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                   The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898

   Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and
   their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions,
    as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the
   political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those
   islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the
                    close of the nineteenth century,

                            Volume XVI, 1609

 Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson
  with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord
                                Bourne.

CONTENTS OF VOLUME XVI

    Preface
    Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (_concluded_). Antonio de Morga;
    Mexico, 1609.
    Conqvista de las Islas Malvcas. Bartolomé Leonardo de
    Argensola; Madrid, 1609.
    Bibliographical Data
    Appendix: Customs of the Pampangas in their lawsuits. Juan
    de Plasencia, O.S.F.; [1589?]

ILLUSTRATIONS

    Title-page of _Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas_ (Mexici ad
    Indos, 1609), another edition of Morga's work; photographic
    reproduction of the facsimile presented in Zaragoza's edition
    (Madrid, 1887); from copy in possession of Edward E. Ayer,
    Chicago, which is supposed to be the only copy extant of
    Zaragoza's edition.
    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.
    Autograph signature of Antonio de Morga; photographic facsimile
    from MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla.
    Title-page of Conqvista de las Islas Malvcas, by Bartolome
    Leonardo de Argensola (Madrid, 1609); photographic facsimile,
    from copy in library of Harvard University.

PREFACE

In the present volume is concluded the notable work by Morga, _Sucesos
de las Islas Filipinas_, which was begun in _Vol_. XV. 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. Another
book notable in the history of the Philippines is that of Argensola,
_Conqvista de las Islas Molvcas_ (Madrid, 1609). In presenting
here this work, the Editors follow the plan which proves to be
more or less necessary with many of the printed early histories of
the islands--that of translating in full only such parts of the
book as relate directly to the Philippines, and are of especial
value or importance; and furnishing a brief synopsis of all matter
omitted, in order that the reader may survey the book as a whole,
and understand the relations and connections of the parts that
are presented in full with those that are synopsized. This method
is rendered necessary by the limitations of this series in regard
to space, especially as most of the old histories--as Aduarte's,
San Agustin's, and La Concepción's--are exceedingly voluminous;
and, moreover, devote much space to the affairs of Japan, China,
and other countries outside the Philippines. All matter of this sort
must of course, be omitted; and much of what remains is more useful
for annotations, or is relatively unimportant for publication. The
Editors consider, as do many other persons interested in this series,
that it is desirable to present (especially in the early period of
the Philippine history) the larger part of these documents from the
manuscript and hitherto unpublished material largely conserved in
foreign archives; and that the needs of students and investigators
will thus be better served than by occupying the valuable and limited
space of this series with complete translations of books which can be
found in large American libraries. The location of all these will be
noted, so far as is possible, in the volume devoted to bibliographical
information at the end of this series; meanwhile the needs of most
readers will be suitably met by the synopses of omitted matter and the
free use of such works as those of La Concepción and San Antonio in
annotations. The Editors purpose to present a few of these histories,
especially in the earlier period, in very full form, so far as they
cover Philippine history; for these are original sources, from which
later writers obtained much of their material. These methods render
this series unusually rich in valuable historical material, all
carefully selected, and much of it greatly condensed by the excision
of extraneous, irrelevant, and unimportant matter. The parts thus
omitted and synopsized will be, as heretofore, indicated by enclosing
the synopses in brackets.

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 far 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, arc 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.

Argensola writes a history of "the conquest of the Malucas," and
begins by describing the islands thus named, their inhabitants, and
the customs, mode of dress, and language of the people. He relates
the current stories of their origin and of their early intercourse
with Occidental peoples, mainly through the spice trade. The earlier
expeditions of the Portuguese to the Moluccas arouse the hostility of
the natives; and so much difficulty and expense to the government is
thus occasioned that his councilors advise Felipe II to abandon the
Philippines and Moluccas, as not worth so much cost. This he refuses
to do, on account of the necessity and duty of converting the pagans
in those lands--a decision confirmed also by Felipe III. Argensola
enumerates the various arguments pro and con regarding the retention
of the islands by Spain, which he justifies for the sake of converting
the heathen. The points thus far given are those of the brief synopsis
which results from our examination of books i-iv in the _Conqvista_,
Turning to book v, we find a brief outline of the conquest of the
Philippines by Legazpi, their peoples, their chief products, and their
fauna. The expedition of Peñalosa to conquer Ternate is described;
it proves a failure, for various causes. The king of Spain sends the
"invincible armada" against England (1588), desiring to check the
inroads of Northern heretics against Spanish commerce in the Orient;
but that fleet is defeated, and dispersed. Santiago de Vera also
sends an expedition against Ternate, but it also is a failure. One
of the princes that island asks for Spanish aid to gain its royalty
for himself--offering, in return, to become a vassal of Spain; but
his death prevents any further arrangement of this sort. Gomez Perez
Dasmariñas undertakes an expedition for the conquest of the Moluccas,
of which and of his tragic end a full account is given in book vi,
furnishing much interesting information thereon which is not elsewhere
to be obtained. Dasmariñas drafts rowers from among the Filipino
natives and the Chinese, by force; this causes much resentment among
them. He obtains full reports of affairs in the Moluccas, and advice
regarding the conduct of the campaign, from the Jesuits in those
islands. Dasmariñas sets out on this expedition (October 17, 1594),
his own galley being manned by Chinese rowers. These, being harshly
treated, mutiny, and murder all the Spaniards on the galley save two
(October 25), a friar and the governor's secretary. The governor's
death renders necessary the appointment of a temporary successor to his
office; this is his son, Luis Perez Dasmariñas. The murderers return
to Luzón, with armed vessels, hoping to find the country defenseless
and conquer it; but the forces at Manila are sufficient to overawe
the Chinese.

