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Title: An Historical View of the Philippine Islands, Vol I (of 2)
       Exhibiting their discovery, population, language,
       government, manners, customs, productions and commerce.

Author: Martinez de Zuniga

Translator: John Maver

Release Date: February 29, 2012 [EBook #39010]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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                                   AN
                            HISTORICAL VIEW
                                 OF THE
                          PHILIPPINE ISLANDS:

                               EXHIBITING
                 THEIR DISCOVERY, POPULATION, LANGUAGE,
                     GOVERNMENT, MANNERS, CUSTOMS,
                       PRODUCTIONS AND COMMERCE.


                          FROM THE SPANISH OF
                          Martinez de Zuñiga.


                       PUBLISHED AT MANILA, 1803.

                            IN TWO VOLUMES.

                                  WITH
                 A NEW AND ACCURATE MAP OF THE ISLANDS,
             FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.


                               TRANSLATED
                          BY JOHN MAVER, ESQ.



                                VOL. I.

                                LONDON:
            PRINTED FOR J. ASPERNE, CORNHILL; AND NONAVILLE
                       AND FELL, NEW BOND-STREET:
                      By T. Davison, Whitefriars.

                                 1814.







INTRODUCTION.


The original, of which the following translation is offered to the
English reader, is, probably, the only copy which has yet reached this
country. Whether the chance which threw it in the way of the translator
may be deemed fortunate or otherwise must be left to the decision
of the candid public; but it appeared to him that the information
it contains respecting a Spanish colony, the most interesting of any
other to a British subject, supplies that desideratum so much wanted
in our language;--a correct view down to a very late period of the
Spanish establishments in the Philippines.

The position of these islands, and, indeed, that of the eastern
Archipelago generally, whether considered in a political or commercial
point of view, is sufficiently important. They form the entrepôt
of Europe, India, China, the immensely extended regions of Spanish
America, the north-western coasts of the new, and north-eastern coasts
of the old world; and in the storms which at present convulse the
political atmosphere of Europe, as well as that of both the Americas,
it is not easy even to conjecture what may be their fate.

The productions of these islands are various, and of a value and
importance unquestionably high. In the hands of an industrious
population, and under a fostering government, there is scarcely any
vegetable substance which, by slender exertion, they may not be made
to yield, whilst the choicest treasures of the mineral kingdom, lodged
beneath their irregular surface, minister largely to the cupidity,
and furnish materials for the more enterprising labours of man.

Gold is in abundance; iron, steel, copper, lead, pitch and tar, hemp,
cotton, indigo, sugar, cocoa, pepper, betel, cowries, tortoiseshell,
mother of pearl and pearls, hides, coyar, tobacco, corn and rice
excellent and abundant, with a variety of other productions, contribute
to the wants of commerce; while in this enumeration will be found all
the articles which, with the aid of the finest building timber in the
world, are requisite for the construction and complete equipment of
ships of every description.

The established intercourse of these islands with Japan and
China offers a ready transit for manufactures; and although it is
understood that the East India Company furnishes an adequate supply
of our woollen staple to the China market, we may yet fairly expect
that British enterprize will not overlook the advantages which the
opening of the India trade holds out in this quarter; nor will the
introduction of British manufactures into these islands, either with
an ultimate view to the above markets, or to those of Spanish America,
in any material degree interfere with the staple trade of the Company:
there is full scope for adventure in this new vineyard, and labourers
will not be wanting.

The political jealousy, and the national and religious prejudices
of the Spaniards, have till lately opposed a bar to an extended
intercourse with the Philippines; but the tide which hitherto
has flowed in that direction seems of late to have commenced its
ebb. The events of the last twenty years have been in their nature
so extraordinary, and in their effects so powerful a solvent of all
the prejudices, fostered by ignorance and superstition, that the dawn
of a new day seems to open upon mankind. Let us hope that while these
clouds vanish before the morning sun, the great bonds of society will
remain unbroken, and that the liberties of Europe, and consequently
those of the world, will be fixed on a permanent foundation.

The well-wisher to the temporal and eternal felicity of the human
race will hail, with becoming exultation, the opportunity which
it is hoped will now be offered of spreading the Christian faith,
and amicably and peaceably lending the reformed religion in aid of
the Catholic missions, to civilize the population of this extensive
portion of the eastern hemisphere.

As a literary production, the original has probably little claim to
merit, the author conveying his matter in a style more monastic than
flowing; at the same time that he seems to be generally under the
influence of that bias, which an early seclusion from life entails
upon the mind, and upon which even his official opportunities of
intercourse with the best society in Manila seem to have had a very
limited effect. The translator has found him too often occupying
his pages with contentions between the respective religious orders,
insignificant in their nature even to a Spaniard, and so much more so
to the English reader, that he has taken the liberty of altogether
omitting them in the translation, except where connected with the
political affairs of the settlement; and although by these means
several of the chapters are reduced to almost nominal importance;
yet considering the division of the subject in this form as adopted
on fair grounds by the author, he hopes he will be deemed justifiable
in retaining it even with the sacrifice of something of appearance.

Having said as much as he hopes can be urged against the original
production, the translator willingly advocates Zuñiga's cause
in respect to its intrinsic value, as giving to the public the
only correct view of this interesting settlement, purporting to be
brought down to the peace of 1763; but in fact, as we may reasonably
conclude, extended to the period of publication at Manila in 1803. From
information which may be fully relied on, it appears that Zuñiga may,
with more propriety, be deemed the editor than the author, as he was in
Manila, and superintended the publication in 1803; with the credit of
having only arranged for the press the papers of a deceased collector;
a conclusion justified by the circumstance of the work closing with
the peace of 1763, for there could not be any very solid reason for his
declining an account of the forty years intervening between that event
and the period of publication, had he himself been the author. If,
however, we are by these means without a detail of the actual events
which took place, it is probable we may have less cause for regret on
account of the very limited progress which we well know improvement,
or even amelioration, have been suffered to make under the Spanish
monarchy during the period in question. At any rate, we have grounds
for supposing that if any alteration, favourable or unfavourable, has
taken place, Zuñiga has contrived to weave it into the work; for it is
asserted by those whose residence renders them competent judges, that
the view he gives of the settlement is correct to the latest period.

The origin and language of these islanders have engaged the attention
of our ablest orientalists. From certain similar characteristics in
the persons of the inhabitants of the interior, or aborigines of the
islands, they have hitherto had an African origin assigned to them;
and nearly from the same source (Madagascar), it has been supposed that
the Malay population has flowed, which has in a great measure inundated
the Archipelago, as well as some parts of the continental coasts.

Similarity, or even approximation of language and manners
unquestionably offer great facilities in enquiries of this nature,
and they have accordingly been resorted to by all our oriental
physiologists in their researches respecting the eastern Archipelago;
and so far as regards the Malays and Malayan language, these researches
have been attended with corresponding success; but in respect to the
aboriginal language, or Tagalic, very slight attempts have been made
to trace it beyond the quarter in which it was found to prevail. Our
author has not failed to enter into the discussion, and from the
premises he lays down, not unreasonably, draws the conclusion that the
Tagalic language and original population of all the islands westward
of the coast of South America derive from that continent.

It is certainly consonant to reason to presume that the aborigines,
or mountaineers of the interior of these islands, in their primitive
state, were more likely to change their residence (if intentionally) by
committing themselves to a favourable breeze blowing pretty constantly
in one direction from the eastward; or if in consequence of misfortune,
by finding their efforts unavailing to encounter an adverse wind, and
again reach their own coasts; than to suppose even with all the aid
the monsoons could afford them in an erratic navigation from Africa
through the Indian ocean to the Archipelago, that they should diffuse
themselves from that point in every direction over the South Sea, in
the face of an almost constant current of wind, blowing occasionally
with extreme violence.

The Malay population most probably had its origin as stated. The
superior acquirements of that nation doubtless might enable them to
encounter those difficulties which have been mentioned, and either
by their extensive conquests, or acknowledged commercial activity,
to induce their language to be received as the general medium of
intercourse. On the subject of this language, and its different
dialects in these islands, some variety of opinion may be fairly
allowed to prevail; and Sir W. Jones, Dr. Wilkins, Mr. Marsden,
Mr. Raffles, and other authorities, may not be decided as to its
source; but it is generally allowed that the language spoken by
the Papuans, Samangs, and Negritos of the Philippines, and adjacent
islands, is totally different from the Malayan; and as Mr. Marsden
expresses himself, "presents a subject of research as curious as it
is obscure."

This latter gentleman, in the ingenious introduction to his valuable
grammar of the Malayan language, says, that the large islands of this
archipelago have their own peculiar language spoken by the inhabitants
of the interior, while the Malayan is generally used in the districts
bordering on the coasts, at the mouths and on the banks of navigable
rivers, and has thence acquired the appellation of the Lingua Franca of
the east. The antiquity of this insular or original language, we are,
he says, without the means of ascertaining; but he well supports its
stability by the strong proof he adduces of Pigafetta's Vocabulary of
the Tidore language, in 1521, differing in no respect from that of the
present day. Mr. Marsden seems to conclude that the Malay population
of this archipelago has its root in Sumatra, the inhabitants of which
island claim immediate descent from some of the companions of Noah,
landed there from the ark; and both Mr. Marsden, and Mr. Raffles,
the present Governor of Java, assert, that the language spoken
in Sumatra differs in no material respect from that spoken in the
Malayan peninsula.

Upon any occasion where additional light could be thrown upon the
subject of these islands, the translator has not scrupled to avail
himself of the best authorities for that purpose. The Voyage de
Sonnerat aux Indes orientales et a la Chine, edited and enlarged by
Sonnini, has been of great service in this respect, as containing
the most authentic information which was possible to be procured
by a foreigner, aided by every facility which the influence of the
court of France over that of Madrid could furnish, and entering upon
the undertaking with the express intention of seconding the views of
France on the colonial establishments of her European neighbours.

The translator hopes that, on the whole, the notes and extracts will
not be found unimportant or useless.

On the subject of the map of the Philippines, accompanying this
work, the translator trusts he will be excused expressing the
gratification he feels in presenting it to the world as the only
correct delineation of these islands in existence. A collection of
the existing authorities he found answered no purpose, as being at
variance not only with each other, but still more with the unpublished
manuscript, and other authentic information he derived from the most
competent private sources. To John Barrow, Esq. second Secretary, and
Captain Hurd, Hydrographer to the Admiralty, he feels greatly indebted
for the communications they favoured him with, and for amenity and
politeness which accompanied them. To the first eastern scholar in
this country, probably in Europe, Dr. Wilkins, Librarian to the East
India Company, he owes more obligations than he can express. He takes
this opportunity of expressing his gratitude for the kind assistance
afforded by Captain Horsburgh, Hydrographer to the East India Company,
who has had full opportunity, for the exercise of his practical and
theoretical acquirements as a navigator in the eastern Archipelago,
and who surveyed the western coasts of these islands, and in particular
the northern extremity of the island of Luzon; to him he owes the
correction of many errors, in respect to latitude and longitude,
which disgrace the existing charts; and to him likewise the map is
indebted, for a more perfect delineation of the coasts, and for the
disappearance of certain dangerous rocks which he has ascertained
to have no existence. From these sources, aided by the suggestions
of commanders in the India service, in regard to the nautical part,
and from John Guise, Esq. of Baker-street, whose residence of nine
years in Manila afforded him ample means of information respecting
the interior of Luzon, the map, it is presumed, may be deemed the
most correct extant. To this latter gentleman he has to acknowledge
further obligations on the score of the general information he has
kindly furnished. To his friend, John Jackson, Esq. whose literary
attainments do him so much honour, the translator is under particular
obligations for the kind assistance afforded him in regard to the
map. To Peter Guichenet, Esq. he feels particularly indebted, as well
as to another friend, for the permission to extract from his excellent
manuscript translation of Sonnerat as much as answered his purpose.

The merit of a translator is very limited. He is answerable for
little beyond the actual transfusion of his author's meaning in
appropriate language: whatever the present translator has attempted
beyond this is contained in the notes, and is added with the hope of
rendering the publication as valuable as possible, and as replete with
information on the religious, moral, political, and commercial state
of these dependencies on the Spanish crown as the existing sources are
capable of furnishing. He lays it before the public with diffidence,
but with the hope that it will add to the stock of general knowledge;
equally useful to the moralist, the politician, and the merchant.







PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.


CHAPTER I.

    Their Description--Productions and Commerce.


The Philippine Islands were so named by Ruy Lopez de Villalobos,
in compliment to Philip the Second, when Prince of Asturias. They
originally were called the Western Isles, or the Archipelago of Saint
Lazarus, the name which Magellan gave them when first discovered by
him. These islands are numerous; their appearance on the map is that
of a large blanket full of holes and rents. The principal of them is
Luzon, so called, because at the doorway of each house stands a large
wooden mortar, which, in the language of the country, is called Losong,
and in which the Indians wash their rice. This island resembles the
arm a little bent, and in the part which corresponds to the elbow
is situated the city of Manila, on the shore of a fine bay, thirty
leagues in circumference, and which receives some considerable rivers,
among others the Pasig, which flowing from a large lake, situated
to the east of Manila, at the distance of three leagues, washes its
walls on the north side: its water is very soft and salubrious.

Before the Spaniards arrived this district was occupied by the nation
Tagala, inhabiting many towns and mud villages, governed by petty
chiefs. It is now divided into various provinces, under the government
of their respective Alcaldes Mayores, who collect the royal tribute,
and administer justice among the Indians. At three leagues distance
from Manila, to the south-west, lies the port of Cavite, so called
from the word cauit, a fish-hook, to which the tongue of land on
which it stands bears a strong resemblance. Cavite is defended by an
indifferent fort, the governor of which is nominated by the court
of Madrid. It is likewise provided with a complete arsenal for the
accommodation, as well of the Acapulco ships, and a few small vessels
for the defence of the islands from the Moors, as for general use.

To the north from the nation Tagala, we found the nations Pampanga,
Zambales, Pangasinan, Ylocos, and Cagayan. Each of these nations
formed a distinct community, with a distinct language, or dialect of
the same language, and was distributed in mud villages, having no
king or supreme head to govern them; but in lieu of that, a number
of petty chiefs, or rajahs, whose authority scarcely extended over
fifty or an hundred families respectively: after the conquest, each of
these nations was constituted into a province, governed by a Spanish
Alcalde Mayor. To the east from the nation Tagala are the Camarines,
whose district has been divided into two provinces, that of Camarines,
and that of Albay, each under an Alcalde Mayor. The greater part of
the island is mountainous; it is crossed from the north to the south
by an immense chain, from which diverge those ramifications that
spread through the whole island, in many cases even forming detached
mountains, like insulated cones in the midst of extensive plains. The
whole of this elevated part of the country occupying nearly all
the interior, is either a desert, or inhabited by a set of wretched
people who do not acknowledge the Spanish government. There are in
this island several volcanos, as that of Mayon, which is between the
provinces of Albay and Camarines. It has a sugar-loaf figure, and is
of such altitude that it may be discovered at an immense distance at
sea. The de Taal is of a similar form, and stands in the middle of a
large lake, called de Bombon; it exhibits sufficient proof that the
mountain in whose top the volcano was, while in its active state,
has sunk, remaining, however, still pretty much elevated above the
water. There are other volcanos, and many warm springs, indicating
the fermentation in the bowels of this island, from which, no doubt,
arise those earthquakes to which it is subject, and which, one day,
may produce new eruptions. We know that these volcanos at times throw
out ashes, stones, sand, water, and lava, inundating and destroying
the habitations, and rendering the fields a desert.

To the south of Luzon lie the principal islands of Mindoro, Panay,
Marinduque, Negros, Masbate, Zebu, Bohol, Leyte, Samar, besides some
very small ones, the whole of which we denominate Bisayas, or Islas de
Pintados, Painted Islands, their inhabitants having been accustomed
to paint their bodies before our arrival in this quarter. All these
islands acknowledge the Spanish government, and pay tribute to the
king, which the corregidores, or Alcaldes Mayores of the provinces
into which they are divided, collect. More to the south from these
islands are Mindanao and Jolo. In Mindanao the provinces of Misamis
and Caraga are subject to the Spaniards: the rest of the island has
not submitted, and is engaged with Jolo and other islands in constant
hostility against them; and although there have been occasional
intervals of peace, they have been of short duration.

For these two centuries past these islanders have been plundering
the coasts of our provinces, have taken an immense number of vessels,
pillaged many villages, burnt many towns, destroyed many inhabitants,
and made slaves of a very great number of the clergy, both Spaniards
and Indians [1].

We have in Mindanao the garrison of Zamboanga, with a Spanish governor,
to check these depredations; but as yet we have found little benefit
from this establishment.

To the east of these islands, at the distance of three hundred leagues,
are found las Marianas, las Carolinas, and the islands de Palaos,
or Pelew. Of these, the Marianas alone are under the dominion of the
Spaniards. Here there is a governor, with a detachment of troops,
to overawe the Indians, and three Franciscan friars to instruct them
in the Christian religion.

These islands have no other communication with the rest of the world
than what is afforded by the Acapulco ship, which, in returning to
Manila, touches there, with the portion of the revenue appropriated
to the support of this presidency. By this opportunity they likewise
receive wine for mass, grain, furniture, clothing, and a few other
necessaries; this obscure corner producing only horned cattle, hogs,
fowls, and a few vegetables, such as the bread-fruit and others,
which serve the inhabitants instead of bread. These supplies are
annually imported by the governor; and as there is no other store in
the island than his, the price he fixes is at his own option. From
this commerce he draws all his income; and under such oppression it is
not to be wondered at that this colony is as poor as the first day it
was discovered [2]. Rice, Indian corn, and wheat would grow abundantly
in these islands, but every attempt to raise them in any quantity,
has been rendered of no avail by the swarms of rats, which pour down
from the mountains, and sweep all before them. From the combination of
these political and natural causes, the situation of the inhabitants
of these islands is so miserable, that some of our historians would
persuade us, they entertain no wish to propagate the species, that
their children may avoid their unhappy lot. On this account, it is
added, the Indians diminish considerably in number; but this seems
to be a mistake, as the diminution of the Indians, if it may be so
called, may be rather attributed to the following cause.

The population of the Marianas, independent of the native Indians,
consists of many from New Spain, some Philippine Indians, and some
Chinese, who come in the suite of the governors. These men being
married to women of the country, the children born of these marriages,
are registered by the friars on a list of casts, distinguished from
the Indian casts, from which it clearly appears that, in proportion
as these mixed casts have increased, the Indian casts must have
diminished, and, in all probability, in a short time this latter
cast will be annihilated, as has already happened in some of the
Spanish settlements. This being the case, we ought not to say the
Indians diminish but change their cast. With all these casts united,
our historians would wish us to believe, that there are, at present,
fewer inhabitants in the Marianas than formerly; but that cannot be
the case, since the Jesuits, in quitting these islands, left a greater
population than they found in the year 1738; and the Franciscans
report that that has increased progressively since. It is certain
the population does increase, as is clearly shewn by the lists of
the casts. Indeed the inhabitants of the Philippines have doubled
every century; and I believe it is the case with all the population of
America, although foreigners charge us, with occasioning the diminution
of the Indian population, by our oppressive and bad management,
quoting our own historians in support of the charge. It ought to be
recollected, however, that by these, the number of inhabitants which
the Spaniards found on their arrival, is considerably exaggerated,
whenever they are desirous of giving additional splendor to the
actions of the heroes they celebrate; and, on the contrary, when it
is their object to detract, they draw a very opposite picture, and,
attempting to diminish their numbers, assert that their diminution
is the consequence of oppression. From the amount of the tributes,
however, referred to by these historians, and levied at different
times, the evident conclusion is, that the Spaniards did not find
the tenth part of the inhabitants, which are now in existence.

The geographical description of the Philippines is, that they are
in the torrid zone, between five and nineteen degrees of northern
latitude; the sun twice passes its zenith, and produces those vapours
which, descending in copious showers, and being again absorbed by the
earth, form fountains, hot springs, and large lakes. This rainy or wet
season lasts while we have the Sun to the north, that is, from about
May till September, and at times till the beginning of December, from
which latter period till May there is continual spring. The regular
winds are the north, the east, and the south-west, and they each
prevail between three and four months at a time, the change of one wind
for another, being attended with violent storms of thunder, lightning,
and, at times, whirlwinds. Indeed these storms are complete hurricanes,
which run all round the compass in less than twenty-four hours, tearing
up trees by the roots, and laying waste the whole country. These are
so frequent, that we may justly complain, considering our proximity
to the line, of the want of sufficient solar influence, to render
the climate of these islands more agreeable. It cannot be said that
we have oppressive heat in the Philippines [3]; there reigns throughout
the greater part of the year, a most beautiful spring, and if the
atmosphere were less moist, it would be the most delicious climate in
the world. To this moist atmosphere, and moderately warm temperature,
is joined of course a great fertility. The trees are always covered
with leaves, and the soil with vegetation. The harvests of rice are
most abundant; the plants shoot up with great beauty immediately,
but the luxuriance of the soil renders it necessary, continually to
clear away the weeds, which harbour many insects of a destructive
kind, and others so dangerous as to diminish greatly the comforts
and enjoyments of a country, which, in point of fertility, returns
one hundred fold of rice, the common food of the Indians.

Rice is the principal production of these islands, and it was
cultivated to much greater extent before the Spaniards arrived here [4].
They have likewise some pulse, as mongos, patani, kidney-beans,
and millet. The inhabitants breed up, under the same roof with
themselves, pigs, fowls, ducks, goats, and even buffaloes. In the
mountains there are many deer, and the woods and fields produce
all sorts of pigeons, small birds, quails, a species of partridge;
woodcocks, &c. Few are disposed to indulge themselves in this latter
kind of sporting; they apply themselves ardently to hunting the deer,
to which they are particularly partial. The sea abounds with very rich
fish, such as the pargo, the eel, the sole, the pampano, the mojarra,
the garropa, the shad, the tunny, the corvina, the tanguingui, and an
infinite number of others, caught either with hooks or common nets,
and likewise with a species of net very much used in these rivers,
and even out at sea, so constructed that the fish may enter, but are
unable to escape [5].

In this occupation the inhabitants of these islands take more
delight than in any thing else, as it is a pursuit which at once
indulges their indolent habits, and gratifies their partiality
to fish in preference to animal food. Throughout the country are
found many other productions, contributing to the support of life,
and which, though not so relishing as those enumerated above, are
probably better suited to their relaxed habits; and the pith of the
palm, shoots of the sugar-cane, green withs, and other succulent
productions, serve for food to those, who have no desire to labour
for their subsistence. They cultivate the bread-fruit, beans, the
cacauate, &c. and they pay particular attention to the palm tree,
from which they procure both a spirit and an oil, together with a
sweet-meat, which they call chancaca. There are few fruit-trees,
and those are bad, with the exception of the plantain, of which
there is a great variety, and all excellent and fine flavoured,
and the orange, of which there are two kinds. The mango, a very rich
fruit, it is imagined, the Spaniards imported from the coast of South
America. We finish our enumeration with the cultivation of a species
of the palm tree, which bears a very hard, little fruit of the form
of a green nut. This being cut, a highly scented kernel, or eye,
is found enclosed, which is called Itmo. This is laid in lime, to
make what they call Buyo, which being chewed, produces a red saliva,
together with a disorder in the mouth, to which they are so habituated,
that they are uneasy when without it. This custom prevails generally,
and even many Spaniards adopt it with great avidity. There are in
this country mines of iron and gold, but of little value, either from
the indolence of the natives, or the insignificance of these objects
to the Spaniards, affording too little profit in their commerce with
Acapulco to deserve attention. Gold is likewise, by washing, separated
from the sand, which the waters bring down from the mountains.

In Paracale they work the mines in the same manner as they do in New
Spain, but the natives are so addicted to sloth, it is not possible to
render them so productive as those of South America. In the mountains
there is excellent timber for building ships or houses, and the canes
are of an immense size, very long, and as thick as a man's thigh; of
these latter the Indians construct their houses, covering them with
the leaf of the palm. They raise cotton for clothing, which they dye
various colours with logwood, indigo, and the achiote, a large tree,
whose seed is used for that purpose. There is great abundance of wax
and wild honey, amber, pearls, mother of pearl, marble, tar, brimstone,
and many other objects of less value in a commercial point of view.

To these productions the Spaniards have added horses and horned
cattle, which have multiplied so much that they are to be found in the
mountains without an owner, and where those that want may supply their
wants at pleasure. They likewise introduced sheep, geese, grapes, figs,
wheat, pepper, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tobacco, and various species of
plants, which thrive so well, and produce so much, that the Indian,
with all his sloth, acknowledges the utility of cultivating them.

There are, in these islands, some natural curiosities deserving
particular notice, such as the paxarillo, a species of small swallow,
which forms its nest chiefly of the froth of the sea [6], and which is
held in such estimation by the Chinese, as a principal dish at their
table, that they purchase it at any price.

The Balate is a species of sea worm, which, likewise, is sold in
China at a high price. The Siguey, is a small shining shell [7], which
forms the current money of the Malays. The Tabon, is a bird, which
lays eggs similar to those of the turkey, burying them very deep in
the sand on the sea shore, and when hatched by the heat of the sun,
it tears away the sand that covers them, and the young come out. The
Caiman, is a species of crocodile; a large and uncouth animal,
the more curious in this respect, that it is produced from an egg,
of the same size as that of the duck. The Chacon, is a lizard, which
takes up its abode in the houses, and repeatedly articulates clearly
the word toco. The Calo, is a bird, which has a kind of hollow shell
in his head, and crows, at certain hours of the day, the same as the
cock. The Taclobo, is a large species of the oyster, the shell of which
will hold a pitcher of water; indeed they are used as vessels for holy
water in the churches. Our historians mention many curiosities even
more rare than these, but I do not enumerate them, as they seem to
have been ill informed on the subject, and I fear with good reason,
having been too much under the influence of the marvellous, they have
given credit to the Indians, who are always desirous of distinguishing
themselves by the relation of something very uncommon.

With all these productions, the Indians formed a species of
commerce, or barter, among each other, still considering gold as
the representative of general value, or medium of exchange; they
were likewise in the habit of trading with the Chinese, and with
the Moors of Borneo, for flag-stones, copper, articles of furniture,
&c. but in very small quantities, their wants being necessarily few,
going almost naked, baking their rice in green canes, and eating it
with the leaf of the plantain.

The Spaniards, soon after they came into possession of these islands,
commenced an extended commerce with India and China, which brought to
New Spain, a proportionable increase of profit; and in a little time,
Manila became so rich a colony, that it created a jealousy among
the merchants of Seville, and, in consequence of their petition,
its commerce was restricted. From this period it began to decline,
and to the great detriment of these islands, which cannot subsist
by the exchange of their own productions alone, these being very
limited in their nature, and incapable of much extension, surrounded
as they are by other nations, more industrious, and who can work at
a cheaper rate [8].

The luxuriant nature of the soil of these islands, has been much and
justly extolled, but, proper allowance has not been made, for the sloth
of the Indians, the hurricanes or tempests, which sweep every thing
before them, the destructive insects, the rats, and many other things,
which diminish greatly the fertility of these beautiful islands [9].







CHAPTER II.

    Of the Inhabitants the Spaniards found in the Philippines--their
    Language, Customs, and Religion.


Our historians, affecting always the marvellous, divide into different
classes, the inhabitants the Spaniards found, on their first arrival
in the Philippines. They denominate them satyrs, men with tails,
sea monsters, and whatever else of the fabulous, is calculated to
raise wonder in the human mind. In reality, however, they found
only two classes, that which we know by the appellation of Negroes,
and that of the Indians. The Negroes are very small in stature,
and more of a copper colour than those of Guinea, with soft hair and
flat noses. They lived in the mountains, almost in a state of nature,
merely covering the forepart of the body, with a piece of the bark of
a tree; and they subsisted upon roots, and such deer, as in hunting,
they could kill with the bow and arrow, at which they were very
dexterous. They slept where night overtook them, and they possessed
no idea of religion or civilized habits, rather, indeed, ranking with
beasts than as human beings. The Spaniards, have at length succeeded,
in domesticating many of them, and converting them to christianity,
to which they give no opposition, so long as they get subsistence,
but if they are obliged to labour, for the maintenance of their family,
they return again to the mountains.

