Expedition to Mindanao

In May 1602, 4 ships came to Manila from Nueva España, with a new governor and president of the Audiencia, named Don Pedro de Acuña, knight of the Order of St. John, comendador of Salamanca, and lately governor of Cartagena in Tierra Firme.

He was received into the government to the great satisfaction of the whole country, on account of the need there of one who would be as skilled in matters of war as watchful and careful in the government. Don Francisco Tello, his predecessor, awaiting his residencia which was to be taken, had to remain in Manila until the following year, six hundred and three, and in the month of April he died of an acute illness.

The new governor, upon seeing things in so great need of stability, and so limited resources in the royal treasury for the purpose, found that his lot was not so good as he had imagined when he had been appointed; since the state of affairs obliged him to risk a part of his reputation without his being able to remedy matters as quickly as was to be desired. He took heart as much as possible, however, and without sparing himself any personal labor in whatever presented itself, he began with what was to be done in Manila and its environs. He began to construct galleys and other vessels in the shipyard, for there was great need of these, in order to defend the sea, which was full of enemies and pirates from other islands, especially from Mindanao. He discussed going immediately in person to visit the provinces of Pintados, in order to supply more quickly the needs of that region, which was causing the greatest anxiety. But he had to postpone that several months to arrange for the despatch of Japon and Jolo matters, and for the ships which were to make the voyage to Nueva España, all of which came at once and had to be seen to.

Chiquiro, the Japanese, having arrived in Manila, delivered his message and present to Governor Don Pedro de Acuña, who had been in the government but a few days. The matter and its determination, together with the reply, were immediately considered. It required the greatest amount of thought to decide how this was to be made, in the most fitting manner possible. For, although friendship with Daifusama was held to be a good thing and of great profit, and a necessity to obtain and conclude, even should certain difficulties have to be overcome; and although the sailing to Quanto and its commerce were not of much account to the Spaniards; nevertheless those things would be fulfilled by sending a ship there with some goods for exchange. But the rest, namely, the trade and friendship with Nueva España, and the sending of masters and workmen to build ships in Japon for that navigation, which Daifu insisted upon, and which Fray Geronymo had assured him would be done, was a serious matter and impossible to be carried out, as it was very harmful and prejudicial to the Filipinas. For their greatest security from Japon had ever been the Japanese lack of ships and their ignorance of navigation. As often as the latter had intended to attack Manila, they had been prevented by this obstacle. Now to send the Japanese workmen and masters to make Spanish ships for them and show them how such vessels were made, would be to give them the weapons that they needed for their own [i.e., the Filipinas’] destruction, while their navigation to Nueva España, and making long voyages, would cause very great troubles. [148] Each matter singly was of great importance and consideration, and such that the governor could not decide them, and they could not be decided in Manila, without informing his Majesty and the latter’s viceroy of Nueva España, who was so much concerned, thereof. In order to take measures in the matter, and not to delay the Japanese from returning with his reply, a moderate present of Spanish articles was sent to Daifu, in the same ship which had come, in return for what it had brought. These Fray Geronymo was to give Daifu in person. The former was written to tell Daifu with what pleasure the governor received the good-will that he manifested to him, and the peace and friendship with the Spaniards, and all the other things that he was doing for them; and that he, the governor, would keep it and observe it in so far as he was concerned, and that very year he would send a Spanish ship to trade at Quanto according to Daifu’s desire, and that he would despatch it quickly. As to the navigation which the latter wished to undertake to Nueva España and his desire to have masters sent him for that purpose, to build ships for that voyage, that was a matter which—although the governor would do his best to effect, and to please him in everything—was not within his control, without first informing his Majesty and the latter’s viceroy in Nueva España thereof; for he, the governor, had no power or authority outside of the affairs of his government of the Filipinas. He said that he would write and would treat of it immediately, and hoped that it would be properly settled there. Until the reply came from España, which would necessarily have to be delayed three years, because that country was so far, he begged Daifu to be patient and suffer it, since it was not in his control, and nothing else could be done. The governor wrote Fray Geronymo to humor Daifu in everything, with the best words he could use to please him, but not to embarrass himself thenceforward by promising him and expediting such things for him. With this despatch, Chiquiro sailed for Japon with his ship, but was so unfortunate on the voyage that he was wrecked off the head of Hermosa Island, and neither the vessel nor its crew escaped. News thereof was not received in Manila or in Japon until many days afterward.

Upon the arrival of the letters from Fray Geronymo de Jesus, and the news of the changed conditions which he wrote existed in Japon, and the permission which he said that Daifu had given him to make Christians and build churches, not only the discalced religious of St. Francis but those of the other orders of St. Dominic and St. Augustine, set about going to Japon without loss of time; and, in order to be taken, each one made use of the Japanese ships and captains which were then at Manila, having come with flour, and which were about to return. In particular, the Order of St. Dominic sent to the kingdom of Zazuma four religious, under Fray Francisco de Morales, [149] Prior of Manila, in a ship about to go to that island and province. They said that they had been summoned by its king, the only one who had not yet rendered homage to Daifusama. The Order of St. Augustine sent two religious to the kingdom of Firando in a ship which had come from that port, under Fray Diego de Guebara, [150] Prior of Manila, because they had heard that they would be well received by the king of that province. The Order of St. Francis, in the ships about to sail to Nangasaqui, sent Fray Augustin Rodrigues, [151] who had been in Japon before, in company with the martyrs, and a lay-brother, with orders to go to Miaco, to become associates of Fray Geronymo de Jesus. Although some difficulties presented themselves to the governor in regard to the departure of these religious from Manila, and their going to Japon so hastily, yet on account of the great pressure which they brought to bear upon him, these were not sufficient to cause him to refuse them the permission which they requested. The religious reached the provinces to which they were going and were received there, although more coolly than they had expected, and with fewer conveniences than they needed for their support, and less inclination than they desired for the matters of the conversion, in which they had imagined that they were to have great and immediate results, for very few of the Japanese became Christians. In fact, the kings and tonos of those provinces kept them in order, by means of them, to open intercourse and commerce in their lands with the Spaniards—which they desired for their own interests rather than for the religion, to which they were not inclined.

The governor, Don Pedro de Acuña, in fulfilment of his letter, namely, that he would send a ship to Quanto, prepared and then sent out a medium-sized ship, named “Santiago el Menor” [i.e., St. James the Less], with a captain and the necessary seamen and officers, and some goods consisting of red wood, [152] deerskins, raw silk [153] and other things. This ship set out with orders to go to Quanto, where it would find discalced Franciscan religious and there to sell its goods and return with the exchange—and with the permission of Daifusama—to Manila. Thus Japanese matters were provided for, as far as seemed necessary, according to the state of affairs.

Daifusama, sovereign of Japon, who was awaiting Chiquiro, his servant, whom he had sent to Manila with the letters from Fray Geronymo de Jesus, pressed the latter so closely concerning the things which he desired and about which he had treated with him, that Fray Geronymo, seeing that Chiquiro was slow in returning, and that few arguments were of avail with Daifu, in order to satisfy him the better, requested permission of him to go to Manila in person, there to communicate and conclude matters with the governor by word of mouth, and bring a reply to him. He said that he would leave at the court Fray Augustin Rodriguez and another companion, who had lately come to him, as hostages for his return. The king granted the permission and gave him provision, so that Fray Geronymo came quickly to Manila, where he learned of the message which Chiquiro had taken. Then he began to treat with Governor Don Pedro de Acuña, about his business, saying that Chiquiro had not yet arrived in Xapon, which gave rise to the suspicion that he had been wrecked. The ship sent by the governor being unable to double the head of Xapon in order to pass to the north side, put into the port of Firando, where the religious of St. Augustine had had a station for a short time, and anchored there. Thence the captain advised the court of Miaco that he had been unable to reach Quanto. He sent also the letters for the religious and what was to be given to Daifu. The religious, Fray Geronymo’s associates, gave Daifu the presents which were for him, and told him that the governor was sending that ship at his disposition and command, but that the weather had not allowed it to reach Quanto. Daifusama received the presents, although he did not believe what they told him, but that they were compliments to please him. He ordered the ship to get its trading done immediately, and to return with some things which he gave them for the governor, and thenceforward to go to Quanto as promised him. Thereupon it returned to Manila.

Fray Geronymo de Jesus reached the Filipinas so quickly, as has been said, that he had opportunity to treat with Governor Don Pedro de Acuña, about the matters under his charge, from whom he received the promise that ships would continue to be sent to Quanto to please Daifusama. Taking with him a good present, given him by the governor, consisting of a very rich and large Venetian mirror, glass, clothes from Castilla, honey, several tibores, [154] and other things which it was known would please Daifu, he returned immediately to Japon. He was well received there by Daifu, to whom he communicated his message, and that his servant Chiquiro had been well sent off by the new governor, and that nothing less than shipwreck was possible, since he had not appeared in so long a time. He gave Daifu what he had brought, which pleased the latter greatly.

During the first days of the governor’s administration he found in the shipyard of Cabit two large ships which were being finished to make their voyage that year to Nueva España. One of them, belonging to Don Luys Dasmariñas, by an agreement which the latter had made with the governor’s predecessor, Don Francisco Tello, was to go with a cargo of merchandise. The other, called the “Espiritu Santo,” built by Joan Tello de Aguirre and other residents of Manila, was to make the voyage with the merchandise of that year credited to the builders, but was to pass into possession of his Majesty on its arrival in Nueva España, according to an agreement and contract made with the same governor, Don Francisco Tello. Don Pedro de Acuña made so great haste in despatching both ships that, with the cargo which they were to carry, he sent them out of port at the beginning of July of the aforesaid year six hundred and two, with Don Lope de Ulloa in the “Espiritu Santo” as general, and Don Pedro Flores in charge of the “Jesus Maria.” Both ships went on their way, and in thirty-eight degrees met such storms that they were many times on the point of being wrecked, and threw overboard a quantity of their merchandise. The ship “Jesus Maria” put back into Manila with difficulty after having been more than forty days in the island of the Ladrones, whence it was unable to depart. During this time they had opportunity to pick up all the surviving Spaniards from among those left by the ship “Santa Margarita,” among them, Fray Joan Pobre, who had jumped into one of the boats of the natives from the galleon “Santo Tomas,” when it passed that way the year before. Five other Spaniards were in other islands of the same Ladrones, but although every effort was made to bring them, they could not come. The natives brought Fray Joan Pobre and the others to the ship in their own boats, with great friendship and good will. After they had been entertained on board the ship, which they entered without fear, and after iron and other presents had been given to them, they returned without the Spaniards, weeping and showing great sorrow. The ship “Espiritu Santo,” with the same difficulty, put into Japon, as it could do nothing else, with its mainmast gone, and entered a port of Firando, twenty leguas from a station of the religious of St. Augustine, who had gone there the same year from Manila, and where also the ship bound for Quanto had entered. The harbor could be sounded [i.e., it formed a good anchorage], but to enter and leave it were very difficult, because its channel had many turns, with rocks and high mountains on both sides. However, as the Japanese natives with their funeas towed and guided the ship so that it might enter, it had less difficulty. When it was inside, a Japanese guard was placed on the ship, and those who went ashore were not allowed to return to the ship. The supplies furnished them did not suffice for all their necessities, and the price was not suitable. On this account, and because a large number of soldiers had assembled quickly at the port from the whole district, and had asked the general for the sails of the ship, which he had always declined to give them, he feared that they wished to seize the ship and its merchandise, as was done in Hurando, with the ship “San Felipe,” in the year ninety-six. He acted with caution, and kept much closer watch thenceforward, without leaving his ship or allowing his men to leave it alone, or any of the merchandise to be unloaded. At the same time he sent his brother, Don Alonso de Ulloa, and Don Antonio Maldonado to Miaco with a reasonable present for Daifusama, that he might have provision given them and permission to go out again from that harbor. [155] These men made the journey by land. Meanwhile, those on the ship were greatly troubled by the Japanese who were in the port, and by their captains, who were not satisfied with the presents which were given them to make them well disposed, but forcibly seized whatever they saw, giving out that everything was theirs and that it would soon be in their power. Fray Diego de Guebara, the Augustinian superior in Firando, came to the ship and told the general that he had put into a bad harbor of infidels and wicked people, who would take his ship and rob it, and that he should endeavor with all his might to get it out of there and take it to Firando where he [the father] was living. Meanwhile he told him to be on the watch and guard to the best of his ability. As the father was returning to his house with some pieces of silk, given him on the ship for his new church and monastery at Firando, the Japanese took it away from him and did not leave him a thing, saying that it was all theirs, and he went away without it. About a dozen and a half of the Spaniards of the ship were ashore, where they were kept in confinement and not allowed to go on board again, and although the general warned them that he had determined to leave the port as soon as possible, and that they should make every effort to come to the ship, they could not all do so, but only four or five of them. Without waiting any longer he drove the Japanese guard from the ship, bent the foresail and spritsail, loaded the artillery, and, with weapons in hand, one morning set the ship in readiness to weigh anchor. The Japanese went to the channel at the mouth of the harbor with many funeas and arquebusiers, stretched a thick rattan cable which they had woven, and moored it on both banks in order that the ship might not be able to sail out. The general sent a small boat with six arquebusiers to find out what they were doing, but at their approach, a number of the Japanese funeas attacked them with the purpose of capturing them. However, by defending themselves with their arquebuses they returned to the ship and reported to the general that the Japanese were closing the exit from the harbor with a cable. Taking this to be a bad sign, the ship immediately set sail against the cable to break it, and a negro, to whom the general promised his freedom, offered to be let down over the bow with a large machete in order to cut the cable when the ship should reach it.

With the artillery and the arquebuses he cleared the channel of the funeas there, and when he came to the cable, with the impetus of the vessel and the strenuous efforts of the negro with the machete, it broke, and the ship passed through. It still remained for it to go through the many turns which the channel made before coming out to the sea and it seemed impossible for a ship which was sailing fast to go through them, but God permitted it to pass out through them as though it had had a breeze for each turn. But the Japanese, who had assembled in great numbers on the hills and rocks within range of where the ship was passing, did not fail to annoy the ship with many volleys, with which they killed one Spaniard on the ship and wounded others. The ship did the same, and with their artillery they killed several of the Japanese. The Japanese failed to obstruct the ship’s passage, and accordingly were left without it. The general, finding himself on the sea and free from the past danger, and seeing that it was beginning to blow a little from the north, thought it best to venture on his voyage to Manila rather than to seek another harbor in Japon. Having raised a jury-mast [156] in place of the main-mast, and with the wind freshening daily from the north, he crossed to Luzón in twelve days, via the cape of Bojeador, and reached the mouth of the bay of Manila, where he found the ship “Jesus Maria,” which was also putting in in distress through the Capul Channel; and so the two ships together, as they had gone together out of the port of Cabit five months before, made harbor there again in distress after having suffered many damages and losses to the exchequer.

Don Alonso de Ulloa and Don Francisco Maldonado, while this was going on in the harbor where they had left the ship “Espiritu Santo,” reached Miaco and delivered their message and present to Daifusama. The latter, upon being informed who they were, that their ship had entered Japon, and that they were from Manila, received them cordially, and quickly gave them warrants and chapas [i.e., safe-conducts], in order that the tonos and governors of the provinces where the ship had entered should allow it and its crew to depart freely. They were to be allowed to refit, and to be given what they needed; and whatever had been taken from them, whether much or little, was to be returned.

While this matter was being attended to, news reached Miaco of the departure of the ship from the harbor, and the skirmish with the Japanese over it, and of this they complained anew to Diafu. He showed that he was troubled at the departure of the ship and the discourtesy to it, and at the outrages committed by the Japanese. He gave new chapas for restitution of all the goods to be made; and sent a catan from his own hand with which justice should be performed upon those who had offended in this matter, [157] and ordered that the Spaniards who remained in the port should be set free, and that their goods be returned to them. With this warrant the Spaniards left that port and recovered what had been taken from them. The ambassadors and the others returned to Manila in the first vessels which left, taking with them eight chapas of the same tenor from Daifusama, in order that in the future ships coming from Manila to any port whatever of J apon, might be received courteously and well treated, without having any harm done them. These, upon their arrival in Manila, they handed over to the governor, who gives them to the ships sailing to Nueva España, to provide for any incidents on the voyage.

At the same time that Governor Don Pedro de Acuña entered upon his administration, the captain and sargento-mayor, Pedro Cotelo de Morales, arrived from Jolo with the advices and report of Joan Xuarez Gallinato concerning the state of affairs in that island, whither he had gone with the fleet at the beginning of that same year. The governor, on account of the importance of the matter, wished to make every effort possible, and determined to send him supplies and a reënforcement of some men, which he did as soon as possible. He was ordered to at least make an effort to punish that enemy, even if he could do nothing more, and, whenever the opportunity presented itself, to go to do the same thing in the river of Mindanao, and return to the Pintados. When this commission reached Jolo, Gallinato was already so worn out, and his men so ill, that the reënforcements only made it possible for him to get away from there; accordingly without seeing to another thing, he broke camp, burned the forts which he had built, embarked, and went to Pintados, leaving the people of that island of Jolo and their neighbors, those of Mindanao, emboldened more than ever to make raids against the Pintados, and the islands within, which they did.

The governor, without delaying any longer in Manila, hastily started for the island of Panay and the town of Arevalo, in a galliot and other small vessels, to see their needs with his own eyes, in order to provide for them. He left war matters in Manila, during his absence, in charge of Licentiate Don Antonio de Ribera, auditor of the Audiencia.

As soon as the governor left Manila, the auditor had plenty to look after, because a squadron of twenty caracoas and other vessels from Mindanao entered the islands as far as the island of Luzon and its coasts, making captures. Having taken some ships bound from Sebu to Manila, they captured ten Spaniards in them, among them a woman and a priest and Captain Martin de Mandia, and they took them off with them. They entered Calilaya, burned the church and all the town, and captured many persons of all classes among the natives. Thence they passed to the town of Valayan [Balayán] to do the same, but the auditor, having received news of the enemy in Manila, had it already in a state of defense with fifty Spaniards and a captain and some vessels. Consequently, they did not dare to enter the town or its bay, but crossed over to Mindoro, where, in the principal town, they captured many men, women, and children among the natives, seizing their gold and possessions, and burning their houses and church, where they captured theprebendary Corral, curate of that doctrina. They filled their own ships, and others which they seized there, with captives, gold, and property, staying in the port of Mindoro as leisurely as though in their own land, notwithstanding that it is but twenty-four leguas from Manila. Captain Martin de Mendia, prisoner of these pirates, offered for himself and the other Spanish captives that, if they would let him go to Manila, he would get the ransom for all, and would take it, or would send it within six months, to the river of Mindanao, or otherwise he would return to their power. The chief in command of the fleet agreed thereto, with certain provisions and conditions, and caused the other captives to write, to the effect that what had been agreed upon might be fulfilled, and then he allowed the captain to leave the fleet. The latter came to the city, and upon receiving his report, the auditor sent munitions, ships, and more men to Valayan than there were there already, with orders to go in pursuit of the enemy without delay, saying that they would find him in Mindoro. Captain Gaspar Perez, who had charge of this in Valayan, did not start so quickly as he should have done in order to find the enemy in Mindoro, for when he arrived he found that he had left that port six days before, laden with ships and booty, to return to Mindanao. Then he went in pursuit of him, although somewhat slowly. The enemy put into the river of a little uninhabited island to get water and wood. Just at that time Governor Don Pedro de Acuña, who was hastily returning to Manila, from the town of Arvalo, where he had learned of the incursion of those pirates, passed. He passed so near the mouth of this river, in two small champans and a virrey, with very few men, that it was a wonder that he was not seen and captured by the enemy. He learned that the enemy was there, from a boat of natives which was escaping therefrom, and then he met Gaspar Perez going in search of the enemy with twelve vessels, caracoas and vireys, and some large champans. The governor made him make more haste and gave him some of his own men to guide him to where he had left the pirates the day before, whereupon they went to attack them. But the latter espied the fleet through their sentinels whom they had already stationed in the sea, outside the river. Accordingly they left the river in haste, and took to flight, throwing into the sea goods and slaves in order to flee more lightly. Their flagship and almiranta caracoas protected the ships which were dropping behind and made them throw overboard what they could and work with all the strength of their paddles, assisted by their sails. The Spanish fleet, the vessels of which were not so light, could not put forth enough strength to overtake all of them, because, furthermore, they went into the open without fear of the heavy seas which were running, inasmuch as they were fleeing. Yet some of the ships of Captain Gaspar Perez, being lighter, got among the enemy’s fleet, sunk some caracoas, and captured two, but the rest escaped, although with great danger of being lost. Without accomplishing anything else, the fleet returned to Manila where the governor had already entered, very much disturbed that things should have come to such a pass that these enemies, who had never dared to leave their houses, should have been so daring and bold as to come to the very gates of the city, doing great damage and making captures.