At this juncture, Langara, king of Camboja, asks for aid from the
Spaniards; and Dasmariñas sends for this purpose an expedition under
command of Gallinato. The Spaniards slay the usurper of the Cambojan
throne; this dignity is offered to Gallinato, but he refuses it, and
Ruiz and Velloso replace the rightful heir on the throne. Dasmariñas
himself undertakes another expedition to Camboja, at his own cost;
but he is driven by storms to the Chinese coast, some of his ships are
wrecked, and another is destroyed, with most of its crew, by Malays
at Camboja. These disasters put an end, for the time, to any further
attempts against Ternate.

Argensola relates the exploits of Figueroa and his successors in
subduing the Mindanaos, who are aided by the king of Ternate, as
being in a sense his vassals. Felipe II dies (1598), and for a time
the affairs of Moluccas are neglected. Book vii mainly relates to
Dutch voyages to the Eastern Archipelago; the presence of the Dutch
encourages the Ternatans to keep up their resistance to the Spaniards
and Portuguese. Governor Acuña arrives in the Philippines (May, 1602),
and for some time is occupied with the internal affairs of the colony
and the establishment of amicable relations with the Japanese. These
matters being settled, he turns his mind toward the conquest of
the Moluccas; and he coöperates with the expedition under Furtado
de Mendoza, which had been sent for this purpose from India. The
combined fleets meet with temporary successes at Ternate, but are
finally compelled to abandon the undertaking. The home government
finally decides that it must be again and effectively prosecuted;
and that Acuña himself shall conduct another expedition against the
Moluccas. The royal decree for this (dated June 20 1604) is given
in full.

Argensola relates the great fire in Manila and the Chinese
insurrection, both in 1603; he gives some information thereon which
is not found in other accounts. This revolt, although quelled,
causes great disturbance of business and industry, and much want
and distress, in Manila, which had so largely been dependent
upon its Chinese population. Soon afterward reënforcements and
supplies are received there from Mexico. In February, 1605, a Dutch
fleet appears in the Eastern archipelago, and captures Amboina and
Tidore. Portuguese fugitives from Tidore inform Acuña of the purpose
of the Dutch to attack the galleons on the Mexican route and perhaps
other Spanish interests; and to drive out the Spaniards from that
quarter of the world. He immediately sends more men to the garrisons
in the Pintados, and takes other precautions. The arrival of numerous
reënforcements at Manila encourages him and checks the insolence of
surrounding peoples. The Dutch aid the Ternatans, while Acuña makes
vigorous preparations for the expedition to be made against these
foes. He sails with over three thousand men, in thirty-six vessels,
from Iloilo on January 5, 1606. The flagship is wrecked at La Caldera;
the other vessels mistake their course, and do not reach the Moluccas
until late in March. They besiege Ternate, and finally carry it by
assault; the city and fort are pillaged by the soldiers. Afterward the
king is induced to surrender and Acuña makes a treaty with him. The
king surrenders his forts and restores all captives; delivers up any
Dutchmen or Spanish renegades who may be in Ternate; and gives up
the villages of Christian natives in adjacent islands. Acuña leaves a
strong garrison in Ternate, and carries the king and other captives
to Manila. A few weeks after his return, Acuña dies--by poison,
according to popular rumor.

To this volume is appended (apropos of an allusion by Morga) an
interesting account of the ancient customs observed by the natives of
Pampanga in the administration of justice. These differed, according to
the social status of the parties concerned, and the kind of crime; but,
in general, certain fixed amounts were paid as the penalties for most
crimes, and in some cases the penalty was life for life. If the culprit
could not pay the fine, he was usually sold as a slave. Parricide and
infanticide were apparently unknown among them. Marriages, divorces,
inheritances, enslavements, disputes, etc., are all considered in this
account, obtained by the Franciscan Juan de Plasencia from the natives.

_The Editors_
June, 1904.

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. [1]

Chapter Seventh (_concluded_)

On the tenth [of July] [2] 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  [3] (who had been
provincial), Fray Alonso de la Madre de Dios, Fray Luys Sotello, [4]
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, [5] 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. [6] 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. [7] 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. [8]
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. [9] 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. [10] Thence the Sangleys went to the settlement of
Laguio, [11] 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. [12]
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,
[13] 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. [14]

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, [15] 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. [16]

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. [17] 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, [18] 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, [19] 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. [20] 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
[21] 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,  [22] 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 [23] 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, [24] 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. [25] 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, [26] 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_,  [27] 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_
[28] 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.  [29] 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, [30] and others of his relatives,
cachils and sangajes, [31] 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. [32] 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.  [33]

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. [34]
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. [35] 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.  [36]

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, [37] 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. [38] 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 [39]--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._

¶ _Chapter Eighth_

The islands of the eastern Ocean Sea, adjacent to farther Asia,
belonging to the crown of España, are generally called, by those who
navigate thither by way of the demarcation of Castilla and Castilla's
seas and lands of America, "the Western Islands;" for from the time
that one leaves España, he sails in the course of the sun from east
to west, until he reaches them. For the same reason they are called
"Eastern Islands" by those who sail from west to east by way of
Portuguese India, each of them circumscribing the world by voyaging
in opposite directions, until they meet at these islands, which are
numerous and of varying size; they are properly called Filipinas,
and are subject to the crown of Castilla. They lie within the tropic
of Cancer, and extend from twenty-four degrees north latitude to the
equinoctial line, which cuts the islands of Maluco. There are many
others on the other side of the line, in the tropic of Capricorn,
which extend for twelve degrees in south latitude. [40] The ancients
affirmed that each and all of them were desert and uninhabitable, [41]
but now experience has demonstrated that they deceived themselves;
for good climates, many people, and food and other things necessary
for human life are found there, besides many mines of rich metals,
with precious gems and pearls, and animals and plants, which nature
has not stinted.