The Negroes, without doubt, were the primitive inhabitants of
these islands, and they retired to the mountains, on the arrival
of the Indians. These latter, settling on the sea shore, continual
hostility prevailed between them, but the Indians were never able,
to establish themselves sufficiently, to be permitted, even to cut
wood in the mountains, without paying a tribute for it. At present,
the influence of the Negroes is very limited, but their antipathy to
their first invaders, continues unabated; for, if a Negro is killed,
or dies suddenly, it is customary for another, to bind himself to
his countrymen by an oath, that he will disappear from among them,
and that he will not return, until he has avenged the death of his
friend, by killing three or four Indians, to accomplish which, he
watches their villages, and the passes in the mountains, and if any
unfortunately stray from their companions, he murders them.

The origin of these Negroes, some believe to be, from Angola [10],
though they are not so black as their ancestors, which it is pretended,
proceeds from the temperature of these islands being milder, and less
scorching than that of Africa. This possibly may be so, for it is
well known, that by changing, from a sultry to a temperate climate,
the blackness of the Negro may be diminished, in the course of a long
series of generations; yet, the flat nose, and using a dialect of the
same language, which the Indians of these isles speak, appears to
prove satisfactorily enough, that the origin of one and the other,
is nearly the same. The reason assigned, for their not being more
numerous, is, the influence of the rain, wind, sun, and all those
inclemencies natural to the climate, to which they are exposed;
the errors of the government, having reduced them to the condition,
almost, of wild beasts, in which we now see them [11]. The Indians
whom the Spaniards found here, were of regular stature, and of an olive
complexion, with flat noses, large eyes, and long hair. They all
possessed some description of government better or worse, and each
nation was distinguished by a different name; but, the similarity
of their dress and manners, proves that the origin of all of them is
the same.

They had chiefs, who held their situations, either on account of
personal valour, or by succession to their fathers, where they
had abilities to retain it. Their dominion extended over one or two
villages, or more, according to the means they possessed, of extending
protection. They were continually at war with the neighbouring
villages, and continually making each other slaves. Out of these
wars, arose three classes of people; the chiefs or masters of the
villages, the slaves, and those whom the chiefs had enfranchised,
with their descendants, and who, to this day, are called Timavas,
properly signifying children of liberty. In some places, were found
Indians whiter than others, descended, without doubt, from Chinese
or Japanese, who had been shipwrecked on these coasts, and whom the
Indians, naturally hospitable, received, and allowed to intermarry with
them; and it is generally believed that the Ygorrotes of Ylocos, whose
eyes resemble the Chinese, must have originated from the companions of
Limahon, who fled to those mountains, when Juan de Salcedo compelled
him to his disgraceful retreat, from the province of Pangasinan.

It is not, however, after all, easy to ascertain the origin of
these people, but their idiom throws some degree of light on the
subject. Although the languages these Indians speak, are many and
different, they have so much intercourse one with another, that it
may clearly be discovered, they are dialects of the same language, as
the Spanish, French, and Italian, are derivatives from the Latin. The
prepositions and pronouns, are nearly the same in all of them; the
numeral characters, differ very little, and they have many words in
common, and of one and the same structure.

No doubt can be entertained, that the radical language, from which all
those dialects spring, prevails from Madagascar to the Philippines,
with local shades of difference. It is spoken too in New Guinea,
and in all the islands to the southward, in the Marianas, in the
islands of San Duisk, in those of Otaheite, and in almost all the
islands in the South Sea. In one collection of voyages, there are
given various vocabularies, with such corresponding terminations,
as the respective travellers, were able to distinguish among these
islands. It is remarkable, that in these almost all the pronouns, are
the same with those of the nation Tagala; the numerals, are common
to all the dialects, used in these islands, and most of the words
are the same, and with the same signification, as in the language
Tagala. But, I am the more inclined to believe the identity of
the dialects, from a conversation which I had with Don Juan Hovel,
an Englishman, who spoke that of San Duisk, and who had a slave,
a native of one of those islands. The structure, appeared to be the
same, as that of the languages spoken in the Philippines; and on the
whole, I feel confident in the opinion, that they are all dialects of
the same language, so widely diffused over so large a portion of the
earth. It is ascertained, that this language, is in common use for
many thousand leagues, extending from Madagascar to the isles of San
Duisk, Otaheite, and the isle of Pasquas, which latter, is not more
than six hundred leagues distant, from the coast of South America. Yet,
the Indians of the Philippines, do not understand the people of these
last mentioned islands, when they have occasional intercourse with
them; nor, even in these islands, do the inhabitants of one province,
understand those of another. So neither does the Spaniard understand
the Frenchman, nor the Frenchman the Italian.

In the same collection of voyages, already referred to, we find
a vocabulary of only five terminations, which the Spaniards have
distinguished on the coast of Patagonia, and which they have been
able to assimilate to the language of these islands, and one of
those is the word balay, which in that country signifies a house;
and by this same word they designate a house among the Pampangos, and
the inhabitants of the Bisayas in general. This may be more matter of
accident than of proof, that the languages of one and the other is the
same; but on observing, besides this, that the proper names of places
about the middle of the continent of South America are very similar
to those of the Philippines, I endeavoured to procure a vocabulary
of this country, and did not fail to examine, with great diligence
and attention, the few words of the language of Chili which Ercilla
mentions in his Araucana, and which I found perfectly conformable to
the language Tagala. The name Chili is a derivation from this language:
the Cormorant is called Cachile, and this is a name which the Malays
give to the sons of their kings. Chilian, which is a town of Chili,
is a compound from the language of Tagala, in which language the
termination an gives the signification town. Thus from Cachile we
draw Cachilian, meaning a town, where there are cormorants. Mapocho,
which is the situation where the city of Santiago stands, is another
word of Tagalic composition, signifying a town, and pocquiot being a
kind of herb, we form the name Mapocquiot, a town in which there is
abundance of this herb.

In Chili they frequently double the syllables in forming a word,
as ytayta, biobio, lemolemo, colocolo, &c. and this occurs in the
Tagala language; for instance, we say ataata, bilobilo, lebomlebom,
colocolo. A great many other words are either actually of Tagalic
derivation, or assimilate closely to that language. In examining the
structure of these two languages we are compelled to conclude that
they flow from one and the same source, and I dare affirm that the
Indians of the Philippines are descended from the aborigines of Chili
and Peru, and that the language of these islands derives immediately
from the parent source, those of the neighbouring islands being
dialects of this. Many will urge the absurdity of this supposition,
on the plea that the more immediate vicinity of the Philippines to
Malacca must have occasioned them to be colonized by the Malays, as
our historians generally assert. I do not deny that these islands
could easily have been peopled by the Malays, but how could they
colonize the Isles de Palaos and Marianas, which are distant more
than three hundred leagues? and it is still more improbable that
they colonized the islands of San Duisk and Otaheite, which are
distant two thousand leagues from the Philippines. All these people,
however, have the same language, the same manners and customs, and
consequently the same origin as our Indians. There is, in my opinion,
this other reason for supposing these latter islands could not be
peopled from the westward, viz. that in all the torrid zone the east
wind generally prevails, which being in direct opposition to the course
from Malacca and the adjacent islands, it is fair to conclude that the
inhabitants of all the islands of the South Sea came from the east,
sailing before the wind; for we have seen it often happen, that the
Indians from the Palaos have arrived at the Philippines, precisely
under those circumstances. On the contrary, we have no instance on
record, of any of the Philippine Indians having been, even by accident,
carried by the winds to the islands to the eastward. Indeed we know
the reverse of this to be true, since at times the most experienced
pilots, in attempting this navigation, have been compelled to return,
without falling in with the islands they went in search of, from the
necessity there is in the voyage of being provided with proper nautical
instruments. Here, therefore, we appear to have found the most probable
solution of our difficulties, that is, that the first settlers came
out of the east, we may presume from the coast of South America,
and proceeding gradually to the westward through the Pacific Ocean,
studded as we find it with islands, and clusters of islands, at no very
great distance from each other, and of course of easy access before
the wind, it follows that to whatever point, in an eastern direction,
we can trace the Tagalic language, we may conclude that at that point
emigration must have commenced. Some however dissent from this, on the
ground, that the mode of writing in use among the Malays, is similar
to that practised by the inhabitants of the Philippines. This consists
in forming the lines from the right to the left, like the Arabians,
Persians, &c. and not like the Chinese, Tartars, and Japanese, from
top to bottom. Their characters are totally different from ours; they
have only three vowels, a, e, u, and by placing a point, either above
or below the consonant, or leaving it without one, the corresponding
vowel is readily known, and equal facility given as if the vowels
were specifically inserted. Although they can write, they have no
written laws; decisions are made on traditionary law generally, but
too often by the right of the strongest. The Rajah, or chief, with
the assistance of some of the elders, decides in all civil cases;
but in criminal cases, the kinsmen are accustomed to compound with
the aggressor, for a sum in gold, unless in cases of murder, when the
only atonement admitted, is retaliation; and if the murderer is of a
different tribe or village, all the community of which the deceased was
a member, make a common cause, against the tribe or community of the
murderer, and numbers are generally made slaves on both sides. When
it is suspected that one man has robbed another, he is obliged to
draw a stone, from the bottom of a cauldron full of boiling water,
and if he does not accomplish this, which is the vulgar test, he is
fined in a certain quantity of gold, the greater part of which goes
to the Rajah or chief. Adultery is likewise punished with a pecuniary
fine [12], as is the crime of disrespect to the elders, but for fraud,
and cheating in their dealings, there is no punishment, and usury
is very general among them. Their matrimonial customs are peculiar;
they are allowed to marry only one woman, and although the principal
people have several concubines, yet they commonly are slaves. They
are accustomed to marry a relation (not a sister), with whom if they
find themselves unable to live, or if they become tired of her, they
return her to her parents, without their being required to assign a
cause for the divorce. The dowry given on the day of marriage is merely
restored: this dowry is of two kinds, and which the bridegroom always
pays. The one is called bigay suso, and is paid to the mother, as a
compensation for the milk, with which she nourished her daughter. The
other is called bigay caya, or green dowry, which is set apart for the
maintenance of the newly married couple, although very often, by the
expenses of the wedding and apparel, there remains little or nothing
for this desirable end. Besides these dowries paid by the bridegroom,
he is obliged, for some years, to serve the parents of the bride [13],
and assist them on certain days, particularly at the sowing of the
rice, and getting in the harvest. It is incumbent likewise, on all
the relations of the bridegroom, to behave with courtesy and respect
to the bride, and her parents and family, during these years of
service, and if they are guilty of any lapse in this respect, the
marriage is declared to be annulled, which is always very agreeable
to the parents of the woman, as a new suitor presents himself, and
they reap the benefit of a new service. The bridegroom, to console
himself for his sufferings, as soon as the term closes, and his
service is at an end, treats his wife as a slave; she is obliged
to work for the maintenance of the family, whilst the husband is
quite idle, and thinks herself happy, if, after having done this,
she is not beaten. The interest which the parents of the girl,
thus have in her disposal, is highly pernicious to morals; and we
have not succeeded to this hour, in the abolition of it, either by
the influence of royal edicts, or the regulations of the bishops,
by both of which, it is discouraged and prohibited. The ceremony of
marriage is performed, by sacrificing a hog, which a priestess slays
with a thousand grimaces; after which, she bestows many benedictions
on the parties, and an old woman presenting them with some food,
the ceremony is closed by many obscenities. Dancing, according to
their fashion, succeeds, and drinking the rest of the day ends the
feast, which is always proportionate to the circumstances of the
newly married pair. The principal contributions to this feast, arise
from presents made to the bride and bridegroom by their friends,
of which particular notice is taken, in order that similar presents
may be returned to the parties on a like occasion.

In their religious ceremonies, they use neither idols nor temples;
their sacrifices are offered in arbours, which they raise for that
purpose. They have priestesses, whom they call babailanas or catalonas,
to whose function it belongs, to perform the sacrifices. The priestess,
taking a lance in her hand, with extravagant and ridiculous gestures,
works herself up to apparent frenzy, accompanied by foaming at
the mouth, when uttering something, which is received as prophecy,
she pierces the hog with the lance, and immediately distributes the
carcase among those present: the ceremony, as usual, is closed by
dancing and drinking.

These sacrifices are offered to the infernal deities, as well as to the
souls of their ancestors, who they are taught to believe inhabit very
large trees, rocks of uncommon appearance, or any natural object which,
in point of magnitude or form, varies from the usual course. They are
so fully persuaded of this, that they never pass any object of this
description, without first asking the permission of its visionary
inhabitant, and to this hour the custom prevails. When any person was
dangerously ill, his friends offered up to their deities rice, wine,
and flesh, which was then given to the sick person, and which they were
of opinion would effect his cure, a custom even yet followed by some
people. They have many other superstitions, as that of the patianac,
a spirit or ideal being, whose employment or amusement consists in
preventing, by certain means peculiar to itself, the delivery of
a woman in labour. To counteract the malignity of this spirit, the
husband, fastening the door, reduces himself to a state of complete
nudity, lights a fire, and arming himself with his sword, continues to
flourish it furiously, until the woman is delivered. The tigbalang is
another object of which they stand in great awe. It is described as
a phantom, which assumes a variety of uncouth and monstrous shapes,
and interposes its authority, to prevent their performing the duties,
prescribed by our religion.

These and other superstitions, formerly had extensive influence,
and are still resorted to by impostors, who find their account in
persuading those, who are silly enough to listen to them, that they
are able to cure them of dangerous illness, or to recover any thing
they may have lost, by having recourse to such absurdities; and so
much do the love of life, and our own individual interests prevail,
that although they believe these customs sinful, and although they
do not entirely give credit to their efficacy, yet they put them in
practice, because, they say, chance may be in their favour: this is
a proof that as yet they are very superficial christians [14]. Indeed,
all their religious impressions, seem rather the result of a slavish
dread, than the effect of rational piety.

They practise no external adoration, and have no other form of address
to their gods, than what has been mentioned. They do not believe,
that the good will be rewarded, or the wicked punished, but they
acknowledge the immortality of the souls of the deceased, and that
they are capable of doing them mischief. They persuade themselves,
that these retain all the natural wants incident to the mortal state,
and accordingly, place on their tombs, clothes, arms, and food, and
on the fourth day, when the funeral ceremony is performed, a vacant
seat is left at the table for the deceased, whom they believe to be
actually present, though not obvious to sight. To prove this, sand is
strewed on the floor, on which the prints of the feet of the deceased
are often found. This may be presumed, to be the pious trick of some of
the friends, but it answers the purpose, of inducing a belief in the
actual presence of the party; and in order to deprecate the injury he
may do, offerings of eatables are made to him, and which ceremony,
is perfectly conformable, to the cowardly and timorous nature of
the Indians.







CHAPTER III.

ANNO DOM. 1519 to 1564.

    Comprising the Discovery of the Philippines.


After the conquest of the Americas, and discovery of the South
Sea, Hernando de Magellan, a Portuguese, affirmed there must be a
communication with that sea by the antarctic pole, and proposed to his
sovereign, to make the discovery by the route of the Moluccas. The
king, Don Manuel of Portugal, either not believing there was such
a passage, or prejudiced against Magellan, received his proposal
with contempt. This disgusted him, and he came into Spain, where,
at Saragossa, he was presented to Charles V., to whom he promised
the complete discovery of the Moluccas, and the adjacent islands,
within the Spanish line of demarcation, by a distinct route from
that used by the Portuguese, pursuing his object by the expected
antarctic passage to the South Sea. By the brief of Pope Alexander
VI., expedited at Rome the 4th of May 1493, Magellan secured a
patent, attaching such discoveries to the crown of Castile. This
brief enjoined, that the globe should be equally divided, by a line
drawn from the north, by the isles of the Azores, towards the south,
embracing the conquests, which formed the western boundaries of the
Atlantic; the portion to the west, to belong to the crown of Spain,
and leaving to the crown of Portugal, the hemisphere to the eastward
of this line. Having discovered the Brazils, however, and the king of
Portugal being desirous of preserving it, he requested his Holiness,
that the line might be drawn, four hundred and sixty leagues more
to the westward of the Azores, in order, that no other power, might
interfere with that valuable acquisition. The line was so drawn on
the map, and the Moluccas, were accordingly, placed out of the line
of territory, thus appropriated to the Portuguese, and within that
of Spain[15]: they were not able, however, at that time, to adjust the
other point as to the route; but the Cape of Good Hope, interposing
in their voyages to India, it was not doubted, that America might
be like this hemisphere, and finish also in a cape, and passage to
the South Sea. The desire of the Spaniards to take possession of the
Spice Islands, or, as they were called, the Moluccas, instigated them
to ascertain the truth of this conjecture; and a squadron of five
ships, was fitted out for that purpose, viz. La Trinidad, in which
Magellan himself embarked; San Antonio, La Concepcion, Santiago, and
La Victoria; the whole manned with two hundred and thirty-four men,
and paid and victualled for two years.

Magellan sailed from Seville with this armament on the 10th of August
1519, and on the 13th of December he arrived at the Brazils, and
coasting the land in quest of the expected passage to the South Sea,
on Easter day, he entered the Bay of Saint Julian, in fifty degrees
of south latitude, where he intended remaining, finding the winter
had commenced in those regions. Here his people mutinied, upon an
idea that their provisions were exhausted, and that it was impossible
to discover the pass they were in search of. Magellan quelled this
mutiny; but immediately after understood, that another had broken out
in the ship San Antonio, and that the crew had murdered the commander,
and confined his cousin Alvaro de Mesquita, who was made captain
on the arrest of Juan de Cartagena. The leader on this occasion
was Gaspar de Quezada, whom he ordered to be hanged; and setting on
shore a Franciscan friar and Juan de Cartagena, on account of their
turbulent disposition, he sailed in prosecution of his voyage, by
the much desired pass to the South Sea. On the 1st of November 1520,
he discovered the straits which bear his name; and having occupied
twenty days in passing through them, he found himself in the South
Sea with three ships, the Santiago having been wrecked, and having
separated from the San Antonio, which his cousin commanded, and which,
by the route of the coast of Guinea, returned to Spain. Magellan, with
fair winds and pleasant weather, ploughed that sea, which never before
had been navigated. Uninterrupted in the pursuit of his object, he
discovered, on the Sunday of Saint Lazarus, a great number of islands,
which he named the Archipelago of Saint Lazarus; and on Easter Day,
he arrived at the island of Mindanao, where he ordered the first
mass which was said in the Philippines. This took place in the town
of Batuan, in the province of Caraga, where he set up the cross,
and took possession of these islands, in the name of the King of Spain.

From Batuan, Magellan proceeded to Zebu, and, in passing the island
of Dimasaua, he formed an alliance with its chief, who accompanied
him to Zebu. The inhabitants of Zebu, received him with such kindness,
that their king, Hamabar, his whole family, with the chief of Dimasaua,
and many of the people of the island, were baptized. The King of Mactan
alone, a very small island in front of the town of Zebu, resisted
the Spaniards, and was sufficiently confident in his strength, to
challenge Magellan, who was weak enough to accept the challenge. He
selected for the enterprize fifty Spaniards, who attacked the Indians
in morasses, the water up to their breasts, and approached so near
them, that Magellan was wounded with an arrow, and died on the field
with six other Spaniards, the rest saving themselves by flight.

The friar Calancha, an Augustine, remarks in his history of Peru,
that all those engaged in the discovery of the South Sea, came to no
very enviable end: for, that a seaman of the name of Lopez, who was
the first that beheld it from the mast-head, renounced his faith,
and turned Moor. Basco Nunez de Balbua, who took possession of those
regions, lost his head; and Magellan himself, finished his days in the
abovementioned manner. I can add, that almost all those, who have been
concerned in the discovery of the Philippines, have suffered so much,
that the history of these islands, forms a tissue of tragedies.

On the death of Magellan, the Spaniards chose Juan Serrano as
Commander of the expedition; and, alarmed at their defeat at Mactan,
they remained on board their ships, apprehensive of the treachery of
the other Indians. In fact, the people of Zebu, began to think lightly
of the strangers, whom they had hitherto considered as invincible,
and proceeded to plan their destruction. Abundantly deceitful by
nature, they concealed their designs, and succeeded in persuading
our General to be present, with twenty-four Spaniards, at a feast,
which the chief of Zebu had prepared for him. In the middle of the
feast, a great number of armed Indians, whom Hamabar had concealed,
rushed in, and murdered them all, Serrano alone excepted, who escaped
to the sea side, and implored the assistance of his companions; but
they, fearful of some new treason, were witnesses of his massacre,
which the Indians effected in view of the squadron, without their
attempting to relieve him, or revenge the injury. Juan Carvallo now
became General of the armament, and he resolved to go from thence,
in search of the Moluccas: he burned the ship Concepcion, as he had
not men sufficient to man her, and sailed from Zebu with the Trinidad
and the Victoria. On the 8th of November he arrived at Tidore, one
of the Moluccas, and was well received by its chief, who granted him
a factory for the purpose of collecting cloves, &c.; and on the 21st
of December, he loaded the two ships with spices, preparing for the
return to Spain. Gonzalo Gomez de Espimosa commanded the Trinidad, and
it was his intention to proceed to Panama, but he was captured by the
Portuguese. Sebastian del Cano, went in the Victoria, by the way of the
Cape of Good Hope, and, after losing many of his crew on the voyage,
arrived at San Lucar de Barrameda, with only eighteen people, on the
7th of September 1522, three years from the time of their departure
from Seville. He was thus the first, who had sailed round the world;
and on this account, among other honours, the Emperor gave him for
his arms, a terrestrial globe, with this motto, Hic primus geometros.

The account which Sebastian del Cano gave of the expedition, induced
the Emperor, to send other armaments to the Moluccas. The first was
that of Esteban Gomez, who proposed, by the way of Newfoundland, to
discover a shorter passage to the South Sea. A squadron was accordingly
despatched in the year 1524; but in a little time, news was received of
its dispersion by bad weather. In the year following, Don Fray Garcia
Jofre de Loaysa, was despatched from Corunna with seven ships, well
appointed with good officers, and four hundred and fifty picked men;
among these was Andres de Urdaneta, who afterwards became a friar of
the order of San Augustine, and directed the expedition of Legaspi
to these islands. They passed the Straits of Magellan, with the loss
of one ship, and entering the South Sea, they encountered so severe
a storm, that the whole squadron was separated. Loaysa pursued his
course; and in a short time afterwards died. By order of the Emperor,
Sebastian del Cano was to succeed to the command, but he surviving
only a few days, it devolved on Martin Yañez, a Biscayan. They arrived
at Tidore on the 31st of December 1526, as did, in a short time, the
remainder of the squadron, with few men, and those unserviceable. Here
they found, that the Portuguese had declared war against the chief
of Tidore, for having entertained the squadron of Magellan, and it
was deemed on our part proper, to undertake the defence of those
benefactors of the Spaniards. They had several encounters with the
Portuguese, but of no moment, and few were killed on these occasions;
but the number of sick increased considerably, from the length and
hardships of the voyage; and from the humid nature of the climate,
the whole were threatened with rapid dissolution; being therefore
already reduced to one hundred and twenty, they constructed a fort,
and surrounding it with a palisade, placed themselves under the
command of Hernando de la Torre, who was chosen General after the
death of Martin Yañez.

In this situation, were the remains of the armament under Loaysa
found, when the Viceroy of Mexico, by orders from court, despatched
to Molucca three ships, under the command of Alvaro de Saavedra,
who arrived at these islands, by the route of the Ladrones, now
called Marianas, of which he took possession, in the name of his
Majesty the King of Spain, in the year 1528. Saavedra pursued his
voyage to Tidore, where he found the hundred and twenty Spaniards,
shut up in their fortress. They considered him, as an angel sent
to their relief, in the extremity of misery: but this joy was of
short duration, new quarrels springing up with the Portuguese, who
had succeeded in destroying, nearly all the Spanish ships. They at
last, however, commenced their voyage to New Spain. Twice they made
the attempt, twice they were driven back; and they suffered so much,
that the General, with many of the crews, fell a sacrifice; the few
that remained, being compelled to submit to the Portuguese. This
was a most lamentable conclusion of the expedition; but all our
squadrons, having represented the Moluccas as extremely valuable,
on account of their spices, war was on the point of being declared,
between the two kingdoms, about the possession of them. The Spaniards
alleged, that it could not be denied, these islands were in the line
of demarcation of Spain; and the Portuguese, were unwilling to quit
the spice trade, of which they were in possession, and which so much
enriched the mother country. These differences were adjusted about
the year 1529, the Emperor, renouncing his right to the Moluccas,
for three hundred and fifty thousand ducats, by way of loan, advanced
by the King of Portugal.

Thus abandoning the Moluccas, the Emperor turned all his thoughts
to the conquest of the Western Isles, or Philippines. He despatched
instructions to the Viceroy of Mexico, to send a squadron for that
purpose, with directions not to stop at the Moluccas, in order to
avoid creating jealousy among the Portuguese. In obedience to these
orders from court, the Viceroy immediately fitted out five ships in
the Puerto de Natividad, and nominated as Commander of the expedition,
Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, directing him, to take with him four Augustine
friars, for the conversion of the conquered inhabitants. The squadron
sailed on the day of All Saints, in the year 1542, and arrived safe
off the Philippines; but they were driven so much to leeward, by the
south-west monsoon, prevalent at that time, that they were compelled
to anchor at the island of Sarragan, which lies on the opposite coast
of Mindanao, and at forty leagues distance. In this miserable island,
they suffered so much from hunger, that Villalobos sent some of the
smaller vessels, in search of provisions, to the other islands: but,
their return being delayed beyond his expectation, he resolved to sail
for the Moluccas, though it was in direct opposition to his orders,
without having effected any other object, than administering baptism to
one child. The Portuguese received him very ungraciously, and compelled
him, immediately to make the best of his way to Spain. In passing
Amboyna, he died of a deep melancholy, arising out of the disasters
of the expedition, and the idea of having disobeyed the orders of
his sovereign, which were, on no account to visit the Moluccas. By
the death of the General, the whole armament was deranged; indeed it
was, eventually, almost all annihilated; and the few Spaniards who
remained, found means to embark in different Portuguese ships. The
Augustine friars went to Goa, from whence they found a passage to
Europe, and arrived at Lisbon in August 1549, seven years after they
had departed from the Puerto de Natividad.

As his Catholic Majesty, was fully determined on the conquest of the
Philippines, it is necessary to notice the title, by which he laid
claim to them. Our writers have brought forward a number of arguments,
to prove the right, which the Kings of Spain have to the Americas,
and the islands they have conquered; but I find them very superficial,
and only one incontestable document, by which our sovereigns hold
these dominions, that is, the concession of the Roman Pontifs. It
is now the received opinion of churchmen, that the Popes have not
the power to make such grants, but at the period in question, the
contrary opinion prevailed, and was generally acknowledged in the
schools. Supported by this idea, then so universal, the Papal See,
granted to the respective Kings, not only what they conquered, but,
as we have seen, assumed the right, of even partitioning the globe.







CHAPTER IV.

ANNO DOM. 1564 to 1565.

    Of the Conquest of Zebu, and Discovery of the Route to New Spain.