Some years before this his Majesty had ordered an expedition to be prepared in Portuguese India for the capture of the fort of Terrenate in Maluco, which was in the power of a Moro who had rebelled and subjected it in a tyrannical manner, and had driven out the Portuguese there. The necessary preparations of ships, munitions, and men were made for this undertaking in India, and a hidalgo, named Andrea Furtado de Mendoça, [158] was chosen general of this expedition. He was a soldier skilled in the affairs of India, who had won many victories of great importance and fame on sea and land in those parts, and had lately had a very notable one at Jabanapatan. [159] He sailed from Goa with six galleons of the kingdom, fourteen galliots and fustas, and other ships, and one thousand five hundred fighting men, and with supplies and munitions for the fleet. On account of the storms which he met, his fleet was so scattered before reaching Amboino that the galleys and fustas could not keep up with the galleons or follow them, and only three of them, in convoy of the galleons, reached Amboino. The other vessels put back into Goa and other forts on the line of that voyage. The island of Amboino was in rebellion and the Portuguese fort there was in great need, so that, while the galliots, fustas, and other vessels of his fleet which had fallen off on the voyage were gathering, and while help was coming which he had sent to ask of the fort of Malaca, it seemed best to Andrea Furtado de Mendoça to stop in Amboino, which is eighty leguas from Maluco, in order to pacify the island and some towns of the neighborhood, and reduce them to the crown of Portugal. He was more than six months in this, having encounters with the enemy and with the rebels, in which he always came out victorious, and from which he obtained the desired result, and left everything reduced and pacified. His ships did not arrive, however, and the help which he had requested did not come from Malaca, and yet it was necessary for him to go to Terrenate, as that was the principal purpose for which he had been sent. Considering this, and yet seeing that he had fewer men than he needed for it, and that the greater part of the munitions and supplies which he had brought were spent, he determined to send word to the governor of the Filipinas of his coming with that fleet, of what he had done in Amboino, that he was to proceed to attack Terrenate, and that, because a part of his ships had been scattered, and because he had stopped so many months for those undertakings, he had fewer men than he wanted and was in need of some things, especially supplies. He requested the governor, since this matter was so important and so to the service of his Majesty, and since so much had been spent on it from the royal treasury of the crown of Portugal, to favor and help him, by sending him some supplies and munitions and some Castilians for the undertaking. He asked that all of this should reach Terrenate by January of six hundred and three, for he would then be off that fort and the help would come to him very opportunely. This message and his letters for the governor and the Audiencia he sent to Manila from Amboino in a light vessel in charge of Father Andre Pereira of the Society of Jesus, and Captain Antonio Fogoça, one of his own followers. They found Governor Don Pedro de Acuña in Manila, and presented the matter to him, making use of the Audiencia and of the orders, and making many boasts of the Portuguese fleet and the illustrious men who were in it, and of the valor and renown of its general in whatever he undertook. They asserted at the same time the success of the capture of Terrenate at that time, especially if they received from Manila the succor and help for which they had come, and which, in justice, should be given them, as it was given from the Filipinas whenever the king of Tidore and the chief captain of that fort requested it, and as his Majesty had ordered—and with more good reason and foundation on such an occasion. [160]

Although Don Pedro de Acuña, from the time of his appointment to the government, had the intention and desire to make an expedition against Terrenate, and when he was in Mexico on his way, had treated of this matter with those there who had any information about Maluco, and sent Brother Gaspar Gomez of the Society of Jesus from Nueva Españia to his Majesty’s court—who had lived in Manila many years, and also in Maluco in the time of Governor Gomez Perez Dasmariñas—to treat of the matter in his name with his Majesty; and although he was in hopes of making this expedition: nevertheless it seemed to him best, without declaring his own desires, to aid in what Andrea Furtado asked, and even more, not only on account of the importance of the matter, but also because by thus helping, he would keep the general and his messengers, in case they were unsuccessful, from excusing themselves by saying that they had asked for help and reënforcement from the governor of the Filipinas, and the latter had not given it, and so that it might not be understood that he had failed to do so because he himself was arranging for the expedition. Don Pedro de Acuñia consulted about this matter with the Audiencia, which was of the opinion that the aforesaid reënforcement, and more besides, should be sent to the Portuguese at the time for which it was asked. When this was decided upon, they put it into execution, very much to the satisfaction of Father Andrea Pereira and Captain Fogaça. At the end of the year six hundred and two they were despatched from the Filipinas, taking with them the ship “Santa Potenciana” and three large frigates, with one hundred and fifty well armed Spanish soldiers, ten thousand fanégas of rice, one thousand five hundred earthen jars of palm wine, two hundred head of salt beef, twenty hogsheads of sardines, conserves and medicines, fifty quintals of powder, cannon-balls and bullets, and cordage and other supplies, the whole in charge of the captain and sargento-mayor, Joan Xuarez Gallinato—who had now returned from Jolo and was in Pintados—with orders and instructions as to what he was to do, namely, to take that help to Terrenate, to the Portuguese fleet which he would find there, and to place himself at the orders and command of its general. [161] Thither he made his voyage in a fortnight, and anchored in the port of Talangame, in the island of Terrenate, two leguas from the fort, where he found Andrea Furtado de Mendoça with his galleons at anchor, awaiting what was being sent from Manila. He and all his men were very much pleased with it.

In the month of March of this year six hundred and three, there entered Manila Bay a ship from Great China, in which the sentinels reported that three great mandarins were coming, with their insignia as such, on business in the service of their king. The governor gave them permission to leave their ship and enter the city with their suites. In very curious chairs of ivory and fine gilded woods, borne on the shoulders of men, they went straight to the royal houses of the Audiencia, where the governor was awaiting them, with a large suite of captains and soldiers throughout the house and through the streets where they passed. When they had reached the doors of the royal houses they alighted from their chairs and entered on foot, leaving in the street the banners, plumes, lances and other very showy insignia which they brought with them. The mandarins went into a large, finely-decorated hall, where the governor received them standing, they making many bows and compliments to him after their fashion, and he replying to them after his. They told him through the interpreters that their king had sent them, with a Chinaman whom they had with them in chains, to see with their own eyes an island of gold, called Cabit, which he had told their king was near Manila, and belonged to no one. [162] They said that this man had asked for a quantity of ships, which he said he would bring back laden with gold, and if it were not so that they could punish him with his life. So they had come to ascertain and tell their king what there was in the matter. The governor replied briefly, saying only that they were welcome, and appointed them quarters in two houses within the city which had been prepared for them, in which they and their men could lodge. He said that the business would be discussed afterwards. Thereupon they left the royal houses again, and at the doors mounted in their chairs on the shoulders of their servants, who were dressed in red, and were carried to their lodgings, where the governor ordered them to be supplied fully with whatever they needed during the days of their stay.

The coming of these mandarins seemed suspicious, and their purpose to be different from what they said, because it seemed a fiction for people, of so much understanding as the Chinese, to say that their king was sending them on this business. Among the Chinese themselves who came to Manila at the same time in eight merchant ships, and among those who lived in the city, it was said that these mandarins were coming to see the land and study its nature, because the king of China wished to break relations with the Spaniards and send a large fleet, before the end of the year, with one hundred thousand men to take the country.

The governor and the Audiencia thought that they ought to be very careful in guarding the city, and that these mandarins should be well treated, but that they should not go out of the city nor be allowed to administer justice, as they were beginning to do among the Sangleys, at which the mandarins were somewhat angry. He asked them to treat of their business, and then to return to China quickly, and he warned the Spaniards not to show that they understood or were suspicious of anything other than what the mandarins had said. The mandarins had another interview with the governor, and he told them more clearly, making some joke of their coming, that he was astonished that their king should have believed what that Chinaman whom they had with them had said, and even if it were true that there was so much gold in the Filipinas, that the Spaniards would not allow it to be carried away, since the country belonged to his Majesty. The mandarins said that they understood very well what the governor had communicated to them, but that their king had ordered them to come and that they must needs obey and bring him a reply, and that when they had performed their duty, that was all, and they would return. The governor, to cut short the business, sent the mandarins, with their servants and the prisoner, to Cabit, which is the port, two leguas from the city. There they were received with a great artillery salute, which was fired suddenly as they landed, at which they were very frightened and fearful. When they had landed, they asked the prisoner if that was the island of which he had spoken to the king, and he replied that it was. They asked him where the gold was, and he replied that everything there was gold and that he would make his statement good with the king. They asked him other questions and he always replied the same thing. Everything was written down in the presence of some Spanish captains who were there with some confidential interpreters. The mandarins ordered a basketful of earth to be taken from the ground, to take to the king of China, and then, having eaten and rested, they returned to Manila the same day, with the prisoner. The interpreters said that the prisoner, when hard pressed by the mandarins to make suitable answers to their questions, had said that what he had meant to tell the king of China was that there was much gold and wealth in the hands of the natives and Spaniards of Manila, and that if they gave him a fleet with men, he offered, as a man who had been in Luzon and knew the country, to capture it and bring the ships back laden with gold and riches. This, together with what some Chinamen had said at the beginning, seemed very much to have more meaning than the mandarins had implied, especially to Don Fray Miguel de Benavides, archbishop-elect of Manila, who knew the language. Thereupon the archbishop and other religious warned the governor and the city, publicly and privately, to look to its defense, because they felt sure of the coming of the Chinese fleet against it shortly. Then the governor dismissed the mandarins and embarked them on their ship, with their prisoner, after giving them some pieces of silver and other things with which they were pleased. Although, in the opinion of the majority of those in the city, it seemed that it was beyond all reason that the Chinese should attack the country, the governor began covertly to prepare ships and other things suitable for defense, and made haste to complete extensive repairs which he had begun to make on the fort of Sanctiago at the point of the river, and for the defense of the fort he built on the inside a wall of great strength, with its wings, facing toward the parade ground.

At the end of April of this year six hundred and three, on the eve of Sts. Philip and James [Santiago] a fire started in a little field house [casilla de zacate] used by some Indians and negroes of the native hospital in the city, at three o’clock in the afternoon, and passed to other houses so quickly, with the force of the rather fresh wind, that it could not be stopped, and burned houses of wood and stone, even the monastery of St. Dominic—house and church—the royal hospital for the Spaniards, and the royal warehouses, without leaving a building standing among them. Fourteen people died in the fire, Spaniards, Indians, and negroes, and among them Licentiate Sanz, canon of the cathedral. In all two hundred and sixty houses were burned, with much property which was in them, and it was understood that the damage and loss amounted to more than one million [pesos].

After Ocuña Lacasamanà, the Moro Malay, with the help of the mandarins of Camboja who sided with him, and of the stepmother of King Prauncar, had killed and put an end to Bias Ruyz de Hernan Gonçales and Diego Belloso, and the Castilians, Portuguese, and Japanese on their side who were in the kingdom, his boldness went so far that he even killed the king himself, whereby the whole kingdom was divided into factions and suffered greater disturbances than it had ever known before. God permitted this for His just judgments, and because Prauncar did not deserve to enjoy the good fortune which he had had in being placed on his father’s throne, since he lost it at the same time that he did his life. Nor did Bias Ruiz de Hernan Gonzales and Diego Belloso, and their companions, deserve the fruit and labor of their expeditions and victories, since they were converted into disastrous and cruel death at the time when they seemed most secure and certain, for perchance their pretensions and claims were not so well adjusted to the obligations of conscience as they ought to have been. But God did not wish the Moro Malay to remain unpunished.

When this Malay thought that he was going to get the better part of the kingdom of Camboja, because he had killed the Castilians and Portuguese, their captains, and the legitimate and natural king himself who favored them, he was more mistaken than he thought, because the disorders and uprisings in the provinces gave opportunity for some powerful mandarins in the kingdom, who held and maintained the saner course, to join, and avenge the death of King Prauncar by force of arms. So they turned against Ocuña Lacasamana and his Malays, and, meeting them in battle on different occasions, conquered and routed them, so that the Moro was forced to flee from Camboja, with the remaining remnant of his men, and pass to the kingdom of Champa, which bordered on it, with the purpose of disturbing it and making war on the usurper who held it, and of seizing it all, or as much as he could. This also did not turn out well for him, for, although he brought war into Champa, and all the disturbances which it brings, and caused the usurper and his men a great deal of trouble, at last he was routed and killed and came to pay wretchedly for his sins at the usurper’s hands.

Seeing themselves rid of the Malay, but finding that the kingdom was still disturbed, as he had left it, and without a male descendant in the line of Prauncar Langara, who died in Laos, the mandarins of Camboja turned their eyes toward a brother of his whom the king of Sian had captured and taken with him in the war which he had made against Langara, and whom he held in the city of Odia, as they thought that he had the best right to the kingdom of Camboja, by legitimate succession, and that it would be more easily pacified in his presence. They sent an embassy to Sian, asking him to come to reign, and asking the king of Sian, who held him captive, to allow him to go. The king thought well of it, and, with certain provisions and conditions which he made with his prisoner, gave him his liberty and six thousand fighting men to serve and accompany him. With these he came immediately to Camboja and was readily received in Sistor and other provinces, and placed on the throne, and from those provinces he went on pacifying and reducing the more distant ones.

This new king of Camboja who, from being a captive of the king of Sian, came to the throne by such strange events and varying chances—for God held this good fortune in store for him, and holds still more of greater worth, if he can carry on what he has begun—caused search to be made for Joan Diaz, a Castilian soldier, who survived from the company of Blas Ruyz de Hernan Gonçales. He bade him go to Manila and, in his behalf, tell the governor that he was on the throne, and also what had happened in regard to the death of the Spaniards and of his nephew Prauncar, in which he [the new king] was in no wise to blame. He said that he recognized the friendship which they—Langara, his brother, and the latter’s son—received from the Spaniards in the time of their troubles; that he himself was well disposed to continue this friendship and understanding; and he again asked the governor, if he were willing, to send him some religious and Castilians to reside at his court and to make Christians of those who wished to become so.

With this message and embassy, and many promises, Joan Diaz came to Manila, where he found Don Pedro de Acuña in the government, and treated of the matter with him. The governor thought it unwise to close the door to the preaching of the holy gospel in Camboja, which God had opened again in this way, and he agreed to do what the king asked. So, at the beginning of the year six hundred and three, he sent a frigate to Camboja, with four religious of the Order of St. Dominic with Fray Yñigo de Santa Maria, prior of Manila, at their head with five soldiers to accompany them, among them Joan Diaz himself. They were to give the king the reply to his message, in confirmation of the peace and friendship for which he asked, and, according to the circumstances which they found there, the religious were to stay in his court and advise what seemed best to them. This frigate reached Camboja after a ten days’ voyage with favoring winds, and the religious and the soldiers in their company ascended the river to Chordemuco, where the king received them with great satisfaction. He immediately built them a church, and gave them rice for their support, and granted them liberty to preach and christianize. This seemed to the religious to be the work of Heaven, and a matter in which a great many workers could be employed. They sent immediate word of their good reception and condition to Manila in the same frigate, after asking permission of the king that it might return. The king granted it and gave them the necessary supplies for their voyage, and at the same time sent a servant of his with a present of ivory tusks, benzoin, and other curious things for the governor, with a letter thanking him for what he was doing and asking for more religious and Castilians. Fray Yñigo de Santa Maria [163] with a companion embarked on this frigate, in order to come to give a better report of what he had found, but he sickened and died on the voyage. His companion and those aboard the frigate reached Manila in May of six hundred and three and gave an account of events in Camboja.

At the end of the same month of May, there came to Manila two ships from Nueva España, in command of Don Diego de Camudio, with the regular reënforcements for the Philipinas. It brought news that Fray Diego de Soria, [164] of the Order of St. Dominic, bishop of Cagayan, was in Mexico, and was bringing the bulls and pallium to the archbishop-elect of Manila, and Fray Baltasar de Cobarrubias, [165] of the Order of St. Augustine, appointed bishop of Camarines by the death of Fray Francisco de Ortega. In the same ships came two auditors for the Audiencia of Manila, Licentiates Andres de Alcaraz, and Manuel de Madrid y Luna.

The captain and sargento-mayor, Joan Xuarez Gallinato, with the ship “Santa Potenciana” and the men whom he had taken in it to Maluco in aid of the Portuguese fleet which Andrea Furtado de Mendoça had brought to assault the fortress of Terrenate, found this fleet in the port of Talangame. As soon as this help arrived, Andrea Furtado landed his men, Portuguese and Castilians, with six pieces of artillery, and marched with them along the shore, toward the fort, to plant the battery. He took two days to reach the fort, passing through some narrow places and gullies which the enemy had fortified. When he had reached the principal fort, he had all that he could do to plant the artillery, for the enemy sallied out frequently against the camp and hindered the work. Once they reached the very gate of the quarters, and would have done a great deal of damage had not the Castilians nearest the entrance stopped them and pressed the Moros so hard that, leaving some dead, they turned and fled and shut themselves up in the fort. At the same time five pieces were placed within cannon-shot of it. The enemy, who had sufficient men for their defense, with a great deal of artillery and ammunition, did much damage in the camp, whereas the pieces of the battery had no considerable effect, having but a short supply of powder and ammunition. Consequently what Gallinato and his men had heard, when they joined the Portuguese fleet, of the scant supply and outfit which Andrea Furtado had brought for so great an enterprise, was seen and experienced very quickly. That they might not all be killed, Andrea Furtado, having asked the opinion of all the officers of his camp and fleet, withdrew his pieces and camp to the port of Talangame. He embarked his men on his galleons and returned to the forts and islands of Amboino and Vanda, where he had first been, taking for the support of the fleet the supplies brought him by Gallinato, to whom he gave permission to return to Manila, with the Castilians. The latter did so, in company with Ruy Gonçales de Sequeira, until recently chief captain of the fort of Tidore, who, with his household and merchandise, left that fortress in another ship, and they reached Manila at the beginning of the month of July of this year six hundred and three, bearing the following letter from Andrea Furtado de Mendoça to Governor Don Pedro de Acuña.

