some:

• Castilians
• Portuguese from Malaca

It was learned there that neither Don Luis Dasmariñas nor any other of his fleet had reached Camboja.

But the king’s stepmother, and other mandarins of her party, especially the Moro Malay Ocuña Lacasamana, were vexed at the arrival of the Spaniards.

They thought that Spaniards would dominate everything.

Thus their aversion for Spanish affairs came to be known.

The King assigned the Spaniards a position with their ship near the city, at the place which Blas Ruiz and Diego Belloso occupied.

Captain Joan de Mendoça’s Supply Ship

Before Don Luis Dasmariñas left Manila with his fleet, Captain Joan de Mendoça Gamboa requested to go to the kingdom of Sian with a moderate-sized ship for trade.

He offered to take ammunition on board and sail around by way of Camboja to meet Don Luis Dasmariñas, and deliver them to him.

So De Mendoça left Manila, taking:

• as pilot Joan Martinez de Chave, who had been Joan Tello’s pilot when the latter went to Sian
• Fray Joan Maldonado [118] and an associate, both religious of the Order of St. Dominic.
• natives and sailors
• a quantity of siguei [117] and other goods to barter
• the ammunition and provisions for Don Luis

They reached Camboja and ascended to the capital, where they found the galliot of the fleet and learned that its other ships had not arrived.

The king received them cordially and lodged them with Diego Belloso, Blas Ruiz, Luis Ortiz, and their companions.

They passed the time together, and would not let Joan de Mendoça leave Camboja with his ship until something was heard of Don Luis Dasmariñas.

A few days later, they learned through Chinese ships that Don Luis had problems in China.

But still hoped that Don Luis would be in Camboja with his 2 ships.

Then, a Japanese junk with a Spaniard named Don Antonio Malaver, and some other Spanish and Portuguese, arrived. He lived in Nangasaqui after the wreck of the galleon “San Felipe”.

He wanted to sail to India and return to Spain from there.

They joined the Castilians and Portuguese and were received into their company and list.

Then they began to ask King Prauncar to establish them.

But the king could not promise anything as he was hindered by his stepmother and the mandarins of her party.

They gained more animus every day by the non-arrival of Don Luis Dasmariñas.

The Malays Strike

Ocuña Lacasamana and his Malays had their quarters near those of the Spaniards. They were Moros opposed in religion and pretension.

Once a quarrel arose between Spaniards and Malays, and several men were severely wounded on both sides.

Among them Alférez Luys Ortiz, commander of the galliot, had both legs run through and was in great danger.

King Prauncar was angry at this, but did not dare to inflict any punishment or make any reparation for these injuries.

Another quarrel arose in the quarters with the Malays.

Incited by anger and covetousness, Luys de Villafañe decided to unite with Govea and his men, and attack the Malays, their quarters, and the goods that they possessed, and sack them.

They killed many Malays and took a quantity of property from them. They retired and fortified themselves in their own quarters and in the Japanese ship.

The king and his mandarins were very angry at this, and not less so were Fray Joan Maldonado, Belloso, and Blas Ruyz, who were in Chordemuco.

But Ocuña Lacasamana was far the angriest.

Fray Joan Maldonado, Belloso, and Blas Ruiz went at once to the quarters to remedy the matter, they found it so complicated that not even King Prauncar, who tried to intervene, could quell it.

The king warned the Spaniards to look to their personal safety because he could do nothing.

The Spaniards became split:

• Fray Joan Maldonado, his companion took, and some Spaniards took refuge in Joan de Mendoça’s ship
• Diego Belloso, Blas Ruiz, and the others relied on the king’s friendship and remained on shore

The Malay Lacasamana, aided by his men and the mandarins of his party, and supported by the king’s step-mother attacked the Castilians, Portuguese, and Japanese, at once, both by land and sea.

Lacasamana killed them all, including Diego Belloso and Blas Ruiz de Hernan Gonçales.

Thus the cause of the Spaniards in Camboja ended.

The Moro Malay and his partisans remained complete masters. They eventually killed King Prauncar also.

Then a fresh insurrection broke out, causing more confusion and disturbance than before.