The glory of conquering the Philippines, was reserved for his Catholic
Majesty Philip II., by means of, the valour of Miguel Lopez de
Legaspi, the prudence of the Augustine friars, and the skill of one
of those friars, Andres de Urdaneta, who had been a captain in the
armament of Loaysa, but subsequently took the habit of San Augustine
in Mexico, in the year 1552. His Majesty issued an edict, encouraging
and recommending an expedition, to be sent by the Viceroy of Mexico,
to the western isles. Friar Urdaneta acquiesced in the will of his
sovereign, and the Viceroy chose five other religious of the same
order, viz. Andres de Aguirre, Martin de Rada, Lorenzo Ximenes (who
died in the Puerto de Natividad), Diego Herrera, and Pedro Gamboa,
with the view to a spiritual, as well as temporal conquest. This
squadron was composed of two ships, one small galleon, and a patache
(a vessel so called). The command was given to Miguel Lopez de Legaspi,
a noble Biscayan, from whose valour and prudence, the Viceroy expected
greater results, than had been obtained from the other expeditions. The
fleet sailed from Puerto de Natividad on the 21st November, 1564,
with sealed orders; and when about a hundred leagues from the coast,
the seals being broken, they found directions to proceed to these
islands. Urdaneta had formed his plan, on the idea conceived by the
Viceroy of first making New Guinea, but, obliged to conform to the
royal instructions, he shaped his course nearly due west, in order to
arrive at the ninth degree of latitude, and from thence to run direct
west, to demand the submission of those islands, which lie between
the ninth and tenth degree, passing by the islands of Arrecifes and
Matalotes, together with those of La Nublada and Rocapartida, the two
latter being too far out of the track. On the 31st of December, the
patache separated, as if by accident, and never rejoined the squadron;
Don Alonzo de Arellano was her commander, and Lopez Martin, a Mulatto,
the pilot; and there was reason to believe that the separation was
intentional, as it afterwards proved, that they went to Mindanao,
where, taking in a cargo of gold and spices, they proceeded to New
Spain. The squadron pursued its course, and on the 9th of January,
1565, discovered an island, which Legaspi called Barbudos, because
the inhabitants wore longer beards than the other Indians. On the
22d they discovered the islands Ladrones, where they remained some
days, taking in water and purchasing fresh provisions, which they
procured from the Indians, in exchange for European commodities,
especially iron, an article in great esteem with them. These Indians
pilfered whatever they could lay their hands on, and assaulted our
people while procuring water; yet, many Spaniards were desirous of
remaining among them, and petitioned the General to found a colony
there, and despatch a ship to Acapulco for that purpose; but having no
orders to that effect, he prosecuted his route on the 3d of February,
and on the 13th discovered the Philippines. At Tandaya, and Abuyo,
he attempted to make an amicable arrangement with the inhabitants,
for provisions, making presents to them, and promising, that he would
pay liberally for every thing; but he could only procure one fowl
and one egg. The stock of provisions, was now, however, becoming so
short, that he deemed it necessary, to run in more among the islands,
in search of a supply. They arrived at Bohol, and found the Indians
had retired to the mountains. They had behaved so kindly, in selling
provisions to those, whom Ruy Lopez de Villalobos had sent for that
purpose, that Legaspi was astonished at their reserve, and could not
conceive the cause of this change, until the pilot of a Bornean vessel
discovered it. This vessel was taken by Colonel Matheo del Sauz,
in the following manner. The General, had sent him to reconnoitre
the vessel, and the Borneans, little acquainted with Europeans and
their customs, and believing they came to make prisoners of them,
received them in a hostile manner with their cannon [16], killing one
soldier, and wounding twenty. The Colonel returned their fire, and
killed their captain; when part of the crew escaped, in a small boat,
which they carry in the prow of their junk (the name they give their
vessels), and the pilot, with six men, delivered themselves up, without
further resistance. All this having taken place, without the knowledge
or participation of the General, he was extremely solicitous, to do
away the ill impression, which the transaction might make, and ordered
them to restore the junk, with all the effects which they had taken;
and which conduct so satisfied the Borneans, that they immediately
declared publicly, they should interest themselves particularly, in
favour of the squadron. They informed Legaspi, among other matters,
that about two years since, some Portuguese of the Moluccas, had
landed on their island, had been guilty of great extortion, and had
done considerable injury to the inhabitants; and as they could not
distinguish between the two nations, they had imagined that the people
of his squadron were Portuguese.

Legaspi was aware, that it was necessary, above all things, to
undeceive the Indians in this respect; he, therefore, earnestly
requested the pilot of the Bornean vessel, to go on shore, and effect a
reconciliation with the natives of Bohol, bringing on board the Rajah
of the island, if possible. The Moor, in gratitude to the Spaniards,
exerted himself, and returned on board with the Rajah, Sicatuna, who
was persuaded to enter into an amicable understanding with them, to be
consecrated and confirmed, in the manner usual with these islanders,
which is thus; the parties entering into a treaty of friendship being
bled at the arm, and the blood mixed with a little water, or spirit,
they reciprocally drink each other's blood, so diluted, in token of
amity. Legaspi, with this view, sent a soldier of the name of Santiago
on shore, to go through the ceremony with Sicatuna; but the latter,
thinking it below his dignity, to allow his blood to be drawn, with any
but that of the General, ordered his son to take his place, promising,
that the day following, he would proceed on board, and be bled with
the General. Sicatuna, jealous of the intentions of the Spaniards,
requested, that whilst he was on board, two Spaniards and two Moors of
Borneo, might be sent on shore, as hostages for his safety; on this
being likewise adjusted, he allowed them to cut wood in the mountains
of Bohol, for refitting their ships; and in ratification of the whole,
he was bled with the General the following day. Legaspi, in the belief
that Sicatuna was King of the island, on this account consented to the
ceremony; and although he afterwards understood, that the dominion of
the Rajahs of this country, extended over a few small villages only,
where they exercised the power, their valour gave them over their
countrymen, he had no reason to repent of what he had done; for,
in consequence of it, the Indians became free from apprehension,
and supplied the squadron with the refreshments, it stood so much in
need of.

Legaspi paid well for every thing they brought; and, at length,
procured sufficient provisions, to be in a situation to despatch one
ship to New Spain, but was unable to accompany it; and he did not wish
to have recourse to violence, to procure a larger supply, thinking
that unjustifiable and unwise, except in case of extremity. With the
people of Zebu, he was inclined to conclude, he should be obliged to
have recourse to arms, unless they supplied him, on friendly terms,
with provisions; and he intended to use, as a pretext for hostilities,
their treachery against the squadron of Magellan. He resolved,
therefore, to go to this island, in quitting that of Bohol, with the
inhabitants of which, a cordiality had subsisted from the first; and
as a proof of his sense of their conduct, he settled every account
with them, most honourably. To this justice and prudence of Legaspi,
may be attributed the easy conquest, the Spaniards made of this island,
against whose natives, they seldom have been obliged to use fire-arms.

On Easter day, the 22d of April, Legaspi accordingly sailed from
Bohol, and on Friday the 27th, he arrived at Zebu, when he immediately
despatched an interpreter named Pacheco, to propose amity with the
natives, and that the Rajah might be sent to conclude the terms. Tupas,
who was then King of Zebu, immediately sent some of the chief men,
requesting Legaspi would not fire his artillery, which would alarm
the town: and he promised to see the General, although he had no such
intention, merely wishing to gain sufficient time, for the inhabitants
to retire into the mountains, with all their moveables. It appearing
the following day, that Tupas did not comply with his promise, three
notifications were, in the space of two hours, sent to him by a notary,
accompanied by Friar Urdaneta, who had the title of Protector of the
Indians; but he paid no attention to this, and placed troops on the
shore, and in canoes, to resist the landing of the Spaniards. Legaspi
then determined on the assault, and ordered his men to fire on the
canoes and Indians, who were posted to oppose them; but they retreated
with such rapidity, that when the Spaniards leaped on shore, no enemy
was to be seen. They followed them to the town, and found it in flames,
the moveables having been taken away, and carried to the mountains, and
little of any value remaining. The soldiers plundered those houses,
which as yet, were not on fire, and among some things of little
importance, they found a jewel, consisting of the image of a child,
which they understood, was an object of adoration with the Indians,
and which is at this day, in the church of San Augustine de Santo
Niño of Zebu. The Indians, it appeared, had been in possession of
this image, from time immemorial; and they were accustomed, when they
wanted rain, to make a solemn feast, and public supplication to it,
and, carrying it to the sea side, they immersed it in the water until
it rained; honours or stripes, followed the concession or refusal,
of what they had petitioned for, and it was believed among them, that
this Santo Niño was the cause of the disgrace of Magellan. At first,
the Spaniards found very few eatables in Zebu, but continuing their
search, they stumbled upon thirty fanegas of rice, and some millet. In
returning from the town, they encountered three hundred armed Indians;
but upon our musquets being fired, they fled immediately. The General
established his camp on the sea shore, and took out the Royal treasure
which came in the Capitana, in order to be enabled to examine her
bottom, and put her in a proper state, for her return to New Spain. The
Spaniards found themselves perfectly secure in this encampment, in
the day-time, because the Indians dared not attempt to molest them,
through fear of their fire-arms; but at night, they occasioned them
continual alarms, and on several occasions, set fire to their camp,
doing however, little damage to the soldiers, who were defended by the
palisades. The General however, in consequence of this, ordered the
whole to be destroyed, and built a fort, which at once checked all
further attempts. As yet, Legaspi kept on the defensive, expecting
that Tupas would soon arrive, with whom he was desirous of being in
amity, with a view to the conquest of the island by fair means. After
repeated messages he at last appeared, accompanied by another chief,
called Tamayan. Legaspi received them with cordiality, treated them
handsomely, and, in the name of his sovereign, forgave the treachery,
they had been guilty of towards Magellan. They made many excuses for
their conduct, and promised that in three days they would return, with
all the principal people, and establish a friendly intercourse with
the Spaniards. These people will readily promise, whatever is demanded
of them, but without any intention of performing their promise. Tupas,
though King of the island, did not appear better entitled to respect,
than any of the rest, and thought nothing of breaking his word,
always, however, making some excuse on the succeeding visit.

Notwithstanding the peaceable demeanor of the Indians, the General
ordered, that no one should be permitted to quit the camp, as he
apprehended an ambuscade, which might have a fatal issue. This,
in fact, happened to Pedro de Arana, one of Legaspi's aides-de-camp,
who, disregarding this order, passed the lines alone with his gun, and
before he was able to save himself, he was run through with a lance,
and his head cut off, and carried on board a parao, which was lying at
a little distance. The General felt the loss of Pedro de Arana much,
and gave orders to the Colonel, to chastise the insolence of the
Indians, and reduce them. Whilst the Colonel was employed in this
expedition, the General, who had been accustomed to sleep on board
ship, determined to pass his nights on shore in future, through some
distrust he entertained, of the officers of the navy, and ordered,
that his aides-de-camp should keep guard over him. They did not
relish the thoughts of this, persuading themselves, they would be
degraded, by obeying the orders. The day following therefore, at a
general review of the force, Pedro Mena, in the name of the whole,
came forward, and, with very little ceremony, intimated that they
would not keep guard, as it was the duty of the privates. The Colonel
reprehended them sharply, suspended them, and struck them out of
the list of aids-de-camp of the General. This punishment for their
insolence, though fully merited, exasperated them to such a degree,
that they set fire to their tents, and had nearly burnt all the effects
belonging to his Majesty. The principal perpetrators of this crime,
were Pedro de Mena, and Terresan, who were executed the following day,
and by this act, the subordination of the rest was secured.

The ship Capitana, was by this time prepared, for her voyage to New
Spain. Her commander was Phelipe de Salcedo, grandson of the General;
and there went in her, the friars Andres de Urdaneta, to conduct her
to New Spain, and Martin de Aguirre, to solicit assistance for the
conversion of these islanders. They sailed from Zebu on the 1st of
June, 1565, and reaching the 36th degree of latitude, in search
of the north-west winds, they directed their course to Puerto
de la Natividad, where they arrived, after a four months voyage;
but considering the distance of this port from Mexico, they pushed
forwards to Acapulco, which was nearer, and they arrived there on the
30th of October. In Mexico, their arrival occasioned much exultation,
as they were considered to be lost, by the accounts which had been
given, by the Captain Arellano and the pilot Lope Martin, who, three
months before, had arrived at Puerto de la Natividad. The friars
Urdaneta and Aguirre went to Madrid, where they met with Arellano,
who was soliciting a reward, for the discovery of the track from the
Philippines to New Spain. He had persisted in his pretensions, till
the arrival of these friars, when he altered his tone; he was put in
confinement, and ordered to Mexico, to be from thence sent to Manila,
to be punished by Legaspi as his conduct deserved. The Mexicans,
however, were of opinion, that he should not be sent to Manila, until
the death of Legaspi was ascertained. The friars Urdaneta and Aguirre,
having favourably completed their mission, embarked for Mexico, where
Urdaneta died on the 3d of June, 1568, in the 70th year of his age.







CHAPTER V.

ANNO DOM. 1565.

    Of the complete Conquest of the Island of Zebu, and of some Towns
    in other Islands.


The day following that, on which the Capitana sailed, a Moor of Borneo,
called Cid Hamal, established in this island, arrived in our camp. He
recommended it to the General, to invite Tupas to a conference;
and upon this being done, he accordingly presented himself a second
time, with some of the chief men of the island, and the conference
terminated, in their resolution to preserve a good understanding with
the Spaniards. They paid homage to the king of Spain, promising, that
the squadron should be supplied with provisions, at the price usual
among themselves, and granting land, and every means of founding a
Spanish city, with fortifications for its defence. Amity thus restored,
the Indians began to re-build their town, and a very short time,
exhibited the pleasing sight, of the individuals of two different
nations, establishing themselves at a little distance from each other.

The Zebuans lost all apprehensions of the Spaniards, and came to
their town to sell fruit, goats, and provisions. Among the least
reserved was Tupas, who, under the pretext of accompanying other
chiefs, visited the General, making him presents; and so contrived
that his women should visit him likewise, dressing themselves in rich
clothes, with ear-rings and bracelets of gold on the feet and arms,
and accompanied by a great concourse of men and women; which visit was
not ill received, the General always treating them handsomely. Tupas
likewise, gave Legaspi his niece, who was a widow, and other women to
attend him. The General directed them to be instructed in the Christian
doctrine, and they embraced our religion, and were baptized. The
niece of Tupas, had the name of Isabel given her, in memory of the
deceased lady of the General, whose name this was, and in a little
time she was married to Maestre Andrea, an officer of the squadron.

The provisions which they had in the island of Zebu, were not
sufficient for the Indians and their numerous guests; in consequence
of which, Legaspi directed Tupas, to send two chiefs to the island
of Panay, to purchase rice. Whilst these men were on their mission,
the Spaniards sailed, in vessels which they had constructed at Zebu,
on an expedition against some towns, belonging to the enemies of the
Zebuans, and were enabled to send some rice to those in the camp. The
Moors likewise of the island of Luçon, who came for commercial purposes
to Zebu, sold them two hundred baskets of this grain; but as the
return of the two ships which had gone to Panay, was still delayed
beyond the expected time, Legaspi was compelled to put every man
on an allowance, which produced great discontent among the people,
and some even adopted the resolution of escaping with the patache
San Juan, with the intention of lying in wait behind the islands,
to rob the small barks that came there for commerce, and with their
spoils to retire to France. The authors of this conspiracy were Pablo
Hernandez and Juan Maria Venecianos; and they were joined in it by
the pilot Francis Pierres Plin, Jorge el Griego, Maestre Andrea, the
husband of Tupas's niece, Geronimo Foxa, and some foreigners. They
fixed on the 26th of November, 1565, for their undertaking, intending
previously to endeavour to disable all the ships, in order that they
might not be pursued. It pleased Heaven to retard their scheme one
day beyond the time fixed, and Juan Maria Venecianos repenting of his
treason, discovered the conspiracy to Colonel Matheo del Sauz. The
conspirators were immediately all apprehended, except Pablo Hernandez,
who escaped into the country among the Indians. The whole underwent
an examination, and Legaspi ordered that Francis Pierres Plin,
and Jorge el Griego, should be hanged by break of day. It was his
intention to have followed up the punishment of the conspirators,
and he was proceeding to hang Maestre Andrea. The clergy, however,
entreated him to pardon him, on account of his near relationship
to Tupas, to which he assented. Pablo Hernandez, pressed by hunger,
was compelled to deliver himself up, and as he was the ringleader,
he was executed in the middle of the day by proclamation, and his head
placed on a pole, as a warning to others. A pardon was granted to all
the rest in the name of the King, and by this due mixture of severity
and lenity, the minds of the General and the friars were tranquillized.

Famine, at this time, was likely to be the lot of the Spaniards,
as the chiefs who had been sent to Panay had not appeared; and as
six more paraos had been despatched for the same purpose, it was
apprehended that they had entered into a combination with the first,
to reduce the Spaniards by famine. In this situation, Captain Martin
de Goite set sail, with the intention of taking by force, from the
enemies of the Zebuans, as much provision as could be procured, and
executed his plan with so much success, that by Christmas he sent
to the camp a small vessel laden with borona (bread made of Indian
corn and millet). This proved the most acceptable new year's gift,
which could have been offered under their circumstances; by degrees
provisions became more plentiful, and the people began to revive,
and forget the famine they had endured. The chiefs now made their
appearance from Panay with the rice, but they assigned little of it
to the Spaniards, and the largest quantity to the Indians.

The General was well aware of the treachery of the Zebuans, of the
little faith to be placed in them, and their doubtful intentions;
but he dissembled his sentiments, as they were necessary to his
views, and our camp was tolerably well supplied. By the expeditions,
which Martin de Goite and others made round the adjacent islands,
it was discovered that some of the towns courted the friendship of
the Spaniards, while others planned their destruction by famine, for
which purpose all the provisions were conveyed to the mountains. The
Moors of Luzon, however, found it their interest to bring sufficient
rice to Zebu, and Legaspi, who did not wish to see a recurrence
of the same danger as had happened, sent the Colonel in search
of provisions to the neighbouring islands; but here he encountered
another inconvenience, in leaving too small a force for the defence of
Zebu; the consequence of which was, that a plot was formed to seize a
vessel belonging to the Moors of Luzon, at that time trading at Zebu,
to murder all on board, and escape with the vessel to the Moluccas,
where the Portuguese would willingly receive them. Juan Nunes de
Carrion, and Miguel Gomez Cavecillas, were executed for this piece
of treason, after due repentance of their villainy. Captain Martin de
Goite, with the provisions he forwarded, at length sent information,
that many nations were desirous of becoming vassals of the King of
Spain, and the Colonel soon after arrived with above one thousand
fanegas of rice, after having stopt at the islands of Mindanao,
Negros, and Panay, where he ransomed a Mexican Indian, who had been
in the squadron of Villalobos, and had been taken prisoner. Captain
Juan de la Jela, who had likewise gone out in search of provisions,
had the good fortune to discover the ship San Geronimo, which he
conducted to Zebu; a circumstance which filled every one with joy,
mingled with regret, at the thoughts of the tragic scenes which had
been acted on board that ship.

The Royal Audience of Mexico had despatched the ship San Geronimo from
Acapulco to relieve those at Zebu, and to advertise them of the arrival
of the Capitana at that port. They sent as captain of the ship Pedro
Sanchez Pericon; as second in command, Juan Ortez de Mosquera, and as
pilot the mulatto Lope Martin, who was sent for the express purpose
of being punished by Legaspi, for having separated, intentionally,
from the squadron in the patache San Lucas. Pericon and Mosquera had
been, before the commencement of the voyage, inimical to each other,
and in its progress their mutual antipathy was augmented. The pilot,
Martin, dreading the idea of being confronted with Legaspi, entered
into a plot with Mosquera, and they gained over to their party most
of the crew, among whom was Philip de Ocampo, a brave man, but of the
worst character. Thinking their strength sufficient, they commenced
their operations by being insolent to the commander, and one night
they killed a horse which he had brought in the galleon. The friends
of Pericon conjured him to be on his guard, as they concluded that
those who had begun by killing the horse, would end in murdering him,
if he was not sufficiently vigilant. But Pericon's confidence was too
great, and he slighted the advice of his friends. The conspirators by
this forbearance increasing every day in boldness, at last resolved to
put in practice their diabolical design of murdering the commander, and
getting possession of the vessel; accordingly one night, after having
placed guards on those of the crew whom they could not confide in,
Mosquera entered the captain's bedroom, accompanied by two seamen,
one of the name of Bartolome de Lara, and the other Morales, and
ordered them to stab Captain Pericon and his son, a young man about
twenty-five years of age, who had a sub-command in the ship. They
effected their purpose, and threw the bodies overboard; and placing
some chests on the deck for the accommodation of the people, Mosquera
thus harangued them: "Gentlemen, let us recommend to Heaven the souls
of Captain Pericon and his son; they came by their death for reasons
which, when we arrive at Zebu, shall be given to General Legaspi;
every thing shall remain unaltered, and I, as a good subject of his
Majesty, will conduct the ship to that island."

Many days had not elapsed before Mosquera and the pilot quarrelled;
it was a difficult task for the latter to reconcile himself to his
situation, and put on the mask of friendship to the former. He
whispered to Mosquera in confidence, that the people were much
irritated at the murders which had been committed, and among other
things, he proposed to tranquillize them, by putting in irons some
person who had been concerned in the affair, and afterwards to
discharge him, under the authority of a notarial process, drawn up
for that purpose, declaring his innocence. This appearing a plausible
measure enough, Mosquera, with this view, foolishly convened the ship's
company, and the pilot seized upon him, and put him in confinement. The
day following he ordered breakfast, of which Mosquera partook in
his irons, and when finished, he requested the pilot would set
him at liberty, as there had been time sufficient allowed for the
ceremony. The views of the mulatto, however, were very different;
he ordered him to be hung at the yard-arm, without giving him time
to confess, observing, that Divine Providence had ordered he should
die without partaking the sacrament, as had been the case with the
two whom he had murdered. The mulatto now remaining captain of the
ship, Philip de Ocampo, who was his favourite, made a speech to his
companions, telling them, "That Captain Lope Martin did not intend
going to Zebu; that those who were desirous of accompanying him,
should go to a part of the world where all might acquire great
riches, but that those who were of a different opinion, should be
set on shore on an island in the immediate neighbourhood of Zebu,
from whence they might easily reach Legaspi." All were silent, and
nothing was done till they arrived at the islands of Barbudos; when
Lope Martin landing on one which was desolate, gave out that it was
necessary to careen the ship there, but his real intention was to
leave most of his companions on this island, exposed to famine.

He was not, however, able sufficiently to conceal his intentions. The
Friar Capellan, a venerable priest, suspected him, and consulted
with Juan de Vivero on some means of averting this blow. Rodrigo de
Angle, the mate of the ship, a man of approved courage, determined
to appeal to his Majesty, if it cost him his life, broke the matter
to others, and eventually drew to his party Bartholome de Lara,
by promising to make him captain of the ship, although he had no
such intention. Rodrigo finding he had gained most of the crew on
board to his side, weighed anchor, and hallooed to those on shore,
that all the true and faithful vassals of his Majesty might embark
immediately, and that the ship belonged to the King. By this means
all were received on board but Lope Martin and Philip de Ocampo,
and about twenty-five others, among whom were some loyalists, who
were unable to reach the ship in time.

Bartholome de Lara, disappointed in his expectations of being made
captain of the ship, began to form a party, and was joined more from
necessity than otherwise by Hernando de Morales, his accomplice in
the murder of Pericon and his son; but the new captain contrived
means to try and hang them, after which the crew remained free from
further molestation, and they arrived at Zebu. The General Legaspi, to
deter others, hanged the notary Juan de Zaldivar, for being accessory
to the aforesaid murder. He rewarded Rodrigo del Angle, Garnica,
and Juan Enriquez, with all the loyalists, and granted a pardon,
in the name of the King, to all those who had acted any subordinate
part in this transaction.

The Colonel, at this time, had gone to ratify a treaty of peace
with some of the towns, and falling in with a small Portuguese
galleon of superior force, which bore down upon his patache, he
was compelled to escape as well as he could. About the same time,
two Portuguese vessels having appeared off Zebu, Legaspi ordered
them to be acknowledged as friends, and invited into the harbour,
but they excused themselves, and prosecuted their route. These proved
afterwards to be ships belonging to the squadron of Pereyra, which
was coming against the Spaniards, but being dispersed by storms,
they could not pursue their first intentions. The General fortified
his camp, and entertaining no fears of the Portuguese, he despatched
Martin de Goite on an amicable treaty with some adjacent towns,
and to receive the tribute of those who had already submitted. He
likewise sent the Colonel to Mindanao, for the purchase of cinnamon,
to be shipped to New Spain. This expedition was unfortunate in the
death of this great man, who was a severe loss to the Spaniards. He
caught a fever, and being in great danger, he told Morones, his second
in command, and to whom he entrusted the ship before he died, that he
suspected an intention of mutiny among the crew; the object of which
was, to go off with the patache, because they had not been allowed to
purchase cinnamon for themselves, and which being the only valuable
object for which the voyage was undertaken, belonged to the King, as
being the first purchase made of that article. Legaspi paid him the
usual funeral honours in Zebu, and punished those who were found to
be concerned in this mutiny. He likewise named as his successor Martin
de Goite. The General sent Morones to Caraga, and Pedro de Herrera to
Leyte, for tar, for careening the ships. The Indians of this island are
excellent porters and labourers, and our soldiers had such confidence
in them, that leaving their arms, and relying on their friendship, they
received the tar in an unguarded manner. This, however, in the end,
cost them dear, as on a sudden they found themselves surrounded in an
ambuscade, by eight or ten Indians to one Spaniard; and Matheo Sanchez
Gaditano not being able to extricate them, the Indians murdered all but
one Spaniard, who escaped to relate the news of this tragedy. Whilst
this was passing up the country, others came down to plunder the ship,
who finding our people in unsuspecting security, possessed themselves
of their arms, and destroyed every thing they could not take away.

On the 10th of June, 1567, there arrived at Zebu two Portuguese
caracoas, with letters from Captain Pereyra to Miguel Lopez de Legaspi,
in which he observed, that he supposed they were the Spaniards who had
taken refuge in Zebu, in consequence of bad weather, and were unable
to return to New Spain, as had happened to those of the other Spanish
squadrons which had navigated those seas; and on this supposition he
invited them to the Moluccas, where he promised to receive them with
every degree of friendship, and furnish them with proper necessaries
to prosecute their voyage.

Such were the contents of his letter on the occasion, but some invalid
Spaniards who came with the messenger, affirmed that Pereyra had
been despatched by the Viceroy of India to drive the Spaniards out
of Zebu, and not being able last year to effect it, in consequence
of the storms they had encountered, they had remained in Tidore with
the intention of completing it this year. Our General, aware of the
snare which Pereyra was laying for him, answered this specious letter
with corresponding dissimulation, and that he had given notice to his
court of the capture of these islands, and was in daily expectation
of hearing from his sovereign. Surrounded by these interruptions and
difficulties, the General sent to Acapulco the patache San Lucas,
Captain Juan de la Isla, requesting such assistance as might prevent
the threatened suspension of their intercourse with New Spain, and
which appeared highly probable. The Augustine friars sent, on this
occasion, Friar Pedro de Gamboa to solicit some additional aid for the
conversion of these infidels, who had already begun to be baptized,
and which, they urged, would securely establish the authority of the
Spaniards in the Philippines, but the friar never arrived, having
died on the voyage.

On the 20th of August, this year, Philip de Salcedo arrived with two
ships, and accompanied by his brother Juan de Salcedo, who had been
of great use in the first conquest of these islands. The General was
rejoiced at the arrival of such considerable relief, at a period when
he had reason to think Pereyra intended to attack Zebu. When Legaspi
saw, however, that the Portuguese did not make their appearance as he
expected, he despatched his grandson, Philip de Salcedo, to Acapulco,
with directions to go by the route of the Ladrone Islands, where he
was shipwrecked; but, all the people being saved, he built another
vessel, and returned to Zebu in such happy time, that he made up
for his disappointment, by the importance of his appearance, at the
period of Pereyra's arrival, on the 30th of September 1568, with a
squadron of three galleons, two galeots, three fustas, and twenty
smaller vessels. Every thing, however, on this occasion, indicated
perfect amity; the Generals visited reciprocally, and held meetings,
to ascertain whether these islands were in the line of demarcation of
Spain, or not, with the view of avoiding hostilities. Pereyra, by an
artful line of conduct, protracted these discussions, in order to gain
time, if possible, by stratagem, to get possession of the port and of
our camp, as he found it could not be effected by force. Disappointed,
however, in his views, he returned on Christmas-eve to the Moluccas,
having been dismissed with great civility by Legaspi.







CHAPTER VI.

ANNO DOM. 1569 to 1571.

    Of the Conquest of Manila.


The supply of provisions having been very short, in consequence of
the Portuguese, in some measure, blockading the port, the General,
to guard against being exposed to the same danger a second time,
determined to change his position, and establish himself in a more
fertile country than that he then occupied. He ordered the camp to
be immediately removed to the island of Panay: with this commission
he charged his grandson, Philip de Salcedo, who was very cordially
received by the natives, because he had formerly assisted them against
their enemies, and enabled them to make many prisoners. Captain Luis de
la Haya was ordered to go with his detachment, to the river Araut in
the same island; Captain Andres de Ybarra to the island of Masbate;
and the Colonel was ordered to remain in Zebu. In the interim the
camp was established in Panay, and the patache San Lucas remained at
Zebu, preparing to depart for New Spain. Juan de Salcedo ordered his
brother Philip to Panay with another vessel, which conveyed the books
and effects of his grandfather, all of which were lost in a storm;
which loss, although he felt it severely, Legaspi bore with exemplary
patience and fortitude.