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A letter which General Andrea Furtado de Mendoça wrote to Don Pedro de Acuña from Terrenate on the twenty-fifth of March of the year one thousand six hundred and three.

There are no misfortunes in the world, however great they may be, from which some good may not be gained. Of all those through which I have passed in this undertaking, and they have been infinite, the result has been that I have learned the zeal and courage which your Lordship shows in the service of his Majesty, on account of which I envy your Lordship and hold you as master, affirming that the thing which I would like most in this life would be for your Lordship to hold the same opinion of me, and, as one that is very particularly your own, that your Lordship should command me in what is for your service.

The help sent me by your Lordship came in time, by the favor of God, and was what gave this fleet to his Majesty and our lives to all of us alive today. By what happened in this expedition, his Majesty will understand how much he owes to your Lordship and how little to the captain of Malaca, for the latter was partly the cause that the service of his Majesty was not accomplished. When the ship sent me by your Lordship arrived, this fleet was without any supplies because it had been two years since it had left Goa, and they had all been consumed and spent on the occasions which had presented themselves. Admitting this in order that it may not be imagined that it was on my account that the service of his Majesty was not carried out, I went on shore, which I gained, inflicting great losses on the enemy, and I placed my last trenches a hundred paces from the enemy’s fortification. I landed five heavy pieces for battering, and in ten days of bombarding, knocked to pieces a large part of a bastion where all the enemy’s force was concentrated. In these days all the powder in the fleet was spent, without a grain being left with which its artillery could be loaded even once, and if I should happen to run across a Dutch squadron, of which I have little doubt, I should be forced to fight with them. This was the principal cause for which I raised the siege, when I had the enemy in great distress through hunger and also through having killed many of his captains and other men in the course of the fighting. From this your Lordship may judge of the state of suffering and grief in which I must be. God be praised for everything, since it is His will, and may He permit that His greatest enemies in these regions may become the vassals of his Majesty.

I am leaving for Amboino to see if I can get help there, and if I find sufficient, and if there is not elsewhere in the south anything in such urgent need that I must attend to it, I am going to return to this undertaking, and I will inform your Lordship of it at length. If I do not find there the help which I expect, I shall go to Malaca to refit, and from whatever place I am in, I shall always inform your Lordship. I am writing to his Majesty, giving him a long account of the affairs of this enterprise, and stating that it cannot be accomplished or preserved in the future, unless it is done by the order of your Lordship, and helped and increased by that government, since India is so far that it could not receive help from there within two years. In conformity with this, your Lordship should inform his Majesty, that he may be undeceived in this regard about Maluco, and I trust to God that I may be one of your Highness’s soldiers.

I do not know with what words I can praise or thank your Lordship for the kind things which you have done for me. These were made plain to me by Antonio de Brito Fogaça, as well as by Tomas de Araux, my servant. These are things which can not be rewarded or paid except by risking life, honor, and property on every occasion which offers itself in your service. If such an occasion should be presented to me, it will be seen that I am not ungrateful for the favors which I have received; the greatest of which, and the one which I esteem most highly, was that, with this help, your Lordship sent me Joan Xuarez Gallinato, Don Tomas de Acuña, and the other captains and soldiers. If I were to mention to your Lordship the deserts of each and every one of these, I should never end.

Joan Xuarez Gallinato is a person whom your Lordship should esteem highly on every occasion, because he deserves it all. In this expedition and enterprise he conducted himself with so great satisfaction, courage, and prudence, that it is very clear that he was sent by your Lordship and had fought under the banners of so distinguished captains. Consequently, I shall be glad to know that your Lordship has shown him many kindnesses, on account of his services to his Majesty in these regions, and on my own account. The thing which pleased me most in this undertaking, and which is worthy of being remembered, is that, contrary to the proverb of the old Portuguese women, in the course of this war there was not one harsh word between the Spaniards and Portuguese, though they ate together at one mess. But your Lordship may attribute this to your good fortune, and to the intelligence and experience of Joan Xuarez Gallinato.

Don Tomas conducted himself in this war, not like a gentleman of his age, but like an old soldier, full of experience. Your Lordship should greatly esteem this relative, for I trust that your Lordship may be a second father to him.

The sargento-mayor conducted himself in this war like an excellent soldier, and he is a man whom your Lordship should regard favorably, for I give my word that the Manilas do not contain a better soldier than he, and I shall be greatly pleased if your Lordship honor him and show him very particular favors on my account. Captain Villagra fulfilled his duty well and Don Luys did the same. In short all the soldiers, to a man, great and small, did likewise in this enterprise, so that for this reason I am under so great obligations to them that, if I were now before his Majesty, I would not leave his feet till I had heaped them all with honors and favors since they also deserve them. So for this reason I shall always be particularly glad if your Lordship confers honors and favors on them all in general. May our Lord preserve your Lordship for many years, as I, your servant, desire. From the port of Talangame, in the island of Terrenate, on the twenty-fifth of March, of the year one thousand six hundred and three.

ANDREA FURTADO DE MENDOÇA (To be concluded)

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, by Dr. Antonio de Morga.—The translation is made from the Harvard original. In conjunction with it have been used the following editions: The Zaragoza reprint (Madrid, 1887) a unique copy (No. 2658, Catálogo de la librería de P. Vindel) owned by Edward E. Ayer, of Chicago; the Rizal reprint (Paris, 1890); and Lord Stanley’s translation (London, Hakluyt Society edition, 1868).

APPENDIX A: EXPEDITION OF THOMAS CANDISH Thomas Candish or Cavendish, was a native of “Trimley in the country of Suffolke.” His fleet, consisting of three vessels, “The Desire,” of 120 tons, “The Content,” of 60 tons, and “Hugh Gallant,” of 40 tons, left Plymouth July 21, 1586, with one hundred and twenty-three men in all, and provisions for two years. Steering a general southwest course they reached the Strait of Magellan January 6, 1587. In the strait they found the melancholy remains of a Spanish colony started three years before—Twenty-three people out of the four hundred settlers, two of whom were women. One named Hernando they took with them. This place the Englishmen appropriately named Port Famine. Shortly after leaving the strait they found at an Indian settlement, under the Spanish, some “guinie wheat, which is called Maiz.” The first capture was May 1—a boat of three hundred tons from Guaianel laden with timber and food. Prizes after that were thick and fast, and the vessels were generally burned after being despoiled of valuables. On July 9, near the coast of New Spain, a ship of one hundred and twenty tons was taken, from one of the crew of which, Michael Sancius from Marseilles, they first heard of “the great shippe called The Santa Anna, vvhich vve aftervvard tooke comming from the Philippinas.” After coasting along New Spain and California committing various depredations, among them the defacing of the Spanish churches, and various other piratical deeds, they met on the fourth of November with the “Santa Ana.” They pursued it for three or four hours and finally overtaking fought with and captured it. The fight is described as follows:

“In the afternoone we gat vp vnto them, giuing them the broad side with our great ordnance, and a volee of small shot, and presently laid the ship aboord, whereof the King of Spaine was owner, which was Admirall of the South-sea, called the S. Anna, and thought to be seuen hundred tvnnes in burthen. Now as we were readie on their ships side to enter her, beeing not past fiftie or sixty men at the vttermost in our ship, we perceived that the Captain of the said ship had made fights fore and after, and laid their sailes close on their poope, their mid-ship, with their fore-castle, and hauing not one man to be seene, stood close vnder their fights, with Lances, Iauelings, Rapiers and Targets, and an innumerable sort of great stones, which they threw ouer boord vpon our heads, and into our ship so fast, and beeing so many of them, that they put vs off the shippe againe, with the losse of two of our men which were slaine, and with the hurting of foure or fiue. But for all this we new trimmed our sailes, and fitted euery man his furniture, and gaue them a fresh incounter with our great Ordnance, and also with our small shot, raking them thorough and thorough, to the killing and maiming of many of their men. Their Captaine still like a valiant man with his companie, stood very stoutly vnto his close fights, not yeelding as yet. Our General incouraging his men afresh with the whole noyse of trumpets, gaue them the third encounter with our great Ordnance, and all our small shot to the great discomforting of our enemies, raking them through in diuerse places, killing and spoyling many. They beeing thus discomforted, and their shippe beeing in hazard of sinking by reason of the great shot which were made, whereof some were vnder water, within fiue or sixe houres fight, set out a flagge of truce, and parled for mercie, desiring our Generall to saue their liues, and to take their goods, and that they would presently yeeld. Our Generall promised them mercy, and willed them to strike their sayles, and to hoyse out their boat, & to come aboord: which newes they were full glad to heare, and presently stroke their sailes, hoysed their boat out, and one of their chiefe marchants came aboord vnto our Generall: and falling downe vpon his knees, offered to haue kissed his feete, and craued mercie: the Captaine and their Pilote, at their comming vsed the like duetie and reuerence as the former did. The Generall promised their liues and good vsage. They declared what goods they had within boord, to wit, an hundreth and two and twenty thousand pezos of gold: and the rest of the riches that the ship was laden with, was in Silkes, Sattens, Damasks, with Muske and diuers other marchandize, and great store of all manner of victualls, with the choice of many conserues of all sorts for to eate, and of sundry sorts of very good wines. These things beeing made knowne, they were commanded to stay aboord the Desire, and on the sixt day of Nouember following, we went into an harbour, which is called by the Spaniards, Aguada Segura, or Puerto Seguro.”

During the division of the booty, a mutiny broke out, especially in the ship “Content,” but was quelled. The Spaniards, to the number of one hundred and ninety men and women, were set ashore. Ammunition and arms were left them, and the English departed: taking with them however from the Spanish boat two clever young Japanese, three boys born in Manila, a Portuguese, and one Thomas de Ersola, a pilot from Acapulco. The “Santa Ana” was burned on the nineteenth of November, and the English turned toward home. That same night the “Content” vanished and was seen no more. January 3, 1588, the Ladrones were reached. They had the experiences with the natives that are so often described by the Spaniards, iron being the usual article bartered by the English. The natives are described as “of a tawny colour, and maruellous fat, and bigger ordinarily of stature then the most part of our men in England, wearing their haire maruellous long: yet some of them haue it made vp, and tyed with a knot on the Crowne and some with two knots, much like vnto their Images which we faw carued in wood, and standing in the head of their boats, like vnto the Images of the deuill.” January 14, they reached the Philippines at Cabo del Santo Espiritu, “which is of very great bignesse and length …. and it is short of the chiefest Island of the Philippinas called Manilla, about sixtie leagues. Manilla is vvel planted and inhabited with Spaniards, to the number of sixe or seuen hundred persons: vvhich dvvell in a tovvne vnvvalled, which hath three or foure Blocke-houses, part made of vvood, and part of stone, being indeed of no great strength: they haue one or tvvo small Gallies belonging to the Tovvne. It is a very rich place of Gold, and many other commodities; and they haue yeerely traffique from Alcapulco in Nueva Espanna, and also twenty or thirtie shippes from China, and from the Sanguelos, which bring them many sorts of marchandize. They bring great store of gold vvith them, vvhich they traffique and exchange for siluer, and give vveight for vveight. These Sanguelos are men of maruellous capacity, in deuising and making all manner of things, especially in all handiecrafts and sciences: and euery one is so expert, perfect, and skilfull in his facultie, as fevv or no Christians are able to go beyond them in that vvhich they take in hand. For drawing and imbroidering vpon Satten, Silke, or Lavvne, either beast, fovvle, fish, or vvorme, for liuelinesse and perfectnesse, both in Silke, Siluer, Gold, and Pearle, they excell. Also the fourteenth day at night we entred the Straits between the Island of Luçon, and the Island of Camlaia.” The natives imagining them Spaniards willingly traded their food with them. At an anchorage Thomas Ersola, the Spanish pilot, was hanged for trying to inform the Spanish of the English. The following on the customs of the inhabitants as seen at the island of Capul is interesting, and accords, with slight differences, with the Spanish records:

“We roade for the space of nine dayes, about this Island of Capul, where we had diuerse kinds of fresh victualls, with excellent fresh water in euery bay, and great store of wood. The people of this Island go almost all naked, and are tawny of colour. The men weare onely a stroope about their wastes, of some kind of linnen of their owne weauing, which is made of Plantan-leaues, and another stroope comming from their backe vnder their twistes, Which couereth their priuy parts, and is made fast to their girdles at their nauels; which is this. Euery man and manchild among them, hath a nayle of Tynne thrust quite through the head of his priuie part, being split in the lower ende, and riuetted, and on the head of the nayle is as it were a Crowne: which is driuen through their priuities when they be yong, and the place groweth vp ag tine [sic], without any great paine to the child: and they take this nayle out and in as occasion serueth; and for the truth thereof, we our selues haue taken one of these nayles from a Sonne of one of the Kings, which was of the age of tenne yeeres, who did weare the same in his priuy member. This custome was granted at the request of the women of the Country, who finding their men to be giuen to the fovvle sinne of Sodomie, desired fome remedie against that mischiefe, and obtained this before named of the Magistrates. Moreouer all the males are circumcised, hauing the fore skinne of their flesh cut avvay. These people vvholly vvorshippe the Deuill, and oftentimes haue conference vvith him, vvhich appeareth vnto them in moft vgly and monstrous shape.”

In this island Candish, or Cavendish, announced their nationality to the natives—whom he had made pay tribute in “Hogges, Hennes, Potatoes, and Cocos”—and their hostility to the Spaniards. The natives promised “both themselues and all the Islands thereabout, to ayde him, whensoeuer hee should come againe to ouercome the Spaniards.” Their tribute money was returned to them in token of the Englishmen’s hostility to the Spaniards. January 24 the English coasted along Luzón, and ran northwest between that island and Masbat.

“The eight and twentieth day, in the morning about seuen of the clocke, riding at an anchor betwixt two Islands, wee espyed a Frigat vnder her two Coarses, comming out betweene two other Islands, which (as wee imagined) came from Manilla, sayling close aboord the shore, along the maine Island of Panama. Here wee rode at anchor all that night, and perceiued that certaine Spaniards (which came from Manilla to Ragaun, to fetch a new shippe of the Kings, there builded) had disperfed their Band into two or three parts, and kept great Watch in seuerall steedes, with Fires, and shooting off their Pieces. This Island hath much plaine Ground in it, in many places, and many faire and straight Trees doe grow vpon it, fit for to make excellent good Masts for all sorts of shippes. There are also Mynes of very fine Gold in it, which are in the custodie of the Indians. And to the South-ward of this place, there is another very great Island, which is not subdued by the Spaniards, nor any other Nation. The people which inhabit it, are all Negros, and the Island is called the Island of Negros; and is almost as bigge as England, standing in nine degrees: The most part of it seemeth to be very lowe Land, and by all likelyhood is very fruitfull.

“The nine and twentieth day of January, about six of the clocke in the morning wee set sayle, sending our Boat before, vntill it was two of the clocke in the afternoone, passing all this time as it were through a Strait, betwixt the laid two Islands of Panama, and the Island of Negros; and about sixteene Leagues off, wee espyed a faire opening, trending South-west and by South: at which time our Boat came aboord, and our Generall sent commendations to the Spanish Captaine, which wee came from the Euening before, by a Spaniard which wee had taken, and willed him to provide a good store of Gold; for hee meant for to see him with his company at Manilla within few yeeres; and that hee did but want a bigger Boat to haue landed his men; or else hee would haue seene him then; and so caused him to be let on shore.”

Thence the expedition passed through the Moluccas. At one of the islands where they reprovisioned two Portuguese came to inquire of “Don Antonio their King, then in England.” These Portuguese declared “that if their King Don Antonio, would come vnto them, they would warrant him to haue all the Malucos at commandment, besides China, Sangles, and the Isles of the Philippinas, and that he might be assured to have all the Indians on his side that are in the countrey.” The sixteenth of May the Cape of Good Hope was sighted. August 23, the Azores Islands hove in sight, and on September 9, they put into Plymouth. A letter from the commander contains the following:

“The matter of most profit vnto me, was a great ship of the Kings vvhich I tooke at California, vvhich ship came from the Philippinas, beeing one of the richest of merchandize that euer passed those Seas, as the Kings Register and marchants accounts did shew: for it did amount in value to * in Mexico to be sold. Which goods (for that my Ships vvere not able to containe the least part of them) I vvas inforced to set on fire. From the Cape of California, being the vthermost part of all Nueua Espanna, I nauigated to the Islands of the Philippinas, hard vpon the Coast of China; of which Countrey I haue brought such intelligence as hath not been heard of in these parts. The statlinesse and riches of vvhich Countrey I feare to make report of, least I should not be credited: for if I had not knovvn sufficiently the incomparable vvealth of that Countrey, I should haue beene as incredulous thereof, as others vvill be rhat [sic] haue not had the like experience.” [166]

APPENDIX B: EARLY YEARS OF THE DUTCH IN THE EAST INDIES The voyages of the Dutch into the East Indies had important results for both Spain and Portugal. While they concerned themselves principally with Java and the islands of the Moluccas, they made incursions among the Philippines, where they were a constant menace for many years. The first two expeditions—that of Houtman, June 11, 1596-August 14, 1597; and that of van Neck and van Warwyck, May 1, 1598-May 30, 1600—did little but establish the custom and make beginnings in the East India trade. The first was concerned mainly with Java, but the second entered (with four of its eight vessels) the Moluccas, and brought back a load of cloves. These two expeditions also marked the beginning of troubles with the Portuguese and natives. They were both by way of the Cape of Good Hope.

VOYAGE OF OLIVER VAN NOORDT The first voyage of great importance was that of Oliver van Noordt. In 1598 a commercial company contracted with him to conduct five vessels through the Strait of Magellan for traffic on South American coasts. This fleet sailed on September 13, 1598, going first to Plymouth, England, where an English pilot, who had been with Candish on his expedition, was engaged. After various fortunes along the eastern South American coasts, during which about one hundred men were lost, the fleet entered the Strait of Magellan November 5, 1599. Contentions between van Noordt and his vice-admiral resulted in the latter’s being marooned, and the elevation to his place of Captain Pierre de Lint, while Lambert Biesman was made captain of the “Concordia.” The vice-admiral and his ship were lost on March 14, 1600, which with other losses, reduced the fleet to but two vessels. On debouching from the strait the fleet cruised along the Chilean coast, alternately trading and committing depredations, and seizing prizes, and finally determined to go to the Philippines by way of the Ladrones. On September 15, the latter islands were sighted. There they met the same experience as the Spaniards from the thievishness of the natives. “These people, both men and women, seem amphibious, and to be able to live on water as well as on the land, so well do they swim and dive. Five pieces of iron were thrown into the sea to them for the pleasure of seeing them exercise themselves. One of them was skilful enough to get all five of them, and in so short a time that one can regard it as marvelous…. Their canoes are so well made … and are fifteen or twenty feet long. They are quite roomy and good sailers. They do not turn about to tack, but place the helm in what was the bow, and leave the sail, which is made of reed mats and resembles a mizzen-sail, in its same position without changing it.” Thence the route to the Philippines was continued. “They are called also the Manillas, from the name of the chief port, and the city built by the Spaniards.