It is impossible to number all the islands--counting larger and
smaller--of this vast archipelago. Those comprised in the name and
government of Filipinas, number about forty large islands, besides
other smaller ones, all consecutive. The chiefest and best known are
Luzon, Mindoro, Tendaya, [42] Capul, Burias, Mazbate, Marinduque,
Leite, Camar, Ybabao, Sebu, Panay, Bohol, Catenduanes, Calamianes,
Mindanao, and others of less renown.

The first island conquered and colonized by the Spaniards was
Sebu. [43] From there the conquest was started and continued in all
the neighboring islands. Those islands are inhabited by people,
natives of the same islands, called Viçayas; or by another name,
Pintados--for the more prominent of the men, from their youth, tattoo
their whole bodies, by pricking them wherever they are marked and then
throwing certain black powders over the bleeding surface, the figures
becoming indelible. But, as the chief seat of the government, and the
principal Spanish settlement, was moved to the island of Luzon--the
largest island, and that one nearest and opposite to Great China and
Japon--I shall treat of it first; for much that will be said of it is
similar in the others, to each of whose particulars and distinctive
details I shall pass in due time.

This island of Luzon extends lengthwise, from the point and head where
one enters the Filipinas Islands (by the channel of Capul, which
lies in thirteen and one-half degrees north latitude) to the other
point in the province of Cagayan, called Cape Bojeador (and located
opposite China, in twenty degrees), more than two hundred leguas. In
some parts its width is more constricted than in others, especially in
the middle of the island, where it is so narrow that it is less than
thirty leguas from sea to sea, or from one coast to the other. The
whole island is more than four hundred leguas in circumference.

The climates of this island are not harmonious; on the contrary, they
present a great diversity in its different districts and provinces. The
head and beginning of the island, in the region of the channel, is more
temperate in the interior, although the coasts are hot. The site of
the city of Manila is hot, for it is on the coast and is low; but in
its vicinity, quite near the city, there are districts and settlements
much cooler, where the heat is not oppressive. The same is true of the
other head of the island, opposite China, named Cagayan. The seasons
of the year--winter and summer--are contrary to those in Europe; for
the rains generally last in all these islands from the month of June
until the month of September, and are accompanied by heavy showers,
whirlwinds, and storms on sea and land. The summer lasts from October
to the end of May, with clear skies and fair winds at sea. However,
the winter and rainy season begins earlier in some provinces than
in others.  [44] In Cagayan winter and summer almost coincide with
those of España, and come at the same seasons.

The people inhabiting the province of Camarines and almost as far as
the provinces of Manila, in this great island of Luzon, both along
the coast and in the interior, are natives of this island. They are
of medium height, with a complexion like stewed quinces; and both
men and women are well-featured. They have very black hair, and
thin beards; and are very clever at anything that they undertake,
keen and passionate, and of great resolution. All live from their
labor and gains in the field, their fishing, and trade, going from
island to island by sea, and from province to province by land.

The natives of the other provinces of this island as far as Cagayan are
of the same nature and disposition, except that it has been learned
by tradition that those of Manila and its vicinity were not natives
of this island, but came thither in the past and colonized it; and
that they are Malay natives, and come from other islands and remote
provinces. [45]

In various parts of this island of Luzon are found a number of
natives black in color. Both men and women have woolly hair, and their
stature is not very great, although they are strong and robust. These
people are barbarians, and have but little capacity. They possess no
fixed houses or settlements, but wander in bands and hordes through
the mountains and rough country, changing from one site to another
according to the season. They support themselves in certain clearings,
and by planting rice, which they do temporarily, and by means of the
game that they bring down with their bows, in the use of which they
are very skilful and certain. [46] They live also on honey from the
mountains, and roots produced by the ground. They are a barbarous
people, in whom one cannot place confidence. They are much given to
killing and to attacking the settlements of the other natives, in which
they commit many depredations; and there is nothing that can be done
to stop them, or to subdue or pacify them, although this is always
attempted by fair or foul means, as opportunity and necessity demand.

The province of Cagayan is inhabited by natives of the same complexion
as the others of the island, although they are better built, and more
valiant and warlike than the others. They wear their hair long and
hanging down the back. They have been in revolt and rebellion twice
since the first time when they were pacified; and there has been plenty
to do, on different occasions, in subduing them and repacifying them.

The apparel and clothing of these natives of Luzon before the
entrance of the Spaniards into the country were generally, for the
men, certain short collarless garments of _cangan_, sewed together
in the front, and with short sleeves, and reaching slightly below
the waist; some were blue and others black, while the chiefs had
some red ones, called _chinanas_. [47] They also wore a strip of
colored cloth wrapped about the waist, and passed between the legs,
so that it covered the privy parts, reaching half-way down the thigh;
these are called _bahaques_. [48] They go with legs bare, feet unshod,
and the head uncovered, wrapping a narrow cloth, called _potong_ [49]
just below it, with which they bind the forehead and temples. About
their necks they wear gold necklaces, wrought like spun wax, [50]
and with links in our fashion, some larger than others. On their arms
they wear armlets of wrought gold, which they call _calombigas_,
and which are very large and made in different patterns. Some wear
strings of precious stones--cornelians and agates; and other blue
and white stones, which they esteem highly. [51] They wear around
the legs some strings of these stones, and certain cords, covered
with black pitch in many foldings, as garters. [52]

In a province called Zambales, they wear the head shaved from the
middle forward. On the skull they have a huge lock of loose hair. [53]
The women throughout this island wear small jackets [_sayuelos_]
with sleeves of the same kinds of cloth and of all colors, called
_varos_. [54] They wear no shifts, but certain white cotton garments
which are wrapped about the waist and fall to the feet, while other
dyed cloths are wrapped about the body, like kirtles, and are very
graceful. The principal women have crimson ones, and some of silk,
while others are woven with gold, and adorned with fringe and other
ornaments. They wear many gold necklaces about the neck, calumbigas
on the wrists, large earrings of wrought gold in the ears, and rings
of gold and precious stones. Their black hair is done up in a very
graceful knot on the head. Since the Spaniards came to the country many
Indians do not wear _bahaques_, but wide drawers of the same cloths and
materials, and hats on their heads. The chiefs wear braids of wrought
gold containing many designs, while many of them wear shoes. The chief
women also wear beautiful shoes, many of them having shoes of velvet
adorned with gold, and white garments like petticoats.