Philip de Salcedo having loaded the patache San Lucas, sailed from
Zebu, and, in a few days after her departure, fell in with the San
Juan, which had sailed from Acapulco, and was commanded by Captain
Juan Lopez de Aguirre; Salcedo returned with her to Zebu, and, on
the 10th of July, sailed a second time on his voyage. By the San
Juan the Augustine fathers had sent Friar Herrera, having appointed
him a provincial, or clerical head of a province, which was the
first they had established in the Philippines. Their intention was
by this appointment, to increase the importance of the religious
orders, and induce higher respect from the new converts; the effect,
accordingly, was the addition of many to the number, stimulated too,
by the example of Tupas and his son: Legaspi stood godfather to Tupas,
who was christened Philip, in compliment to the King of Spain;
and his son was christened Charles, and had, as his godfather,
Juan de Salcedo. The feasts which were held on the day these two
new Christians were baptized, contributed, at the same time, to the
conversion of many others. This was a measure of great expediency,
although the duty of the fathers became necessarily so much more
enlarged. It was determined that a friar, whose name was Juan Alba,
should be sent to attempt the conversion of the isle of Masbate;
and another, by the name of Alonzo Ximenes, to the river Araut, in
the island of Panay, where he made many converts. Friar Martin de
Rada remained in Zebu, and the rest of the clergy accompanied the
General in the conquest of Manila.

The General Legaspi arrived at Panay, accompanied by the Colonel,
who, however, immediately returned to his command at Zebu, together
with his wife, who had just arrived from New Spain with Captain Juan
Lopez de Aguirre, in the ship San Juan. Legaspi was received by the
natives of Panay with every demonstration of joy, and they appeared
more sincere in their professions than those of Zebu. He constructed,
with all expedition, some works, to enable him to resist the attempts
of the squadron of Pereyra, and check the proceedings of a swarm of
pirates, which had issued from Jolo and Borneo in twenty vessels,
called vireyes, and had captured a Spanish vessel, with the crew. The
Colonel attacked these pirates with nine proas: he took four vireyes,
and would have taken the whole, had not seven of his vessels been too
much astern. Having forwarded the account of this engagement to the
General, he was now at liberty to assist the inhabitants of Aclan,
who had sustained considerable injury from the pirates of Mindoro. In
the month of January, 1570, Juan de Salcedo sailed on this expedition
with thirty Spaniards and many friendly Indians. He entered the town
of Mamburao, and, having made himself master of it, compelled the
inhabitants to ransom themselves with gold; after which he proceeded
to the isle of Lucban, where the pirates of Mindoro had taken refuge,
and had protected themselves by some indifferent works; he, with
ease, forced their intrenchments, attacked them with fire-arms,
and, as they were unable to resist this mode of warfare, they agreed
to ransom themselves with gold, as the inhabitants of Mamburao had
done. Salcedo divided the spoil among his soldiers and the Indians,
and returned to Panay, to give an account of this expedition.

The General, who was determined above all things on the conquest
of Manila, named the Colonel as commandant, and sent with him his
grandson, Juan de Salcedo, with an hundred and twenty Spaniards,
and many friendly Indians, to accomplish it. They sailed from Panay
the beginning of May 1570. The Colonel went directly against Manila,
but Juan de Salcedo turned aside to the country about the lake of
Bombon, which is now called the Province of Batangas, to treat with
the natives. He sent the usual peace-offerings, but they answered
him with their arms. He engaged them, and would have succeeded,
but received so severe a wound in his leg from an arrow, that he
was compelled to abandon his enterprise, and follow the Colonel to
Manila. The Colonel made terms with the Rajah, who was a good old
man, and whom history calls Raxa Matanda, that is, the old Rajah; he
had a nephew of the name of Raxa Soliman, who, likewise, made terms
with the Colonel; but little dependence could be placed on him, as he
evidently was no friend to the Spaniards, and had, as it was supposed,
secreted provisions. He was accused, likewise, of exciting the Indians
to murder the Spaniards, while on shore, which obliged our people to
behave with great circumspection toward them. One day Raxa Soliman
even ordered his men to fire upon our shipping, and, after having done
us considerable damage, he embarked on board a large junk, and left
the river, firing at us as he passed [17]. The Colonel instantly landed,
leaving Juan de Salcedo in charge of the ships, and, with eighty men,
stormed the fort which the Indians had at the mouth of the river, and
where at present stands the fort of Santiago. He ordered his soldiers
to attack the guns, and they were so fortunate in their attack,
as in their first onset to kill the principal artillery officer,
who appeared to be an European, as he was seen to cross himself
before he died [18]; the remainder, were by the vigour of the assault,
compelled to fly towards the town, which they burnt in their retreat,
that the Spaniards might not profit by their success. Among other
things, a foundery for cannon was destroyed, and it was supposed
they had thrown many pieces of artillery into the sea, as only
twelve, and a few falconets (a piece so called), were found in the
place. The old Rajah was not a party in this disturbance, as neither
he nor any of his people were engaged; and his fidelity was proved,
by his having displayed from his house a white flag, during the time
the action lasted. The Colonel, fearing that if he remained longer,
he should encounter the south-west monsoon, and be unable to return,
retired immediately to Cavite, to do the needful repairs to his ships,
and in two days sailed for Panay.

On the 23d of June of this year, Captain Juan de la Isla arrived
with three vessels, in which came the Friar Perrera with two other
religious, viz. Friar Diego Orduñez, and Friar Diego de Espinar, who
came to labour in this new vineyard. Despatches were brought by them
from his Majesty, by which Miguel Lopez de Legaspi was constituted
President of the islands of the Ladrones, and he was recommended to
settle the Philippines; at the same time his Majesty bestowed portions
of lands, with their inhabitants, on all who might be engaged in the
conquest. With a view to put these orders in execution, Legaspi first
despatched from Panay, the same Captain Juan de la Isla, with two ships
to Acapulco, and sailed for Zebu, where he ordered it to be proclaimed,
that he intended to erect the town which had been built into a
city, and to give every encouragement to increase the population,
directing those who wished to settle in it to go before the notary,
to be enrolled by five hundreds. On New Year's day, 1571, he named
two ordinary alcaldes, six regidores, a notary, and two alguazils,
who immediately took the customary oath on entering their office, and
he strictly enjoined them the discharge of their respective duties. He
likewise directed that the town, which had till then been called San
Miguel, should be named the City del Santissimo Nombre de Jesus, in
memory of the discovery of the sacred child, as before related. He
settled the manner, in which rewards should be distributed among
the tributary Indians, who were in the neighbourhood of the city,
and left them under the care of the treasurer, Guido de Labezares,
in order that he might have the opportunity of finishing a stone fort,
which he had ordered to be constructed. All these and many subordinate
objects, being attained by the end of January, he returned to Panay,
to attempt from thence the conquest of Manila.

Immediately after the President arrived at Panay, the Colonel,
attended by all the officers and soldiers, joined him, leaving in
Masbate the Padre Alba with six men, and in Dumangas Padre Ximenes, in
charge of the new conquests. The Padre Herrera, with other religious,
accompanied the General in his expedition against Manila, on which he
sailed the 15th of April; and in the island of Lutaga he reviewed his
force, and found they amounted to two hundred and eighty soldiers,
consisting partly of his own people, of those of the Colonel, of
Captains Andres de Ybarra, Luis de la Haya, and Juan de Salcedo. He
passed by the island of Mindoro, and settled the tribute which the
natives were to pay to the King of Spain. Here he had the opportunity
of saving a Chinese vessel called a Sampan, from foundering; and
he received the crew, with that kindness and warmth of feeling,
so natural to the Spaniards.

The Chinese acknowledged the kindness of the Spaniards, and formed
a friendly connection with them. The President continued his voyage,
and entered Cavite, where he waited the arrival of those who had fallen
astern; meantime he treated with the natives of the place, and received
them as vassals of the King of Spain. Two days after he arrived, he
entered with all his squadron into the river of Manila. The Indians,
thinking the Spaniards had returned, to punish them for the resistance
they had made to the Colonel, set fire to the town, and with their
effects fled to Tondo. The President sent the Colonel to bring them
to terms, who, arriving at their camp, gave them to understand, by
means of an interpreter, that the Spaniards had not come with the
intention of doing them any injury. On learning this, some began
to quench the flames, and others went in search of the old Rajah;
and Lacandola, the chief of Tondo, immediately went with others to
wait on Legaspi. He received them with a smiling countenance, and
told them that he came as a friend, provided they acknowledged the
King of Spain, as their king and natural lord and master, who would
receive them under his protection, and relieve their distresses. The
principal motive, he said, which induced his Majesty to send him there,
was to propagate the true worship of one all powerful God; that he
had brought several sacred characters with him for that purpose, and
shewing them Padre Herrera, said that he was the principal of those,
who were to be their teachers. They promised to become vassals of the
King of Spain, and hear the law which they were to be taught; he hinted
to them that he did not see Rajah Soliman with them: they replied,
that he dared not appear after what had happened with the Colonel on
the first expedition; but if he would pardon him, he would immediately
appear, and promise obedience, as the rest had done. The General not
only promised to pardon him, but sent him a message to that effect,
without, however, being able to remove his apprehensions at that time.

But on the 18th of May, Rajah Soliman arrived, accompanied by his
uncle Rajah Matanda and Lacandola, making many apologies for what
had passed. The General pardoned and received him as a vassal of
his Majesty, and as such he was registered by the notary, Hernando
Riguel. Legaspi immediately commenced his arrangements for founding a
new city, and directed the Indians to finish the fort they had begun
in the mouth of the river. Behind this he erected a large building,
which served as a palace, with a church and convent for the religious,
and an hundred and twenty smaller houses for the remainder of the
Spaniards, intending this city to be the seat of government, both
spiritual and temporal, of the islands. The whole of this, the Indians
engaged to accomplish with great despatch, but it was found necessary,
to employ the Spaniards to assist them in it. A good understanding
being thus established, between the natives of Manila and Tondo and
the Spaniards, Manila was taken possession of on the day following,
the 19th of May, 1571, when, in a temporary church, the feast of
the blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated, who, from that circumstance,
was named the patroness of the new city.

The peace which Rajah Soliman and Lacandola had made, was, on their
part, by no means sincere, for the Indians of Macabebe and Hagonoy,
appearing at the mouth of the harbour of Bancusay, with forty caracoas
(an Indian vessel), proceeded to the house of Lacandola. These
men jeered at and reproached the Indians, for submitting with such
readiness, to such an insignificant number of Spaniards, promising,
if they were disposed to shake off the yoke, that they should be
assisted from Tondo and the neighbouring country, and not leave one
Spaniard alive. The President, supposing those Indians who had arrived,
had come to solicit peace, sent two Spaniards to assure them that they
might present themselves to him without fear. The chief of the Indians,
after listening to these ambassadors, leaped on his feet, and drawing
and flourishing his cimeter, he said, "The sun gave me life, and I
must not be disgraced in the eyes of my women, who would detest me,
if they thought I was capable, of being on friendly terms with the
Spaniards." With this speech he quitted the house, without waiting
to go down by the ladder, for, with great boldness, he leaped out of
the window into his caracoa, calling out to the Spaniards, "I expect
you in the bay of Bancusay." Legaspi determined upon punishing such
conduct, and sent against him the Colonel Martin de Goite with eighty
Spaniards, in some newly constructed small vessels. The Indian chief
was true to his word, and waited for them where he had said, with his
squadron. The battle began, and he fought with great valour; but,
in a short time, being killed by a musket shot, the rest dismayed,
fled with great precipitation; our people pursued, and made many
prisoners, among whom were the son of Lacandola, and his nephew,
by which his deceit and dissimulation were sufficiently manifest;
the President, however, sent them home, without the punishment they
merited for their treason. After this engagement, the natives became so
much afraid of the Spaniards, that many chiefs came to Manila begging
peace, and offering to become vassals of the king of Spain. By this
time, the works which had been ordered in Manila were considerably
advanced, and, on the day of St. John the Baptist, the President,
Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, founded the city as the metropolis of the
Philippine Islands, appointing two ordinary alcaldes, twelve regidores,
an alguazil mayor, and a notary, who all took the customary oaths, to
discharge the duties of their respective offices with justice. This
ceremony took place while Philip II. was King of Spain, and Pius
V. was in the fifth year of his pontificate, the first governor
being the President, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. The public square was
now marked out, with the situation of the convent of San Augustine,
and the subordinate arrangements were left to the magistracy. Legaspi
ordered the city to be called Manila, of which his Majesty approved,
giving it a coat of arms. This city is placed in fourteen degrees
and a half of north latitude, and is thought to be the antipodes of
the river Saint Ann, in Brazil, which is in the same latitude in the
opposite tropic of Capricorn.







CHAPTER VII.

ANNO DOMINI, 1571.

    Of the Government of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi.


Manila being founded, and most of the towns of the surrounding
district, in amity with the Spaniards, the Governor sent the Colonel
to Pampanga, to reduce that province to the Spanish yoke, but he
had no sooner arrived at the river Betis, on his way thither, than
he was compelled to return, without being able to reduce either the
town of Betis or that of Lubao; for it appeared that Rajah Soliman and
Lacandola, who had gone with him to serve as interpreters between the
Indians and him, had conducted themselves treacherously. This fully
appeared by Lacandola leaving the Colonel, and returning to Manila
without leave, for which the Governor ordered him to be put in irons,
and, to increase his punishment, told his relations that he would
not let him at liberty but at the Colonel's request; even then he did
not accede to it without confiscating all his artillery, consisting
of fifteen pieces of cannon, large and small. About this time Rajah
Matanda fell sick, and requesting to be baptized, a clergyman of
the name of Juan de Vivero administered this sacrament to him by
the name of Philip: he died of his disorder, and was buried with
great solemnity. On the 17th of July, Don Diego Legaspi, a nephew
of the Governor, arrived; he was sent by Captain Juan de Aguirre to
the aid of his uncle, having a short time before come to Panay with
two ships, which the Viceroy of Mexico had sent to these islands as a
reinforcement. The Governor ordered the Colonel to proceed to Panay,
and despatch these ships to Manila, and afterwards go to Zebu, and
bring his family to the capital. Whilst the Colonel was executing this
commission, Juan de Salcedo was sent to reduce the people of Cainta and
Taytay, two small towns high up the river Pasig, which had refused to
acknowledge the Spanish authority, and had strengthened their position
by some fortifications covering their towns. He carried Cainta by
assault, with the loss of only two killed and five wounded, but with
great slaughter on the part of the Indians, upon hearing which, the
inhabitants of Taytay immediately surrendered. He afterwards marched
to a town on the borders of the lake Bay, and of the same name, and
summoned the inhabitants, but they answered him with their arms in
their hands. He had with him Padre Friar Alonso de Albarado, who had
accompanied Ruy Lopez de Villalobos in his expedition; had returned
a second time to Mexico; and again had accompanied the other five
religious, of the order of San Augustine, to Manila. This venerable
person the Colonel sent, to assure the Indians, that he did not wish to
employ his arms against them, and that he had commissioned the Padre
Friar Alonso, to accommodate matters, requesting them immediately to
deliver up their town of Bay. This in the end was acceded to, and was
followed, by the submission of many small towns, on the borders of
the lake. Juan de Salcedo went further up the country behind them,
and found the people of Mahayhay, fortified by nature so securely
on a hill, that they could defend themselves against a great force,
with no difficulty, by rolling down immense stones. Having, however,
reconnoitred it, he perceived a path less rugged than the rest,
and where they seemed more negligent. By this path he surmounted
the difficulty, and appeared above them, when they were seized
with such a panic, that they fled precipitately, without making
any resistance. For two days more, Juan de Salcedo was detained
in this part of the country, passing through the villages, which,
however, he found deserted, the inhabitants having taken refuge in the
mountains. He in consequence returned to Bay, where he had left most of
his people. It was understood, that in the country of the Camarines,
there was a town called Paracale, where there were mines of gold. He
sent back to Manila Padre Albarado, and some of the Spaniards; and
having a few soldiers only, he encountered a great many difficulties,
in undertaking the conquest of this town. Many days having elapsed,
without hearing from them at Manila, the Governor despatched Major
Antonio Hurtado in search of them, and he found Juan de Salcedo in
Paracale, with all his people, very much weakened, in consequence of
the hardships they had been exposed to, and the sickness with which
they had been attacked. Salcedo returned with Hurtado to Manila, on
which occasion there were great rejoicings, as he had been supposed
dead, and the loss of a man so much loved and respected would have
been severely felt.

About this time the Colonel returned from Zebu, having first subdued
the province of Pampanga. The Governor now apportioned the conquered
districts and towns, among the respective officers, who had so well
earned that reward, reserving to his Majesty the usual tribute
only. He directed, that the Indians should pay a moderate rent,
to those new proprietors of land, and the Spaniards were enjoined,
not to exact any thing above the rent so settled. In a little time
it was discovered, that the Indians would not pay the tribute; and
that the Spanish proprietors, had been guilty of many vexatious acts
against them, which had produced revolts in various places. In Bohol,
Panay, and in Marinduque, the Indians had killed several Spanish
factors and soldiers. To prevent these disturbances from spreading,
the Governor sent Captain Luis de la Haya, to examine into the matter,
and to punish the aggressors. He executed his commission with such
prudence, that, without exasperating the Indians, he chastised the
murderers, and left the towns in complete subordination.

At the beginning of the year 1572, there arrived, with a great deal
of rich merchandize, those Chinese whom the Spaniards had saved from
shipwreck, in the island of Mindoro, together with many others of that
nation, who brought damasks, satins, taffeties, silks, porcelain,
and other things, with which the foundation of a lucrative commerce
with Acapulco was laid. These Chinese, whom we call Sangleyes,
from two Chinese words, hiang, lay, which signifies travelling
merchants, continue to this day the commerce with Manila, and many
have settled in these islands, where, however, they have frequently
been troublesome, as will be seen in the sequel. About the time these
merchants arrived, the Augustine friars intended to hold their second
provincial chapter, and the first which had been celebrated at Manila;
and at this it was determined, to send some of their order to China,
to establish a religious intercourse between the two nations. The
Governor agreed to this, and was desirous, at the same time, to send
an embassy to the Emperor; but the Chinese would not agree to take it
to China. The Friar Alvarado, however, who was the most desirous of
the undertaking, began to study the language, that he might be able
to convert and baptize the Chinese merchants, who seemed disposed
to settle in Manila; this plan he had adopted in Tondo, where he had
administered the sacrament to numbers. In this provincial chapter it
was agreed, that Padre Herrera should be sent a second time to Mexico,
in order to bring more clerical aid to this province; they likewise
chose as provincial, the Padre Friar Martin de Rada, and elected a
capitular of the convent of Manila; they established clergy in Zebu,
Masbate, Otong, Mindoro, Tondo, Calumpit, and Lubao. Soon after this,
convents were founded in the districts of Taal, Bay, and Pasig, and
many visitations were made, by which it was ascertained, that the
number of the clergy increased so much, that it became necessary,
to separate the parish priests from the friars.

The greater part of this quarter of the island, being reduced to
complete obedience, to the King of Spain, and nothing being known of
the northern part of it, Juan de Salcedo offered to make the discovery,
at his own risk. He collected men and ships, the Governor allowing
him forty-five soldiers, with necessary ammunition. He sailed from
Manila on the 20th of May, 1572; on the third day, he arrived at
Cape Bolinao, in the province of Zambales, where he found a Chinese
junk or sampan, and a party of Chinese, who had got possession of a
chief and some Indians, with an intent to carry them to China. Juan
de Salcedo re-took them from the Chinese, and gave them their liberty,
which action so gratified the feelings of the natives, that they became
immediately vassals of the King of Spain, and solicited to be placed
on the same footing, as the people of the other districts. Passing
from thence to Pangasinan, he coasted the whole of that province,
and that of Ylocos, until he arrived at Cape Boxeador, examining all
the ports, bays, and landing places, near which his squadron was able
to approach, and it consisted of many, but very small vessels. He
was desirous, of preserving a good understanding with the Indians,
and most of the towns on the coast, received him in a very friendly
manner, and supplied him with provisions, which he stood in need of;
but on his entering the rivers and creeks, he found great resistance
from the inhabitants of the districts bordering on them. He attacked
them on several occasions, putting them to flight with great ease,
and sent to them, desiring them to leave the mountains, with a promise
of his friendship. Some, however, not relying on the promises of the
Spaniards, could not divest themselves of their apprehensions, while
others readily came down, submitted, and agreed to pay the tribute. In
this manner he was proceeding, and had almost subdued these two large
provinces [19], intending to pass on to Cagayan; but he was opposed by
his own people, who became weary of the expedition. His second in
command, Antonio Hurtado, proposed that he should go on, and prosecute
his original plan, but Juan de Salcedo, although he desired it much,
thought it better to accede to the representations of his soldiers,
and they returned by the same route, confirming in their obedience
the towns which had submitted. On his arrival at Bigan, the natives
received him with so much cordiality, that he prudently determined
on the step of founding there a Spanish city, for the purpose of
controlling the neighbouring country.

Having, with this view, ordered the natives to cut sufficient timber
to build a fort, and accommodations for those who chose to remain,
he became desirous of executing the original project, which he had
abandoned, of passing on to Cagayan. He left in Bigan his second
in command, with twenty-five soldiers, and, with the seventeen that
remained, he commenced this arduous undertaking, departing in three
vessels on the 24th of July. Having passed Cape Boxeador, he entered
a river where he found a mud village of salt-makers; he desired them
to call their chiefs, as he wished to be on good terms with them,
and after many messages they appeared with their Rajah, who was a
very handsome man, and whiter than the rest of the Indians. Juan de
Salcedo came up to him with open arms, intending to embrace him; but
the barbarian, unaccustomed to such a mode of salutation, believing
that he wanted to catch him, took to his heels and fled, and on
no entreaty would he be prevailed on, to leave the mountains. Our
people, therefore, hoisted their sails, and arrived at the river of
Cagayan. They sailed up this river a considerable way, and found a
populous district; but they dared not attempt any hostility against
the inhabitants, as they were so few in number in comparison to
the natives, and they resolved to return to Manila by that side of
the island, in order completely to ascertain the whole extent of
Luzon. They proceeded about one hundred leagues, without discovering
any population, or any thing but a rocky shore. They coasted it
until they arrived at a bay, which Juan de Salcedo thought had been
named Amanto, having been there when he went to Paracale. In this,
however, he was mistaken, but as that bay was very near, he arrived
in a few days at it. Here he went on shore; and travelled on till
he came to the towns on the lake, where he embarked on board a small
boat with only four rowers. The boat was on the point of foundering
during the passage, and the Indians deserting her by swimming away,
he would inevitably have been lost, had not a proa, with some friendly
Indians, passing by, immediately relieved him. Arriving at Manila, he
received the melancholy intelligence of the death of his grandfather,
on the 20th of August, 1572, accelerated much by the vexatious and
multifarious duties of his office. He was interred in the church of
the Augustines, with the magnificence due to his character and station.

By the death of Legaspi, the treasurer, Guido de Labezares became
governor ad interim, by a decree of the Royal Audience of Mexico,
and which decree was found among the papers of the deceased. A few
days after Labezares had succeeded to the government, Manila suffered
severely from a hurricane, which destroyed almost all the houses,
these being built of canes, and drove back the two ships which
had been sent to Acapulco, but which, after the storm subsided,
sailed again for New Spain, carrying accounts of the death of
Legaspi. The new Governor sent Colonel Martin de Goite, to reduce
the revolted natives of Ylocos, which was done with little trouble,
and he brought away the tribute of the king in gold, compelling them
to ransom themselves, for a sum far exceeding that amount. This he
was enabled so easily to do, by the exertions of Juan de Salcedo,
who, at his own cost, had subdued nearly all this province, and who,
as the Colonel represented, ought to be allowed to reap the fruits
of his labours; but Guido de Labezares was prejudiced against him,
and would not employ him until he was undeceived as to his merits. He
then sent him to the conquest of the Camarines, which he effected with
ease, and founded near the river of Vicol a Spanish city, calling it
Santiago de Libon. He appointed as chief judge Captain Pedro de Chaves,
with eighty soldiers. While Juan de Salcedo was making these conquests,
the governor ad interim was exploring the whole of the Bisayas: he
attempted to restrain within proper bounds the avarice of the factors,
but it was without effect, as the moment he was gone they returned to
their old practices. Meanwhile a ship from Acapulco arrived with three
Augustine friars, men who were much required, not only for the purpose,
of converting to the Christian religion, the natives of the conquered
countries, but likewise to preserve the tranquillity of the different
towns, and which could not be effected solely by force of arms.

When the Governor ad interim returned to Manila, he sent an embassy
to the Rajah of Borneo, but without effect, as he had no wish to
be on terms with the Spaniards. He likewise divided the province
of Ylocos between the Colonel and Juan de Salcedo, who had been
employed in that expedition. In the beginning of the year 1574, Juan
de Salcedo sailed to take possession of his portion; he founded in
the district of Bigan the city Fernandina, where he built a house for
himself. While he was accomplishing this object, a large squadron of
vessels passed by, which had taken a galeot and twenty men he had sent
in search of provisions; and presuming that their intention was to
attack him, he began to fortify the town, but seeing they prosecuted
their route, he took it for granted they were going against Manila;
and having collected together all the Spaniards he had in Ylocos,
he embarked for the capital to the assistance of the Governor. This
was the famous expedition of Limahon, by which Manila was nearly lost,
but a short time after its foundation.

Limahon was a pirate of such renown, that the Emperor of China had
sent against him three different squadrons, and he was in fact so
pressed on all sides by this force, that having captured a Chinese
junk coming from Manila, who informed him of the new conquests
by the Spaniards, he determined to sail for this country, and be
crowned King of these islands, in order to be secure, by this means,
from the Emperor's attacks. He arrived at the island of Corregidor,
which is in the mouth of the bay, the 29th of November 1574, with
sixty-two junks, in which he brought one thousand five hundred women,
two thousand soldiers, and a great many seamen, sufficient artillery,
muskets, and swords. The Spaniards had no intimation of his arrival
at Corregidor, and the same night his second in command, who was a
Japanese of the name of Sioco, landed with six hundred men, with which
he entered, and attempted to take possession of Manila. In the attempt
to land his men he lost three boats, which were swamped by the surf;
but he effected his object, without being at all discovered by our
people. He first landed at Parañaque, supposing it to be Manila, but
soon finding out his mistake, he began his march to it by the beach,
his vessels following him, and at day-break he arrived at Manila, where
he was discovered by the Indians. They made all haste to the Colonel,
who lived close to the royal gate, where the college of St. Joseph
now stands, and informed him, that there was an immense body of Moors
of Borneo coming by the sea side. The Colonel, however, as he had no
reason to conclude, that the Borneans considered themselves, in direct
hostility with the Spaniards, gave no credit to it, till he saw the
Chinese enter by the gate, close to his house. Three soldiers, who
were placed as guards there, attempted to resist them, but they were
soon overpowered by multitudes, and one only escaped, severely wounded.