“Some call them the islands of Luçon, because their chief island is so named. It is said to be quite one hundred leagues in circumference. There is located the city of Manille or Manilhe, the capital of all these islands. They were formerly part of the crown of China, which abandoned them for some slight pretext. After that their laws and civilization were so poorly observed that they seemed deadened when the Spaniards landed there. In fact, the inhabitants there lived like beasts. Each one enslaved his neighbor, if he could, and their chief occupation was mutual oppression.

“Such a nature gave the Spaniards great facility in subduing them, which was rendered greater, since these people were simple and very stupid. As soon as one mentioned baptism to them, they ran to get it in droves, and became Christians to the extent desired. However the Ilocos and others, too, who are called Pintados did not cease to give trouble to their new masters.

“All these islands are densely populated and produce abundance of rice and wine made from nypa. Deer, buffaloes, bulls, cows, swine, goats, and other live-stock are found, although formerly they had none. But now the care exercised by the Spaniards has made them so abundant, that they yield in no way to Nouvelle Espagne.

“There are also many civet-cats, and all sorts of fruit as in China. They yield considerable quantities of honey and wax. They even have gold, but although the islanders pay their tribute to the Spaniards in gold, the latter have not as yet—that is in the year 1600—been able to ascertain where they get it, notwithstanding their efforts. They are commencing to sow wheat there. Flour was formerly brought from Japon. The islands also supplied quantities of ebony and bamboo.

“The Chinese engage extensively in trade there. They take all kinds of merchandise there from China, namely, silks, cottons, china-ware, gunpowder, sulphur, iron, steel, quicksilver, copper, flour, walnuts, chestnuts, biscuits, dates, all sorts of stuffs, writing-desks, and other curiosities.

“The Spaniards load all this merchandise in Manila and export it to Nouvelle Espagne, whence more than one and one-half millions of silver in money and in bars is taken annually to the Philippines. This silver is exchanged for gold, giving four livres of silver for one of gold. But this traffic is not extensive, since there is enough gold in Pérou and Chili. They prefer to traffic with the Chinese, for their returns reach one thousand per cent.

“The city of Manille is located in fourteen degrees of north latitude. There is situated the residence of the Spanish governor, who rules all the islands. The archbishop also lives there. He has supreme authority in the ecclesiastical affairs of all the same islands, where there are also three bishops suffragan to himself.”

On October 14, 1600, the Dutch sighted the cape of Espiritu Santo, whence they steered toward Manila. On the sixteenth their first encounter with the Spanish in the islands occurred, but the Dutch reassured the latter by flying a Spanish pennant, and declaring themselves to be French commissioned by the Spanish monarch. Consequently they were allowed to buy provisions freely, in return for which the natives demanded money.

“The majority of these Indians were naked. Some wore a cloth garment, while some were even clad like Spaniards. The chiefs, who belong to the former race of commanders of the country, and who yet remember that fact, have their skin cut or pricked very skilfully and singularly. These cuts or pricks have been made with iron and never fade.

“Besides this is a wretched race, who have no weapons, so that the Spaniards tyrannize over them at will. They make them pay a tribute of three reals [sic], that is, a trifle less than three Dutch florins, per head, all men or women above twenty years.

“There are very few Spaniards in each district. They have a priest, whom the inhabitants of the place revere greatly, so much so that only lack of priests prevents them from holding all these islands in servitude; for even in places where there are neither priests nor Spaniards they have made the people pay tribute.”

The Spaniards at last became suspicious of the strangers and demanded to see their commission, upon which the one given by the prince of Orange was produced, whereat great consternation reigned, and the Dutch were forbidden more provisions. The latter continuing their course entered the Manila strait on October 24, anchoring near Capul. On landing near here, one of the crew, Jean Caleway [i.e., John Calleway], an Englishman, and a musician, was somehow left behind, and it was conjectured that the natives had seized him. November 1, the vessels left Capul for Manila, sailing among the various islands, and committing some depredations on Spanish, native, and Chinese vessels. From a Chinese pilot, van Noordt gained certain information concerning Manila.

“The houses of the city of Manila are built close together. The city is surrounded by a rampart supported by a wall. More than fifteen thousand Chinese live outside its walls. They engage in their business together, and are given to various industries. In addition more than four hundred vessels go there annually from China, from the city and province of Chincheo, laden with silks and all sorts of merchandise. They take back silver money in return. They come at a certain fixed time, namely, after the month of December or between Christmas and Easter. At the beginning of this present month of November … two Japanese vessels also generally sail to Manila, laden with iron, flour, bacon, and other food….

“The walls of the city of Manila and the houses are built of stone, in the modern fashion. It is so large and extensive that the Spaniards have had a second wall built inside the city of less size than the first, within which to retire in case of need…. It was made especially in consideration of the Japanese, of whom the Spaniards are very suspicious.

“The governor of all the islands, who resembles a viceroy, lives in Manille, as does also the archbishop. Besides the cathedral there are several other beautiful churches. All the inhabitants of these islands are either Christians or pagans. As for the Moros or Mahometans, they have all been exterminated.”

The Dutch continued their depredations, and sent a letter by an Indian to the governor, notifying him that they were going to visit him. Biesman was sent on a scouting expedition, from which he finally returned, after having been considered lost by some of the Dutch.

“The island of Manille, called Luçon by its inhabitants, is larger than England and Scotland together. [167] There are other various islands about it, also very large.”

From a Japanese vessel some provisions were obtained, and the vessel was allowed to continue its course to Manila. The depredations of the Dutch were called to a sudden halt by the two Spanish vessels sent out under Dr. Morga on the fourteenth of December, 1600, when ensued the fight described in Morga. [168] Van Noordt inspired his men with new courage by threatening to blow up the vessel unless they fought more bravely. The Dutch found “a little silver box containing little tickets filled with prayers and devotions to various saints, to obtain their protection in times of peril,” on the dead body of a Spaniard. “The two Spanish vessels had about five hundred men, both Spaniards and Indians, and ten pieces of cannon.” The Dutch flagship finally returned to Holland by way of Borneo, and Cape of Good Hope, reaching Rotterdam August 26, 1601. [169]

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Etienne van der Hagen’s expedition (April 6, 1599—July 12, 1601) reached the island of Amboina, where they besieged the Portuguese fort there for two months, but were unable to take it. They made an alliance with the natives before leaving against the Portuguese. The Dutch fleet consisted of three vessels, and was sent out by the Dutch East India Company for trading purposes.

The first expedition of Paul van Caerden (the Blancardo of the Spanish accounts) occupied December 21, 1599—October 11, 1601, and was sent out by the Nouvelle Compagnie des Brabançons. The fleet—four vessels in all—left Holland in charge of Admiral Pierre Both. In their company sailed four vessels of the old company, but they separated almost immediately. They all went by way of the Cape of Good Hope. At Bantam in Java two vessels of the four were sent, under command of van Caerden, to trade for pepper. The two ships coasted the shore of the island of Sumatra, stopping at various places, without much success, on account of the tricks of the natives in their trade, until they reached Achem in the northern part of the island. There they had trouble with the natives which was instigated by a Portuguese priest, and after seizing some pepper, which act they justified, returned to Bantam in Java, where their cargo was completed. Van Caerden lost twenty-seven men on this voyage, but brought back ten others who had been held prisoners at Achem.

The second voyage of van Neck, or Nek (June 28, 1600—July 15, 1604), followed, as the preceding expedition, the African route to Bantam, where it met two Dutch vessels of the new trading company. The fleet of six vessels had separated by common consent, October 10, 1600, in order to facilitate their trade. Van Neck in the vessels with him, skirted Celebes, and went to Ternate, where he was cordially received by the natives. There the usual troubles with the Portuguese began, which ended in an indecisive naval battle. Shortly after, the Dutch left for China, leaving six men to watch their interests among the natives. “On the nineteenth [of August] they anchored near the island of Coyo, one of the Philippines. There they sent a small boat ashore. Its crew learned that the inhabitants were savages, who paid tribute to the Spaniards. On the twenty-second they anchored near another large island of the Philippines, whose name cannot be found on the maps. It was called Langhairs-eiland, or Longhair Island, because its inhabitants wore their hair long, and hanging below the shoulders.” September 20 they reached the Chinese coast, and on the twenty-seventh sighted “a large city, built almost like Spanish cities,” which they found to be Macao. There unfortunate encounters with the Portuguese lost the Dutch some men; and failing in their efforts there, they went to Patane, where they traded some pepper. Thence the return voyage to Holland by way of the Cape of Good Hope was made. The other three vessels of his fleet arrived six weeks later. As consorts to van Neck’s six vessels two other vessels had left Holland on the same date, also sent by the new trading company. After several mutinies they reached Sumatra, whence after troubles with the king of Achem, the two vessels left, leaving twelve of their men prisoners. The efforts of the latter to escape were fruitless and even the efforts (in 1602) of one of the vessels of Admiral Heemskerk, commander of a Dutch trading fleet, were unable to rescue the prisoners.

April 5, 1601, a Dutch fleet of five vessels, under Wolphart Harmansan, set out with another fleet under Jaques van Heemskerk. On May 8, the two fleets separated, the former reaching the Bantam channel December 26, 1601. Several naval encounters with the Portuguese fleet under Andrea Furtado de Mendoza resulted in partial victory for the Dutch, who, after refitting at Bantam, took their course through the Moluccas, and then returned to Bantam and Holland, reaching that country, April 4, 1603.

Georges Spilberg left Holland May 5, 1601, with three vessels. Rounding the cape, he cruised along until reaching Ceylon, whence he went to Sumatra in September of 1602. At Sumatra he joined some English vessels, and all remained together, and opposed the Portuguese. April 3, 1603, the Dutch and English left Sumatra and went to Java. At Bantam they were joined by Admiral Wybrant Waarwyk with nine vessels. On June 30, Admiral Heemskerk anchored at the same place with a Portuguese prize. After effecting their trade, the vessels returned to Holland, and Spilberg reached that country May 24, 1604.

Corneille de Veen, in command of nine vessels, sailed from Holland June 17, 1602, and was joined at sea by three others. April 15, 1603, Sumatra was sighted, and the fleet anchored at Bantam in Java on the twenty-ninth. Thence part of the fleet sailed for China. The fleet captured near Macao a Portuguese vessel richly laden. They also fought with a Siamese vessel, mistaking it for an enemy. Leaving Bantam finally on their homeward trip, on January 27, 1604, they reached Holland the thirtieth of August.

The expedition under Wybrandt van Waarwyk marked a new progression in Dutch trading in Eastern seas. His expedition established Bantam in Java more fully as the chief Dutch trading-post and base of supplies. The number of vessels at his command (fifteen) enabled him to despatch them in different directions to pursue their trade. The hostility to, and competition with, the Portuguese became more marked, and the entrance into India (through Ceylon), Siam, and China, more pronounced. This expedition left Holland July 17, 1602, being joined on the nineteenth by other vessels. Near the Cape of Good Hope three vessels separated with orders to proceed directly to Achem in Sumatra. At that place they met three vessels, which had left Holland May 30, 1602, and whose commander Sebald de Weert received commission from Waarwyk as vice-admiral of the six vessels. After negotiations at Achem, the six vessels established relations and promised assistance against the Portuguese, in Ceylon, but they almost ended by the massacre of the vice-admiral and a number of his men. Engagements with the Portuguese through these seas, and more or less successful attempts at trading and establishing themselves marked the progress of these vessels, until the return of three of them to Holland in the latter part of 1604. The main body of the fleet had experiences about similar to the above vessels, singly and in company, cruising through the East Indian seas, trading for pepper, cinnamon, silks, and other products. The Moluccas and the Philippines were generally given a wide berth, the Dutch seeking to establish themselves fully on portions of the mainland and in Sumatra and Java. François Wittert, who was later commander of a fleet, was made chief commissary at Bantam and given detailed instructions. The admiral finally reached Holland June 4, 1607, with several vessels.

The expedition in charge of Etienne van der Hagen (or Haagen), that set out from Holland late in 1603 and early in 1604, had also decisive results that more completely established the Dutch power in the East Indies. This expedition was destined to come more intimately in contact with the Portuguese and Spaniards than any former expedition. From this time and even before, the Dutch expeditions overlapped, and Dutch vessels in the Eastern seas were by no means rare. This fleet (the second voyage of van der Hagen) comprised twelve vessels and twelve hundred men. Its course was by way of Goa, Calicut, Cochin, and Ceylon, to Sumatra and Java, reaching the post at Bantam December 31, 1604. There, shortly after, some English vessels were met. On January 17, 1605, the principal vessels of the fleet left for the Moluccas. February 21, they anchored at Amboina, where they were about to storm the Portuguese fort, when the commander capitulated. “After several conferences between the Portuguese commander’s deputies and the admiral, it was resolved that all the unmarried Portuguese should retire, and that those married could be free to remain, if they took the oath of allegiance to the States-general and to Prince Maurice. Each one was allowed to take his gun or musket, but all the cannon, ammunition, and arms of the king were to remain in the fort.” The admiral and fifty men went to the captured fort, where they ran up the Dutch colors. The fort and island had contained six hundred Portuguese. Forty-six Portuguese families remained and took the oath. “This victory was considerable, not only because of its slight cost, no blood having been shed, but because this place and this island were of great importance.” Thence five Dutch vessels went to Tidore, where the Portuguese lost two vessels in a sea fight. Then the Portuguese fort was attacked, which was taken May 19, 1605, with a loss of two Dutchmen and seventy-three Portuguese. The Portuguese, five hundred in number, took the boats offered them and set out for the Philippines. “By this last victory, the Portuguese were driven from all the Moluccas, and had nothing more there, except a small fort in the island of Soler, near Timer.” The conquered fort was destroyed. Meanwhile other vessels of the fleet cruised about Sumatra, Java, Malacca, and neighboring places, trading and seeking to check the Portuguese. Shortly after June of 1607, the Spaniards, two hundred and fifty in number, attacked one of the Dutch and Ternatan forts, but were repulsed. On the desertion of the Tidore fort by the Dutch, seven hundred Spaniards returned to it. Thus the Dutch continued to strengthen their hold throughout the Indies.

The expedition under command of Admiral Corneille Matelief (1605-1608) was remarkable chiefly for its siege of Malacca, and later its manipulations in the Moluccas and in China. The fleet was composed of eleven vessels and one thousand three hundred and fifty-seven men, and cost 1,952,282 livres. Great trouble was experienced by the admiral in the intoxication and excesses of his men, which led to insubordination, during the entire course of the expedition. Also in all parts he met a great unwillingness among the natives for work and the coming to definite conclusions, the latter exercising duplicity and at times treachery in their dealings with the Dutch. On March 22, 1606, the fleet sighted Sumatra, after hearing of the successes in Amboina and Tidore. Going to the mainland they made agreements or treaties with the king of Johore, clause ten of which reads: “Neither of the two parties shall make peace with the king of Spain, without the consent of the other.” The succeeding siege of Malacca resulted in failure, and on August 24, 1606, the Dutch retired after losing two of their ships. The Portuguese were in charge of Andrea Furtado de Mendoza. On the return of the Dutch to Sumatra and Java, they met the great Portuguese fleet consisting of eighteen galleons, four galleys, one caravel, and twenty-three fustas, with over three thousand men—the largest fleet ever seen in the Indias—and in the combat captured and destroyed four galleons, although with some considerable loss to themselves. The Portuguese prisoners taken formed lengthy material for debates between the Portuguese and Dutch. On December 6, 1606, the admiral determined to go to the Moluccas with six vessels, and to send the others to Achem to load cargo for Holland. Reaching those islands after anchoring at Bantam, the Dutch negotiated with the natives for their aid against the Spaniards garrisoned in Ternate and Tidore. At Amboina, the admiral “learned that the soldiers of the garrison were living there in great debauchery, and that they became intoxicated, and nearly every man had his concubine. On that account the inhabitants were greatly shocked and were losing all their affection for the Dutch. They said that the Portuguese married women among them, by which the two nations were united. But since there were no marriages with the Dutch, the two races could not be bound by affection.” Besides the natives wished settlers and not new men continually, whom they did not know. In consequence the Dutch were permitted to marry the native women. Skirmishes with the Spaniards resulted in little gain for the Dutch, and finally the fleet sailed for China, after passing among a few of the Philippines, where they entered into various relations and had various adventures, trying ever to establish a fixed trade. Thence the vessels went in different directions and on different missions toward the Dutch base at Bantam. At Bantam Admiral Paul van Caerden anchored on January 5, 1608, to whom Matelief communicated the necessity of first attending to Molucca affairs, giving him also information and advice concerning those islands and the Dutch and Spaniards there. Shortly after Admiral Matelief returned to Holland, where he anchored on September 2, 1608. Admiral Matelief drew up while on this expedition a good résumé of Dutch aspirations in the East Indies that shows the compelling motive in their expeditions thither. This memorial is as follows.

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Memoir by Admiral C. Matelief, on the subject of the condition and the commerce of the Indies

When I consider the condition of our country, and the wars that afflict it, on the part of an enemy so powerful as Albert of Austria, who is sustained by the house of Austria, and by his own house of Spain, it seems to me that one cannot be more assured of the prosperity of affairs in the Indias, than by leaving them solely in the hands of the directors [of the trading company].

The Spaniards and the Portuguese are our adversaries. More than a century ago they began to establish themselves there. They have gained an entrance into several countries, where they have fortresses, many men, and an established government. Consequently they are enabled to attend to their business with greater certainty and by more convenient methods than we, for we have to bring men from Holland, who become weakened by the fatigues of the voyage, while the subjects of the Portuguese, who live in the country, are fresh and full of health.

For, although the Portuguese have an insufficient number of men in the Indias, to attend to all matters that arise, and at the same time defend themselves against our nation, they can send men there much easier than we. Vessels from Portugal are obliged to go only as far as Goa, where their men disembark and rest. Then they form their fleets from them; and the other Spaniards who come from the Manilles do the same.

If, then, we would also establish ourselves advantageously and solidly in the Indias, we must necessarily have some station, where we may be received and free, on our arrival from Holland. This would be the means of great profits. Refreshments could be found there ready for the crews and for the vessels. That would increase our reputation among the Indian princes, who as yet have not dared repose entire confidence in us. The natives are sufficiently convinced that the Dutch are a good race, and more gentle and tractable than the Spaniards. “But,” they say, “what good does that do us? The Dutch come here in passing, and only while on their journey. As soon as their vessels are laden, they return. After that we are abandoned to the Spaniards and Portuguese, against whom we are powerless to defend ourselves. They come to pounce upon us, because we have traded with the Dutch, their enemies. On the other hand, if we attach ourselves to the Spanish, they, at least, protect us in our needs. On the contrary, although the Dutch should come with forces sufficient to protect us, we fear nothing from them; they do not treat us as enemies. Even though we trade with the Portuguese, the Dutch allow us to live quietly, and we have only to be careful of those who molest us. Consequently our best plan is to favor the Portuguese, lest they annihilate us.”

Such are the reflections of all the Indians. Besides the Portuguese do their best to persuade them that we have no forces, that we are but a rabble, who scarcely have fixed habitations in our own country, and quite far from being able to make lasting settlements in the Indias. As for them, they are established there with men who wish to live there. Therefore it is necessary for us to seek means by which to gain the Indians, and make them understand that we have forces, and wish also to become established among them. If not, one must recognize that our affairs will prosper ill.