Men and women, and especially the chief people, are very clean and neat
in their persons and clothing, and of pleasing address and grace. They
dress their hair carefully, and regard it as being more ornamental when
it is very black. They wash it with water in which has been boiled
the bark of a tree called _gogo_. [55] They anoint it with aljonjoli
oil, prepared with musk, and other perfumes. All are very careful of
their teeth, which from a very early age they file and render even,
with stones and iron. [56] They dye them a black color, which is
lasting, and which preserves their teeth until they are very old,
although it is ugly to look at. [57]

They quite generally bathe the entire body in the rivers and creeks,
both young and old, without reflecting that it could at any time be
injurious to them; [58] for in their baths do they find their best
medicines. When an infant is born, they immediately bathe it, and
the mother likewise. The women have needlework as their employment
and occupation, and they are very clever at it, and at all kinds of
sewing. They weave cloth and spin cotton, and serve in the houses
of their husbands and fathers. They pound the rice for eating,
[59] and prepare the other food. They raise fowls and swine, and
keep the houses, while the men are engaged in the labors of the
field, and in their fishing, navigation, and trading. They are not
very chaste, either single or married women; while their husbands,
fathers, or brothers are not very jealous or anxious about it. Both
men and women are so selfish and greedy that, if they are paid, they
are easily won over. When the husband finds his wife in adultery,
he is smoothed and pacified without any trouble--although, since they
have known Spaniards, some of those who assume to be more enlightened
among them have sometimes killed the adulterers. Both men and women,
especially the chiefs, walk slowly and sedately when upon their
visits, and when going through the streets and to the temples; and
are accompanied by many slaves, both male and female, with parasols
of silk which they carry to protect them from the sun and rain. The
women walk ahead and their female servants and slaves follow them;
behind these walk their husbands, fathers, or brothers, with their
man-servants and slaves. [60]

Their ordinary food is rice pounded in wooden mortars, and cooked--this
is called _morisqueta_, [61] and is the ordinary bread of the whole
country--boiled fish (which is very abundant), the flesh of swine,
deer, and wild buffaloes (which they call _carabaos_). Meat and fish
they relish better when it has begun to spoil and when it stinks. [62]
They also eat boiled camotes (which are sweet potatoes), beans,
_quilites_ [63] and other vegetables; all kinds of bananas, guavas,
pineapples, custard apples, many varieties of oranges, and other
varieties of fruits and herbs, with which the country teems. Their
drink is a wine made from the tops of cocoa and nipa palm, of which
there is a great abundance. They are grown and tended like vineyards,
although without so much toil and labor. Drawing off the tuba, [64]
they distil it, using for alembics their own little furnaces and
utensils, to a greater or less strength, and it becomes brandy. This is
drunk throughout the islands. It is a wine of the clarity of water,
but strong and dry. If it be used with moderation, it acts as a
medicine for the stomach, and is a protection against humors and all
sorts of rheums. Mixed with Spanish wine, it makes a mild liquor,
and one very palatable and healthful.

In the assemblies, marriages, and feasts of the natives of these
islands, the chief thing consists in drinking this wine, day and night,
without ceasing, when the turn of each comes, some singing and others
drinking. As a consequence, they generally become intoxicated without
this vice being regarded as a dishonor or disgrace. [65]

The weapons of this people are, in some provinces, bow and arrows. But
those generally used throughout the islands are moderate-sized spears
with well-made points; and certain shields of light wood, with their
armholes fastened on the inside. These cover them from top to toe,
and are called _carasas_ [_kalasag_]. At the waist they carry a
dagger four fingers in breadth, the blade pointed, and a third of
a vara in length; the hilt is of gold or ivory. The pommel is open
and has two cross bars or projections, without any other guard. They
are called _bararaos_. They have two cutting edges, and are kept in
wooden scabbards, or those of buffalo-horn, admirably wrought. [66]
With these they strike with the point, but more generally with the
edge. When they go in pursuit of their opponent, they show great
dexterity in seizing his hair with one hand, while with the other
they cut off his head with one stroke of the bararao, and carry
it away. They afterward keep the heads suspended in their houses,
where they may be seen; and of these they make a display, in order
to be considered as valiant, and avengers of their enemies and of
the injuries committed by them. [67]

Since they have seen the Spaniards use their weapons, many of the
natives handle the arquebuses and muskets quite skilfully. Before the
arrival of the Spaniards they had bronze culverins and other pieces
of cast iron, with which they defended their forts and settlements,
although their powder is not so well refined as that of the Spaniards.