The wife of the Colonel looking out of the window, thought they were
Indians come against them, and called out, "Here the dogs come, we
are all dead." The Portuguese interpreter, who accompanied Sioco,
enraged at this reproachful epithet of the lady, ordered the house
to be set on fire. The Colonel, who was ill, immediately on this got
up, put on his armour, and unsheathing his sword, leapt out of the
window in the midst of his enemies, who received him on their swords,
and cut him to pieces. They killed the wife of a common soldier, whom
they found in the house, and left for dead Dona Lucia Corral, the wife
of the Colonel, but she afterwards recovered from her wounds. Sioco
pursuing his march, encountered some Spaniards who were on their way
to assist the Governor, and seeing that there were few opposed to
him, he formed his men into a half moon, and charged the centre of
the Spaniards. The engagement was long doubtful, when eight soldiers
being killed, the rest must have shared their fate, had they not been
joined by twenty more, under the command of Captain Alonso Velasquez,
the aid-de-camp of General Amador de Arriaran, and Gaspar Ramirez,
aid-de-camp of the Colonel, who charged the Chinese so furiously,
that Sioco was obliged to retire to his boats and join Limahon, who had
anchored in Cavite. Sioco justified his ill success in this action, by
saying, that the people were tired by their long march along the beach,
which excuse Limahon admitted, and determined on another assault on
the third day. This affair having happened on St. Andrew's day, the
Spaniards attributed it to the intercession of that Saint, that they
had not all fallen into the hands of the Chinese, and expressed their
gratitude, by choosing him patron of Manila, instituting an annual
solemn feast on the occasion. Limahon's delay of the second attack,
was the means of saving all, as it gave time to Juan de Salcedo, to
join with his force from Ylocos. He arrived in the bay, in the night
of the same day of St. Andrew, and understanding that Limahon was in
Cavite, he did not attempt to enter there, but landed on the Pampanga
side of the bay. The day following, in the evening, he met with two
Indians, who had escaped from the engagement, and informed him of all
that had happened; he immediately made sail, and entered Manila that
night. When he was at the mouth of the river, he ordered the trumpets
to be sounded, and placed a great number of lights about his ship,
to induce the enemy to believe, the approach of considerable relief
to the Spaniards, who saluted him in form, all of which caused great
alarm to the Chinese. The Governor ad interim, was so pleased with
the diligence of Juan de Salcedo, that he appointed him Colonel,
in the room of Martin de Goite.

The same night, Limahon weighed anchor from Cavite, and pressed on to
Manila, and Sioco disembarked the following morning, after having sworn
by an oath to his General, that he would either die in the attempt,
or that day be in possession of the house of the Governor. He directed
his march to the fort, which our people had constructed of timber,
faggots, and barrels of earth, and he divided his troops into three
bodies. He ordered one to march down, through the principal street of
the city, to the square, where he expected the Spaniards would sally
out of the fort, and engage them; and in this expectation, he sent
another body, by the side of the river round the fort, and the third,
which he commanded himself, he led along the beach. The division which
had been ordered down the principal street, arrived in the square,
and in order to induce the Spaniards to sally from the fort, they
set fire to the houses. Fortunately the Spaniards did not quit the
fort, though they saw their houses burning, but contented themselves
with playing their artillery upon the Chinese, doing a great deal
of mischief. Sioco, finding that it was not possible, to draw the
Spaniards from their fortifications, and having lost many of his men,
ordered the division that had arrived at the square, to assault the
fort, at the same time leading on his own. Such was the multitude of
the Chinese, against so few on our part, that the palisade was forced,
and they entered through a part, which Ensign Sancho Ortez defended,
and in which he was killed, performing prodigies of valour. Immediately
the Governor heard of this, he repaired to the fort, attended by the
Colonel; they cut their way through the Chinese, and having entered it,
repulsed the invaders with great loss. The Chinese, panic struck at
this, retiring by degrees towards the shore, the Spaniards followed
them close, making great slaughter among them; but, to our great
misfortune, our people suddenly abandoned their advantage, at the
sight of Limahon's squadron, which had just entered the river, but
had not been able hitherto, to take part in the action.

Limahon observing this, ordered his ships off, in order that his
men might become desperate, on finding themselves deprived of all
protection from him: the contrary effect, however, was produced by
it, as they were seized with such a panic, that they could not face
their enemies, but formed themselves on the shore, and received the
fire of our artillery, which was discharged repeatedly upon them,
determined rather to wait death with firmness, than return into the
engagement. In this they would have persisted, had not Limahon arrived
with four hundred fresh men. As all was not lost, he ordered some of
his people to burn a ship and galley, which, with a few other small
vessels, were drawn up on the beach, and which, when they had destroyed
the houses, they had forgot to burn with the rest, and he made a false
attack on the fort, in order to compel the Spaniards to sally out, to
hinder the operation. The Colonel guessed his intention: he, however,
sallied out with fifty men, against those only who were proceeding
to pillage the city, and put them to flight precipitately. Limahon
seeing that his plan had not succeeded, having lost many men,
and finding that his principal captain, Sioco, had been killed,
he embarked his troops, and, under favour of the night, returned
to the river Parañaque, where he killed all the Indians, he found
assembled in any hostile way, and, before day-break, he set sail,
and did not bring to, until he came to the province of Pangasinan;
where he entered into an amicable arrangement with the chief, forming
an encampment, and fortifying it with a strong palisado on an inlet of
the river Lingayen. The Governor was determined to follow him into the
province, but he found it necessary first to restore the fortifications
of the city, and likewise to quell a sedition of the Indians, who,
on this occasion, shewed how little they could be depended upon.

The natives of Manila, whilst the Spaniards were engaging the Chinese,
robbed their houses and maltreated their slaves; those of Tondo killed
some Sachristans belonging to a convent, and they would have done the
same with the clergy, but that they could not have concealed it. Those
of the island of Mindoro, however, imprisoned the friars, and took them
to the mountains, where they were not bold enough to murder them, till
they saw how the action with Limahon would terminate, and how things
would be adjusted. Rajah Soliman and Lacandola, the chief of Manila
and Tondo, apprehensive that the Governor would punish them for this
ill conduct, retired to Navotas, where they fomented a rebellion. In
order to quell this the Colonel, accompanied by Friar Marin, set out
immediately, and when Lacandola understood they had arrived, he sent
to them to request the friar would repair to a station about three
leagues distant, where all the chiefs were assembled, and where they
were desirous of treating of a reconciliation with the Spaniards. The
friar Marin determined to proceed to the station which they mentioned,
and there he met all the chiefs, who received him with much joy,
but they could not be persuaded to see the Colonel. Lacandola alone
abandoned his fears, in consequence of the promise the friar had made
him, and left Navotas with an intention to present himself, but he
found that Juan de Salcedo had returned, and directed his way to his
house. Salcedo encountered two ranks of armed men on the banks of the
river, near the house of Lacandola; he boldly went up to them, and
took away their lances and arrows; when, Lacandola arriving, he said,
"What is the meaning of this? why are these men armed?" The Indian made
many excuses, and promised to wait on the Governor the day following,
in company with the friar Marin. The Governor admitted the excuses,
and presented Lacandola with a silk mantle and a gold chain. Won over
by this treatment, Rajah Soliman, in four days, presented himself to
the Governor, and the sedition was thus terminated. Captain Rivera
subdued the people of Mindoro with the same facility.

The Governor being relieved from the anxiety, which the restlessness
of the Indians had occasioned, determined to follow Limahon to
Pangasinan. He found, on mustering, that the soldiers in Manila
amounted to two hundred, and about two hundred more were scattered
through the provinces of Bisayas and Camarines; from among these
he manned the squadron, with two hundred and fifty Spaniards, and
he added one thousand five hundred friendly Indians. On the 22d of
March 1575, the Colonel sailed with this armament to Pangasinan,
and, on the 29th of the same month, in the night, arrived in the
river Lingayen. The day following he sent Captain Pedro de Chaves to
take possession of the ships belonging to the corsair, and Captain
Gabriel de Rivera to reconnoitre his fortifications. Chaves executed
his commission with ease, as the Chinese fled from their ships, the
moment he boarded them. Rivera attacked the works, firing upon them,
and making a dreadful carnage. Limahon, observing what passed, ordered
his men under cover of a grove of date trees, where they might defend
themselves more easily. Captain Chaves sent assistance to Rivera,
and a most sanguinary engagement commenced. Rivera at last routed
the Chinese, compelling them to retire to their fort, which he would
have scaled, but, finding the palisade too lofty, he had recourse
to the expedient of ordering his men to rush in a body against it,
formed as it was of date trees driven into the earth. This they did
with such force, that they broke through, opened the gate, and entered
the fort. The Chinese then retired within the second palisade, which
was the quarter of Limahon. The Spaniards ought to have attacked the
inner fort, before the Chinese had recovered from their panic; but
their avarice prevailed, and they dispersed themselves through the
different houses, which had been built within the first palisade,
plundering them, without attempting any thing else. Limahon was
not slow in taking advantage of this error of the Spaniards, and,
attacking them with four hundred men, he drove them out of the works
with great loss, thus paying dearly for the indulgence of their habits
of plunder. Ashamed of this defeat, our people returned a second time
to the assault, when they retook the first line of works, but being
unable to force the inner one, they burnt the houses of the Chinese,
and going on board their boats, they retired to where Pedro de Chaves
was posted. Here, finding one of the junks unserviceable, she was
set fire to, and a retreat of the whole body was made good, to the
post where the Colonel was stationed, with the rest of the armament.

Juan de Salcedo, convinced of the difficulty of taking the fort by
storm, and desirous of being as sparing as possible, of the lives of
his Spaniards, considering the difficulties they had to encounter,
determined on attempting to reduce Limahon by fair means. Having in
his army a Chinese who had been established in Manila, he ordered
him to write to Limahon; but this letter having no effect, he wrote a
second to the same purpose. Limahon replied, that he was considered a
savage tiger, whom all were desirous of catching; but he assured them,
that he should either kill them, or they him. The Chinese, therefore,
thus declining every amicable proposal, the Colonel resolved to
throw up works near to their works, but at such a distance as to
be without the range of the enemy's artillery. Upon his beginning
accordingly to pitch his camp, however, a shot was fired which passed
close to him, and wounded his aid-de-camp in the leg, affording him a
convincing proof that their artillery could reach all over the small
island. It was, therefore, deemed necessary to remove the camp to
another position, and to blockade the mouth of the river to prevent
Limahon from escaping, until the Governor of Manila should determine,
whether he would have the works taken by assault, or that, by means of
a blockade, the Chinese should be starved into submission. Upon this
retreat of the Spaniards, Limahon collected the remaining fragments of
the junks, which had been burnt, and with these built some boats within
the fort. Four months passed in this manner, when, finding he had no
other resource, Limahon opened a canal to the river, and, in the night,
escaped with all his people in the small vessels he had constructed. To
deceive the Spaniards, and conquer the difficulties opposed to him in
the mouth of the river, he set fire to a few small vessels filled with
combustibles, and, ordering a false attack to be made on the guard,
he, in the meantime, escaped; and, without any obstruction, on the
3d of August 1575, prosecuted his voyage. During these transactions
between Juan de Salcedo and Limahon, the Augustine friars held a
chapter, and appointed priests in the towns of Candaba and Macabebe,
in the province of Pampanga, in Bizan, in the province of Ylocos, and
in the island of Negros. They were not satisfied with the innumerable
converts, they made in these islands, but they became desirous of
attempting the spiritual conquest of the empire of China. There was
at that time in Manila, a Chinese of the name of Aumon, who had been
sent by the viceroy of Fouquien, in search of Limahon, to promise him
pardon, on the part of the Emperor of China, if he would cease his
depredations. This Chinese had been to Pangasinan, and told Juan de
Salcedo, that he wished to see the pirate; but as Salcedo distrusted
the nature of his mission, Aumon deemed it prudent to return to Manila,
where he paid his court so well to the Governor, that he delivered
him up fifty captives which had been taken from Limahon. Aumon was now
desirous of returning to China, and the Augustine friars conceived this
would be a good opportunity, to attempt an establishment there. With
this view they endeavoured to persuade him, to take two friars under
his protection, which request the Governor seconded; and, as the news
of Salcedo's success against Limahon had, by this time, reached them,
Aumon determined to comply with the request. The friars Martin de
Rada, and Geronimo Marin, were nominated for this undertaking, and,
at the same time, as ambassadors from the Governor, were the bearers
of a letter to the Viceroy of Fouquien, and another to the Emperor,
which they were ordered to deliver to the Viceroy, as their directions
were not to proceed beyond that point. But as it was intended,
that these religious should remain in the province of Fouquien, to
propagate the Christian faith, two Spaniards were sent to bring back
the answer to the embassy. They left Manila on the 2d of July 1575,
and before they returned, the new Governor of these islands arrived.







CHAPTER VIII.

ANNO DOM. 1575.

    Of the Administration of Don Francisco La Sande, second Governor
    of Manila.


Doctor Don Francisco La Sande, born at Caceres in Estremadura,
and Oidor of Mexico, took possession of this government on the
24th of August 1575. He instituted an inquiry into the conduct of
his predecessor, and acquitted him of any misapplication of his
authority. At the commencement of La Sande's government, the embassy
returned from China, and proved to have had a favourable issue,
as the Viceroy of Fouquien received them with great respect; and
although he could not permit the friars to remain in the province,
as he had no orders to that effect, he forwarded the letter, which the
Governor of Manila had written to the Emperor of China, contributing
all in his power to second his views: and this fully appeared by the
answer, which the Chinese brought in the month of February, the year
following, by which the Emperor appointed one port in his dominions,
for commercial intercourse with the Spaniards. The Chinese brought
considerable presents, which they would not deliver to the actual
Governor, but to Guido de Labexares, who, as Governor ad interim,
had despatched the embassy. This affront Don Francisco La Sande felt
so severely, that he behaved to them with great coolness, and made
them no presents when they returned. The unhandsome conduct of the
Governor, frustrated those expectations, which had been raised by
the defeat of Limahon, and the subsequent mission; by making a most
unfavourable impression on the minds of the Chinese, who discharged
their whole vengeance, on the heads of the two Augustine friars. They
landed them in the province of Zambales, scourged them most cruelly,
murdered, before their eyes, their interpreter and slaves, and left
them bound fast to trees; in which situation they must have perished,
had not, providentially, Morones been passing that way, who released
them, and cured their wounds.

This year, 1576, was unpropitious to the Spaniards in the Philippines;
for, independent of this disgrace, they had the misfortune to lose
Juan de Salcedo, who died on the 11th of March, and who had been a
second Pizarro, or Cortes, in this conquest. He was seized with a
fever while in Ylocos, and when in that state, visiting a mine in his
domains, he drank some cold water, which operated so powerfully on the
intestines, that he died in three hours. On the island of Catanduanes,
likewise, a party of Augustine missionaries was shipwrecked: this
was a public loss, and most severely felt, as, without the labours
of the religious, the military exploits of the Spaniards, would have
been of little avail, in securing the subjection of these islands.

This loss was repaired the following year, by the arrival of some more
friars, and seventeen Franciscans, whom the Augustines received in
their convents, and assigning to them the ecclesiastical authority
over a number of towns, the Franciscans began their labours with
indefatigable zeal.

About this time, Queen Elizabeth of England, sent the famous Drake with
a considerable squadron, for the purpose of subduing the Moluccas. In
passing the Straits of Magellan, he lost several of his ships;
but he pursued his course in his own ship, committing many acts of
hostility on the voyage, and giving a name to several islands which
he discovered, such as St. Bartholomew, St. James, and New Albion,
a large island, where he was detained six weeks. Arriving at Tidore,
he began to gather cloves, without permission from the King of the
island, at which the latter took great offence; but Drake having
made him presents, he stipulated for the assistance of their arms,
in case he should require it, permitting the English to establish
factories for collecting cloves and nutmegs, and, in token of his
amity, sent a most superb ring to the Queen of England. Richly laden
with spices and Chinese merchandize, which he had captured in several
of our vessels, on their voyage to New Spain, Drake proceeded on his
return to England, where, after a variety of disasters, he arrived,
filling all Europe with admiration of the valuable nature of his
cargo. That strangers might not, by such means, acquire a footing in
the Moluccas and neighbouring islands, the Governor sent an expedition
against the island of Borneo, which, by the following circumstances,
became a matter of easy conquest. Sirela, King of Borneo, had come to
Manila, to solicit the assistance of the Spaniards, in the recovery of
his kingdom, of which he had been unjustly deprived by his brother;
and he promised, in the event of his success, that the whole of this
large island, should become tributary to Spain. Don Francisco La Sande,
conceiving this a most desirable object, and that it would necessarily
lead to the conquest of all the Archipelago of Maluco, determined to go
in person, that he might not lose the favourable opportunity, which now
presented itself, by replacing Sirela in the possession of his kingdom.

He sailed from Manila in thirty vessels, with a large body of Spaniards
and friendly Indians, and arrived safely at Borneo. Having entered
the river, he proceeded along it, until he arrived at the residence
of the usurper, upon which he immediately directed his artillery. The
King, however, with his troops, gallantly attacked the Spaniards,
but in a short time, fled in great disorder, and took refuge in the
mountains. The Governor placed his deposed brother on the throne, and
returned to Manila, where he planned several other expeditions. He sent
a squadron to Jolo and Mindanao, which reduced these two islands,
and compelled them to pay the customary tribute to the King of
Spain; but from the great distance they were at from Manila, and
the very limited number of clergy then in the seat of government,
a sufficiency could not be spared, for the purpose of converting the
natives to Christianity, during the short time these islands were
held. He completed the conquest of the province of Camarines by means
of Captain Chaves, who founded the city of Nueva Caceres, close to the
town of Naga. The Augustine friars began their spiritual conquest,
but finding their number unequal to the task, of duly attending the
undertaking, they called in to their assistance the Franciscans,
to whom eventually they ceded this district.

Towards the close of La Lande's government, an unpleasant disagreement
arose between the clergy and laity. The factors had introduced into
their respective districts, several abuses, which the clergy would
not countenance. Certain services were required of the Indians, beyond
the stipulated rents, which were extremely vexatious, and which little
accorded with the Christian character. The friars began by preaching
against these abuses, but this had little effect, and in the end,
so many complaints were made, that it reached the ears of the King
(Philip the Second), who issued an order, in which he reproved the
conduct of the factors, and enjoined them, to pay strict obedience to
the instructions they had received, to confine their imposts to the
stipulated rents alone. The Governor gave every aid to the order of
his Majesty, making regulations, by which the Indians might be secured
against such encroachments in future. This, in some respect, abated
the gathering storm, but tranquillity was never completely restored, as
the avarice of the factors set at defiance all laws, human and divine.







CHAPTER IX.

ANNO DOM. 1580.

    The Administration of Don Ronquillo de Penalosa, third Governor
    of Manila.


In April 1580, Don Gonzalo Ronquillo de Penalosa arrived at the
port of Cavite, as Governor of Manila. He was a nephew of the famous
Judge Ronquillo, who hanged the Bishop of Zamora. He brought to his
predecessor, the appointment of Oidor of Mexico, with orders for
him to sail by the first ship, destined for Acapulco. On his taking
possession of his government, his first step was, to mark out the
Chinese quarter of the town, under the guns of the fort of Santiago,
on the other side of the river. He sent Captain Rivera to Borneo,
again to re-establish on his throne the legitimate King Sirela,
who had a second time been deprived of it by his brother, with the
assistance of a Portuguese Captain, of the name of Brito. Rivera
executed his commission without delay, and returned to Manila, after
having placed Sirela in peaceable possession of his kingdom. This was
judged to be the fittest opportunity, for bringing the Moluccas under
the Spanish dominion, and the Governor began to make preparations for
the enterprize, for, in addition to the customary enmity between the
courts of Portugal and Castile, he had received positive instructions
from Philip the Second, to effect this object. Circumstances, however,
compelled him to postpone it till the year following, as several
matters of consequence, in these islands, required his presence,
particularly in the province of Cagayan, where a Japanese pirate had
established himself, with a great many followers and vessels. Pablo
Carrion dislodged the Japanese, but not without great loss on the
side of the Spaniards, as the former, rather than be taken prisoners,
preferred dying bravely, with arms in their hands. The pirate thus
dislodged, the Governor founded the city of Nueva Segovia, close to
the Indian town of Lalo, and the city of Arivalo, in the island of
Panay, in memory of his native province.

The year following, 1582, an expedition sailed to the Moluccas,
commanded by Don Sebastian Ronquillo, a nephew of the Governor, who
took with him Pablo de Lima, married to a niece of the King of Tidore,
and who, in her right, laid claim to several towns, of which she had
been unjustly deprived by the King of Ternate. De Lima was likewise
appointed Governor of Ternate, when it should be subdued by the
Spaniards, and all these considerations contributed, to induce him to
give every aid to this expedition. The squadron arrived at the island
of Motiel, and making an easy conquest of it, the natives recognized
Pablo de Lima as their chief. From this island, the Spaniards proceeded
on their voyage to Ternate, where the Indians seemed determined,
to throw every impediment in the way of their disembarkation; but
the resistance was of short duration, as the Spaniards contrived to
draw them into the interior, and to plant their artillery against
the town, without which expedient nothing could have been done. They
laid regular siege to the town, and were on the point of taking it,
when a disorder in the intestines began to rage among them, which
occasioned such mortality, that they were compelled to break up their
enterprize, and return to the Philippines. During these transactions
in Ternate, the Christians in Manila, found out new objects for mutual
hostility. Besides the provinces which I have mentioned, which the
Augustine friars had been the means of reducing to obedience, they
had distributed priests in Pangasinan, in Cagayan, and in the two
provinces of Misames and Caraga, in the island of Mindanao, which are
the only two in this large island, acknowledging subjection to the
Spaniards. The factor of Mindanao, whose name was Blas de la Serna,
treated the Indians with great severity, and lived a scandalous life,
highly prejudicial to the cause of Christianity.

The friar whom the Augustines had placed there, admonished him
repeatedly to alter his course of life; but as his conduct became
more reprehensible every day, the friar, unable to bear it longer,
was under the necessity of excommunicating him. The factor, in revenge
for (as he termed it) his impudence, publicly beat him. At this time
the Bishop of Manila was Don Fr. Domingo de Salazar, who had arrived
at Manila in March, 1581, with two Jesuits, who were the first of
the order in these islands. On the 21st of December, he erected the
church into a cathedral, appointing proper prebends and dignitaries,
and forming municipal authorities for its due government. This
nobleman was highly attentive to the rights of the clergy. He took
up the affair with the factor very warmly, and did not relax in his
exertions, until he saw him at Manila undergo the punishment, imposed
on him by the sentence of the church, and which he had so well merited.

The whole body of factors being alarmed, and fearing this would be
much to their prejudice, persuaded the Governor, to withdraw from the
clergy, the Indians who had been given to them for their own service,
and that of the church. The Spaniards well inclined to the factors,
seconded this advice, and they, in conjunction, commenced a cruel
persecution against the Augustine and Franciscan friars. But Pedro de
Chaves, Amador de Arriaran, Juan de Morenos, Antonio Savedra, Miguel
de Lorca, Francisco de la Cueba, Esteban Rodrigueze de Figueroa,
and other factors, who had seen, of how much importance the friars
were, in the conquest and retention of these islands, came over to
their party, and defended them against the attack thus made on them,
proving satisfactorily, that without the assistance of the clergy,
the factors would never have received even their rents.

The Governor, Don Gonzalo Ronquillo, was deeply afflicted at those
disputes, so much at variance with his character, and with the anxiety
of his views, for the happiness and prosperity of these islands. His
whole mind, indeed, was occupied in the consideration, of what might
contribute to these ends, and to the aggrandizement of the Spanish
name; but unhappily persuading himself, that his honour was committed
by these dissensions, he became affected by a deep melancholy,
to which he was a prey during six months, and to which he fell a
sacrifice in the month of March, 1583, before he completed his third
year as Governor. He was interred in the church of St. Augustine,
and to do him honour, more tapers than usual being burnt, the roof
of the church was set on fire, which in a few hours communicated
so generally, that the greater part of the city was destroyed, with
immense loss of lives and property.

By the death of Don Gonzalo, his kinsman, Don Diego Ronquillo,
succeeded as Governor ad interim, being nominated as such in the
royal order. The new Governor directed all his attention, to the
rebuilding of the city, assisting personally in the public works,
and paying particular attention, to the restoration of the houses,
belonging to the inhabitants. Such diligence was used, that in a short
time, the city was completely re-established. Many of the inhabitants,
lost almost all their property in this fire; and the disaster, though
of sufficient magnitude, was swelled into a most dreadful picture,
by the ship going to Acapulco, but which had been forced by stress
of weather into China. It is inconceivable, in what consternation,
the inhabitants of the islands in the neighbourhood of Manila,
arrived to their assistance. Don Diego Ronquillo immediately sent
to China the factor of the royal works, Juan Bautista Roman, with
orders to chastise those, who had been the cause of spreading this
report, and to despatch, at any expense, a ship to New Spain, with a
true statement of the extent of the mischief. The factor performed
his commission with such efficacy, that the ship he despatched,
returned the year following from Acapulco, in company with another;
and in these ships came the new Governor and the Royal Audience. The
government of Don Diego had lasted only one year, but, though short,
it was of great importance to the settlement.

He reduced to obedience in the island of Layte, and the province of
Pangasinan, some towns which refused to pay the usual tribute, and he
effectually suppressed symptoms of sedition in the other provinces,
and which took their rise in the ill treatment of the factors. The
factors entertained the idea, that the Indians whom they had found on
their lands, ought to be considered in the light of slaves in every
respect, and compelled them to work, appropriating all the wages of
their labour to their own use, by which means they enjoyed all the
luxuries of life, and even accumulated fortunes. To such a height had
these abuses been raised, that a reform was absolutely necessary. The
Governor bestowed particular attention on this subject, punishing
those who were culpable, and watching over the general good. The result
of this was, that many Indians who before had fled to the mountains,
returned to the towns, and paid the tribute settled by the government,
either in silver, or in the produce of the land they cultivated. By
these desirable arrangements, the royal revenue was improved, and
the interest of the factors so much injured by their own avarice,
that from hence arose the proverb, "Avarice bursts the sack."







CHAPTER X.

ANNO DOM. 1584.

    The Administration of Don Santiago de Vera, fourth Governor of
    Manila.


The Governor, Don Gonzalo Ronquillo, had sent to Madrid Captain
Gabriel Rivera, to solicit several objects, necessary to the general
welfare of these islands, and in particular, that a Royal Audience
should be established there, as it was extremely disadvantageous and
embarrassing, to be obliged to have recourse to that of Mexico.

The King granted this request, and sent Don Santiago de Vera, of
Alcala de Henares, as Governor and President of the Royal Audience; and
Don Melchor de Avalos, and Don Pedro de Rosas, as oidores of it. The
third oidor, Don Antonio Rivera, arrived two years afterwards. Don
Gaspar de Ayala was nominated fiscal. Don Santiago took possession of
his government May, 1584, and immediately formed the Royal Audience,
bearing the royal signet with much ostentation, under a canopy, from
the convent of St. Augustine, to the palace. The Chancellor was Gabriel
de Rivera, who arrived this year, with the title of Mariscal of the
lake of Bombon. Immediately that Don Santiago took possession of his
government, he put in force the orders which he had received from
the King, to chastise those factors, who had abused the authority,
they derived from the possession of the lands granted them. He
began, by dispossessing Bartoleme de Ledesma, factor of Abuyo, and
others the most culpable, punishing the rest in proportion to their
irregularities, after full conviction of their delinquency.

In the following year, 1585, he sent Juan de Morones and Pablo de
Lima, with a powerful squadron, to reduce the Moluccas under the
Spanish dominion, but it returned to Manila with similar disgrace
to the preceding one, without being able to take possession of the
fortifications of Ternate. The Governor was much chagrined at the
ill success of this expedition, and was desirous of repeating the
attempt, conformable to the positive instructions received from
the King to that effect; but he was not able to execute it, as the
troops from New Spain had not arrived, and, independent of this,
the insurrections of the Indians were of too formidable a nature,
for they lost no opportunity which presented itself of breaking the
yoke of the Spaniards. Those of Pampangos and Manila entered into a
conspiracy with the Moors of Borneo, who had ostensibly come there
for the purpose of traffic. They formed the plan of traitorously
entering the town in the night, setting fire to it, and killing in
the confusion all the Spaniards. This conspiracy was discovered by
a female Indian, married to a Spanish soldier. The Governor checked
it in its commencement, imprisoning many, and severely punishing
others by way of example. The islands of Samar, Ybabao, and Leyte,
were likewise far from being in a state of tranquillity, and the
factor of Dagami, a town of Leyte, had nearly lost his life by the
Indians, in the collection of the tribute paid in wax, and which
he had attempted to levy by a measure, containing double the usual
quantity. This compelled him to fly for safety to the mountains, and
he passed from thence in a boat to the island of Zebu. The Governor
sent Captain Lorenzo de la Mota to quell these disturbances, which
he soon did by promising to punish the delinquent.