The commerce of the Indias consists chiefly: 1. In pepper, which is loaded at Bantam, Jahor, Patane, Queda, and Achin; 2. in cloves, which are loaded at Amboina and the Moluccas; 3. in nutmeg and mace, or the rind of the nutmeg, which are loaded at Banda; 4. in the commerce of Cambaie; 5. in the commerce of the Coromandel coast; 6. in the commerce of both the Chinese and Japanese coasts.

If the commerce of each of these is not managed by one nation, whether the Portuguese or others, it will happen that one will destroy the other. It will cause the price of merchandise in the Indias to advance, and a low price will be paid for them in Europe.

However, in regard to pepper, it is impossible for us to get the commerce all to ourselves; for, besides the Portuguese, the English have also undertaken the navigation to Bantam. They have their trading-posts and houses, and are trading there peacefully, while we are at war against the Portuguese. We defend Bantam and the English together, while they enjoy there the profits that cost them neither defenses, blood, nor any annoyance.

[The king of Bantam is too young to negotiate with, and too much money would be spent uselessly. For the natives throughout the Indies would not hesitate to violate any treaty in any peril or to their own profit.]

Besides we are at peace with the English, and it would be unjust to try to find means to exclude them from a commerce which they have already commenced. But measures can easily be taken to prevent them from entering into the commerce of other spices. In regard to pepper, we would have to make it serve as a ballast. By this means we could give it so cheaply that the other nations, finding scarcely any profit in it longer, would be obliged to cease trading in it themselves, without counting on our part our profits from the other merchandise.

For, according to my opinion, we could easily attract all the commerce of nutmegs and mace. For this purpose, instead of seizing Banda, and building a fort there, which would cost considerable, and give us a bad reputation among the Indian princes, the following is what I think that we should do.

As the king of Macassar is a powerful prince, whose country is densely populated, and well supplied with rice and all manner of food; and as he furnishes them to Malacca and Banda: it would be necessary to make a treaty with him, and to send him three vessels with two hundred men for his country. This number, together with the Macassar men, would be sufficient to attack Banda, and we would promise the king to deliver it into his hands, without claiming any recompense for this aid, except that no other nation but our own could load merchandise there, and that the nutmegs and mace would be taken annually at a fixed price, namely, at the selling price at the time of the expedition.

[Matelief is certain that the king of Macassar will acquiesce, and would also probably be willing to build a trading-house for the Dutch. Other conditions for the security of Banda might also be imposed in the treaty.]

Of the clove-trade, it is very difficult for us to render ourselves masters. We have the product of Amboina, Luho, and Cambelo; but not that yielded by the Moluccas. The only means of obtaining it is to drive the Spaniards from Ternate, and it can easily be imagined that the task is not easy. However I shall not hesitate to write here my thought concerning the matter.

The thing does not appear impossible to me, if one wishes to build on a firm foundation. This would require a return to the Malacca affair. For had the Portuguese lost Malacca, they could not easily go from Goa to reënforce the Moluccas; and I do not think there would be much trouble in preventing the sending of supplies to Ternate from the Manilles.

First, we should have to send three or four vessels to the king of Mindanao, whose country is densely inhabited, and who, as report runs, can launch fifty caracoas. All this fleet would go to Panama or Panati [i.e., Panay] which is near the Manilles, and where there is a place named Otting [i.e., Oton], guarded by but eighteen Spanish soldiers with about the same number of other inhabitants, so that in all there are but forty whites. This place would be destroyed, or if the blacks of Mindanao wished to keep it, it would be given them, for it is a country abounding in rice and several other foods, which are transported to Ternate.

Thence I would suggest going directly to the Manilles to destroy all the vessels in their ports, so that they could not aid Ternate. Immediately a vessel of one hundred and sixty or two hundred tons would be sent back to Mindanao, which would cross with the king’s caracoas to the strait of Tagima, to capture the vessels that should try still to go to Ternate, because there is no other route. After capturing one or two of them, no other vessels would dare to try it, so that Ternate would perish from famine. For did we try at present to overpower the island by force, I believe that the Spaniards could fortify it so strongly, and have so many men there, that large armies would be required to drive them out.

It would be difficult for them to provide Ternate with cloth, for the little taken there now is brought by the Chinese to the Manilles. This want of cloth would not fail to trouble the inhabitants, and it would have to be sent from Malacca, and that could not be done easily. If a galley could also be taken to Ternate, it would greatly annoy the Spaniards….

The commerce of China depends moreover upon Malacca. If the Portuguese were driven from that place, the Chinese would have to give up that traffic….

The commerce of cotton stuffs at Coromandel is of great importance, for all the inhabitants of the Indias dress in those stuffs, and must have them at any price. There are different styles for each nation, according to their taste, and they make them so in different places … If Malacca were taken from the Portuguese, they would have no further favorable opportunity for the trade in cloth….

If no means are found to besiege Malacca again, the Portuguese might make use of their fustas to hinder our trade with Coromandel. For, since this entire coast is low, and the fustas draw but little water, they could always station themselves between the shore and our vessels. Besides it is very dangerous for vessels to anchor there. If the enemy is spry, he could carry the news to Goa in one week, whence they could easily despatch their fleets against us.

It is certain that, if the Portuguese could be driven from Malacca, they would have to renounce trade on the Coromandel coast; for they would have no safe course, should they wish to get cloth, and they could gain nothing, for the expense would overbalance the profit. Consequently, I believe that all the commerce of the Portuguese in the East Indies depends on Malacca, and that, in order to cut it, one must take that place.

After that, there is no doubt that the inhabitants of Bantam would not be reasonable, when they would see us in fixed establishments, and would understand that since the English had no other commerce in the Indias than that of pepper, they would not care to make frequent voyages, or great expenses. The pepper of Jambeo, Andragyri, and other points, that is taken to Bantam, would be taken to Malacca, where, also, cloth for the return cargo would be found.

I have not learned whether the Portuguese have any strength at Bengale. All whom I have heard speak of that country say that a good commerce can be obtained there….

It would be advisable to send two vessels to Arracan to try to trade. Besides the king is very anxious for us to go there. A Portuguese, one Philippe de Britto, has a fort there, with a garrison of eighty men. This fort is fifty leagues inland, and Britto holds the entire country in check. Although the king of Arracan is powerful, he has been unable as yet to find means for driving out this Portuguese. This alarms all the kingdom of Pegu, especially since it is annoyed by civil wars. That country has immense wealth, especially in precious gems.

I do not believe that anything can be done with Cambaie while the Portuguese have forts on the Malabar coast, and while the king is not better disposed toward us. We must wait until he knows us better, and until his mind is disabused concerning the Spaniards. For, until he gives us permission to trade in his ports, we would always encounter great danger, since large vessels can not enter. Besides that country is so near Goa, that the Portuguese would be notified as soon as we arrived there, and would pounce upon us with their forces, so that we could hope for neither help nor protection.

All the above points to Malacca’s importance, for the establishment that we wish to make in the Indias. Therefore, for that reason, we should reflect on it well. For, in short, it is time now for us to assure ourselves of a fixed place and of a retreat. And this place or that place that one might select, would cost immense sums before it could reach the present condition of Malacca. Besides it will be very difficult to find a place so advantageous.

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The second expedition of Paul van Caerden (1606-1609) consisted of eight vessels, equipped at a cost of 1,825,135 livres. Its chief result was the capture of the Spanish fort at Machian and the two captures of the commander, who finally died in prison at Manila. The expedition sailed April 20, 1606, and shortly afterward began to have trouble with the Portuguese. After rounding the cape they besieged and took a Portuguese trading-post, after which they cruised past Goa, Calcutta, and other places, finally sighting Sumatra, January 5, 1607, and anchoring at Bantam, January 6. There they met the Matelief expedition. With a half-hearted following of Matelief’s advice, van Caerden anchored at Amboina in March, whence on May 10, he started for Ternate. His capture by the Spanish of Ternate, the taking of the Spanish fort at Machian—the place “most abounding in cloves of all the Moluccas”—and other operations on land and sea followed. The expedition finally left Ternate on August 3, 1608, and by way of Bantam, reached Holland August 6, 1609, with a portion of its vessels.

The few years succeeding, events came thick and fast. Dutch interests in the Indias multiplied. The taking of Malacca was again considered. Resistance to Portuguese and Spanish interests became even more pronounced, while the English and the Dutch came to definite agreements, between their respective trading companies as to trade in the Indias. The Dutch opened trade communication with Japan. They became thoroughly established in the Moluccas, in Amboina, and in the islands of Banda. The Spanish under Governor Juan de Silva of Manila, took the offensive, and opposed the Dutch vigorously, maintaining certain forts in Ternate, from which the efforts of the Dutch failed to dislodge them. A Dutch fleet of thirteen vessels, with Pierre Verhoeven as Admiral, and Francois Wittert as vice-admiral, left Holland in 1607. Their course carried them along the shores of India, before Malacca, and among the islands of Sumatra, Java, and others. They had communication with vessels of other Dutch commanders, among them those of the ill-fated van Caerden, who was exchanged by the Spaniards March 23, 1610, proclaimed general of all the Moluccas July 1, 1610, and shortly after captured again by the Spaniards. They had certain negotiations also with the English. At Borneo, Amboina, Banda, Ternate, and their neighboring islands many important negotiations were carried on, looking ever to the strengthening and prepetuation of Dutch power. The war with the Banda islanders was at length settled satisfactorily, although it required a number of years. In this period came the twelve years’ truce between Spain and Holland, or the States-general, but notwithstanding active hostilities between the two nations occurred afterward, the defeat and capture of Wittert’s vessels near Manila Bay occurring after news of the truce had reached the Indias. In September of 1610 two vessels returning to Holland met seven vessels under Admiral Both, in which were the first Dutch women sent to the Indias. About 1613 the Spanish force in the Moluccas is stated as follows:

“… The Spaniards have control of the city of Gammalamma, in the island of Ternate, which they took from the inhabitants. They call it Nuestra Signora di Rosario. It has a wall and bastions built of stone. It is abundantly provided with cannon and war-supplies, which are sent from the Manilles.

“It is at present garrisoned by 200 Spaniards and 90 Papaugos [i.e., Pampangos (?)] who are inhabitants of the Philippines, who are well disciplined in arms, and serve as Spanish soldiers. There are also 30 Portuguese families, 60 or 80 Chinese families, who engage in different trades, and 50 or 60 Christian Molucca families.

“They have another fort between Gammalamma and Malaia, called Sts. Peter and Paul, located on an elevation, and mounted with six pieces of cannon. There are thirty-three cast-iron cannon in the first fort. The garrison of the latter consists generally of 27 Spaniards, 20 Papaugos, and some other people from the Manilles.

“They possess all the island of Tidore, where they have three forts, namely, that of Taroula, located in the large city where the king lives. It is stronger than the other two by its situation, which is on an elevation. Its garrison is usually 50 Spaniards, and 8 or 10 Papaugos. It has ten large cast-iron cannon.

“The second fort is the old Portuguese castle taken by Corneille Bastiaansz, which the Spaniards have retaken. It has 13 Spaniards, with several islanders, and 2 pieces of cannon.

“The third is named Marieco, and is in sight of Gammalamma….Its garrison consists of 14 Castilians and a few Papaugos, and it has two pieces of cannon….The wars have somewhat depopulated the country….”

[The Spaniards also possessed several forts in Gilolo: Sabougo, taken from the Dutch by Juan de Silva in 1611; Gilolo, also taken from the Dutch by the same governor; and Aquilamo. All these forts contained light garrisons. On the island of Moro, the Spaniards had the forts Jolo, Isiau, and Joffougho. They usually maintained in the sea a number of vessels. Juan de Silva is described as a brave, energetic, and diplomatic man. The second capture of van Caerden proved a decided blow to the Dutch, because of the loss of certain important papers.]

The Dutch power in the Moluccas was as follows:

“We have three forts at Ternate: that of Malaia, or Orange, commenced by Admiral Matelief, where the king of Ternate lives; that of Toluco, or Hollande, lying at the east end of the island, on an elevation, one-half legua north of that of Malaia, built of stone; for fear lest the Spaniards occupy this post, and for the same reason to send there to live a portion of the superfluous men at Malaïa.

“Our third fort is that of Tacomma or Willemstad, lying at the northwest. It was constructed by Admiral Simon Jansz Hoen….”

[In the island of Machian, they possessed the fort of Taffalo and Tabillola. In Bachian they had a fort called Gammedource. All these forts were adequately garrisoned.]

By 1627 affairs were still more flourishing and Batavia in Bantam, on the island of Java, had already been made a base of supplies. Spain still maintained forts at Ternate in that year. Signs of a desire to attack the Spaniards in the Philippines began to be manifest.

In regard to Wittert’s expedition, defeat, and death, the following has been translated and condensed from Journal de l’amiral Wittert, 1607-10 (Liége, 1875), a small pamphlet in the library of Columbia University, New York.

“In the year 1607, the Company of the East Indies despatched thirteen vessels to find the Portuguese fleet, and probably to attack it, off Mosambique or in neighboring waters. Pierre Willemsz, of Amsterdam, was appointed admiral of this fleet; and François de Wittert, of the ancient baronial family of that name—seignior of Hoogeland, Emeeclaar, etc.—was made vice-admiral and president of the council-in-ordinary, with full power to take the place of the admiral, who was very old and infirm.” The flagships of these officers were of eight hundred and one thousand tons, respectively. The entire fleet carried two thousand eight hundred to two thousand nine hundred men, forty-two pieces of brass artillery and two hundred and eighty-three of iron, one hundred stone-mortars, with the necessary munitions, and provisions for more than three years. This armament cost ten million eight hundred livres. The fleet set sail from the Texel on December 22, 1607, and reached “the fort of Mosambique” on the twenty-eighth of July following. The Dutch besieged the fort, but were obliged to retreat (August 13). “In this siege 30 of our men were killed, and 85 wounded. We fired 2,250 cannon-shots at this fortress, which is the most important one possessed by the Portuguese in the East Indies; it has four bastions and three ramparts. But after this siege, it was almost entirely ruined, and the Portuguese power is destroyed, especially as regards the puissant empire of the Abissinians, whose emperor is named Preter-Jan [i.e., Prester John].” On November 5, 1608, the Dutch fleet reached Sumatra, where a naval battle with some Portuguese vessels ensued. In January, 1609, Wittert went, with some of the ships, to Johor, and aided the king of that state to resist the Portuguese. On February 15, the fleet anchored at Bantam, and on April 8, at Nera, one of the isles of Banda, where they built a fort. Here, on May 22, the admiral and many of his officers were treacherously assassinated by the natives. Here the journal ends. Another and later entry reads: “Letters from Moluque [Maluco] bring the news that on June 12, 1610, the admiral François Wittert, while having some junks unloaded at Manila, was surprised by the Spanish and slain in the combat. He was attacked by more than 12 vessels at once, but defended himself for a long time. The ‘Amsterdam’ was finally captured by four ships which attacked it at once—one of which, however, the Dutch blew up—and was taken to Manila with 51 dead on board, including the admiral; the yacht ‘Faucon’ had 34 dead, and all its officers were slain except two—Piérre Gervits, master of the yacht, and Piérre Hertsing—who were wounded. The ‘Faucon’ also was carried away, with 22 dead. [170] The Spaniards made 120 prisoners on the two ships. As for the other vessels in their company the yacht ‘Aigle’ was blown up; the ‘Paon’ and the shallop ‘Delft’ escaped. It is not exactly known whither these vessels have gone; but it is believed that they went to Patan.”

With the increase of Dutch power in the Indias, complications naturally multiplied. The year spent by Pierre van den Broeck in the eastern seas, saw conflicts on the Indian coast, in Java, against the English and Javanese, and also with the Portuguese. Van den Broeck was in the service of the Dutch Trading Company for over seventeen years. He went first to the Indias in the expedition under Gerard Reyust, which left Holland May 3, 1613. On June 1, 1615, he embarked with Admiral Verhagen for the Moluccas. He played an important part in the establishment of Batavia in 1619, and in the troubles with the English and Javanese. The truth of the inadequacy of the natives against the more progressive races was proved again, as it had previously been proved by the experiences of Portuguese and Spanish. A siege of Batavia in 1629, by the Javanese failed in its purpose. Van den Broeck returned to Holland June 6, 1630.

The second Dutch voyage to the East Indies under command of Georges Spilberg sailed from Holland August 8, 1614, with six vessels. Its object was chastisement of the Spanish. Reaching the Strait of Magellan, March 28, 1615, after many adventures with the Portuguese along the Brazilian coast, the fleet made the passage, and debouched into the South Sea on May 6. Thence they coasted the western shores of South America, and as far as Acapulco in New Spain. Near Lima a sea fight with the Spanish occurred, in which the latter were worsted, and three ships destroyed. When some of the Spanish who were in the water called piteously for help, after saving the first and second pilot, and a few sailors, “we left the remainder to the mercy of the waves.” The chronicle adds “Nevertheless some of the sailors killed several who were swimming, and struggling against death—which they did in disobedience to their orders.” At Acapulco, the Spanish received the Dutch well and some change of prisoners was effected. On November 18, 1615, the fleet turned westward, and sighted the Ladrones by January 1, 1616. On February 9, the cape of Espiritu Santo was sighted, and on the 19th, under the guidance of native pilots, they sailed toward Manila Bay, and anchored that same day near Luzón. “Our intention was to make some Spaniard prisoner, in order to gain more detailed information of what had been told us at Capul, namely, that a fleet had been awaiting us for many days at the Manilles, and we wished eagerly to learn more particular news of it.” It was learned that the Spanish fleet under Juan de Silva had gone to the Moluccas to aid the Spanish there. Consequently, the Dutch fleet, after an ineffectual attempt to exchange prisoners at Manila, went (March 10) to the Moluccas. On the way they received assurance of the hatred in and about Mindanao for the Spaniards, and their willingness to join the Dutch.

Reaching the Moluccas they cruised about for some time, and finally two of the vessels were sent back to Holland, reaching that country, July 1, 1617. With them they took the celebrated Jacques le Maire who had attempted to find a new passage to the South Sea, below the Strait of Magellan. As his voyage was not for the trading company which enjoyed the monopoly of trade in the Indias, his ship was confiscated. He died on the passage home. [171]

Although the Dutch were later in their explorations and conquests throughout the Indias and neighboring regions than other nations, their activity carried them to all the places visited or conquered by the latter. As years went on the contests of the Dutch with the Spanish tended to lessen, while those with the natives increased. Women went to the new colonies in greater number, and life gradually assumed a more settled aspect. The strenuous efforts of the Dutch sent them into Formosa, China, Japan, and other countries. Expeditions of more or less ships multiplied. The names of the Dutch famous in the annals of the eastern seas are numerous. Their efforts, first and foremost, were the establishment of a sound commerce. The above, with the exception of the extract concerning François de Wittert, is translated and condensed from Recueil des voyages … de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales (Amsterdam, 1725). See also, Histoire des voyages (Paris, 1750); Isabelo de los Reyes y Florentino: Articulos varios, (Manila, 1887), pp. 71-86, “Triunfos del Rosario ó Los Holandeses en Filipinas;” and Ferdinand Blumentritt: Hollændische Angriffe auf die Philippinen (Leitmeritz, 1880).

Morga’s Philippine Islands

Volume II HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS From their discovery by Magellan in 1521 to the beginning of the XVII Century; with descriptions of Japan, China and adjacent countries, by Dr. ANTONIO DE MORGA

Alcalde of Criminal Causes, in the Royal Audiencia of Nueva España, and Counsel for the Holy Office of the Inquisition

Completely translated into English, edited and annotated by

E. H. BLAIR and J. A. ROBERTSON

With Facsimiles

[Separate publication from “The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898” in which series this appears as volumes 15 and 16.]