Their ships and boats are of many kinds; for on the rivers and creeks
inland they use certain very large canoes, each made from one log,
and others fitted with benches and made from planks, and built up
on keels. They have vireys and barangays, which are certain quick
and light vessels that lie low in the water, put together with little
wooden nails. These are as slender at the stern as at the bow, and they
can hold a number of rowers on both sides, who propel their vessels
with _bucçeyes_ or paddles, and with _gaones_ [68] on the outside
of the vessel; and they time their rowing to the accompaniment of
some who sing in their language refrains by which they understand
whether to hasten or retard their rowing. [69] Above the rowers is
a platform or gangway, built of bamboo, upon which the fighting-men
stand, in order not to interfere with the rowing of the oarsmen. In
accordance with the capacity of the vessels is the number of men on
these gangways. From that place they manage the sail, which is square
and made of linen, and hoisted on a support or yard made of two thick
bamboos, which serves as a mast. When the vessel is large, it also
has a foresail of the same form. Both yards, with their tackle, can be
lowered upon the gangway when the weather is rough. The helmsmen are
stationed in the stern to steer. It carries another bamboo framework
on the gangway itself; and upon this, when the sun shines hot,
or it rains, they stretch an awning made from some mats, woven from
palm-leaves. These are very bulky and close, and are called _cayanes_
[70] Thus all the ship and its crew are covered and protected. There
are also other bamboo frameworks for each side of the vessel, which
are so long as the vessel, and securely fastened on. They skim the
water, without hindering the rowing, and serve as a counterpoise,
so that the ship cannot overturn nor upset, however heavy the sea,
or strong the wind against the sail. It may happen that the entire
hull of these vessels, which have no decks, may fill with water and
remain between wind and water, even until it is destroyed and broken
up, without sinking, because of these counterpoises. These vessels have
been used commonly throughout the islands since olden times. They have
other larger vessels called caracoas, _lapis_, and _tapaques_, which
are used to carry their merchandise, and which are very suitable,
as they are roomy and draw but little water. They generally drag
them ashore every night, at the mouths of rivers and creeks, among
which they always navigate without going into the open sea or leaving
the shore. All the natives can row and manage these boats. Some are
so long that they can carry one hundred rowers on a side and thirty
soldiers above to fight. The boats commonly used are barangays and
vireys, which carry a less crew and fighting force. Now they put
many of them together with iron nails instead of the wooden pegs and
the joints in the planks, while the helms and bows have beaks like
Castilian boats. [71]

The land is well shaded in all parts by trees of different kinds,
and fruit-trees which beautify it throughout the year, both along
the shore and inland among the plains and mountains. It is very full
of large and small rivers, of good fresh water, which flow into the
sea. All of them are navigable, and abound in all kinds of fish,
which are very pleasant to the taste. For the above reason there
is a large supply of lumber, which is cut and sawed, dragged to the
rivers, and brought down, by the natives. This lumber is very useful
for houses and buildings, and for the construction of small and large
vessels. Many very straight thick trees, light and pliable, are found,
which are used as masts for ships and galleons. Consequently, vessels
of any size may be fitted with masts from these trees, made of one
piece of timber, without its being necessary to splice them or make
them of different pieces. For the hulls of the ships, the keels,
futtock-timbers, top-timbers, and any other kinds of supports and
braces, compass-timbers, transoms, knees small and large, and rudders,
all sorts of good timber are easily found; as well as good planking
for the sides, decks, and upper-works, from very suitable woods. [72]

There are many native fruit-trees, such as the _sanctors_, _mabolos_,
tamarinds, _nancas_, custard-apples, papaws, guavas, and everywhere
many oranges, of all kinds--large and small, sweet and sour;
citrons, lemons, and ten or twelve varieties of very healthful and
palatable bananas. [73] There are many cocoa-palms bearing fruit
of pleasant taste--from which is made wine and common oil, which
is a very healing remedy for wounds; and other wild palms of the
forests--that do not yield cocoa-nuts, but serve as wood, and from
whose bark is made bonote, a tow for rigging and cables, and also for
calking ships. Efforts have been made to plant olives and quinces,
and other fruit-trees of España, but as yet they have had no success,
except with pomegranates and grapevines, which bear fruit the second
year. These bear abundance of exceedingly good grapes three times a
year; and some fig-trees have succeeded. Vegetables of every kind
grow well and very abundantly, but do not seed, and it is always
necessary to bring the seeds from Castilla, China, or Japon.

In the Cagayan provinces are found chestnut-trees, which produce
fruit. In other districts are found pines and other trees which yield
certain very large pine-nuts, with a hard shell and a pleasant taste,
which are called piles. [74] There is abundance of cedar which is
called _calanta_, a beautiful red wood called _asana_, [75] ebony of
various qualities, and many other precious woods for all uses. The meat
generally eaten is that of swine, of which there is a great abundance,
and it is very palatable and wholesome.

Beef is eaten, cattle being raised abundantly in stock-farms in
many different parts of the islands. The cattle are bred from those
of China and Nueva España. [76] The Chinese cattle are small, and
excellent breeders. Their horns are very small and twisted, and some
cattle can move them. They have a large hump upon the shoulders, and
are very manageable beasts. There are plenty of fowls like those of
Castilla, and others very large, which are bred from fowls brought
from China. They are very palatable, and make fine capons. Some of
these fowls are black in feather, skin, flesh, and bones, and are
pleasant to the taste. [77] Many geese are raised, as well as swans,
ducks, and tame pigeons brought from China. There is abundance of
flesh of wild game, such as venison, and wild boars, and in some parts
porcupines. There are many buffaloes, which are called carabaos, which
are raised in the fields and are very spirited; others are brought
tame from China; these are very numerous, and very handsome. These
last are used only for milking, and their milk is thicker and more
palatable than that of cows.