Among the calamities which happened during this government, the
loss of the ship Santa Anna was not the least; she was on her way,
richly laden, to Acapulco, and was taken by the English. Cavendish,
an English pirate, emulous of the fame of Drake, having equipped five
ships, with the assistance of Queen Elizabeth, took his departure
for this quarter of the world; and having committed many acts of
hostility on the coasts of Brazil and Peru, he arrived at Molucca,
where he procured every information respecting the produce of the
Philippines, and the rich cargoes which every year were sent from
these islands to Acapulco. Well instructed, likewise, in the tract
observed by our galleons, he sailed for the coast of California, to
lie in wait for the annual ship destined for New Spain. In due time
the Santa Anna, as is customary, made her appearance on that coast,
in prosecution of her voyage to Acapulco, and fell into the hands of
the English without any resistance, being quite unprepared.

The English having made themselves masters of this valuable prize,
directed their course to the Philippines, and arriving at the island
of Panay, where we had a ship in the dock of Yloylo, an attempt was
made to burn her, but it was rendered ineffectual by Captain Lorenzo de
Limas, who made a vigorous resistance, with such soldiers and Indians,
as he was able to collect in the province. Abandoning this object,
the English commander sent a letter to the Governor, to apprize him
of the capture he had made of the Santa Anna, and to inform him he
should return frequently to those seas. He departed from Panay for
the Cape of Good Hope, from whence he sailed for England, and arrived
laden with such riches, that his name became more renowned than ever
was that of Francis Drake.

In the year 1589 no ship was despatched to New Spain; for two which
had been equipped for this voyage, were lost in the port of Cavite
in a dreadful storm, which happened on St. Peter's Day. About the
same time many insurrections of the Indians took place, and in
particular, those of Cagayan, who were always very troublesome,
murdered many Spaniards. Those likewise, in the valley of Dingras,
in the province of Ylocos, resisted the collections of tribute, and
murdered six people from the city of Fernandina, who were travelling
through their towns. Don Santiago quelled these tumults, and restored
tranquillity, by duly mingling punishment with clemency. He likewise
constructed a strong fort of stone, where the royal gate now stands;
he removed to Manila the foundery which was hitherto in Santa Anna; and
cast some artillery, with the assistance of an Indian of Pampango. He
founded an hospital for the Spaniards: but the principal mover of
this pious act was Don Luis de Vivanco, who, jointly with his wife,
endowed it, and appropriated it to the reception and cure of the
sick. The Governor divided several portions of land among those
soldiers and sailors who deserved it most, and conducted himself in
the exercise of his authority, so much to the general satisfaction,
that his character as an excellent Governor was established by the
declaration of the licentiate Herber del Corral, who was chief judge
on the occasion of passing his trial of approbation.







CHAPTER XI.

ANNO DOM. 1590.

    The Administration of Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, the fifth Governor
    of Manila.


The clergy of Manila about this period, sent to the court of Madrid
and Rome the Friar Sanches, a Jesuit, under the pretence of soliciting
some objects, for the spiritual as well as temporal welfare of these
islands. Arriving at Madrid, he petitioned that the Royal Audience
should be removed, and that Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, a noble Galician
knight of the order of Santiago, Corregidor of Logrono, should
be sent as Governor. This nobleman arrived at Manila in May 1590,
in one of the two ships which the Viceroy of Mexico had despatched,
and in which he had sent four hundred troops, a supply, by this time
highly requisite in the islands. The other ship which accompanied
her struck on a shoal, close in with the land of Maranduque, and was
lost, but all the people were saved. The King gave the new Governor,
as a salary, ten thousand Castile ducats out of the royal revenue of
New Spain, and which was remitted annually to the Philippines.

He brought an order that the proceedings of the Royal Audience
should be suspended; and in performance of this, the year following,
the Oidores composing it embarked for Mexico; the Oidor Roxas alone
remaining, as the ad interim successor of the Governor. The Bishop, who
had some disagreement with the Governor, feeling the importance of the
Royal Audience, as the only tribunal capable of curbing the power of
the Governor, and persuading himself it was not safe, to trust in the
hands of one man, the uncontrolled exercise of authority, in a country
so remote from the seat of government, it was his intention to proceed
to New Spain, with a view to procure the re-establishment of the Royal
Audience in Manila, and on various, affairs of his bishopric. The
Governor, that he might not effect his purpose, would not allow him
to embark with the Oidores; and the Bishop in the mean time contented
himself, with giving full powers and instructions to the Augustine
Friar Ortiga, who was going to Madrid, to appear to any allegations
which might be preferred against him. In the short time this government
lasted, great undertakings were performed; such as building a wall
of stone round Manila, erecting the fort of Santiago, and furnishing
it with good artillery. The royal magazines in Manila and Cavite
were built; and the asylum of Santa Potenciana was erected for the
maintenance, at the cost of the state, of a certain number of young
persons, daughters of deceased military officers, until they should be
married. The Governor established among the different religious orders,
a salutary ecclesiastical control over the Indians, assigning to each
order their different towns and provinces, and converting the colony
into a complete republic; supplying every defect in the government;
and putting the whole in a respectable state of defence, by means of
his four hundred regular soldiers, divided into detachments.

Among the natives of many adjacent islands which traded with Manila,
those of Japan, in particular, brought the richest merchandize for the
consumption of the colony, and for the commerce with Acapulco. A keen
and able man of this nation, named Faranda Kicmon, who had renegaded
from the faith, persuaded Taycosama, Emperor of Japan, to send an
embassy to Manila; and promised him, that if he would give him the
commission, he would procure him to be acknowledged King of Manila,
and that a regular and lucrative commerce, might be established between
the two nations. The Emperor gave credit to his representations, and
despatched him with letters to the Governor, claiming the vassalage of
the Philippines. The Governor received this embassy, and replied to it
immediately, without bringing into question the point of vassalage,
by proposing to establish a commercial intercourse; sending for this
purpose, the Franciscan Friars Pedro Bautista, Francisco de San Miguel,
Bartholome, and Gerardo de San Miguel, who likewise had determined to
avail themselves of this opportunity, to establish themselves in that
kingdom to preach the gospel: he likewise sent with them a Portuguese
of the name of Carvallo, and they bore a handsome present to the
Emperor. Notwithstanding many malicious falsehoods which Faranda
had circulated, Taycosama received the friars with much courtesy,
and granted them permission to remain in his kingdom, treating them
with much respect in the first instance, although, at a subsequent
period, he murdered them. About this time ambassadors from the King
of Camboa arrived, with two elephants, as a present to the Governor;
and endeavoured to engage him, to grant them assistance against
the King of Siam, who had commenced hostilities against them. The
Governor answered the King of Camboa with another present, giving
them great hopes, but evading immediate assistance, on the plea that
his projected expedition to the Moluccas, required all his resources,
however desirous he was of giving the aid they demanded.

That this expedition might not turn out as the former had done, Gomez
Perez Dasmariñas determined to accompany it in person. He sailed
from Cavite on the 19th of October 1593, and arriving off Santiago,
encountered a strong gale from the eastward, and the whole of the
fleet was separated, his own ship alone remaining: this compelled
him to anchor at Brimstone Cape, to effect which he was obliged
to have recourse to his boats, on account of the great variety
of currents. The Chinese, to the number of one hundred and fifty,
though able to pull at the oar, assisted but very little; and the
Governor abused them for the little exertion they made. These people
resented this ill-treatment; and considering themselves as superior
in force to the few Spaniards in the ship, conceived the design of
murdering them the same evening. Whilst the Spaniards took their
siesta (or afternoon nap), little dreaming of the designs of the
Chinese, the latter commenced their carnage by killing the Governor,
and all those who were not able to effect their escape in the launch,
or by swimming, sparing only Friar Montilla, a Franciscan, and Juan de
Cuellar, secretary to the Governor, whom they took with them. After
this massacre they sailed for China, and passing by Ylocos, they
entered the port of Sinay to water, where the Indians fell on them,
and killed twenty of their number. The following day they disembarked
in another port; and actuated by superstitious motives, sacrificed
one of the native converts, in revenge for the slaughter the Indians
had made the day before, and by which sacrifice, they expected to
propitiate their gods in favour of their voyage. They tied him to a
cross, and opening his chest, took out his heart, which they offered
to their idols. They then made sail, and coasted for several days:
they resolved to set on shore Friar Montilla, Secretary Cuellar,
and those Philippine Indians who had been their shipmates. They
then proceeded to Cochin China, where, in the end, they received the
punishment due to their crimes.

On the death of the Governor, the Licentiate Rosas succeeded to the
Command, and immediately despatched two ships in search of the Chinese,
under the command of Don Juan Ronquillo. They made enquiry in several
ports; but not being able to gain information respecting their route,
they returned without effecting their object. That they might not,
however, remain without punishment for such atrocious crimes, and
supposing that the Chinese might have taken shelter in the province of
Chancheo in China, of which they were natives, he sent Don Fernando de
Castro, to solicit of the Viceroy of that province, due satisfaction
against the aggressors. Unable, however, to reach that destination,
he was, by the interposition of divine Providence, compelled to bear
away for Cochin China, where, on his arrival, he found the murderers
had retired. He communicated his business to the King, and the whole
of them were imprisoned and executed. Some of those, likewise, whom
the Portuguese Governor of Molucca, had sent on the expedition with
the Chinese, were hanged in Manila. The whole, however, affording
small consolation for the melancholy catastrophe which had taken place.

Forty days after the death of the Governor, Friar Montilla and
Secretary Cuellar arrived at Manila, after having suffered many severe
hardships, and being brought out for death repeatedly, whilst they were
with the Chinese. The deceased Governor had given in charge to these
gentlemen a trunk, to be delivered to his son Luis Perez Dasmariñas;
and on opening it, papers of great importance were found: among
the rest, a royal order, by which he had the power to nominate his
successor, in virtue of which he named his own son Luis. At first Luis
found some difficulty in being acknowledged as such, the Licentiate
Roxas being firmly seated; and unwilling to deliver up his authority,
for which he had begun to entertain a great attachment; he, however,
on the 3d of December, in the same year, left Luis in quiet possession.

The new Governor was desirous of sending another expedition to Molucca,
but desisted from it at that time from prudential motives. It
was fortunate that he formed this resolution, as in this case,
Manila would have been left with only a few troops, and exposed to
another attack from the Chinese, on whom little reliance could be
placed. Indeed, there was reason to suspect they had something of
that nature in contemplation, as many junks about this time arrived
with Mandarins in them, and the cause of their appearance was never
ascertained. They landed very frequently, and visited the Governor,
but did not attempt any thing, nor could he comprehend their object;
most fortunately, however, at this moment, arrived the two ships which
sailed this year from Acapulco, bringing a sufficient force with them,
to resist enemies more powerful than the Chinese.

Our historians have, with great minuteness, stated the losses and
arrivals of the ships which are sent to New Spain, on account of their
being so interesting to these islands, which depend upon them for
their subsistence, and, of course, their loss or arrival occasions
a very general sensation. There is no reason to think, that these
misfortunes are to be attributed to the difficulty of the passage,
nor to stormy weather, so much as to the ignorance of the pilots,
who are chosen without examination as to their nautical skill, the
bad construction of the ships, their sailing out of season, and too
heavily laden. These are, unquestionably, the principal causes of
their failure; and it is a pity it is not remedied, for it is with
justice affirmed, that the avarice and knavery of some rich people,
have buried in the ocean many millions of dollars.

In the year following, the same two vessels again made this voyage,
and Señor Morga came in one, as successor to the late Governor,
but this nobleman was afterwards promoted to be Oidor of Mexico,
where he wrote the history of the Philippines. There came likewise
in these ships, a sufficient number of troops, sent by the Viceroy
of Mexico. Don Luis Dasmariñas was now, therefore, enabled to give
the King of Camboxa that relief which his father had promised. He
likewise despatched an expedition to the island of Mindanao; and
he quelled an insurrection in some of the provincial towns which
had revolted, and refused to pay the tribute, particularly those in
Cagayan and Zambales. He did many praiseworthy actions, and governed
with more approbation than his father, possessing greater abilities,
at the same time that he was more affable to all.

In the month of February 1596, the flag ship of the squadron of Alvaro
Mendana de Neyra arrived at Cavite. He had sailed from Callao, the
port of Lima, with four ships, to colonize the islands of Salmon;
and having begun his new settlement in the island of Negros, near
New Guinea, he died there, and his wife, Doña Isabela Barreto, at the
instigation of the people, left the colony, and came in his ship to
Manila. The Governor received her with great attention, and gave her
every assistance, to enable her to return to New Spain.

An important establishment was now founded here, called the Pious
Work of Mercy, which originated with a clergyman of the name of Losa,
and who, together with Captain Esquerra, an inhabitant of Manila,
employed themselves in collecting donations for this purpose; and
their exertions were so successful, that they were soon enabled to
build the college of Santa Isabel, where many female orphans are
maintained, and on whom marriage portions are bestowed. In emulation
of this pious work, many others were endowed in the convents, and
in the cathedral. The projectors traded with their funds to China,
Batavia, the coast of Coromandel, and Acapulco, the produce of which
was destined to be employed in like manner as above, in hospitals,
dowers to orphan females, in ransoming children in China [20], and
for masses for souls in purgatory, reserving part of it for the
annual increase of the funds of these pious establishments, and to
alleviate the distresses occasioned by the losses of the annual ships,
of which they thus became the assurers to a certain extent. Such
establishments may be useful to new settlers, since the parties
desirous of commercial pursuits, may, if they possess any credit,
be certain of meeting in these resources a capital with which they
may trade. I am not of opinion, however, that they are very useful
to these islands, generally speaking, because the rich merchants, who
have sufficient capital, employ it in objects attended with no risk,
and in their store-houses, and trade with that which they draw from
this charity, by which they escape the chance of loss. If there had
not, unfortunately we may say, been this resource, no doubt some mode
would have been resorted to, of insuring the Acapulco adventures, at
less than the pious foundations have been in the habit of contributing,
and which often exceeds fifty per cent., and never falls below twenty
per cent. Like all other adventures managed by a public body, there is
never such strict oeconomy as when under the control of individuals,
whose interests are involved in the result.







CHAPTER XII.

ANNO DOM. 1596.

    The Administration of Don Francisco Tello de Gusman, the fourth
    Governor of Manila.


The news of the death of Dasmariñas, reached Madrid through the
medium of India, and immediately the King sent as his successor Don
Francisco Tello de Gusman, Knight of the order of Santiago, born at
Seville, who had been treasurer of the Indies. He arrived at Manila
the 1st of June 1596, and the following month despatched the ship San
Philip to Acapulco; but she encountered in her voyage heavy gales,
was dismasted, and lost her rudder, and having no other resource, bore
away for Japan, where the relief she sought was denied, except on the
condition of her entering the port of Urando; in effecting which she
touched on a sand bank, and made so much water, that she was under the
necessity of being unloaded. The Governor, allured by the prospect of
such rich booty, immediately conceived the design of making himself
master of the vessel and cargo, and accordingly secured it in the
royal store-houses, sending information to the Emperor Taycosama,
that the Captain having given a false representation of the matter,
he had proceeded against him according to law, and had secured the
whole of the property. By this means he so warped the whole affair,
that the cargo was condemned, and a prosecution was commenced, in the
progress of which those Franciscan friars fell martyrs, who had come
to this kingdom in quality of ambassadors.

Taycosama named one of the four principal Governors of his kingdom,
called Uximonoxo, to take charge of the ship, in order that the
cargo might be delivered up; for our Captain, Don Mathias Landecho,
had petitioned the Emperor, sending two Spaniards and two friars, of
those he had in the ship, with a present worth twenty thousand dollars,
to soften him, and, if possible, to obtain justice. Upon their arrival
at Meaco, the court of the Emperor, they applied to the Franciscan
friars, who, by their experience in this city, they conceived, could
procure a favourable reception to their application. The Franciscans
judged it better to apply to Ximonoxo, another of the four Governors;
but this crafty Japanese, possessing more abilities than the friars,
deceived the whole of them, found means to make them deliver up
the present of the Emperor to him, offering to give them a letter
to Uximonoxo, which they agreed to, and acceded to his wish. The
Spaniards returned quite content with this letter; but it was the
letter of Uriah, the Hittite, for immediately they delivered it,
Uximonoxo imprisoned them. When they found out the deceit, they
sent the Friar Guivara to Meaco, to procure their liberty from the
other Governors, and, with the assistance of the Franciscan friars,
attempted to get an audience of the Emperor, to explain to him the
conduct of his Governors; but Uximonoxo was too crafty for them,
prejudicing the Emperor against the friars, through the medium of
the Bonzos, who are priests of their idols, to whom he suggested the
propriety of complaining against them, because they propagated a new
doctrine against the gods, which must be prejudicial to the state.

Taycosama, who began to be desirous of keeping possession of the
merchandize of the wrecked vessel, imprisoned the Franciscan friars,
on pretence of their having preached the gospel of Christ against
his command; and likewise pretended that they were employed as spies
by the Spaniards, and that, with these views, they had quitted their
own country. He now openly seized the property saved, and condemned
the friars to death. With them the following were comprehended in
this sentence; the Friars Pedro Bautista, Francisco Blanco, Gonsalo
Garçia, Francisco de San Miguel, Martin de la Asumpcion, together
with Phelipe de Jesus, who was going in that ship to New Spain to
be ordained, and had resided with his brethren since his arrival in
Japan. These six Franciscan friars, with three Japanese Jesuits, and
seventeen Japanese laymen, who professed Christianity, all shared the
same fate. They were paraded through the streets of Meaco, with their
left ears cut off, and then marched above two hundred leagues into
Nangasaqui, where they suffered martyrdom, by being placed on crosses,
and put to death with lances. This transaction took place on the 5th
of February 1597, in the presence of Señor Martinez, a Jesuit Bishop,
many other Jesuits and Franciscan friars, and the Spaniards lately
arrived in that ship, and who returned to Manila, after suffering
many hardships, and certified what they had witnessed on this occasion.

Immediately on the death of these martyrs being made known in Manila,
the Governor sent two Spaniards and an Augustine friar, to solicit
their bodies, and complain to the Emperor of the ill treatment which
the Spaniards had experienced in regard to their ship, contrary to
the treaty which had been made with the government of Manila. They
likewise had instructions, to procure the establishment of commercial
regulations for the future; and to pave the way for these views, they
took with them a present of an elephant, an animal seldom seen in
Japan. Taycosama was delighted with this present, and he esteemed it
the more, as it knelt three times in his presence, on a certain signal
being made to it. He received the ambassadors with great cordiality,
and pleaded the laws of the empire, in justification of the conduct
which had been observed, with regard to the ship and cargo; but made
a promise, for the second time, of protection to the commerce of the
Spaniards, assuring them that these vexations should never be repeated,
and despatched them with a present to the Governor, together with the
relicts of the martyred saints. The Spaniards had little confidence
in the duration of this good understanding, for Faranda incessantly
instigated the Emperor to commence hostilities on Manila, promising to
reduce the whole of the islands to his obedience. The four Governors
of the kingdom seconded the representations of Faranda, and measures
were adopted with the view of carrying them into effect by collecting
an armament; but the chief men of the country, who considered Faranda
as a despicable character, much retarded this scheme. It was at
first understood in Manila, that this armament was directed against
the island of Formosa, as the first step towards the conquest of the
Philippines. Our Governor took every precaution, and among others,
sent an embassy to Canton, as the Chinese were the ancient enemies
of the Japanese; and it was their interest to prevent the latter
from making this conquest: nothing of this, however, was eventually
necessary, as Taycosama died, and peace immediately followed.

While this was passing in Japan, the two expeditions which Luis
Dasmariñas had sent to Camboxa and Mindanao were proceeding in their
operations; that which went to Camboxa began successfully, but it was
afterwards completely ruined by Major Juan Gallinato, and returned to
Manila without effecting any thing. Don Luis Dasmariñas having pledged
himself for the success of this expedition, armed, at his own cost,
two ships and a galiot, and with the approbation of the Governor,
left Manila for Camboxa, and in a little time after arrived at China,
at the port of Pinae, twelve leagues distant from Canton, where he
encountered the Governor of Malacca, took him prisoner, and returned
to Manila. His galiot arrived at Cagayan, and proceeded on his voyage
to Camboxa, where he found the King re-established on his throne
by the Portuguese, Cabos Diego Belloso and Blas Ruiz. The other two
Spanish ships also arrived there, and an attempt was made to establish
themselves in that kingdom; but although the King seemed to desire it,
they were compelled to abandon the project, as it was opposed by his
step-mother, and the Malays had already freed themselves from the
control of the Portuguese by the murder of Belloso and Ruiz; indeed
a few only had escaped, with Captain Juan de Mendoza in his ship.

In Mindanao, Captain Figueroa, who had the charge of this expedition,
and who bore, by the King's order, the title of Marquis of what
he might conquer, arrived at Buhayen, where the Moors had some
fortifications, from whence he retired to the kingdom of Tamoncaca,
whose King was in amity with the Spaniards. The Señor Salazar having
come out about this time to see the Royal Audience re-established,
the ecclesiastical establishment was likewise arranged, the first
Archbishop being the Señor himself. He, however, scarcely enjoyed
his dignity three months, as, in August in the same year, he died of
a dysentery. There had come with him Friar Pedro de Agurto, of the
order of St. Augustine, first Bishop of Zebu, and Señor Benevides,
of the order of the Dominicans, first Bishop of New Segovia. In the
same year the Oidores arrived, who were to form the Royal Audience,
the President of it being the Governor. The chief Oidor was Morga,
nominated as successor ad interim to the Governor. The others were Don
Christoval Telles Almanza, Alvaro Zambrano, and Geronimo de Salazar. In
eight days after their arrival, the Royal seal being carried with
much pomp to the cathedral, and from thence to the palace, the Royal
Audience was, by this ceremony, considered as fully established.

In the garrison of Caldera, Juan Pacho had remained as Governor, and
being of an active disposition, he attempted to reduce the natives of
Jolo, on which island he landed immediately after a storm of rain, and
attacking them, was killed, with the greater part of his people. The
residue retreated to Caldera; but in consequence of this defeat,
the natives of Jolo and of Mindanao, with fifty Caracoas, invaded the
islands of Zebu, Negros, and Panay, pillaging and burning the towns,
and making many prisoners. In the following year, 1590, they repeated
the attack, and the natives retiring to the mountains, refused to quit
them again, as the Spaniards were unable to protect them. Those in
particular of the island of Panay were most pertinacious, and would
not come near the town, as one of their priestesses had asserted,
that the Spaniards were in league with the Moors, and had been the
cause of these hostilities for years back. It cost the friars a great
deal of trouble, to eradicate the effects of the impression, made by
this means on the minds of the Indians, but at length they succeeded,
and the towns were re-occupied.

To chastise these insults of the Moors, the Governor sent Juan
Gallinato, with two hundred Spaniards, to Jolo; but after making an
attempt to possess himself of a fort, which the King of Jolo had on a
lofty hill, he returned to Manila, without having effected any thing
of consequence.

From that time to the present, the Moors have not ceased to infest our
colonies. It is incredible what a number of Indians they have made
prisoners, what towns they have plundered, what villages they have
annihilated, and what ships they have taken. I am inclined to think,
that Providence permits this as a punishment on the Spaniards, for
delaying the conquest for no less a period than two hundred years [21],
notwithstanding the expeditions and fleets, that have almost annually
been sent to attempt it. On the first arrival of the Spaniards in
those seas, they conquered, in a short time, all the Philippines,
excepting the small island of Jolo, part of Mindanao, and a few other
very insignificant islands near them, which, to this period, have
not submitted. These Moorish Indians are certainly very valiant, and
their enmity has been drawn upon us by our own conduct; for instead of
following the laudable example of the first settlers in these islands,
who brought the natives under subjection, principally by the mild
interference of the friars, it seems, of late years, to have been the
object of the Spaniards, since the great increase of the lucrative
commerce of Manila, to acquire, by oppression and force, lands and
establishments on these islands, without any view to conciliate the
natives. Those, therefore, who have been sent on different occasions to
reduce the country, have, instead of attending to the object of their
mission, been solicitous only to serve their own purposes, considering
that as a primary, which ought to have been a secondary object; and
the natives profiting by constant experience in warfare, during which
they discovered that the Spaniards were mortal like themselves, have
at last become very formidable. There can be no doubt these Indians
may be reduced by the same means employed with the others, that is,
by sending missionaries amongst them, and a sufficient number of
Spanish stations might be established, to command respect. These
garrisons ought to be independent of the Governor of Manila, and
ought to have a chief, who should reside there, directing his whole
attention to the improvement of the settlement, by the extension in
the country of the Spanish influence, by temperate measures.

As the matter is now ordered, these appointments are made with no
other view than to enrich, by any means, the individuals sent there as
Governors. Such, too, is the situation of the Governors of Zamboanga
and Marianas; who appropriate to their own use all the revenue sent
by his Majesty's Governors for public purposes, and then return to
Manila, leaving the colonies as poor and miserable as the first day
they were established.

In October 1600, two Dutch pirates took their station at the entrance
of Marivelez, waiting for the ship Saint Thomas, which was expected
to return from New Spain about this time. The Governor sent against
them the Oydor Morga with two galleons, an English patache which had
come from Malacca, a galiot, and other small vessels. On the 12th of
December an engagement took place, when Morga took one ship, and the
other fled, very much disabled; but he was incapable of pursuing his
advantage, for his ship had suffered so much that she foundered, and
fifty of the crew were drowned, the rest being saved on the island
of Fortune. The ship which he had taken from the Dutch had on board
twenty-five men, whom the Governor ordered to be hanged, as a warning
to other pirates. During this year, two ships sailed for Acapulco; one
was lost on the island of Catanduanes, but all the people were saved;
the other took shelter in one of the Marianas, where she was seized by
the Indians, who murdered most of the Spaniards, reserving only a few,
whom the ship Saint Thomas rescued on her return to New Spain; but the
various disasters which had befallen Manila during this government,
were far surpassed by a terrible earthquake, in which many houses,
and the church of the Jesuits, were destroyed.







CHAPTER XIII.

ANNO DOM. 1602.

    The Administration of Don Pedro de Acuña.


In May 1602, four ships from New Spain arrived at Cavite, in one
of which came the new Governor, Don Pedro Brabo de Acuña, Knight of
the order of San Juan, and who had been Governor of Carthagena. In
passing by the Marianas, he had the good fortune to rescue twenty-five
Spaniards, who had been shipwrecked in the St. Margarita. Immediately
on taking possession of his government, he gave audience to the
ambassadors of Dayfusama, Emperor of Japan, who had succeeded to the
kingdom, on the death of Taycosama, and requested that the commerce
with his kingdom might be continued; and that shipwrights might be
sent from Manila to build vessels for him. Without touching on this
last subject, the Governor dismissed the Japanese with a magnificent
present, which was all lost, as they were shipwrecked on the island of
Formosa. With these ambassadors, friars from all the orders in Manila
entreated the Governor to be allowed to proceed to Japan, in order to
make converts, even at the risk of martyrdom. These good dispositions
and intentions the Governor encouraged, and by his assistance, they
were able to establish themselves in that kingdom, where in a short
time they founded several convents. In 1603, the Augustine friars
already possessed one, and the Captain of the ship Espiritu Santo,
who put in there in distress, applied to the friars, requesting them
to interest themselves with the Emperor, as the Japanese, conformable
to their regulations, would not permit the ship to remain. Dayfusama
received the application with courtesy, and punished those who had
been the cause of it, sending the Spaniards who had accompanied
the friars back to Manila, with great honours, giving at the same
time strict orders, that all Spanish vessels arriving in future,
in his ports, should be treated as friends; the ship, however,
in the meantime had made her escape, fearing the same ill success,
as had attended a similar application to Taycosama.

A short time after the arrival of Acuña, he made a voyage through
the Bisayas (or Islas de Pintados), to inspect the garrisons, and to
make preparations for an expedition, which he intended against the
Moluccas; and whilst he was employed in building the fort of Yloylo,
the Moors took the opportunity offered by his absence, of seizing
all the ships they met with, burning the towns, and endeavouring to
take possession of Balayan; but the Alcalde Mayor of the province
opposed them; and upon receiving assistance from Manila, pursued
them to a desert island, off which he fell in with the Governor on
his return to the capital. Orders were issued to attack them; but
the Moors making all the sail they could, he was able only to take
two, and sink five others, out of seventy vessels, of which their
force consisted. On his arrival at Manila, the Governor received the
melancholy intelligence of the death of Señor Tello, his deputy, who
had discharged his trust with great zeal and probity. He was buried
in the church of St. Augustine, to which he had left considerable
donations. Soon after this a great fire happened in Manila, which
burnt two hundred and fifty houses, the convent of St. Domingo,
and the hospital for the reception of the Spaniards.