VOLUME II CONTENTS OF VOLUME II [xvi of series]

Preface

Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. Dr. Antonio de Morga; Mexico, 1609

ILLUSTRATIONS View of Mallaca-Levinus Hulsius (Franckfurt am Mayn, 1612)

Weapons of the Moros; photograph of weapons in the Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar, Madrid

“Incola ex Insulis Moluco,” from Voyage ofte Schipvaert, by Jan Huygen van Linschoten; from original in Boston Public Library

View of corcoa (the vessel known as “caracoa”); photographic facsimile of engraving in John Stevens’s Collection of Voyages and Travels (London, 1711), i.—in Argensola’s “Discovery and conquest of the Molucco and Philippine Islands,” p. 61; from copy in library of Wisconsin Historical Society Map of the Philippine Islands, showing province of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine; from Lubin’s Orbis Augustianus … (Paris, 1639); from copy in the Library of Congress

View of Acapulco Harbor, in Mexico; from Valentyn’s Oud en Nieuw Oost Indien (Dordrecht and Amsterdam, 1724); from copy in library of Wisconsin State Historical Society Autograph signature of Antonio de Morga; photographic facsimile from MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla PREFACE In the present volume is concluded the notable work by Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, which was begun in VOL. I. The reader is referred to the preface of that volume for some account of the book, and of the manner in which it is presented in this series.

Continuing his narrative, Morga describes his voyage to Mexico, whither he goes (1603) to be a member of the Audiencia there. He then relates the events of the Chinese uprising in Luzón in that year, which has been fully described in previous volumes of this series; and his picturesque although plain narrative casts new light upon that episode. Many Spaniards in Manila are so alarmed by this danger that they remove, with all their households and property, to Nueva España; but one of the ships carrying them is lost at sea, and the other is compelled, after great injury and loss, to return to Manila—a serious calamity for the colony there. The governor does his best to fortify the city, and reënforcements and supplies are provided for him from Nueva España. Bishop Benavides dies (1605). Friars from the islands go to Japan, but the emperor of that country is offended at their preaching, and advises Acuña to restrain them. In the summer of 1605 arrive supplies and men from Nueva España, and Acuña proceeds with his preparations for the expedition against the Dutch in the Moluccas. In the following spring he sets out on this enterprise, conducting it in person; Morga describes this naval campaign in detail. Ternate is captured by the Spaniards without bombardment, and with little loss to themselves. The fugitive king of the island is persuaded to surrender to the Spaniards and become a vassal of Felipe. Several other petty rulers follow his example and promise not to allow the Dutch to engage in the clove trade. Acuña builds a new fort there, and another in Tidore, leaving Juan de Esquivel as governor of the Moluccas, with a garrison and several vessels for their defense, and carrying to Manila the king of Ternate and many of his nobles, as hostages. During Acuña’s absence a mutiny occurs among the Japanese near Manila, which is quelled mainly by the influence of the friars. The governor dies, apparently from poison, soon after his return to Manila. The trade of the islands is injured by the restrictions laid upon it by the home government; and the reduction of Ternate has not sufficed to restrain the Moro pirates. The natives of the Moluccas are uneasy and rebellious, especially as they have a prospect of aid from the Dutch, who are endeavoring to regain their lost possessions there. Morga cites a letter from a Spanish officer at La Palma, recounting the purpose and outcome of van Noordt’s expedition to the Indian archipelago.

The historical part of Morga’s account ends here; and the final chapter is devoted to a description of the islands and their people, the customs and religious beliefs of the natives, and the condition at that time of the Spanish colony and the city of Manila. He describes the principal islands of the Philippine group, beginning with Luzón; the various races of inhabitants—Moros, Negritos, and Visayans: their mode of dress, their occupations and industries, their habits of life; their weapons, their ships and boats; the trees and fruits of the islands; the animals and birds, both wild and tame; the reptiles, fishes, and other creatures; and various plants. Among these is the buyo (or betel); the habit of chewing it has become universal among the Spaniards, of all classes, and poison is often administered through its medium. Various means and methods of poisoning are described, as well as some antidotes therefor. Some account is given of the gold mines and pearl fisheries, and of other products of the country which form articles of commerce. Morga describes the two great lakes of Luzón (Bombon and Bai), Manila and its harbor and approaches, and other principal ports, with some neighboring islands; and gives some account of the Visayan people and the larger islands inhabited by them, and of the tides in the archipelago. Then follows an interesting and detailed account of the Filipino peoples, their language, customs, beliefs, etc. The language used in Luzón and other northern islands is different from that of the Visayas; but all the natives write, expressing themselves fluently and correctly, and using a simple alphabet which resembles the Arabic. Their houses, and their mode of life therein, are fully described; also their government, social organization, and administration of justice. The classes and status of slaves, and the causes of enslavement are recounted. Their customs in marriages and dowries, divorces, adoption, and inheritance are described; also in usury, trading, and punishment for crimes. The standard of social purity is described by Morga as being very low; yet infamous vices were not indigenous with them, but communicated by foreigners, especially by the Chinese. The natives of Luzón appear to be superior, both intellectually and morally, to the Visayan peoples. Their religious beliefs and practices are recounted by Morga, who naturally ascribes these to the influence of the devil. He also narrates the entrance of Mahometanism into the islands, and how it was checked by the coming of the Spaniards.

Morga next sketches the condition at that time of Spanish colonies in the islands. He describes the city of Manila in detail, with its fortifications, arsenals, government and municipal buildings, cathedral, and convents; also the seminary of Santa Potenciana, and the hospitals. There are six hundred houses, mostly built of stone, within the walls, and even more in the suburbs; “and all are the habitations and homes of Spaniards.” All the people, both men and women, are clad and gorgeously adorned in silks; and nowhere is there greater abundance of food, and of other necessaries of human life, than in Manila. Morga enumerates the dignitaries, ecclesiastical and civil, who reside in the city; and mentions it as the center and metropolis of the archipelago. He then briefly describes the other Spanish settlements in the Philippines; and mentions in their turn the various orders and their work there, with the number of laborers in each. He praises their efforts for the conversion, education, and social improvement of the Indians. He defines the functions of both the civil and the ecclesiastical authorities, and the policy of the government toward the natives; and describes the application and results in the Philippines of the encomienda system imported thither from America. He deprecates the permission given to the Indians for paying their tributes in kind or in money, at their option; for it has led to their neglecting their former industries, and thus to the general damage of the country. Slavery still exists among them, but the Spaniards have been forbidden to enslave the natives. Personal services of various sorts are due from the latter, however, to their encomenderos, to the religious, and to the king, for all of which they receive a moderate wage; and all other services for the Spaniards are voluntary and paid. Close restrictions are laid upon the intercourse of the Spaniards with natives. Various information is given regarding appointments to office, residencias, elections, town government, and finances; also of the ecclesiastical organization, expenses, and administration, as well as of the incomes of the religious orders. Morga recounts the numbers, character, pay, and organization of the military and naval forces in the islands. The bulk of the citizens are merchants and traders, commerce being the chief occupation and support of the Spanish colony. Manila is a market for all the countries of Eastern Asia, from Japan to Borneo. The China trade is restricted to the inhabitants of the Philippines; Morga describes its nature and extent, and the manner in which it is conducted, as well as the character and methods of the Chinese traders. A similar account is given of the trade carried on with the Philippines by the Japanese, Borneans, and other neighboring peoples, and of the shipment to Nueva España of the goods thus procured. This last commerce is “so great and profitable, and easy to control, that the Spaniards do not apply themselves to, or engage in, any other industry,” and thus not only they neglect to avail themselves of and develop the natural resources of the country, but the natives are neglecting and forgetting their former industries; and the supply of silver in the country steadily flows out of it and into the hands of infidels. Morga enumerates the officials, revenues, and expenditures of the colonial government. As its income is too small for its necessary expenses, the annual deficit is made up from the royal treasury of Nueva España. But this great expense is incurred “only for the Christianization and conversion of the natives, for the hopes of greater fruits in other kingdoms and provinces of Asia.”

The large extent of the Chinese immigration to the islands is disapproved by Morga, as unsafe to the Spaniards and injurious to the natives. Some Chinese are needed for the service of the Spaniards, for all the trades are carried on by them; but the number of Chinese allowed to live in the islands should be restricted to those who are thus needed. Morga describes the character, dress, mode of life, and settlements of the Chinese near Manila; they are cared for in religious matters by the Dominican friars. The Christian Chinese live apart from the heathens, in a settlement of some five hundred people; Morga has but a poor opinion of even these converts. Some account is also given of the Japanese who have settled in Manila; Morga commends them, and states that they prove to be good Christians.

He ends his work by a detailed account of the navigation and voyage to and from the Philippines. The Mexican port of departure for this route has been removed from Navidad to Acapulco. Morga describes the westward voyage; the stop at the Ladrone Islands, and the traffic of the natives with the ships; and the route thence, and among the Philippine Islands. The return route to Mexico is much more difficult and dangerous; for the winds are varying and not always favorable, and the ship must change its course more frequently, and go far north to secure favoring winds, there encountering cold weather. These severe changes cause much suffering, and even death; and the vessel makes this voyage without once touching land until it reaches Acapulco, a period of five or six months. Morga also describes the voyage to Spain by way of Goa and the Cape of Good Hope, which also is long and dangerous.

THE EDITORS January, 1907.

SUCESOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS (concluded)

By Dr. Antonio de Morga. Mexico: at the shop of Geronymo Balli in the year 1609; printed by Cornelio Adriano Cesar.

Source: The translation is made from the Harvard copy of the original printed work.

TRANSLATION: This is made by Alfonso de Salvio, Norman F. Hall, and James Alexander Robertson.

EVENTS IN THE FILIPINAS ISLANDS. [172] CHAPTER SEVENTH (concluded) On the tenth [of July] [173] of the same year, the vessels “Espiritu-Santo” and “Jesus Maria” left the port of Cabit en route for Nueva España—in the wake of two smaller vessels, which had been despatched a fortnight before—with the Filipinas merchandise. Don Lope de Ulloa was their commander, while Doctor Antonio de Morga left those islands in the almiranta, the “Santo Espiritu,” to fill the office of alcalde of the court of Mexico. Before leaving the bay, both vessels were struck head on by a storm, and went dragging upon the coast, buffeted by the heavy seas and winds, and amid dark and tempestuous weather, from three in the afternoon until morning of the next day, notwithstanding that they were anchored with two heavy cables in the shelter of the land, and their topmasts struck. Then they grounded upon the coast, in La Pampanga, ten leguas from Manila. The storm lasted for three more consecutive days. Consequently it was regarded as impossible for those vessels to sail and make their voyage, inasmuch as the season was now well advanced, and the vessels were very large and heavily laden, and were deeply imbedded in the sand. Advice was immediately sent overland to Manila, whence were brought several Chinese ships, cables, and anchors. By dint of the great efforts exerted, both vessels, each singly, were fitted with tackle and cables, which were rigged at the stern. There awaiting the high tide, the ships were drawn, by force of capstan and men, stern first for more than one legua through a bank of sand, upon which they had struck, until they were set afloat, on the twenty-second of July, St. Magdelen’s day. Immediately they set sail again, as the vessels had sustained no injury, nor sprung any leak; and they made their voyage and navigation, under light winds, to the coast of Nueva España. A violent south-southwest gale, accompanied by heavy showers, hail, and cold, struck the ship “Espiritu Sancto” on the tenth of November, in forty-two degrees, and within sight of land. The wind was blowing obliquely toward the shore, upon which the vessel was almost wrecked several times. The vessel suffered distress and lost its rigging, while the crew was worn out by the voyage and with the cold. The storm lasted until November twenty-second. On the morning of that day, while the ship was in the trough of the waves, and with topmasts shipped, it was struck by a squall of rain and hail, accompanied by great darkness. A thunderbolt, descending the mainmast, struck the vessel amidships. It killed three men besides wounding and maiming eight others; it had entered the hatches, and torn open the mainhatch, with a blaze of light, so that the interior of the ship could be seen. Another thunderbolt fell down along the same mast among the entire crew, and stunned sixteen persons, some of whom were speechless and unconscious all that day. It left the vessel by the pump-dale. The next day, the wind veered to north-northeast, whereupon the ship set sail, and went coasting along the land, with sufficient winds until the nineteenth of the month of December, when it made port at Acapulco. There were found the two smaller vessels that had sailed first from Manila. Three days later, General Don Lope de Ulloa entered the same port of Acapulco, in the ship “Jesus Maria.” That vessel had sustained the same storms as the ship “Espiritu Sancto.” From the time when the two vessels had separated, on sailing out of the channel of Capul, in the Filipinas Islands, they had not sighted one another again during the entire voyage.

In the same year six hundred and three, Governor Don Pedro de Acuña sent the ship “Sanctiago” from Manila to Japon, with merchandise. It was ordered to make its voyage to Quanto, in order to comply with the desire and wish of Daifusama. As news had been already received of the death of Fray Geronimo de Jesus, four of the most important religious of his order in Manila—namely, Fray Diego de Bermeo [174] (who had been provincial), Fray Alonso de la Madre de Dios, Fray Luys Sotello, [175] and one other associate—sailed on that vessel for the said kingdom.