Goats and kids are raised, although their flesh is not savory, because
of the humidity of the country. These animals sicken and die for that
reason, and because they eat certain poisonous herbs. Ewes and rams,
although often brought from Nueva España, never multiply. Consequently
there are none of these animals, for the climate and pasturage has not
as yet seemed suitable for them. [78] There were no horses, mares, or
asses in the islands, until the Spaniards had them brought from China
and brought them from Nueva España. Asses and mules are very rare,
but there are many horses and mares. Some farms are being stocked with
them, and those born there (mixed breeds for the most part) turn out
well, and have good colors, are good tempered and willing to work, and
are of medium size. Those brought from China are small, very strong,
good goers, treacherous, quarrelsome, and bad-tempered. Some horses
of good colors are brought from Japon. They have well-shaped bodies,
thick hair, large fetlocks, large legs and front hoofs, which makes
them look like draft-horses. Their heads are rather large, and their
mouths hard. They run but slowly, but walk well, and are spirited,
and of much mettle. The daily feed of the horses consists throughout
the year of green provender, [79] besides rice in the husk, which
keeps them very fat. [80]

There are many fowls and field birds, and wild birds of wonderful
colors and very beautiful. There are no singing birds suitable for
keeping in cages, although some calendar larks [_Calandrias_] called
_fimbaros_, [81] smaller than those of España, are brought from Japon,
whose song is most sweet. There are many turtle-doves, ring-doves;
other doves with an extremely green plumage, and red feet and beaks;
and others that are white with a red spot on the breast, like a
pelican. Instead of quail, there are certain birds resembling them,
but smaller, which are called _povos_ [82] and other smaller birds
called mayuelas. [83] There are many wild chickens and cocks, which
are very small, and taste like partridge. There are royal, white, and
grey herons, flycatchers, and other shore birds, ducks, lavancos, [84]
crested cranes, sea-crows, eagles, eagle-owls, and other birds of prey,
although none are used for hawking. There are jays and thrushes as in
España, and white storks and cranes. [85] They do not rear peacocks,
rabbits, or hares, although they have tried to do so. It is believed
that the wild animals in the forests and fields eat and destroy them,
namely, the cats, foxes, badgers, and large and small rats, which
are very numerous, and other land animals. [86]

Throughout these islands are found a great number of monkeys, of
various sizes, with which at times the trees are covered. There are
green and white parrots, but they are stupid in talking; and very
small parroquets, of beautiful green and red colors, which talk as
little. The forests and settlements have many serpents, of various
colors, which are generally larger than those of Castilla. Some have
been seen in the forests of unusual size, and wonderful to behold. [87]
The most harmful are certain slender snakes, of less than one vara
in length, which dart down upon passersby from the trees (where they
generally hang), and sting them; their venom is so powerful that
within twenty-four hours the person dies raving.

There are many very large scorpions in the rivers and creeks, and a
great number of crocodiles, which are very bloodthirsty and cruel. They
quite commonly pull from their bancas the natives who go in those
boats, and cause many injuries among the horned cattle and the horses
of the stock-farms, when they go to drink. And although the people fish
for them often and kill them, they are never diminished in number. For
that reason, the natives set closely-grated divisions and enclosures
in the rivers and creeks of their settlements, where they bathe. There
they enter the water to bathe, secure from those monsters, which they
fear so greatly that they venerate and adore them, as if they were
beings superior to themselves. All their oaths and execrations, and
those which are of any weight with them (even among the Christians)
are, thus expressed: "So may the crocodile kill him!" They call the
crocodile _buhaya_ in their language. It has happened when some one
has sworn falsely, or when he has broken his word, that then some
accident has occurred to him with the crocodile, which God, whom he
offends, has so permitted for the sake of the authority and purity
of the truth, and the promise of it. [88]

The fisheries of sea and rivers are most abundant, and include all
kinds of fish; both of fresh and salt water. These are generally used
as food throughout the entire country. There are many good sardines,
sea-eels, sea-breams (which they call _bacocos_), daces, skates,
_bicudas_, _tanguingues_, soles, _plantanos_, [89] _taraquitos_,
needle-fish, gilt-heads, and eels; large oysters, mussels, [90]
_porçebes_, crawfish, shrimp, sea-spiders, center-fish, and all kinds
of cockles, shad, white fish, and in the Tajo River of Cagayan, [91]
during their season, a great number of _bobos_, which come down to
spawn at the bar. In the lake of Bonbon, a quantity of tunny-fish,
not so large as those of España, but of the same shape, flesh, and
taste, are caught. Many sea-fish are found in the sea, such as whales,
sharks, _caellas_, _marajos_, _bufeos_, and other unknown species
of extraordinary forms and size. In the year of five hundred and
ninety-six, during a furious storm in the islands, a fish was flung
into shallow water on one of the Luzon coasts near the province of
Camarines. It was so huge and misshapen, that although it lay in
more than three and one-half braças of water, it could not again
get afloat, and died there. The natives said that they had never
seen anything like it, nor another shaped like it. Its head was of
wonderful size and fierce aspect. On its frontal it bore two horns,
which pointed toward its back. One of them was taken to Manila. It
was covered with its skin or hide, but had no hair or scales. It was
white, and twenty feet long. Where it joined the head it was as thick
as the thigh, and gradually tapered proportionally to the tip. It
was somewhat curved and not very round; and to all appearances,
quite solid. It caused great wonder in all beholders. [92]

There is a fresh-water lake in the island of Luzon, five leguas from
Manila, which contains a quantity of fish. Many rivers flow into this
lake, and it empties into the sea through the river flowing from it
to Manila. It is called La Laguna de Bay ["Bay Lake"]. It is thirty
leguas in circumference, and has an uninhabited island in its middle,
where game abounds. [93] Its shores are lined with many native
villages. The natives navigate the lake, and commonly cross it in
their skiffs. At times it is quite stormy and dangerous to navigate,
when the north winds blow, for these winds make it very boisterous,
although it is very deep.