In May 1603, three Chinese Mandarins arrived, on the extraordinary
mission of discovering, whether the port of Cavite was composed of
gold, as a Chinese, called Tiongon, had reported to his Emperor,
by whom he was imprisoned, until the truth of his assertion should
be ascertained, this man having promised to conquer it or lose his
life. It was believed that this was a mere stratagem, to reconnoitre
the country, as it was understood, that the Emperor intended to land
an hundred thousand men, in the following December, with the view of
becoming master, of the whole of the Spanish possessions. The Governor
treated these Mandarins, with the most flattering distinction, shewed
them the island of Cavite, and undeceived them in regard to the opinion
propagated by their countryman, assuring them that the island was
termed the Golden Island, on account of its lucrative commerce only.

The expected armament of the Emperor did not make its appearance;
but an insurrection of the Chinese inhabitants of Manila followed,
which had been in a state of preparation during the embassy, and now
broke out. There was a Chinese in Manila of the name of Engcan, who
had remained there since the time of Limahon, who had been baptized,
was very rich, and was in intimacy with many Spaniards. He offered to
his countrymen, to build a wall round their quarter of the town: the
work was commenced; but the fidelity of the Chinese beginning to be
suspected, the Governor endeavoured to ascertain their intentions,
through the medium of their enemies, the Japanese, from which
circumstance the Chinese entertained a belief, that the Governor
proposed to massacre them, with the assistance of these people;
and they resolved, among themselves, to enter Manila on the eve of
St. Francis, and murder every Spaniard in the place. Twenty-five
thousand Chinese were concerned in this plot, which was discovered
by an Indian having given notice of it to the curate of Quiapo,
through whose means the information was instantly communicated
to the Governor. There were two classes of Chinese at that time in
Manila. Those who came annually for the purposes of commerce, and those
who had long been residents, in a quarter of the town called Parian,
outside of the walls of the city, and whom the Dominican friars had
endeavoured to convert.

The first step the Governor took, was to attempt to reconcile the
annual Chinese merchants, who were very numerous; but he failed in
the attempt, as they had collected in a large body in open rebellion,
in a town within half a league of Manila, the others remaining in
Parian. The Governor made a confidant of Engcan, and sent him, in
company with some Spaniards, to endeavour to bring them back to a
sense of their duty, but without effect, as the works they had raised
in their defence would, in their opinion, protect them. In the night,
some of them sallied out, burned the towns of Quiapo and Tondo, and
killed many Indians. They were opposed by one hundred and thirty
Spaniards, almost all of whom perished: among them were Don Luis
Dasmariñas, Don Thomas Brabo, and Don Juan de Alcega, whose heads
the Chinese sent to Parian, as an incitement for their countrymen
to follow their example. Upon examination, it being discovered that
Engcan was the principal abettor of these men, he was imprisoned,
which had such an effect upon many of his countrymen, that they hanged
themselves in despair.

The Spaniards, finding that they could do nothing by means of mild
measures, commenced their operations, and fought with such determined
resolution, that the slaughter was immense. So general was the spirit
of loyalty, that even the friars took up arms, and, in particular,
Antonio Flores, who had been a soldier in Flanders and Italy, and had,
in the battle of Lepanto, been ensign under Bernardino de Meneses, but
afterwards took the habit of St. Augustine. The position he took was on
the river, close to which the rebels were obliged to pass to join the
Chinese of Parian; from this he sallied out, and made great slaughter
among them. They made good their retreat, however, to Parian and Dilao,
where they threw up works, but Captain Gallinato burned Parian, and
laid waste Dilao; and Captain Luis de Velasco pursued them to Tabuco,
which we now call Cabuyao. The Chinese not being able to maintain
themselves here, passed on to the town of St. Pablo in the mountains,
where Velasco, who had pursued them, fell, together with two Franciscan
friars. Here the insurgents fortified themselves so strongly, that it
was deemed necessary to send a greater force from Manila against them.

Major Christoval de Acuña was charged with the expedition. He cut
off their supply of provisions, and reduced them to such distress,
that their only alternative was, to abandon their position or starve.

They availed themselves of the cover of night, and made the best
of their way to Batangas, where the Spaniards pursued them, and
completed their destruction, having killed in different engagements,
twenty-three thousand men, one hundred alone, who were rowers in the
galleons, remaining of their whole number; and as a warning to their
countrymen, to abstain from insurrection in future, Engcan was ordered
to be hanged, and his head to be placed on the gaol. The Governor sent
two Augustine friars to Spain, to inform his Majesty of the rebellion,
and to enable them to arrive in a shorter time, he sent them by India;
but they encountered so many difficulties in their passage through Goa,
Persia, Turkey, and Italy, that it was three years before they arrived
at the court of Madrid. This has always been a dangerous journey,
and was particularly so to Friar Nicholas Milo, an Augustine, who,
a few years before, had been sent the same route with a lay brother,
born in Japan, and who, after having been exposed to great misery
in many countries, fell a martyr in Muscovy with his companion. The
Emperor of China sent ambassadors to Manila respecting the rebellion,
requesting to know the meaning of the slaughter, which had been made
among his subjects. The Governor justified himself amply, and the
commerce remained on the same footing as before.

In March 1604, eight hundred troops arrived from New Spain, with which
relief Don Pedro de Acuña was enabled to fit out a fleet of thirty
sail, in the port of Yloylo, for the conquest of the Moluccas. He
sailed at the head of this armament on the 15th of January, 1606; and
upon his arrival at Ternate, he sat down before the place, to which
the King of the island had retired, and took it on the 1st of April,
with the loss of fifteen Spaniards. The King of Ternate, who had fled
with some of his subjects, intimated a desire to enter into amicable
terms with the Spaniards, proposing to deliver up all his fortresses,
the towns in Batoquina, which were anciently peopled by Christians
(either Dutch captives, or Spanish deserters), all his Christian
prisoners, the islands of Marotay and Herrao, with all his artillery
and ammunition; and which terms were acceded to. He was not, however,
left in possession of his kingdom, but accompanied the Governor to
Manila, with some of his chiefs, who were not allowed to remain,
from an apprehension of their fomenting disturbances.

The Colonel, Don Martin Esquival, was appointed Governor of Ternate,
with six hundred men; and in Tidore, the King of the island requested,
that Captain Alarcon might remain with one hundred troops, which was
acceded to. During these transactions, and while this armament was
at Ternate, and few troops remained at Manila, the Japanese who lived
behind the city, availed themselves of these circumstances, and took
up arms against the Spaniards. This rebellion was soon put a stop to,
through the mediation of the friars, who persuaded the insurgents to
lay down their arms, and submit quietly. By this species of management,
time was gained for the arrival of the Governor, to whom information
had been sent. He arrived at Manila, banished the ringleaders to
their own island, and obliged the rest to live in the town of Dilao,
where they would be always under our guns; and by this means, kept in
obedience. The Governor reaped little benefit from these successes,
as he was immediately afterwards, seized with a complaint in the
intestines, which carried him off on St. John the Baptist's day. On
the death of the Governor, Don Christoval Telles de Almanza, as chief
Oidor, became Military Governor ad interim. The rebellion, which lay
smothered in the breasts of the Japanese, on this occasion, broke
out afresh. They engaged the Spaniards, and many fell on both sides,
as the Japanese were very brave, and were called the Spaniards of
Asia. In the end, however, they were conquered, and were not permitted
to live together in any considerable number till the year 1621, when
Pelayo Hernandez built shops on their old quarter, which were hired
out for the benefit of the Franciscan friars.

Some of the Spaniards of the Moluccas took prisoner Pablo Blancardo,
the Dutch commander at Malacca, and brought him in his galley to
Ternate. The Governor there, in consideration of fifty thousand
dollars, set him and all his people at liberty, which, when it was
known in Manila, was stigmatized as an act of great baseness; and this
public censure affected the Governor's mind to that degree, that he
died of grief soon afterwards. The second in command succeeded; and to
give satisfaction to the Royal Audience, despatched two ships in search
of General Blancardo, who, it was supposed, had gone towards Maquien,
in a patache; they took him prisoner a second time, and sent him with
all his people, to Manila, where he was some time afterwards repaid
from the Royal coffers, the amount of his ransom. Pablo Blancardo
died of grief in prison at Manila, where he had been confined until
the arrival of twenty-two Spaniards, who had been taken at Amboyna
by the Dutch, and for whom it was intended he should be exchanged.

The Royal Audience conducted themselves with great approbation in the
civil administration, until the year 1608, when Don Rodrigo Vivero of
Laredo, who was named by the Viceroy as Governor ad interim, arrived
at Manila, and having had great experience in the management of the
Indians in New Spain, he availed himself of it on this occasion, giving
instructions to that effect to the chief judges, and other ministers
of justice. He governed with much satisfaction for one year, when he
delivered up the insignia of his office, and returned to Mexico.







CHAPTER XIV.

ANNO DOM. 1609.

    Of the Administration of Don Juan de Silva.


When the account of the death of Acuña reached Madrid from New
Spain, the government was bestowed on Don Juan de Silva of Truxillo,
Knight of the order of Santiago, who, at that time, was serving in
Flanders. He arrived at Cavite in Easter, and took possession of
his government, bringing with him six companies of soldiers, which
addition to our force was of great importance at this period, as,
in the month of October, the Dutch squadron which has been mentioned,
appeared off the port of Yloylo. It was composed of six ships and a
considerable military force, which it was intended to disembark in
this province, but they were repulsed by the Alcalde Mayor. It then
appeared off Marivelez, with the view of preventing ships from going
to Manila, and of seizing all merchantmen. Don Juan de Silva fitted
out an armament, with which, in the month of April, he attacked and
defeated them on the day of St. Mark. He took two ships, the Captains
of which had been killed, with many of the crews; a third fled, and
the other two which had been separated the day before from the fleet,
and were returning with great booty, retired with such despatch, that
the Spanish squadron was unable to come up with them. He, however,
seized those ships which they had taken. Among others was a Japanese
vessel, in which were embarked those Spaniards, who had been wrecked
on the coast of that island in the ship St. Francis.

The Archbishop of Manila, Benavides, having died on the 26th of
July, 1605, his Majesty named as his successor, Don Diego Vasques
Mercado of Arevalo, in Old Castile. This year, 1610, he arrived at
the Philippines, and discharged his functions with great approbation,
until the year 1616, when he died, and the Bishop of Zebu succeeded
him in the Archbishopric.

The Dutch being settled in the island of Java, and possessing
fortifications in Malacca and other parts of India, our Governor
had little relish for such a neighbourhood, and as they had at
times infested our seas, and attacked our islands, he determined,
in person, to destroy the forts they had in Malacca, which being so
close in his vicinity, he was the more jealous of. He fitted out a
squadron of six ships and two galleys, and sailed for Ternate, where
he intended to take on board some linguists, and to arrange all his
other operations. He understood, in Ternate, that the Dutch hearing of
this expedition, had fortified themselves in such a manner in Malacca,
that it was impossible to make an impression upon them, and that he
might not entirely lose the benefit of the armament he had prepared,
he attempted to reduce the forts in Gilolo and Bataquina, but was
obliged to retreat to Manila, with the loss of three hundred men,
when he immediately began to make preparations of men and ships for
another expedition of the same nature. These islands, at this time,
received considerable aid in the arrival from Spain, by the way of
India, of five caravelas out of seven, which in April, 1613, had
sailed from Cadiz, commanded by Ruy Gonzalez de Segueira, having on
board three hundred and fifty soldiers, two hundred and forty seamen,
and a hundred Portuguese landsmen.

Upon the arrival of this relief, the Governor determined to
proceed to Malacca against the Dutch, whose position he ordered to
be reconnoitred, but he found them so powerful in ships, which had
arrived by the Straits both of Magellan and Sunda, that he deemed it
necessary to use his utmost exertions, to enable him to cope with
such powerful enemies. With this view he sent a despatch to the
Viceroy of India, requesting he would unite the forces of the two
kingdoms; but while he was preparing his armament at Cavite, ten Dutch
vessels arrived at Panay. They landed a number of men, and marched
for the city of Arivalo, burning the churches and the convents of
the Augustine friars, in the towns of Ogtong and Xaro. The Indians,
aware of the inadequate force the Spaniards possessed, fled to the
mountains, and although the Dutch retired immediately, it cost the
friars a great deal of labour, to bring them back to their towns,
where they could not persuade themselves they were secure.

By the end of the year 1616, Don Juan de Silva had collected the
greatest armament, that had been seen in the Philippines; it consisted
of ten galleons, four galleys, a patache, and many smaller vessels,
with all necessary supplies, and five thousand men, two thousand being
Spaniards and Portuguese. He sailed with this formidable armament,
on the last day of this year, to attack the forts of Malacca; but
as the galleons had not arrived which were expected from India,
and which he imagined had wintered in the Straits of Malacca, and
it was known that the Dutch kept some vessels in these Straits,
in expectation of the ships from China which passed by here, the
Governor thought it most adviseable, to attack these ships in the
first instance, and after he had destroyed them, he should be able
to join the galleons from India, and proceed to the Dutch forts in
Malacca. The reasoning was good, but it failed in the execution,
the galleons of India having been burnt, in an engagement they had
with the Dutch, and the latter having quitted the Straits eight days
before the Spaniards arrived, flying with all their effects, as they
had received secret intelligence of their route. At the same time that
the Spanish galleons entered the Straits, two Malay merchantmen from
China arrived very richly laden; by saving which, the inhabitants
of Malacca called Don de Silva their preserver, received him on
shore under a canopy, and expected from his valour, and the powerful
fleet he brought, that India would be freed from those freebooters,
the Dutch; but he was seized with a fever, and died in eleven days,
on the 19th of April, 1616. He had ordered his body to be embalmed,
and directed it should be carried to Xerez de los Cavalleros, to
a convent of bare-footed carmelites, and buried there. Before he
died, he gave the command of the armament to Don Alonzo Henriquez,
who brought it back to Manila, without effecting any thing else.

By the death of the Governor, the command devolved on Don Andres
Alcaraz, the oldest Oidor, who had been left in charge of the
government by Don Juan de Silva, when he sailed with the armament
for Malacca. About the same time our squadron sailed from the bay,
another Dutch squadron, which had lately arrived by the Straits of
Magellan, entered the mouth of the harbour, and lay a month close to
Marivelez. There were only four ships and two pataches laying before
Manila, and it was without artillery, ammunition, or soldiers. The
Governor ad interim was not dismayed at this; he armed those few ships
he possessed, fortified certain positions, and was encouraged in the
undertaking by the people, who took up arms, not only the laity, but
even the ecclesiastics also. The Dutch commander wrote two letters
to the Royal Audience, and one to General Pablo Blancardo, whom the
Spaniards had carried prisoner to Manila; but as soon as he learned
that Blancardo had died in prison, he made sail to the Moluccas.

Upon the death of Silva, the Dutch came with ten ships against Oton,
where they were gallantly repulsed by the commandant of the Pintados,
Don Diego de Quiñones, who, in a wooden fort, sustained a siege of
ten days, during which time the Dutch made four assaults, in which
many were killed, but at last they were compelled to re-embark, and
they retired to Malacca. The following year the same armament of ten
ships came against Playa Honda. The Governor despatched against them,
the Colonel Don Juan Ronquillo, with six galleons and two galleys; they
came to an action on the 14th of April, 1617, and the two commodores
being engaged, Don Juan Ronquillo sunk his adversary's ship, called
the Sun of Holland; two other ships were burnt, and the rest fled
with precipitation. The Spaniards, however, were not able to pursue
them, as they had suffered much in the engagement, and had lost the
galleon St. Mark. After this action, Don Geronimo de Silva returned
from Molucca, and the Oidor Alcarez resigned to him his office, the
duties of which he had discharged with great applause. In October,
Don Geronimo ordered the seven galleons that had been so severely
handled in the last engagement, to be laid up in Marinduque. The two
ships for Acapulco were despatched in the worst season of the year,
during the hurricane months, and they were both lost, one on the
coast of Lobo, and the other on that of Galban. This reflected no
great credit on the wisdom and prudence of the Governor.







CHAPTER XV.

ANNO DOM. 1618.

    The Administration of Don Alonzo Faxardo.


On the 2d of July, 1618, arrived Don Alonzo Faxardo, of the order of
Alcantara, of Murcia, and on the day following he took possession
of the government of these islands. His Majesty had appointed him
chief of an armament which he had intended to send by the Straits of
Magellan, to the relief of Don Juan de Silva, to drive the Dutch from
these seas; but it was delayed by his sending the forces destined for
the Philippines, to the relief of the Emperor of Germany, Ferdinand
the Second. The voyage on this account did not take place, until the
death of Silva was known, when his Majesty named Faxardo as Governor,
charging him to be careful of the interests of the Indians, who had
suffered much in the late struggles, and promising ample rewards
to those Spaniards, who should make this an object of their special
attention.

A short time after his arrival, the Dutch appeared in those seas,
not with the intention of attempting Manila, as they were aware of
the difficulty of the undertaking, but to intercept the galleons from
Acapulco, richly laden with bullion. For this purpose they cruized
with three ships off Cape Espiritu Santo, taking their station in the
strait of St. Bernardino, as the galleons coming from Acapulco were
in the constant habit of taking that route. On the 25th of February
the Dutch got sight of them; they bore up, and ordered them to strike
their colours, when a severe engagement took place. The Spaniards,
under the veil of night, and in the confusion which prevailed,
separated and escaped, one arriving at Palapag, and the other at
Borongo, on the coast of Ybabao, where the cargoes were all saved,
though the ships were lost. That the same misfortune might not occur
again, the Governor ever after gave the commanders secret instructions,
changing their route each voyage. On the 24th of August, this year,
Friar Miguel Garcia Serrano, of the order of St. Augustine, late
Bishop of New Segovia, took possession of the Archbishopric of Manila.

In the year 1623, upon the canonization of St. Ignacio and
St. Francisco Xavier, the friars of that order celebrated a grand
festival, and those of Zebu, desirous of imitating them, likewise
celebrated one, at which all the Jesuits of the island of Bohol were
present, leaving very few Spaniards in that island. The defenceless
state of it induced two or three Indians to persuade the rest to rebel,
assuring them that the Devil had appeared, ordering them not to pay
tribute to the Spaniards, but to retire to the mountains, and erect a
chapel, where they should worship him, and he would give them every
thing they required, and defend them from the Spaniards. This was
quite sufficient to set all the island in a flame, two towns alone
remaining faithful to the Spaniards. The Alcalde Mayor of Zebu,
immediately upon notice of this insurrection, sent fifty Spaniards,
and one thousand friendly Indians to Bohol, who attacked the rebels
with great vigour, made considerable slaughter, and completely routed
them. This ought to have undeceived them, but they were obstinate,
and fortified themselves on a rock, which, however, afforded them
little defence, as our people being protected by their shields from
the arrows and stones they hurled down, gained the height, and made
great havock among them, making prisoners all that were not able
to save themselves by flight. The Alcalde Mayor hanged some of the
ringleaders, and pardoned the remainder; but insensible to this favour,
they spurned at the proffered pardon, and fled to the mountains,
to which, six months after, the Alcalde returned, and thoroughly
quelled the insurrection.

The bad example of the people of Bohol was followed by those of the
island of Leyte, and was fomented by an Indian who was not suspected
of disaffection. This was Bancao, a petty chief of Dimasava, who had
received Legaspi with great attention, and had accompanied him to Zebu,
where he was baptized, for which conduct Philip the Second had sent
him a royal order, granting him many privileges. He had been very
faithful to the Spaniards in his youth, but turned traitor in his
old age. In imitation of those of Bohol, he raised an insurrection
among the Indians in the island of Leyte, so that it became necessary
to send a force against them. Although they saw the Spaniards were
superior in numbers to them, they were not dismayed, and received
them firmly; but in a short time they fled with precipitation. In
this flight Bancao was killed, having been transfixed by a lance:
his head was placed on a pole, to serve as a warning to others,
which had so good an effect, that order was immediately restored.

This year an expedition was sent to the mountains of Igorrotes,
where there were mines of gold, and where the Indians were of fairer
complexion, with the small eyes of the Chinese. It was imagined that
when Limahon was in Pangasinan, many of his people, pressed by hunger,
fled to the mountains, and mixed with the inhabitants, from which
intercourse resulted this cast, so different from the rest.

This expedition, under charge of Francisco Carriño de Valdes, head
of the provinces of Pangasinan and Ylocos, marched in good order
seven days, and on the eighth arrived in the town of the mines,
where the natives received them well; but the Spaniards placed too
much confidence in them. The Igorrotes, when least expected, rose on
them, and treacherously murdered the chief of the friendly Indians, on
which de Valades retired, to wait a better opportunity. The following
year the expedition was expected to be repeated, but it was not, as
it became necessary for the troops to march to Cagayan, to quell an
insurrection among the Indians of that province. Many expeditions have
since taken place to these mountains, but with such ill success, that
the Indians of this district remain independent to this hour. They,
however, trade with the Spaniards in gold, wax, and tobacco, in return
for cattle; and the Augustine friars have succeeded, in converting
to Christianity, a few who live in the towns near the mountains.

The Governor persevered in pacific measures as much as possible,
although those measures were deemed disgraceful. He had much
domestic uneasiness on account of his wife, Dona Catalina Zembrano,
who had an illicit connection, and was accustomed to steal out from
the palace to a particular house, where she was at last discovered
with her lover by Faxardo, who going his rounds through the city, as
was his custom, from information, no doubt, which he had received,
entered into the house in which this lady was with her paramour,
and found her in a situation, which rendered her guilt sufficiently
manifest. Don Alonzo, a man of high honour, severely felt this injury,
and was determined to take proper vengeance. He ordered a confessor
to be called to her; and the ceremony at an end, unmoved by the
tears and persuasion of the priest to the contrary, he stabbed her
with his own hand. The unworthy paramour saved his life by flight,
and thus escaped the vengeance of the Governor. Don Alonzo soon after
fell into a profound melancholy, of which he died in two years, and
was buried in the church of the Franciscans, August, 1624. By his
death Don Geronimo de Silva succeeded to the military government,
and the civil government became vested in the Royal Audience. In a
short time after, a fleet of seven Dutch men of war appeared off Playa
Honda, and many of their soldiers landed on the island of Corrigidor,
and took prisoners or killed such Indians as fell in their way. The
Governor proceeded against them with five galleons and two large
galleys, and fell in with them on the coast of Playa Honda, when the
Dutch attempted to escape; but our commander's ship, by superiority
of sailing, prevented it, when a warm engagement took place, and a
Spaniard was killed close to the Governor. It is necessary to mention
this accident, as he thought himself in great danger, and was so
alarmed by it, that he ordered the ships to retire to Cavite, where
he was received with the contempt he merited; the people imputing
the loss of the victory to his cowardice. Complaints were made to
the Royal Audience, who confined him in the fort of Santiago, where
he remained until he was released by the Governor who succeeded him,
ad interim, Don Fernando de Silva, knight of the order of Santiago.

Don Fernando had been in Manila before this time, having there made a
most honourable matrimonial connection; and having accumulated a good
fortune, he went with his wife to Mexico, and from thence to Madrid,
having been sent thither by his near relation, the Viceroy of New
Spain, Marquis de Cerralbo. Having returned to Mexico and this vacancy
in the government of Manila occurring, it was given to him ad interim,
and he arrived there in June 1625.

He was received in Manila with great satisfaction, as they knew he
was prudent, and well acquainted with these islands: this he had
sufficiently shewn in the measures he had adopted for the protection
of our commerce, by means of the ships he had built at Cavite for
that purpose. He ordered the Alcalde Mayor of Cagayan to land on the
island of Formosa, and fortify it in that part of Fanchuy which was
the nearest to Cagayan, in order, with greater facility to oppose the
Dutch, who, the year before, had raised forts on the opposite side,
called Tayguan, with the intention of obstructing the commerce of
China with Manila. The Alcalde Mayor executed his commission, and
constructed works sufficiently extensive to accommodate the troops,
and the Dominican friars, who had gone there to convert the natives;
and who exerted themselves with such zeal, that in a short time they
built several towns, and were able to number the greater part of the
natives, among the professors of our faith.







CHAPTER XVI.

ANNO DOM. 1626.

    Of the Administration of Don Juan Niño de Tabora.


Don Juan Niño de Tabora, knight of the order of Calatrava, was named
as Governor of the Philippines. He embarked for his government with
six hundred troops, and several officers, who had served with him
in Flanders, among whom were Don Lorenzo Olaso y Ochotegui, who came
with the appointment of Colonel. Tabora arrived safely at Manila, and
entered upon his government on the 29th of June, 1626. He possessed
a fund of military knowledge, which was of great importance, at this
period, to the Philippines, and he immediately provided a sufficient
force to protect their commerce, and secure the respect of their
neighbours. In ten months after his arrival, he had collected eight
large ships of war, four smaller for the commerce of Acapulco, and two
still smaller for the protection of the intercourse with Molucca. With
this armament, and with two ships, which were expected from New Spain
with men and money, he determined to attack the Dutch on the island
of Formosa; but the arrival of the two ships being retarded very
considerably, he was not ready to proceed with the expedition, until
the middle of August. The Royal Audience, considering the approach
of the monsoon, and apprehensive of the loss of the squadron, and
that the object of the expedition might be thus defeated, represented
their fears to the Governor, and passed an order that it should not
sail. Having no faith, however, in what he considered as idle chimeras,
Tabora left Cavite, and arrived at Cape Boxeador; where, finding the
north winds had set in, and that it was impossible to make head against
them, after repeated unsuccessful attempts, he bore away for Cavite;
and the only advantage resulting, from his pertinacious opposition
to the opinion of the Royal Audience, was the relief he sent in some
small vessels, to the Spaniards in the island of Formosa.

A vessel soon after arrived from China, and gave the intelligence that
the Dutch were lying in wait at Macao, for the merchantmen expected
from Manila in China. The Portuguese requested, that part of the
armament might be allowed to convoy them, offering to contribute to
the expenses. The Governor, accordingly, sent with them two large
galleons, with a patache, ordering the commodore, after he had seen
the Portuguese safe, to run up the coast from Macao to Sincapura
in search of the Dutch, wintering at Siam, for which indulgence he
was ordered to make the necessary presents to the King. Don Juan
de Alcaraz, who was the commodore, punctually obeyed his orders: he
arrived at Macao, and not meeting with the Dutch, who had quitted it
precipitately, on notice of his appearance in this quarter, he passed
on to Siam, where, finding the Dutch protected by the Siamese, he
burned some of their junks, and made prisoners the ambassadors whom
the Siamese were accustomed, at certain periods, to send to China,
with their acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the Emperor. Upon this
occasion our arms acquired such credit, that, during the whole of this
government, the Dutch made no further attempt against these islands.

In the year 1628 two ships arrived with the usual supplies from
Acapulco, and in them came Friar Hernando Guerrero, of the order of
St. Augustine, Bishop of Cagayan, and the Governor's intended bride,
Doña Magdalena Zaldivar y Mendoza, with whom he had entered into a
treaty of marriage while at Mexico, and had obtained leave from the
King for that purpose. The wedding feasts, however, were no impediment
to the operations of the government. The Moors of Jolo continually
infested these islands; those, in particular, which were the more
remote from the capital, were kept in perpetual alarm, and nothing was
talked of but the depredations committed, and the prisoners taken. To
chastise these insults, a squadron was sent against Jolo, under the
command of Don Christoval de Lugo. He arrived safe, and landed all
his people without any resistance, the Indians having, in a cowardly
manner, abandoned their town, and retired, with their King, to a fort
situated on the top of a hill. The Spaniards plundered these houses, in
which the friendly Indians diligently assisted, enriching themselves by
the spoils, which consisted of rice, gunpowder, brimstone, small-arms,
&c. They did not pursue them to the fort on the top of the hill, in
which they had taken refuge; but, after having completely destroyed the
town, they embarked for Manila. In passing by the island of Basilan,
they landed, burned the principal town, and destroyed all the trees,
as a punishment for the aid which these Indians had afforded to those
of Jolo, in the last incursions they made.