As soon as the ships “Jesus Maria” and “Espiritu Sancto” sailed for Nueva España, and the ship “Sanctiago” with the religious for Japon, there was more time to discuss further the matter started by the coming of the Chinese mandarins. For finding themselves unoccupied with other matters, fear of the Sangleys became universal, and the suspicions that were current that the Sangleys were about to commit some mischievous outbreak. This the archbishop and some religious affirmed and told, publicly and privately. At this time, a considerable number of Chinese were living in Manila and its environs. Some of them were baptized Christians living in the settlements of Baibai and Minondoc, [176] on the other side of the river, opposite the city. Most of them were infidels, occupied and living in these same settlements and in the shops of the parián in the city; [they were employed] as merchants and in all other occupations. The majority of them were fishermen, stonecutters, charcoal-burners, porters, masons, and day-laborers. Greater security was always felt in regard to the merchants, for they are the better class of people, and those who are most interested, because of their property. So great security was not felt about the others, even though they were Christians; because, as they are a poor and covetous people, they would be inclined to any act of meanness. However, it was always thought that it would be difficult for them to cause any commotion, unless a strong fleet came from China, on which they could rely. Talk continued to increase daily, and with it suspicion; for some of the Chinese themselves, both infidels and Christians, in order to prove themselves friends of the Spaniards, and clean from all guilt, even told the Spaniards that there was to be an insurrection shortly, and other similar things. Although the governor always considered these statements as fictions and the exaggerations of that nation, and did not credit them, yet he was not so heedless that he did not act cautiously and watch, although with dissembling, for whatever might happen. He took pains to have the city guarded and the soldiers armed, besides flattering the most prominent of the Chinese and the merchants, whom he assured of their lives and property. The natives of La Pampanga and other provinces near by were instructed beforehand to supply the city with rice and other provisions, and to come to reënforce it with their persons and arms, should necessity arise. The same was done with some Japanese in the city. As all this was done with some publicity, since it could not be done secretly, as so many were concerned, one and all became convinced of the certainty of the danger. Many even desired it, in order to see the peace disturbed, and to have the opportunity to seize something. [177] From that time, both in the city and its environs, where the Sangleys were living scattered, these people began to persecute the Sangleys by word and deed. The natives, Japanese and soldiers of the camp took from them their possessions and inflicted on them other ill-treatment, calling them dogs and traitors, and saying that they knew well that they meant to rebel. But they said they would kill all the Sangleys first, and that very soon, for the governor was preparing for it. This alone was sufficient to make it necessary for the Sangleys to do what they had no intention of doing. [178] Some of the most clever and covetous set themselves to rouse the courage of the others, and to make themselves leaders, telling the Sangleys that their destruction was sure, according to the determination which they saw in the Spaniards, unless they should anticipate the latter, since they [the Sangleys] were so numerous, and attack and capture the city. They said that it would not be difficult for them to kill the Spaniards, seize their possessions, and become masters of the country, with the aid and reënforcements that would immediately come to them from China, as soon as the auspicious beginning that they would have made in the matter should be known. In order to do this when the time came, it was advisable to build a fort and quarters in some retired and strong place near the city, where the people could gather and unite, and where arms and supplies could be provided for the war. At least such a fort would be sufficient to assure there their lives from the outrages that they were expecting from the Spaniards. It was learned that the chief mover in this matter was a Christian Sangley, an old-time resident in the country, named Joan Bautista de Vera. [179] He was rich and highly esteemed by the Spaniards, and feared and respected by the Sangleys. He had often been governor of the latter, and had many godchildren and dependents. He had become an excellent Spaniard, and was courageous. He himself, exercising duplicity and cunning, did not leave the city, or the houses of the Spanish during this time, in order to arouse less suspicion of himself. From there he managed the affair through his confidants; and in order to assure himself better of the result, and to ascertain the number of men of his race, and to make a census and list of them, he cunningly had each of them ordered to bring him a needle, which he pretended to be necessary for a certain work that he had to do. These needles he placed, as he received them, in a little box; and when he took them out of it, he found that he had sufficient men for his purpose. They began to construct the fort or quarters immediately at a distance of slightly more than one-half legua from the village of Tondo, among some estuaries and swamps, and in a hidden location. [180] They stored there some rice and other provisions, and weapons of little importance. The Sangleys began to gather there, especially the masses—the common people and day-laborers; for those of the parián, and the mechanics, although urged to do the same, did not resolve to do it, and remained quiet, guarding their houses and property. The restlessness of the Sangleys daily continued to become more inflamed. This, and the advices given to the governor and the Spaniards, kept the latter more anxious and apprehensive, and made them talk more openly of the matter. The Sangleys, seeing that their intention was discovered, and that delay might be of so great harm to them, determined, although the insurrection was planned for St. Andrew’s day, the last of November, to anticipate that day, and to lose no more time. On Friday, the third day of the month of October, the eve of St. Francis, they collected very hurriedly in the above-mentioned fort; consequently, by nightfall, there were two thousand men in it. Joan Bautista de Vera—a thief in the rôle of an honest man, since he was the leader and organizer of the treason—went immediately to the city and told the governor that the Sangleys had risen, and that they were collecting on the other side of the river. The governor, suspecting the mischief, had him immediately arrested and carefully guarded; and he was afterward executed. Then, without tap of drum, the governor ordered the companies, both of the camp and the city, to be notified, and all to hold their arms in readiness. Very shortly after nightfall, Don Luys Dasmariñas, who was living near the monastery and church of Minondoc, on the other side of the river, came hurriedly to the city to advise the governor that the Sangleys had revolted. He asked for twenty soldiers to go to the other side [of the river], where he would guard the said monastery. Cristoval de Axqueta, sargento-mayor of the camp, went with these men, together with Don Luys. As the silence of night deepened, the noise made by the Sangleys grew louder, for they were continuing to assemble and were sounding horns and other instruments, after their fashion. Don Luys remained to guard the monastery, with the men brought from Manila, where he had placed in shelter many women and children of Christian Sangleys, with the religious. The sargento-mayor returned immediately to the city, where he told of what was being done. The call to arms was sounded, for the noise and shouts of the Sangleys, who had sallied out to set fire to some houses in the country, was so great that it was thought that they were devastating that district. The Sangleys burned, first, a stone country-house belonging to Captain Estevan de Marquina. The latter was living there with his wife and children; and none of them escaped, except a little girl, who was wounded, but who was hidden in a thicket. [181] Thence the Sangleys went to the settlement of Laguio, [182] situated on the shore of the river, and burned it. They killed several Indians of that settlement, and the rest fled to the city. There the gates were already shut and all the people, with arms in hand, manned the walls and other suitable posts, ready for any emergency, until dawn. The enemy, who now had a greater number of men, retired to their fort, to make another sally thence with more force. Don Luys Dasmariñas, who was guarding the church and monastery of Minondoc, expected hourly that the enemy was about to attack him, and sent a messenger to the governor to beg for more men. These were sent him, and consisted of regulars and inhabitants of the city, under Captains Don Tomas Brabo de Acuña (the governor’s nephew), Joan de Alcega, Pedro de Arzeo, and Gaspar Perez, by whose counsel and advice Don Luys was to be guided on this occasion. All was confusion, shouting, and outcry in the city, particularly among the Indians, and the women and children, who were coming thither for safety. Although, to make certain of the Sangleys of the parián, their merchants had been asked to come into the city, and bring their property, they did not dare to do so; for they always thought that the enemy would take the city because of their great force of numbers, and annihilate the Spaniards, and they would all be in danger. Consequently they preferred to remain in their parián, in order to join the victorious side. Don Luys Dasmariñas thought it advisable to go in search of the enemy immediately with the reënforcements sent him by the governor, before they should all assemble and present a strong front. He left seventy soldiers in Minondoc, in charge of Gaspar Perez; while with the rest, about one hundred and forty of the best picked arquebusiers, he went to the village of Tondo, in order to fortify himself in the church, a stone building. He arrived there at eleven o’clock in the morning. The Chinese, in number one thousand five hundred, arrived at the same place at the same time, bent on the same purpose. An hour’s skirmish took place between the two sides, as to which one would gain the monastery. Captain Gaspar Perez came up with the reënforcement of the men left at Minondoc. The enemy retired to his fort, with a loss of five hundred men. Gaspar Perez returned to his post, where Pedro de Arzeo was also stationed. Don Luys Dasmariñas, exultant over this fortunate engagement, determined immediately to press forward in pursuit of the enemy with his men, notwithstanding the heat of the sun and without waiting to rest his followers. He sent Alferez Luys de Ybarren to reconnoiter. The latter brought word that the enemy was in great force, and near by. Although Juan de Alcega and others requested Don Luys to halt and rest his men, and await the governor’s orders as to what was to be done, his desire not to lose the opportunity was so great that, rousing his men with harsh words, in order to make them follow him, he marched forward until they reached a swamp. After leaving the swamp, they came suddenly into a large clearing, where the enemy was stationed. The latter, upon seeing the Spaniards, surrounded them in force on all sides, armed with clubs, some with catans, and a few with battle-axes. Don Luys and his men, not being able to retreat, fought valiantly, and killed a number of Sangleys. But finally, as the latter were in so great force, they cut all the Spaniards to pieces, only four of whom escaped, badly wounded; and these carried the news to Manila. [183] This result was of great importance to the Sangleys, both because so many and the best Spanish soldiers were killed in this place, and because of the weapons that the Sangleys took from them, and which they needed. With these arms they flattered themselves that their object was more certain of accomplishment. Next day, October five, the Sangleys sent the heads of Don Luys, Don Tomas, Joan de Alcega, and other captains to the parián; and they told the Sangleys there that, since the flower of Manila had been killed, they should revolt and join them, or they would immediately come to kill them. The confusion and grief of the Spaniards in the city was so great that it prevented them from taking the precautions and exercising the diligence demanded by the affair. But the sight of their necessity, and the spirit of their governor and officials made them all remain at their posts on the walls, arms in hand. They fortified as strongly as possible the gates of the parián and of Dilao, and all that part of the wall where the enemy might make an assault. They mounted a piece of artillery above each gate, and stationed there the best men, among whom were religious of all the orders. Upon that day, Sunday, the enemy, flushed with the victory of the preceding day and their army swelled by the additional men that joined them, attacked the city. Burning and destroying everything in their path, they went to the river, for there was no vessel with which to resist them, as all those of the fleet were in the provinces of the Pintados. They entered the parián, [184] and furiously assaulted the city gate, but were driven back by the arquebuses and muskets, with the loss of many Sangleys. They went to the church of Dilao, and there assaulted the gate and walls (which were there lower), by means of scaling-ladders, with the same determination. But they experienced the same resistance and loss, which compelled them, on the approach of night, to retire with great loss to the parián and to Dilao. That whole night the Spaniards spent in guarding their wall, and in preparing for the morrow. The enemy passed the night in the parián and at Dilao, making carts, mantelets, scaling-ladders, artificial fire, and other contrivances, for approaching and assaulting the wall, and for burning the gates, and setting fire to everything. At dawn of the next day, Monday, the Sangleys came together with these arms and tools, and having reached the wall with their bravest and best-armed men, attacked it with great fury and resolution. The artillery destroyed their machines, and caused them so great injury and resistance with it and the arquebuses, that the Sangleys were forced to retire again to the parián and to Dilao, with heavy loss. Joan Xuarez Gallinato, accompanied by some soldiers and a Japanese troop, made a sally from the Dilao gate upon the Sangleys. They reached the church, when the Sangleys turned upon them and threw the Japanese into disorder. The latter were the cause of all retreating again to seek the protection of the walls, whither the Sangleys pursued them. At this juncture Captain Don Luys de Velasco entered Manila. He came from the Pintados in a stout caracoa, manned by some good arquebusiers, while others manned some bancas that sailed in the shelter of the caracoa. They approached the parián and Dilao by the river, and harassed the enemy quartered there on that and the two following days, so that they were compelled to abandon those positions. These vessels set fire to the parián, and burned everything, and pursued the enemy wherever they could penetrate. The Sangleys, upon beholding their cause waning, and their inability to attain the end desired, resolved to retire from the city, after having lost more than four thousand men; to advise China, so that that country would reënforce them; and for their support to divide their men into three divisions in different districts—one among the Tingues of Passic, the second among those of Ayonbon, and the third at La Laguna de Bay, San Pablo, and Batangas. On Wednesday they abandoned the city completely, and, divided as above stated, marched inland. Don Luys de Velasco, with some soldiers and armed Indians who came from all sides to the relief of Manila, accompanied by some Spaniards who guided them, and the religious from their missions, went by way of the river in pursuit of them, and pressed them, so that they killed and annihilated the bands bound for the Tingues of Passic and for Ayombon. The majority and main body of the Sangleys went to La Laguna de Bay, the mountains of San Pablo, and Batangas, where they considered themselves more secure. Burning towns and churches, and everything in their path, they fortified themselves in the above-mentioned sites. Don Luys de Velasco, with seventy soldiers, continued to pursue them, killing each day a great number of them. On one occasion Don Luys was so closely engaged with the enemy, that the latter killed him and ten soldiers of his company, and fortified themselves again in San Pablo and Batangas, where they hoped to be able to sustain themselves until the arrival of reënforcements from China. [185]

The governor, fearful of this danger, and desirous of finishing the enemy, and giving entire peace to the country, sent Captain and Sargento-mayor Cristoval de Axqueta Menchaca with soldiers to pursue and finish the enemy. This man left with two hundred Spaniards—soldiers and volunteers—three hundred Japanese, and one thousand five hundred Pampanga and Tagál Indians, [186] on the twentieth of October. He was so expeditious, that with little or no loss of men, he found the Sangleys fortified in San Pablo and Batangas, and, after fighting with them, killed and destroyed them all. None escaped, except two hundred, who were taken alive to Manila for the galleys. The captain was occupied in this for twenty days, and with it the war was ended. Very few merchants were left in Manila, and they had taken the good counsel to betake themselves, with their possessions, among the Spaniards in the city. At the beginning of the war there were not seven hundred Spaniards in the city capable of bearing arms. [187]

After the end of the war, the need of the city began, for, because of not having Sangleys who worked at the trades, and brought in all the provisions, there was no food, nor any shoes to wear, not even at excessive prices. The native Indians are very far from exercising those trades, and have even forgotten much of farming, and the raising of fowls, cattle, and cotton, and the weaving of cloth, which they used to do in the days of their paganism and for a long time after the conquest of the country. [188] In addition to this, people thought that Chinese vessels would not come to the islands with food and merchandise, on account of the late revolution. Above all, they lived not without fear and suspicion that, instead of the merchant vessels, an armed fleet would attack Manila, in order to avenge the death of their Sangleys. All conspired to sadden the minds of the Spaniards. After having sent Fray Diego de Guevara, prior of the monastery of St. Augustine in Manila, to the court of España by way of India, with news of this event—but who was unable to reach Madrid for three years, because of his various fortunes in India, Persia, and Italia, through which countries he went—they immediately sent Captain Marco de la Cueva, together with Fray Luys Gandullo of the Order of St. Dominic, to the city of Macao in China, where the Portuguese were living, with letters for the chief captain and the council of that city. These letters advised the latter of the revolt of the Sangleys, and of the result of the war, so that, if they should hear any rumors of a Chinese fleet, they could send word. At the same time letters were taken from the governor to the Tutons, Aytaos, and visitors of the provinces of Canton and Chincheo, recounting the outbreak of the Chinese, which obliged the Spaniards to kill them. Upon their arrival at Macao, Marcos de la Cueva and Fray Luys Gandullo found no news of a fleet, but that everything was quiet—although the Chinese had already heard of the insurrection and much of the result, from some Sangleys who had fled from Manila in champans, upon that occasion. It was immediately learned in Chincheo that these Spaniards were in Macao, whereupon Captains Guansan Sinu and Guachan, wealthy men and usually engaged in trade with Manila, went to look for them. Having learned the truth of the event, they took the letters for the mandarins and promised to deliver them. They urged other merchants and vessels of Chincheo, who were afraid, to go to Manila that year. This was very useful, for through them much of the necessity that the city [of Manila] was suffering was supplied. With this result and with some powder, saltpeter, and lead which Marcos de la Cueva had provided for the magazines, the latter left Macao, and sailed to Manila, which he reached in May, to the universal joy of the city over the news that he brought—which began to be verified immediately by the coming of the fleet of thirteen Chinese vessels bearing food and merchandise.

In the month of June of this year six hundred and three, [189] two vessels were despatched from Manila to Nueva España, under command of Don Diego de Mendoça who had been sent that year by the viceroy, Marques de Montesclaros, with the usual reënforcements for the islands. The flagship was “Nuestra Señora de los Remedios” and the almiranta “Sant Antonio.”

Many rich men of Manila, warned by the past troubles, took passage in these vessels with their households and property, for Nueva España—especially in the almiranta—with the greatest wealth that has ever left the Filipinas. Both vessels experienced so severe storms during the voyage, in the altitude of thirty-four degrees, and before having passed Japon, that the flagship, without masts and greatly lightened and damaged, put back in distress to Manila. The almiranta was swallowed up in the sea, and no one was saved. This was one of the greatest shipwrecks and calamities that the Filipinas have suffered since the past ones.

During the rest of that year and that of six hundred and five, until the sailing of the vessels which were to go to Castilla, [190] the governor occupied himself in repairing the city, and supplying it with provisions and ammunition, with the special object and care that the decision which he was awaiting from the court for making an expedition to Maluco—of which he had been advised and warned—should not find him so unprepared as to cause him to delay the expedition. In this he was very successful, for at that same time, the master-of-camp, Joan de Esquivel, had arrived in Mexico with six hundred soldiers from España. In Mexico more men were being enrolled, and a great preparation was made of ammunition, food, money, and arms, which the viceroy sent to the governor from Nueva España in March of that year, by order of his Majesty, in order that he might go to Maluco. All this arrived safely and in due season at Manila.

Shortly after the ships had left Manila for Nueva España, and those despatched thence by the viceroy had entered, Archbishop Don Fray Miguel de Benavides died of a long illness. His body was buried amid the universal devotion and grief of the city. [191] At this same time, Don Pedro de Acuña received three letters, by the ships that continued to come from China that year, with the merchandise and with their principal captains. They were all of the same tenor—when translated into Castilian—from the Tuton and Haytao, and from the inspector-general of the province of Chincheo, and were on the matter of the insurrection of the Sangleys and their punishment. They were as follows:

[This letter occupies folios 113b-115a of the original edition of Morga. We have already presented that document in our V0L. XIII, p. 287, which is translated from a copy of the original manuscript. The answer of Acuña to this letter will be found in V0L. XIV, in the second document of that volume.]

The letter of the inspector-general was written on the twelfth of the second month—which according to our reckoning is March of the twenty-third year of the reign of Vandel [i.e., Wanleh]. The eunuch’s [192] letter was written on the sixteenth of the said month and year; and that of the viceroy, on the twenty-second of the month.

The governor answered these letters through the same messengers, civilly and authoritatively. He gave an explanation of the deed and justified the Spaniards, and offered friendship and trade anew with the Chinese. He said that their property, which had remained in Manila, would be restored to the owners, and that those imprisoned in the galleys would be freed in due season. First, however, he intended to use them for the Maluco expedition, which he was undertaking.

The entrances into various provinces of Japon by the discalced religious of St. Francis and those of St. Dominic and St. Augustine, continued to be made, both in the Castilian vessel itself which was despatched that year to the kingdoms of Quanto, [193] and in other Japanese vessels which came to Manila with the silver and flour of the Japanese, in order to trade. This was permitted and allowed by Daifu, now called Cubosama, who that year sent the governor, through one of his servants, certain weapons and presents, in return for others which the governor had sent him. He answered the latter’s letter as follows:

Letter from Daifusama, lord of Japon, to governor Don Pedro de Acuña, in the year one thousand six hundred and five.

I received two letters from your Lordship, and all the gifts and presents mentioned in the memorandum. Among them, when I received them, the wine made from grapes pleased me greatly. During former years, your Lordship requested permission for six vessels, and last year for four, and I always granted your request. But, what angers me greatly is that among the four vessels that your Lordship requested was that one called “Antonio,” which made the voyage without my orders. This was a very lawless act, and in contempt of me. Can it be, perhaps, that your Lordship would send to Japon without my permission any vessel that you wished? Besides this, your Lordship and others have often negotiated about the sects of Japon, and requested many things in regard to them. This likewise I cannot concede; for this region is called Xincoco [Shinkoku], or “dedicated to the idols.” These have been honored with the highest adoration from the time of our ancestors until now, and their acts I alone cannot undo or destroy. Consequently, it is not at all advisable that your religion be promulgated or preached in Japon; and if your Lordship wish to preserve friendship with these kingdoms of Japon and with me, do what I wish, and never do what is displeasing to me. Lastly, many have told me that many wicked and perverse Japanese, who go to that kingdom and live there for many years, afterward return to Japon. This makes me very angry. Consequently, your Lordship will, in the future, allow no one of the Japanese to come here in the vessels that come from your country. In other matters, your Lordship shall act advisedly and prudently, and shall so conduct affairs, that henceforth I may not be angered on account of them.

The governor, carrying out his dearest wish, was to make the expedition to Terrenate in the Malucos, which should be done quickly, before the enemy could gather more strength than he had then; for he had been informed that the Dutch, who had seized the island and fortress of Amboino, had done the same with that of Tidore, whence they had driven the Portuguese who had settled therein, and had entered Terrenate, where they had established a trading-post for the clove-trade. Accordingly, as soon as the despatches in regard to this undertaking arrived from España, in June of six hundred and five, and the men and supplies from Nueva España, which were brought at the same time by the master-of-camp, Joan de Esquivel, the governor spent the balance of this year in preparing the ships, men, and provisions that he deemed necessary for the undertaking. Leaving behind in Manila sufficient force for its defense, he went to the provinces of Pintados, where the fleet was collected, in the beginning of the year six hundred and six.

By the fifteenth day of the month of March, the governor had thoroughly prepared the fleet—which consisted of five ships, four galleys with poop-lanterns [galeras de fanal], three galliots, four champans, three funeas, two English lanchas, two brigantines, one barca chata [194] for the artillery, and thirteen fragatas with high freeboard. There were one thousand three hundred Spaniards, counting regulars, captains and officers, substitutes [entretenidos], and volunteers. Among them were some Portuguese captains and soldiers, under charge of the chief captain of Tidore, [195] who was at that island when the Dutch seized it. These Portuguese came from Malaca to serve in the expedition. There were also four hundred Indian pioneers—Tagáls and Pampangos of Manila—who went to serve at their own cost, under their own officers, and with their own weapons. There was a quantity of artillery of all kinds, ammunition, tools, and provisions for nine months. [196] Don Pedro de Acuña left the point of Hilohilo, which is near the town of Arevalo in the island of Panai, [on the above day] with all this equipment, and coasting the island of Mindanao, made port at La Caldera, in order to replenish his water, wood, and other necessaries.