Twenty leguas from Manila, in the province of Bonbon, is another lake
of the same name [Bonbon], not so extensive as the former, but with
a great abundance of fish. The natives' method of catching them is
by making corrals [94] of bejucos, which are certain slender canes
or rushes, solid and very pliant and strong; these are employed
for making cables for the natives' boats, as well as other kinds
of ropes. They catch the fish inside these corrals, having made the
enclosures fast by means of stakes. They also catch the fish in wicker
baskets made from the _bejucos_, but most generally with _atarrayas_,
[95] _esparaveles_, other small _barrederas_, [96] and with hand
lines and hooks. [97] The most usual food of the natives is a fish
as small as _pejerreyes_. [98] They dry and cure these fish in the
sun and air, and cook them in many styles. They like them better than
large fish. It is called _laulau_ among them. [99]

Instead of olives and other pickled fruit, they have a green fruit,
like walnuts, which they call _paos_. [100] Some are small, and others
larger in size, and when prepared they have a pleasant taste. They also
prepare _charas_ [101] in pickle brine, and all sorts of vegetables
and greens, which are very appetizing. There is much ginger, and it
is eaten green, pickled, and preserved. There are also quantities
of _cachumba_ [102] instead of saffron and other condiments. The
ordinary dainty throughout these islands, and in many kingdoms of
the mainland of those regions, is _buyo_ [betel]. This is made from
a tree, [103] whose leaf is shaped like that of the mulberry. The
fruit resembles an oak acorn, and is white inside. [104] This fruit,
which is called _bonga_, is cut lengthwise in strips, and each strip is
put into an envelope or covering made from the leaf. With the _bonga_
is thrown in a powder of quick lime. [105] This compound is placed
in the mouth and chewed. It is so strong a mixture, and burns so
much, that it induces sleep and intoxication. It burns the mouths of
those not used to it, and causes them to smart. The saliva and all
the mouth are made as red as blood. It does not taste bad. After
having been chewed [106] for a considerable time it is spit out,
when it no longer has any juice, which is called çapa [sapá]. They
consider very beneficial that quantity of the juice which has gone
into the stomach, for strengthening it, and for various diseases. It
strengthens and preserves the teeth and gums from all inflammations,
decay, and aches. They tell other wonderful effects of it. What has
been seen is that the natives and Spaniards--laymen and religious,
men and women--use it so commonly and generally that mornings and
afternoons, at parties and visits, and even alone in their houses,
all their refreshments and luxuries consist of buyos served on
heavily-gilded and handsomely adorned plates and trays like chocolate
in Nueva España. In these poison has been often administered from
which the persons eating them have died, and that quite commonly.

The natives (especially the chiefs) take whenever they leave their
houses, for show and entertainment, their boxes of buyos--which they
call _buccetas_ [107]--ready to use, and the leaf, _bonga_, and quick
lime, separately. With these handsome boxes, which are made of metal
and of other materials, they carry the scissors and other tools for
making the buyo with cleanliness and neatness. Wherever they may stop,
they make and use their buyo. In the pariáns, or bazars, buyos are
sold ready made, and the outfit for making them. [108]

The natives of these islands quite commonly use as venoms and poisons
the herbs of that class found throughout the islands. They are so
efficacious and deadly that they produce wonderful effects. There
is a lizard, commonly found in the houses, somewhat dark-green in
color, one palmo long, and as thick as three fingers, which is called
_chacon_. [109] They put this in a joint of bamboo, and cover it
up. The slaver of this animal during its imprisonment is gathered. It
is an exceedingly strong poison, when introduced as above stated, in
the food or drink, in however minute quantities. There are various
herbs known and gathered by the natives for the same use. Some of
them are used dry, and others green; some are to be mixed in food,
and others inhaled. Some kill by simply touching them with the hands
or feet, or by sleeping upon them. The natives are so skilful in
making compounds from these substances, that they mix and apply them
in such a manner that they take effect at once, or at a set time--long
or short, as they wish, even after a year. Many persons usually die
wretchedly by these means--especially Spaniards, who lack foresight,
and who are tactless and hated because of the ill-treatment that they
inflict upon the natives with whom they deal, either in the collection
of their tributes, or in other matters in which they employ them,
without there being any remedy for it. There are certain poisonous
herbs, with which, when the natives gather them, they carry, all ready,
other herbs which act as antidotes. In the island of Bohol is one herb
of such nature that the natives approach it from windward when they
cut it from the shrub on which it grows; for the very air alone that
blows over the herb is deadly. Nature did not leave this danger without
a remedy, for other herbs and roots are found in the same islands, of
so great efficacy and virtue that they destroy and correct the poison
and mischief of the others, and are used when needed. Accordingly,
when one knows what poison has been given him, it is not difficult,
if recourse be had in time, to cure it, by giving the herb that is
antidotal to such poison. At times it has happened that pressure has
been put upon the person suspected of having committed the evil to
make him bring the antidote, by which it has been remedied. There are
also other general antidotes, both for preservation against poison and
for mitigating the effects of poison that has been administered. But
the most certain and efficacious antidotes are certain small flies or
insects, of a violet color, found on certain bushes in the islands
of Pintados. These are shut up in a clean bamboo joint, and covered
over. There they breed and multiply. Ground rice is put in with them,
and they exist thereon. Every week they are visited [110] and the old
rice removed and new rice put in, and they are kept alive by this
means. If six of these insects are taken in a spoonful of wine or
water--for they emit no bad odor, and taste like cress--they produce
a wonderful effect. Even when people go to banquets or dinners where
there is any suspicion, they are wont to take with them these insects,
in order to preserve and assure themselves from any danger of poison
and venom.

All these islands are, in many districts, rich in placers and mines
of gold, a metal which the natives dig and work. However, since the
advent of the Spaniards in the land, the natives proceed more slowly
in this, and content themselves with what they already possess in
jewels and gold ingots, handed down from antiquity and inherited from
their ancestors. [111] This is considerable, for he must be poor and
wretched who has no gold chains, calombigas [bracelets], and earrings.

Some placers and mines were worked at Paracali in the province of
Camarines, where there is good gold mixed with copper. This commodity
is also traded in the Ylocos, for at the rear of this province,
which borders the seacoast, are certain lofty and rugged mountains
which extend as far as Cagayan. On the slopes of these mountains,
in the interior, live many natives, as yet unsubdued, and among whom
no incursion has been made, who are called Ygolotes. These natives
possess rich mines, many of gold and silver mixed. They are wont to
dig from them only the amount necessary for their wants. They descend
to certain places to trade this gold (without completing its refining
or preparation), with the Ylocos; there they exchange it for rice,
swine, carabaos, cloth, and other things that they need. [112] The
Ylocos complete its refining and preparation, and by their medium it
is distributed throughout the country. Although an effort has been
made with these Ygolotes to discover their mines, and how they work
them, and their method of working the metal, nothing definite has
been learned, for the Ygolotes fear that the Spaniards will go to
seek them for their gold, and say that they keep the gold better in
the earth than in their houses. [113]

There are also many gold mines and placers in the other islands,
especially among the Pintados, on the Botuan River in Mindanao,
and in Sebu, where a mine of good gold is worked, called Taribon. If
the industry and efforts of the Spaniards were to be converted into
the working of the gold, as much would be obtained from any one of
these islands as from those provinces which produce the most in the
world. But since they attend to other means of gain rather than
to this, as will be told in due time, they do not pay the proper
attention to this matter.

In some of these islands pearl oysters are found, especially in
the Calamianes, where some have been obtained that are large and
exceedingly clear and lustrous. [114] Neither is this means of profit
utilized. In all parts, seed pearls are found in the ordinary oysters,
and there are oysters as large as a buckler. From the [shells of the]
latter the natives manufacture beautiful articles. There are also
very large sea turtles in all the islands. Their shells are utilized
by the natives, and sold as an article of commerce to the Chinese
and Portuguese, and other nations who go after them and esteem them
highly, because of the beautiful things made from them.

On the coasts of any of these islands are found many small white
snail shells, called _siguei_. The natives gather them and sell them
by measure to the Siamese, Cambodians, Pantanes, and other peoples
of the mainland. It serves there as money, and those nations trade
with it, as they do with cacao-beans in Nueva España. [115]

Carabao horns are used as merchandise in trading with China; and
deerskins and dye-wood with Japon. The natives make use of everything
in trading with those nations and derive much profit therefrom.

In this island of Luzon, especially in the provinces of Manila,
Panpanga, Pangasinan, and Ylocos, certain earthenware jars [_tibores_]
are found among the natives. They are very old, of a brownish color,
and not handsome. Some are of medium size, and others are smaller,
and they have certain marks and stamps. The natives are unable to
give any explanation of where or when they got them, for now they are
not brought to the islands or made there. The Japanese seek them and
esteem them, for they have found that the root of a plant called _cha_
[tea]--which is drunk hot, as a great refreshment and medicine, among
the kings and lords of Japon--is preserved and keeps only in these
tibors. These are so highly valued throughout Japon, that they are
regarded as the most precious jewels of their closets and household
furniture. A tibor is worth a great sum, and the Japanese adorn them
outside with fine gold beautifully chased, and keep them in brocade
cases. Some tibors are valued and sold for two thousand taes of
eleven reals to the tae, or for less, according to the quality of
the tibor. It makes no difference if they are cracked or chipped,
for that does not hinder them from holding the tea. The natives of
these islands sell them to the Japanese for the best price possible,
and seek them carefully for this profit. However, few are found now,
because of the assiduity with which the natives have applied themselves
to that search. [116]

At times the natives have found large pieces of ambergris on the
coasts. When they discovered that the Spaniards value it, they gathered
it, and have made profit from it. The past year of six hundred and
two, some natives found in the island of Sebu a good-sized piece of
ambergris, and when their encomendero heard of it, he took it, and
traded with them secretly for it, on the account of their tribute. It
is said that it weighed a good number of libras. Afterward he brought
it out and sold it by the ounce at a higher rate. [117]

In the province and river of Butuan--which is pacified and assigned
to Spaniards, and is located in the island of Mindanao--the natives
practice another industry, which is very useful. As they possess
many civet cats, although smaller than those of Guinea, they make
use of the civet and trade it. This they do easily, for, when the
moon is in the crescent, they hunt the cats with nets, and capture
many of them. Then when they have obtained the civet, they loose the
cats. They also capture and cage some of them, which are sold in the
islands at very low prices. [118]

Cotton is raised abundantly throughout the islands. It is spun and
sold in the skein to the Chinese and other nations, who come to
get it. Cloth of different patterns is also woven from it, and the
natives also trade that. Other cloths, called medriñaques, are woven
from the banana leaf. [119]

The islands of Babuytanes [120] consist of many small islands lying
off the upper coast of the province of Cagayan. They are inhabited
by natives, whose chief industry consists in going to Cagayan, in
their tapaques, with swine, fowls, and other food, and ebony spears,
for exchange. The islands are not assigned as encomiendas, nor is
any tribute collected from them. There are no Spaniards among them,
as those natives are of less understanding and less civilized [than
the others]. Accordingly no Christians have been made among them,
and they have no justices.

Other islands, called the Catenduanes, lie off the other head of
the island of Luzon, opposite the province of Camarines, in fourteen
degrees of north latitude, near the strait of Espiritu Santo. They
are islands densely populated with natives of good disposition, who
are all assigned to Spaniards. They possess instruction and churches,
and have an alcalde-mayor who administers justice to them. Most of
them cultivate the soil, but some are engaged in gold-washing, and
in trading between various islands, and with the mainland of Luzon,
very near those islands. [121]

The island of Luzon has a bay thirty leguas in circumference on
its southern coast, situated about one hundred leguas from the cape
of Espiritu Santo, which is the entrance to the Capul channel. Its
entrance is narrow, and midway contains an island called Miraveles