The governor embarked in the galley “Santiago” and took under his charge the other galleys and oared vessels. The ship “Jesus Maria” acted as flagship of the other vessels, and was commanded by the master-of-camp, Joan de Esquivel. Captain and Sargento-mayor Cristoval de Azcueta Menchaca acted as admiral of the fleet, which, after attending to its necessities at La Caldera, left that port. On setting sail, the flagship, which was a heavy vessel, was unable to leave port, and the currents drove it shoreward so that, without the others being able to help it, it grounded. It was wrecked there, but the crew, artillery, and a portion of its ammunition and clothing, were saved. After setting fire to the ship, and taking what nails and bolts they could, so that the Mindanaos could not make use of them, the fleet continued its voyage. The galleys coasted along the island of Mindanao, and the ships and other deep-draught vessels sailed in the open sea, all making for the port of Talangame, in the island of Terrenate. The vessels, although experiencing some changes of weather, first sighted the islands of Maluco, after they had been reconnoitered by a large Dutch ship, well equipped with artillery, which was anchored at Terrenate. This vessel fired some heavy artillery at our vessels, and then immediately entered the port, where it fortified itself under shelter of the land, and with its artillery and crew and the people of Terrenate. The master-of-camp went with his vessels to the island of Tidore, where he was well received by the Moro chiefs and cachils; for the king was away, as he had gone to the island of Bachan to be married. The master-of-camp found four Dutch factors there, who were trading for cloves. He learned from them that the ship at Terrenate was from Holland, and was one of those which had sailed from Amboino and seized Tidore, whence it had driven the Portuguese, and that it was being laden with cloves. It was awaiting other vessels of its convoy, for they had made friendship and treaties with Tidore and Terrenate, in order to be protected against the Castilians and Portuguese. The master-of-camp had the king of Tidore summoned immediately, and, while awaiting Don Pedro de Acuña, rested his men and cleaned the ships, and made gabions and other things necessary for the war. Don Pedro de Acuña, through his pilots’ fault, had gone thirty leguas to leeward of the island of Terrenate toward the island of Celebes, otherwise called Mateo. Recognizing that island, he returned to Terrenate, and passing in sight of Talangame, discovered the Dutch vessel. He tried to reconnoiter it, but after seeing that it was harming his galleys with its artillery, and that the master-of-camp was not there, he proceeded to Tidore, where he found the latter, to the great joy of all. There they spent the remainder of the month of March. At this juncture the king of Tidore arrived, with twelve well-armed caracoas. He expressed joy at the governor’s coming, to whom he complained at length of the tyranny and subjection in which he was kept by Sultan Zayde, [197] king of Terrenate, who was aided by the Dutch. He offered to go in person to serve his Majesty in the fleet, with six hundred men of Tidore. Don Pedro received him and feasted him. Then, without any further delay at Tidore, or any more concern about the ship at Talangame, he set about the chief purpose for which they had come. On the last of March he started to return to Terrenate. On that day he anchored in a harbor between the settlement and the port, as did also the king of Tidore with his caracoas. That same night the Dutch ship weighed anchor and went to Amboino. At dawn of next day, April first, soldiers were landed with some difficulty, with the intention of marching along the shore (which was a very close and narrow stretch) to the fort, in order to plant the artillery, with which to bombard it. As the governor thought that mischief would ensue because of the narrowness and closeness of the pass, he landed a number of pioneers on the high ground, to open another road, so that the remainder of the army might pass, and the enemy be diverted in several directions. By these efforts, he placed his camp under the walls, although a great number of Terenatans came from various directions to prevent him. The vanguard of the camp was in charge of Joan Xuarez Gallinato and Captains Joan de Cuevas, Don Rodrigo de Mendoça, Pasqual de Alarcon, Joan de Cervantes, Captain Vergara, and Cristoval de Villagra, with their companies. The other captains were in the body of the squadron. The rearguard was under command of Captain Delgado, while the master-of-camp aided in all parts. The army came up within range of the enemy’s artillery, which suddenly began to play. The governor came to see how the troops were formed, and, leaving them at their post, returned to the fleet to have the pieces brought out for bombarding, and to obtain refreshment for the soldiers. Some high trees intervened between the troops and the wall, in which the enemy had posted some scouts to reconnoiter the field. They were driven down, and our own scouts posted there, who gave advice from above of what was being done in the fort. Captain Vergara, and after him, Don Rodrigo de Mendoça and Alarcon, went to reconnoiter the walls, the bastion of Nuestra Señora, and the pieces mounted on the ground there, and a low wall of rough stone which extended to the mountain, where there was a bastion in which the wall ended. It was called Cachiltulo, and was defended with pieces of artillery and a number of culverins, muskets, arquebuses, and pikes; while many other weapons peculiar to the Terenatans were placed along the wall for its defense. Having seen and reconnoitered all this, although not with impunity, because the enemy had killed six soldiers with the artillery and wounded Alferez Joan de la Rambla in the knee with a musket-ball, the Spaniards returned to the army. A trifle past noon, a lofty site was reconnoitered, in the direction of the bastion of Cachiltulo, whence the enemy could be attacked and driven from the wall; and Captain Cuevas was ordered to occupy it with twenty-five musketeers. Having done this, the enemy sent out a crowd of men to prevent him from occupying it. A skirmish ensued, and the Moros turned and retreated to their wall. Cuevas followed them so closely and persisted so long, that he needed reënforcement. The scouts in the trees gave information of what was being done, whereupon Captains Don Rodrigo de Mendoça, Alarcon, Cervantes, and Vergara reënforced him with their light-armed pikemen and halberdiers. They pursued the enemy with so great rapidity and resolution that they entered the walls behind them. However, some of the Spaniards were wounded, and Captain Cervantes was pushed down from the wall and his legs broken, which caused his death. Captain Don Rodrigo de Mendoça, pursuing the enemy, who were retiring, ran inside the wall as far as the cavalier of Nuestra Señora, while Vergara ran in the opposite direction along the curtain of the wall to the bastion of Cachiltulo, and went on as far as the mountain. By this time the main body of the army had already assaulted the wall. Mutually aiding one another, they mounted the wall and entered the place on all sides, although with the loss of some dead and wounded soldiers. The soldiers were stopped by a trench beyond the fort of Nuestra Señora, for the enemy had retreated to a shed, which was fortified with a considerable number of musketeers and arquebusiers, and four light pieces. They discharged their arquebuses and muskets at the Spaniards, and threw cane spears hardened in fire, and bacacaes, [198] after their fashion. The Spaniards assaulted the shed, whereupon a Dutch artilleryman trying to fire a large swivel-gun, with which he would have done great damage, being confused did not succeed, and threw down the linstock, turned, and fled. The enemy did the same after him, and abandoned the shed, fleeing in all directions. Those who would do so embarked with the king and some of his wives and the Dutch in one caracoa and four juangas [199] which they had armed near the king’s fort. Captain Vergara entered the fort immediately, but found it deserted. Don Rodrigo de Mendoça and Villagra pursued the enemy toward the mountain for a long distance, and killed many Moros. With this, at two o’clock in the afternoon, the settlement and fort of Terrenate was completely gained. The Spanish banners and standards were flung from it, without it having been necessary for them to bombard the walls, as they had expected; and the fort was taken at so slight cost to the Spaniards. Their dead numbered fifteen men, and the wounded twenty more. The whole town was reconnoitered, even its extremity—a small fort, called Limataen—which contained two pieces of artillery, and two other pieces near the mosque on the seashore. The loot of the place was of small importance, for already the things of most value, and the women and children, had been removed to the island of Moro, whither the king fled and took refuge in a fort that he had there. Some products of that land were found, and a great quantity of cloves. In the factory of the Dutch were found two thousand ducados, some cloth goods and linens, and many weapons, while in many places were excellent Portuguese and Dutch artillery, a number of culverins and a quantity of ammunition, of which possession was taken for his Majesty. [200] A guard was placed over what was gained, and the place was put in a condition for defense with some pieces taken from the fleet, while the governor ordered and provided whatever else was advisable.

Cachil Amuxa, the king’s nephew and the greatest chief of Terrenate, came with other cachils to make peace with the governor. He said that he and all the Terenatans wished to be vassals of his Majesty, and that they would have rendered homage long before, but the king prevented them. The latter as a proud man, and, confident in his own opinion, although he had been advised to surrender the fort to his Majesty and render him homage, had steadily refused to do so, having been encouraged and emboldened by the success that he had gained upon other occasions. That was the reason that he found himself in his present wretched condition. He offered to induce the king to leave the fort of Moro if given assurance of life. Don Pedro de Acuña received this Moro well, and as a Portuguese, Pablo de Lima—one of those whom the Dutch had driven from Tidore, a man of high standing, and well acquainted with the king—offered to accompany him, the governor despatched them with a written passport as follows:

Passport from Don Pedro de Acuña to the king of Terrenate

I, Don Pedro de Acuña, governor, captain-general, and president of the Filipinas Islands, and general of this army and fleet, declare that, over my signature, I hereby give security of life to the king of Terrenate, in order that he may come to talk with me—both to him and those whom he may bring with him—reserving to myself the disposal of all the others as I may see fit. I certify this in his Majesty’s name. And I order that no person of this fleet molest him or any of his possessions, and that all observe what is herein contained. Given in Terrenate, April six, one thousand six hundred and six.

DON PEDRO DE ACUÑA Within nine days Cachilamuja and Pablo de Lima returned to Terrenate with the king, the prince, his son, [201] and others of his relatives, cachils and sangajes, [202] under the said passport. They placed themselves under the governor’s power, and he received them with great affection and respect. He lodged the king and his son in a good house in the settlement, under guard of a company. The king restored the villages of Christians that his Majesty had possessed in the island of Moro, when the fort of Terrenate was lost by the Portuguese. He placed his person and kingdom in his Majesty’s power, and surrendered a quantity of muskets and heavy artillery that he had in some forts of the said island. The governor did not despoil him of his kingdom, but on the contrary allowed him to appoint two of his men to govern, whose choice was to be ratified by himself. The king, his son the prince, and their cachils and sangajes swore homage to his Majesty. The kings of Tidore and Bachan, and the sangaje of La Bua did the same, and covenanted and promised not to admit either the Dutch or other nations into Maluco for the clove-trade. They promised, as his Majesty’s vassals, to go on all occasions to serve him with their persons, men, and ships, whenever summoned by whomever commanded the fort of Terrenate; that they would oppose no obstacles to the Moros who wished to become Christians; that if any wicked Christian went to their lands to turn renegade, they would surrender him; and other suitable things. Therewith great and small were content and pleased, since they were freed from the tyranny of the king of Terrenate. The governor remitted to them the third part of the tributes which they were wont to pay their king, and gave the Moros other advantages. Then he planned a new and modern fort, in a very conspicuous and suitable location, and began to build it. In order that the old fort might be better defended while the new one was being completed, he reduced it to a less size, by making new cavaliers and bastions, which he finished and furnished with ramparts and stout gates. He commenced another fort in the island of Tidore, on a good location near the settlement. After placing in order whatever he judged necessary in Terrenate and Tidore, and in the other towns and fortresses of Maluco, he returned with his fleet to the Filipinas. He left the master-of-camp, Joan de Esquivel, with a garrison of six hundred soldier—five hundred, in five companies, for Terrenate—in the fort of Terrenate to act as his assistant and as governor of Maluco; he also left there one large forge and a number of smiths, sixty-five pioneers, thirty-five stonecutters, two galliots, two well-armed brigantines, and crews of rowers. The other company of soldiers [was to be stationed] in Tidore under command of Captain Alarcon; while ammunition and provisions for one year were left in both forts. In order to be more assured of the [peaceful] condition of the country, he took the king of Terrenate from it and carried him to Manila, as well as his son the prince, and twenty-four cachils and sangajes, most of them the king’s relatives, to whom he showed every honor and good treatment. He explained to them why he took them, and that their return to Maluco depended upon the security and tranquillity with which the Moros should conduct themselves in their obedience and service to his Majesty. [203] The three Portuguese galliots returned to Malaca, taking with them the Dutch who were in Maluco and the Portuguese captains and soldiers who had come to take part in this expedition. The governor entered Manila in triumph with the remainder of the fleet, on the last day of May, six hundred and six. He was received there with acclamations of joy and praise from the city, who gave thanks to God for so happy and prompt result in an undertaking of so great weight and importance.

During the governor’s absence in Maluco, the royal Audiencia of the islands governed the Filipinas. The Audiencia wished to drive a number of Japanese from the city, for they were a turbulent people and promised little security for the country. When this was attempted and force employed, the Japanese resisted, and the matter came to such a pass that they took arms to oppose it, and it was necessary for the Spaniards to take their arms also. The affair assumed definite proportions, and some on either side wished to give battle. However, it was postponed by various means until, through the efforts of certain religious, the Japanese were quieted; and afterward as many as possible were embarked in vessels, although they resented it greatly. This was one of the greatest dangers that has threatened Manila, for the Spaniards were few in number, and the Japanese more than one thousand five hundred, and they are a spirited and very mettlesome race. Had they come to blows on this occasion, the Spaniards would have fared ill. [204]

The governor, upon entering Manila, took over immediately the affairs of his government, especially the despatching of two vessels about to sail to Nueva España. He was present in person in the port of Cabit at the equipment and lading of the ships, and the embarcation of the passengers. He was seized by some indisposition of the stomach which compelled him to return to Manila and take to his bed. His pain and vomiting increased so rapidly that, without its being possible to relieve him, he died in great anguish on St. John’s day, to the great sorrow and grief of the country. Especially did the king of Terrenate show and express his grief, for he had always received great honor and kind treatment from the governor. It was suspected that his death had been violent, because of the severity and the symptoms of his illness. The suspicion increased, because the physicians and surgeons, having opened his body, declared, from the signs that they found, that he had been poisoned, which made his death more regrettable. [205] The Audiencia buried the governor in the monastery of St. Augustine at Manila, with the pomp and ostentation due to his person and offices. Then, again taking charge of the government, the Audiencia despatched the vessels to Nueva España, whence advice was sent to his Majesty of the taking of Maluco and the death of the governor.

The flagship, in which Don Rodrigo de Mendoça was sailing as general and captain, reached Nueva España quickly with this news. The almiranta, notwithstanding that it left the islands at the same time, delayed more than six months. Eighty persons who perished from disease were buried in the sea, while many others stricken by the disease died of it upon landing at the port of Acapulco. Among these was the licentiate Don Antonio de Ribera, auditor of Manila, who had been appointed auditor of Mexico.

At the arrival of these vessels, it was learned that since the death of Don Pedro de Acuña, and the taking over of the government by the Audiencia, no change had occurred in the affairs of the islands; but that their commerce was restricted because of the prohibition which forbade sending to the islands more than five hundred thousand pesos each year of the proceeds from the sale of the merchandise in Nueva España. On account of this the people were in need, as this amount appeared little for the many Spaniards and for the extent of the trade—by which all classes are sustained, as they have no other resources or capital. Also, although the gaining of Maluco had been so important for affairs in those islands themselves, and their punishment for the reduction of the other rebels—especially those of Mindanao and Jolo, from whom the Filipinas had received so great injury—the desirable quiet and stability had not been secured. For the Mindanaos and the Joloans were not yet discontinuing their descents upon the provinces of the Pintados in their war-vessels, to seize booty according to their custom—and this will continue until a suitable expedition be sent against them—and Maluco affairs were not failing to give Joan de Esquivel, the master-of-camp, sufficient to do. He was acting as governor there and had but little security from the natives, who, being a Mahometan people, and by nature easily persuaded and fickle, are restless, and ready for disturbances and wars. Daily and in different parts the natives were being incited and aroused to rebellion; and although the master-of-camp and his captains were endeavoring to punish and pacify them, they could not do what was necessary to quiet so many disturbances as arose. The soldiers were dying, and the food giving out; and the aid sent from Manila could not arrive at the time or in so great quantity as was requested, because of the perils of the voyage and the straits of the royal treasury. [206] The coming of vessels to Maluco at this time from Holanda and Zelanda was not less prejudicial to all our interests; for the Dutch, having so great interests in the islands, and having established their interests there so firmly, were coming in squadrons by the India route, to recover what they had lost in Amboino, Terrenate, and other islands. With their countenance, the Moros were revolting against the Spaniards, who had their hands full with them, and more so with the Dutch, for the latter were numerous, and more dangerous enemies than the natives.

The Dutch interest in these regions is so vast—both in the clove-trade and that of other drugs and spices, and because they think that they will have a gateway there for the subjugation of the whole Orient—that, overcoming all the toil and dangers of the voyage, they are continually coming to these islands in greater numbers and with larger fleets. If a very fundamental and timely remedy be not administered in this matter, it will increase to such an extent in a short time that afterward no remedy can be applied.

The English and Flemish usually make this voyage by way of the strait of Magallanes. Francisco Draque [Drake] was the first to make it, and some years later Tomas Liscander [Candish or Cavendish], who passed by Maluco.

Lately Oliver del Nort, a Fleming, made the voyage. The Spanish fleet fought with his fleet amid the Filipinas Islands, at the end of the year one thousand six hundred. In this fight, after the capture of his almiranta (which was commanded by Lamberto Biezman) the flagship, having lost nearly all its crew, and being much disabled, took to flight. And as it afterward left the Filipinas, and was seen in Sunda and the Java channels, so disabled, it seemed impossible for it to navigate, and that it would surely be lost, as was recounted above when treating of this.

This pirate, although so crippled, had the good fortune to escape from the Spaniards, and, after great troubles and hardships, he returned to Amstradam with his ship “Mauricio,” with only nine men alive, reaching it on the twenty-sixth of August in the year six hundred and one. He wrote the relation and the events of his voyage, and gave plates of the battle and of the ships. This was afterward translated into Latin and printed by Teodoro de Bri, a German, at Francfort, in the year six hundred and two. Both relations are going the rounds, and the voyage is regarded as a most prodigious feat and one of so great hardships and perils. [207]

Bartolome Perez, a pilot, gave the same news from the island of La Palma. He, having come from England by way of Holanda, conversed with Oliver del Nort, and the latter narrated to him his voyage and sufferings, as mentioned by Licentiate Fernando de la Cueva in a letter from the island of La Palma, [208] on the last of July, of the year six hundred and four, to Marcos de la Cueva, his brother, who was a resident of Manila, and one of the volunteers who embarked on the Spanish flagship which fought with the pirate. This letter is as follows.

I answer two of your Grace’s letters in this: one dated July, six hundred and one, and the other July, six hundred and two. In both of them your Grace relates to me the shipwreck that befell you and how you saved yourself by swimming. Long before I saw your Grace’s letters, I had learned of your mishap, whereat I was very anxious and even quite grieved; because of what was reported here, I imagined that your Grace had a part in it. Consequently, I was singularly overjoyed at the assurance that your Grace still possessed life and health. Having them, one can conquer other things; and without them human treasure has no value. By way of Flandes (whence ships come daily to this island), I learned much, nay, all the event, although not so minutely. For Oliver de Nort, who was the Dutch general, with whom the engagement occurred, arrived safely in Holanda, with eight men—and he made nine—and without money. His purpose when he left the rebellious states of Holanda and Zelanda, with five armed vessels laden with merchandise—which were worth, principal and merchandise, one hundred and fifty or two hundred thousand ducados—was to trade and carry on commerce through the strait (and such were his orders), in whatever parts he should be, with friends or enemies. He was not to attack anyone, but only to defend himself and to incline the Indians to trade and exchange with him. All the vessels having reached the strait together, three of them became separated there because of storms, and must have been wrecked; for up to the present nothing has been heard of them. Having seen himself so abandoned, and that he could not restore his loss by trade, or else because he did not receive a hospitable reception from the inhabitants of Piru, he determined to exceed his orders, and make that voyage one of plundering. Accordingly he stationed himself at the mouth of the river to await ships. The rest that befell, your Grace knows. Oliver de Nort is a native of the city of Roterdam, and he reached it with an anchor of wood. [209] He had no other with which to anchor, nor indeed had he any other left. It is said that this is a very heavy wood of the Indias, and he has placed it at the door of his house, as a mark of distinction. He arrived, as I say, with nine men, all told, very much worn out, and as by a miracle. He has printed a book of his voyage, with engravings of his vessels, and many other details of what happened to him, and the hardships that they endured in the fight and throughout the voyage, both to show his own glory and to incite others to similar deeds.

A pilot of this island, one Bartolome Perez, was seized and taken to Inglaterra before the peace or truce. He came through Holanda, where he conversed at great length with Oliver. The latter told him all that had happened to him, which is known to all, and was discussed in this island before that voyage. Bartolome Perez says that Oliver de Nort praised the Spaniards greatly, and said they were the bravest men he had seen in his life. They had gained the deck of his ship, and all the upper works, when he cried out from below deck to set fire to the powder, whereupon he believes that the Spaniards left for fear of being blown up. The Dutch then had an opportunity to escape, but so crippled were they that their reaching port seems a miracle. The pilot says that he saw the anchor and the book, and what pertains to the book is stated here. I have recounted this to your Grace, because of the statements in your letter, namely, that people considered them as lost, and so that so singular a case may be known there.

Now the Dutch make the voyage more quickly and more safely, going and coming, by way of India, but not touching at its ports or coasts, until they reach the islands of the Javas [210]—Java major and Java minor—and Samatra, Amboino, and the Malucas. Since they know the district so well, and have experienced the immense profits ensuing to them therefrom, it will be difficult to drive them from the Orient, where they have inflicted so many losses in both spiritual and temporal affairs.

¶ Relation of the Filipinas Islands and of their natives, antiquity, customs, and government, both during the period of their paganism and after their conquest by the Spaniards, and other details.