The following year, a sacrilege was committed in the cathedral, which
affected the mind of the Archbishop to that degree, that he died of
melancholy. He was one of the most devout prelates who had occupied
the archbishopric. He was interred in the church of St. Augustine.

After his death, there was a dispute between the ecclesiastical
Cabildo and the Bishop of Zebu, as to who should succeed ad interim
to the archbishopric, when the Royal Audience determined in favour of
the Bishop, conformable to the bull of Pius V. The Moors in Jolo and
Caumocones again commenced their ravages in the islands: nothing was
secure in the towns on the coasts; neither friars, Indians, churches,
or ornaments; all were objects of their enmity. Notice was, without
loss of time, given to the Governor; he despatched a fleet, commanded
by Don Lorenzo Olaso, for the double purpose of making peace with the
Indians of Mindanao, as they requested, and to retaliate upon those
of Jolo. He arrived at Jolo, landed his people, and marched up to the
fort on the hill, to which, as usual, the Indians had retired. The
General believed it no difficult matter to reduce the fort, and
gave orders to attack it accordingly; he shewed, in the attack,
great personal valour, and acting the part of a common soldier,
as well as a general, was, with two of his captains, killed. As no
officer remained to command them, the men retired to their ships;
and, without doing anything else than laying waste the country, they
returned to Manila in haste, and in disgrace, the Moors becoming more
insolent than they were before. The Indians of the province of Caraga,
in Mindanao, observing that the Spaniards were unable to subdue their
countrymen, put to death some of the friars and Spaniards who were
living among them, and declared open rebellion in most of the towns of
the province.--The remaining friars and Spaniards, took refuge in the
towns which continued faithful to their cause; and, in a short time,
relief arriving from Manila, order was again restored.

This year several embassies arrived at Manila: one from Japan
from the Governor of Nangasaquy; and the King of Saxuma, likewise,
sent ambassadors, seeking redress for the ravages our galleons had
committed in the harbour of Siam, on two junks of his nation, and
out of which had been taken some of the royal merchandize, which
they considered a great sacrilege, and which had so irritated them,
that the real object of the embassy was to reconnoitre the place,
with a view to take vengeance for this insult. A Governor of one of
the Chinese provinces, sent an embassy to request the continuation of
the commercial intercourse; and the King of Cambodia, who was at war
with the King of Siam, sent to request the protection of the Spaniards,
offering the commerce of his kingdom, and liberty to form a dock for
the building of ships. The Governor received all these with presents,
and dismissed them with urbanity and kindness: he accepted the offer
of the King of Cambodia, and sent some ship-builders for the purpose
of constructing a vessel there: with them went four Dominicans to
preach the gospel; but when they arrived, finding the King dead, and
little disposition in his son, who succeeded him, to admit the catholic
religion, they all returned to Manila without effecting any thing.

The Governor, who was determined to lose no opportunity that offered
to build ships, finished one in the port of Cavite; but so badly
constructed, that, at the commencement of her voyage for Acapulco,
she foundered in the port: she was, however, hove up, and sufficiently
repaired to proceed on her voyage the following year. By this means,
and the arrival here of the other ships in 1631, no ship remained
in Acapulco to send to the Philippines; and the Viceroy of Mexico
despatched two pataches with the ordinary relief. In one of these came
Don Francisco Roxas y Oñate, Oidor of Mexico, as inspector of the
Royal Audience, and other tribunals; and his office to continue two
years. He was well received, and the Governor supported his authority
whilst he lived; by means of which, he made his visit pleasant,
although he suspended two Oidors. His Excellency, on the 22d of July
1632, died of a dysentery, occasioned by being exposed to the rain
and sun, during his visits to and from Cavite, in the performance of
his office, in which he was extremely diligent, having made a bridge
over the river of Manila, repaired the fortifications of the town,
and constructed several works in Cavite.

Don Lorenzo Olaso had been named by the Viceroy of Mexico to succeed
him pro tempore. Nothing particular occurred under his administration,
which only lasted a year, when Don Juan Zerezo of Salamanca was
appointed to succeed as Governor ad interim. Immediately on his arrival
at Manila, with a view to repress the insults of the Moors, and on
the representation of the Jesuits, he determined to form a garrison
at Zamboanga. He appointed Don Juan de Chaves to the command, with an
adequate force, and orders, after destroying the towns of the Moors,
to erect a fort in the situation which Friar Vera had pitched upon,
a little distant from the port of Caldera, where it was necessary
to maintain a detachment to guard the shipping. This situation is
most beautiful; but, having no water, the defect was supplied by
digging a channel from the river, through which the water flows in
great abundance, and, passing by the wall of the fort, falls into
the sea. The first stone of the fort was laid on the 23d of June,
1635. Many of the Spaniards opposed this plan under different pretexts,
and experience has shewn what little purpose this fort has answered,
its only use being to enrich one military man, who is Governor for
three years, and who draws twenty or thirty thousand dollars profit
from the supplies furnished the soldiers. The Moors, not in the
least checked by the fort of Zamboanga, have continued, to this hour,
committing the same ravages as before; and the Indians, who are each
taxed a measure of rice for its maintenance, have received neither
security or benefit from it.

It has been too justly observed by Señor Solorzano, that whatever is
established with a view to benefit the Indians, universally fails of
attaining that end; nor is this to be wondered at, as every regulation
brought forward with this avowed intention is always so contrived,
as to contribute not to the advantage of the oppressed Indian, but
solely to that of the person exercising the chief authority.







CHAPTER XVII.

ANNO DOM. 1635.

    The Administration of Don Sebastian Corcuera.


On the 25th of June, 1635, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, who had
been Governor of Panama, took possession of this government, and the
same day Señor Guerrero took possession of the archbishopric, although
the bulls had not yet arrived. Dissensions immediately begun between
these two, originating between the Dominicans and bearded friars,
respecting the division of their provinces, and on which account
his Excellency was determined to be revenged of the Archbishop,
the very first opportunity. An occasion very soon presented itself:
the Archbishop having taken a female slave from an artilleryman,
because he had an illicit intercourse with her, the artilleryman met
her one day in the street, and, for some unknown cause, murdered her,
taking refuge in the church of St. Augustine.

The Governor ordered the troops to seize him in the church, without
first applying to the friars; they obeyed their orders, seized
the criminal, and delivered him up to their commanding officer,
who sentenced him to death. The sentence was executed in front of
the church of St. Augustine, a place which had never been used for
public punishment: the Archbishop attempted to prevent the violation
of the church privileges, but his attempt proved ineffectual.

During the disputes between the Governor and the Archbishop, the
Moors were ravaging our towns, and for the space of eight months
committed horrible atrocities. His Excellency determined to go in
person to chastise them. He sailed from Manila with a squadron on the
2d of February, 1637, and having arrived at Lamitan, the residence of
Corralat, petty sovereign of Mindanao, he possessed himself of it with
ease. Corralat retired to a hill well defended by batteries, and the
best troops he had. The Governor attacked him, but after losing many
Spaniards, he sounded a retreat. The day following he renewed the
attack by a road more accessible, when he possessed himself of the
fort, and made great slaughter of the Moors, who threw themselves
headlong over the precipice in their confusion. The Governor now
retired to Zamboanga, where he received the chief of Buhayen, and those
of the island of Basilan, upon both of whom their fears had operated
to beg for peace, promising to consider Corralat as a common enemy,
and receive Friars into their dominions.

From Zamboanga he passed to Jolo, and sat down before the famous
hill fort of the island, and which the Spaniards had never been able
to possess themselves of. He found it, however, so well fortified,
that after attempting to batter it, he was obliged to have recourse
to some other mode of attack. He prepared five mines, and springing
them at the time of assault, he blew up part of the works, with
fifty men; but the Spaniards advanced so slow, that the Moors had
time to recover themselves, and returning to the charge, repulsed
them effectually. The next day two more mines were sprung, which did
great damage. The Spaniards then advanced rapidly to the remaining
fortification, but behind the rampart which had been blown up, contrary
to their expectation, they found another work erected, and by which
means they were repulsed. The Governor observing the little effect
produced by these assaults, determined to surround the hill, though a
league in circumference, with a wall and forts, converting the siege
into a strict blockade. This measure, however, proved by no means
adequate to the end in view, the besieged defending themselves with
great resolution, and destroying numbers of the assailants. It was,
therefore, resolved to construct a battery on a position completely
commanding the hill. The Moors on this were desirous of capitulating,
but the Governor commanded them to surrender at discretion. Thinking
these terms harsh, they became desperate, and assaulted the Spanish
camp; but not being able to force it, they took the opportunity of
quitting the hill by the back part of it, which had been left for
the time lightly guarded.

His Excellency found himself in possession of the enemies position,
and all their riches, with the Queen and her nephew, Tancun. The
Queen requested permission to bring the King and his chiefs into the
presence of the Governor; he consented, and she took that opportunity
of escaping. The Governor then sent Tancun for the same purpose, and he
returned with the keys of the royal coffers; but by the carelessness
of the guard, being left too much at liberty, he contrived to get
possession of all the treasure, with which he secured his retreat. His
Excellency leaving a garrison of two hundred Spaniards, and two hundred
Pampangos in Jolo, returned to Manila, where he was received with
great honours, as conqueror of Jolo and Mindanao. It is undeniable
that Señor Corcuera reduced the inhabitants of Jolo and Mindanao, and
would have retained his conquest, had greater harmony subsisted between
the Jesuits, and the commanders of the different garrisons. He was
successful as a soldier, but unfortunate in his choice of the means
to secure his acquisition. The dissensions between the Jesuits and
the military rose to such a pitch, that at last all the positions were
abandoned, and all our exertions, and sacrifices of men and resources,
rendered of no avail.

By the year 1639, the number of Chinese in these islands had
increased to thirty thousand, most of them cultivators in Calamba
and in Biñan. Among these began a disaffection, which spreading to
those of Santa Cruz, Parian, and Manila, they at last converted the
church of St. Peter Macati into a kind of strong hold, in which they
established their head-quarters. The Governor sent against them two
hundred Spaniards, and a large body of Indians, who easily dislodged
them from this position. Dispersed into separate bands, they plundered
the houses of the Spaniards, and some Indian towns, committing great
atrocities. The Spaniards followed them, making dreadful havock among
them, from November 1639, to March following, when being reduced in
number to seven thousand, they surrendered. Very few of our people
were killed, but Manila was reduced to great distress, by the loss of
so many of its useful class of citizens, as unquestionably the Chinese
were. The Indians fortunately had remained perfectly tranquil, which
was rather to be attributed to their fixed hatred of the Chinese,
than their attachment to the Spaniards.

In the year 1642, the Archbishop Guerreo visited his diocese, and in
the harbour of Naryan, in Mindoro, a pirate seized his vessel, with
all his equipage, he himself, with great difficulty, saving himself by
flight. This disaster had such an effect upon him, that he died on the
2d of July at Manila, and was buried in the church of St. Augustine.

The kingdom of Portugal, which had been united to the crown of
Castile in 1640, shook off the Spanish yoke, and electing the Duke of
Braganza King, the possessions of that nation in India immediately
followed the example of the mother country, and declared for that
family. This year the Dutch reduced Malacca, and by this conquest,
and the separation of the Spanish and Portuguese interest, it was
apprehended they would renew their attempts on the Philippines, which
had now, for many years, remained unmolested by them. This conjecture
proved true; they commenced their operations by stationing, for two
successive years, a squadron in the route of the ships from Acapulco,
but the Jesuits, in the island of Samar, frustrated their design. They
then planned the capture of the island of Formosa, with a view to
interrupt the commerce to China, and as a ladder for the conquest of
the Philippines. They proceeded on the enterprize in the year 1642,
with four ships, a patache, and several smaller vessels, and in a few
days succeeded in their object, the island having surrendered. Great
consternation prevailed at Manila on information of this conquest,
as it was expected that the Dutch would follow up their success by
an attack on that capital; but the glory of repelling these intruders
was reserved for the successor of Señor Corcuera.







CHAPTER XVIII.

ANNO DOM. 1644.

    The Administration of Don Diego Faxardo.


Don Diego Faxardo, Knight of the order of Santiago, took possession
of his government on the 11th of August, 1644, and immediately gave
proof of his unrelenting disposition by his conduct towards Señor
Corcuera, by confining him in the fort of Santiago, in which he
remained five years.

The new Governor found these islands infested by Dutch squadrons, and
to enable himself to meet them with effect, he deemed it necessary
to unite the whole of the Spanish force, dispersed through the
different garrisons. He directed the officer in command at Zamboanga,
to enter into an amicable arrangement with Corralat, King of Mindanao,
which was effected very satisfactorily, through the mediation of a
friar. He likewise directed the officer commanding at Jolo to adopt
similar measures with the King of that island, and evacuating all
the forts, to bring all the Spaniards to Manila; but this was not to
be effected so easily, Salicala, hereditary Prince of the kingdom,
having gone to Batavia, soliciting assistance from the Dutch, to
drive the Spaniards from the island. They, however, spared him only
two ships, with which trifling aid, having made many attempts against
our principal position, which was defended vigorously by Don Estevan
Ugalde, a valiant Biscayan, the Dutch retired to Batavia, promising
the Moors to return next year, with a more effective force. The
Jesuit friar was, in the mean time, commissioned to make peace with
them; which he effected on very advantageous terms. Jolo being thus
evacuated, the Dutch arrived at the appointed time with the promised
assistance; and finding that the Spaniards had retired to Zamboanga,
they determined on attempting the capture of the fort of Caldera,
in Mindanao, but they were repulsed with such loss, that they made
a rapid retreat to Batavia.

The following year, the Dutch again appeared in these seas, with a
squadron of twelve ships, when eleven of them remaining on the coast of
Batan, the commodore came forward alone, to reconnoitre Cavite. Señor
Corcuera, who was in confinement in the fort, as already mentioned,
immediately saw the error the Dutch commander had committed, in not
making the attack with his whole force, while the place was in an
unguarded and defenceless state. Every advantage was taken of the
error, and Cavite was furnished, without delay, with the necessary
reinforcements, and supplies of ammunition and provisions. On the
third day the Dutch squadron made their attack, but the Governor,
Andras Azaldegui, a very active man, defended the place so effectually,
that great slaughter ensued, and the Dutch General received a wound,
of which he died. On this they retired, and disembarked in Pampanga,
where the Alcalde Mayor of the province having collected six hundred
Pampangos, and fortified himself as well as possible in the convent
of Abucay, the Dutch assaulted him, when the Indians fled in such
disorder, and with such precipitation, that four hundred of them were
killed in the pursuit. The Dutch not deeming it prudent to remove
far from their ships, returned on board, and disembarked a second
time in the town of Samal, where the Spaniards having gone to Manila,
the Indians alone remained, who repulsed them, and compelled them to
take refuge in their ships.

They then took their station close to Mareveles, to intercept our
commerce, and while here they had information that a galleon, built at
Leyte, was on her way to Manila. They despatched six ships to take her,
but the commander understanding that the Dutch were in these seas,
put into a harbour, and fortifying the entrance with batteries,
remained perfectly secure from all insult, and the Dutch deeming
the attempt unjustifiable, returned to Batavia, without reaping any
advantage from their expedition.

Salicala, son of the King of Jolo, a turbulent character,
notwithstanding the peace he had concluded with the Spaniards, begun
to infest our seas with a squadron, which committed great depredations
in every quarter; and Cachile, Lord of Tup Tup, in Borneo, having
followed his example, it was found necessary to send against them an
adequate force. The Spaniards encountered the squadron of Cachile
between Masbate and Burias, and an engagement took place, in which
he was killed, and his fleet dispersed. Immediately on this Salicala
retired to Jolo, where his attention became sufficiently occupied, in
disputes respecting the succession to the throne. The Moors of Borneo,
imitating the conduct of the Indians of Jolo in their piracies, the
Governor sent Major Monforte with orders to chastise them severely,
as a warning to the rest. Monforte landed in Borneo, burning and
destroying all the towns within his reach, together with great
quantities of provisions, and a number of vessels, and making about
two hundred prisoners, thus retaliating on them for their piratical
attacks on us. Exclusive of these continual depredations of the Moors
and Dutch, the provinces in Luzon were by no means in a tranquil state.

A commotion, likewise, was begun in Palapag, by murdering the Jesuit
friar, who was the curate of the place; and, to enhance the criminality
of the action, and comprehend every one in the rebellion, Sumoroy, who
was the assassin, was for two days parading the town, avowing publicly
that he killed the friar; and, setting at liberty two insurgents,
whom the Jesuits had confined, he ordered the people to plunder the
church and convent: from this source, the insurrection spread through
the whole island. The Camarines imitated the conduct of the people of
Palapag, in every thing but the murder of the friars. The island of
Zebu, likewise, notwithstanding its garrison, wavered in its loyalty;
and, indeed, all the islands were ripe for rebellion: the people of
Caraga, however, were the most violent, having murdered many Spaniards
and Friars. There is no question that the Bisayas would have been
lost on this occasion, had not a stop been put to these atrocities
in due time.

The Governor sent a force to Palapag, and ordered that four hundred
Indians of Lutao, who had been lately converted from Mahometanism,
should be incorporated with this force sent from Manila, and
jointly attack the rebels. The Jesuit friar, Vincente Damian,
took compassion on the misguided Indians, and attempted to persuade
them to return to their obedience; but, thinking themselves strong
enough to overcome the Spaniards, they would not listen to reason,
and fortified themselves on a hill, which Sumoroy had made his head
quarters. Captain Roxas commanded the Spaniards, Don Andres Azaldeguy,
who was the proper commanding officer, having had orders from the
government, to go and secure the property, in a ship which had been
lost on the coast of Camarines. Roxas was a man of ability and bravery,
and came to the resolution of assaulting the hill in the night, when
the rebels would be less on their guard. The Spaniards arrived at the
outposts, when they were discovered, and notice given to Sumoroy. The
precipitation with which the Indians fled is incredible: it resembled
that of a flock of goats, our people following them, and making great
slaughter. Sumoroy attempted to escape; but his people killed him,
with the view of ingratiating themselves with the Spaniards, and
delivered up his head to Roxas, who placed it on a pole as a warning
to the rest. The friars being now able to return to their duty,
in the respective towns, soon reduced the discontented to obedience.

The ringleader of the rebellion in Caraga was an Indian, named Dabao,
who was not in the least suspected of disaffection. He entered
one day into the fort, bringing with him eight men with their hands
bound, apparently with the view of surrendering them; but yet, at the
same time, so loosely bound, as to escape when they chose. When the
Spanish officer came out to receive them, Dabao struck him on the head
with his sword, and the eight men, immediately releasing themselves,
unexpectedly attacked the people in the fort. They made such carnage,
that only one friar and five soldiers escaped, by throwing themselves
from the wall, and retiring to the convent, where they fortified
themselves. The Indians immediately forsook the town and fled to the
mountains, when the friar, and the Spaniards who were in the convent,
built a boat, and retired along the coast to another town, to which
the insurrection had not spread.

The Governor sent them relief from Manila, and offered a pardon
to those who should return to their towns, and their allegiance as
before. The Spaniards, however, broke their word, and hanged many of
the ringleaders.

On the day of Saint Andrew, which was the anniversary of the victory
the Spaniards obtained over Limahon, about eight o'clock at night,
an earthquake happened, which destroyed almost all Manila, with the
exception of the church and convent of St. Augustine. The public
edifices, in particular, were nearly all thrown down and destroyed,
and more than six hundred people buried in the ruins: some were found
alive between the stones and the wood, who had remained there even
three days. The calamity reached the towns of the islands; in Cagayan,
a hill was rased from its foundation, and fell on a town, burying in
its fall all the inhabitants. In some parts the earth sunk; and, in
others, torrents of sand burst out, overwhelming man and beast. Many
other extraordinary changes occurred in the course of sixty days,
during which a succession of earthquakes prevailed. The people of
Manila left the city to live in huts in the fields, until it was
ascertained that they might return in safety to their houses. It
was said that the image of St. Francis, placed in the house of an
Indian of Dilao, sweated most copiously during this calamity, and
shed abundance of tears; in consequence, he was elected patron of
earthquakes, and is designated St. Francis of Tears.

As a proof of that harshness which characterized Señor Faxardo,
it will be sufficient to mention his conduct to Christoval Romero,
whom the Viceroy of Mexico had sent, to bring him intelligence of the
state of these islands, two years having elapsed without the usual
ship having appeared at Acapulco. He arrived at the port of Lampon,
and, understanding that the Dutch were infesting these seas, he landed
the silver, and despatched it to Manila, in order that he might with
less risk get round. Soon after he had sent away the silver, the Dutch
arrived, and entered the port with their launches. Romero being far
inferior in force to the enemy, burnt his vessel, as he saw no chance
of saving it, and came to Manila by land. Everybody considered this
man as entitled to great praise for his conduct on the occasion,
and expected that he would be well received and rewarded; but the
rigorous Governor, on the plea that the burning of the launch was
an act of cowardice, imprisoned him, and condemned him to lose his
head. All Manila clamoured against this sentence; and the object of
it appealed to the Royal Audience, who revoked it. This rigour of the
Governor was imputed to his not having been duly bribed by Romero;
but nothing of that nature could be absolutely proved against him.

About this time, the hospital or college of St. Juan de Letran was
founded by Juan Geronimo Romero, who compassionating the situation of
unfortunate orphans, took them into his house, and carefully brought
them up. His Majesty being informed of this praise-worthy conduct, by a
royal order protected the establishment; but granted so little in aid
of it, that recourse was necessarily had to the contributions of the
well disposed, in order to render it of more general use. It was, at
length, removed to a spot behind the city: the boys were allowed a blue
coat, cap, &c., and were supported, as in others, with the additional
aid of a college pension, to enable them to pursue their studies at
the university; the college having no establishment of this nature.







CHAPTER XIX.

ANNO DOM. 1653.

    The Administration of Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara.


The ship San Francisco Xavier arrived in Cavite in July, 1653, bringing
the new Governor, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara; the Archbishop
of Manila, Don Miguel Poblete; the Bishop of Ylocos, Don Rodrigo de
Cordinas, a Dominican; and the Oidor, Don Juan Bolivar. The Governor
immediately, as was usual, sat in judgment on his predecessor, who,
apprehensive that he might be deprived of his liberty, retired into
the college of Jesuits, securing his personal safety in this sacred
asylum. The Archbishop fixed the month of March for a jubilee, on
which occasion an immense concourse of people assembled, and he, with
great solemnity, invoked the blessing of the Almighty on these islands.

Many calamities occurred during this administration, such as the
small-pox, famine, and a dreadful earthquake, which ruined many
edifices, and did much injury; but what affected the Governor much
more than all these, was the revolt of the Indians and Chinese, and the
ravages committed by the Moors of Mindanao. The Spaniards were at peace
with Corrolat, King of Mindanao, and he appeared perfectly satisfied;
but the chief men, turbulent and warlike, urged him to break it.

The Governor sent two Jesuits and some Spaniards, in the nature of an
embassy, to strengthen our existing amity with the King: when, without
any respect for their characters as ambassadors, and, listening to
the representations of his nephew Balatamay, he murdered them all,
and excused his atrocity to the Governor of Zamboanga, throwing the
blame on his nephew, whom, he alleged, he could not punish, on account
of his great power in the state.

In the letter which he wrote to the Governor of Manila, he laid
the blame on the Jesuit, who was at the head of the embassy; thus
indicating his intention, by these contradictory falsehoods, of
gaining time to draw to his party the King of Jolo, and other chiefs
of the Moluccas.

Don Francisco Esteyvar, who was Governor of Zamboanga, despatched
against him an armament of ten carracoas, whose rowers were Indians
of Lutao, and who, though they had been converted to Christianity,
felt for Corrolat as a countryman. Nothing could persuade them to row
against the Moors, excusing themselves under various pretexts; and,
although they could have been compelled, yet Don Fernando Bobadilla,
who commanded the expedition, fearing that they would desert him in
the time he most wanted them, and not desirous of exposing himself
to such a risk, returned to Zamboanga.

As the Spaniards had delayed the chastisement of the Moors for the
murder of their ambassadors, they were induced, as might be expected,
to commit still greater ravages than those they had yet been guilty of,
and Don Sabiniano de Lara sent against them a considerable squadron,
under the command of a man, valiant in the cabinet, but who proved the
reverse in the field. He repeatedly showed a disposition to attack the
Moors; but, on various pretexts, avoided coming to an engagement, and
at last retired to Zebu, abandoning the cause, and leaving the Moors
to return quietly to their own country. The Governor of Zamboanga,
however, acting a different part, and determined to chastise the Moors,
collected some vessels, and retaliated on their country, the ravages
they had committed on ours.

A slight disturbance, about this time, took place in the province of
Pampanga, the cause of which was as follows: the late Governor having
ordered a ship to be built in Camboxa, sent all the necessary workmen
in a vessel, which he patched up, and launched for the purpose. After
having completed their work, and when they were on their return from
Camboxa to Manila, they encountered a storm, so violent, that the
vessel was wrecked, and almost all the people perished. The galleon,
San Francisco Xavier, was lost in the same storm on the coast of Samar,
and two other ships which were going to Acapulco were forced back. The
galleon, La Concepcion, too, was so unfortunate as to be driven back
twice, having suffered severely in her rigging. To repair these losses,
it was necessary that a greater quantity of wood should be cut than
was customary, and that with unusual expedition. The Indians suffered
always severely in these undertakings, as they were obliged to leave
their towns for the mountains, where, their wages being very small,
and their treatment very bad, they too often fell a sacrifice to
sickness. The overseer of the present wood cutting was a man of
great severity, and, as the wood was to be cut with all despatch,
he had recourse, with the poor Indians, to measures which humanity
could not justify, in order to expedite the work. Resisting this
oppressive conduct, they mutinied, and the mutiny extended through
all the towns, although they did not behave with disrespect to the
church or friars. To quell this sedition before it took a wider
range, the Governor took up his residence in Macabebe, which is the
first town in the province, from Manila, taking with him some troops,
and ordering into his presence some of the ringleaders. The Indians,
naturally timid, had already repented of this disturbance, when the
friars interfering, it was completely quelled, and the principal
ringleader, an Indian named Maniago, was conveyed to Manila, being
considered as too dangerous an inhabitant of the province.

The bad example of those in Pampanga, induced the Indians of Pangasinan
to rebel, electing as their King an Indian, called Marlong. They
murdered the Alcalde Mayor of the province, with all his family, and,
upon this being known in Manila, the Governor sent troops by sea
and land to quell the sedition; but the Dominican friars possessed
such power over the Indians, that they were restored to their duty
without firing one gun; and their King, Marlong, was delivered up
and hanged immediately.

When the Indians of Pangasinan began their rebellion, they had sent
emissaries to the provinces of Cagayan, Ylocos, and Zambales. In
this last they made little progress, but in Ylocos, an Indian called
Manzano, headed the rebellion, and, having collected a number of
malcontents, he attacked the Spaniards, murdered the Friar Bacarra, and
ill treated the Bishop Cardinas, on which the Alcalde Mayor and some
friars fled to Manila; but the province of Pangasinan being by this
time reduced to subjection, the troops were sent against Manzano, and
soon reduced him likewise; and the ringleaders of both were executed.

The civil wars of China were the cause of the conquest of that country
by the Tartars. A Chinese named Ly, having urged the provinces
remote from the court to revolt, and meeting with no opposition,
arrived at the capital (Pekin), on which occasion, either from
treason or cowardice, all abandoned the Emperor, who, seeing himself
thus forsaken, cut off, according to their usual custom, the head of
his daughter, that she might not fall into the hands of the rebels,
and afterwards hanged himself on a tree, to avoid a similar disgrace.

All acknowledged the authority of Ly, except the army, which had
been opposed to the Tartars, and which, fearing the result of this
rebellion, made peace with them, and they united against the common
enemy, Ly, whom they soon drove from Pekin. Nothing more was ever
heard of this rebellion; but, the Tartars having by this means got
into the interior of China, though they met with some opposition,
yet, finally, they reduced the whole of the empire, and it continues
still under the Tartar dynasty.

A poor Chinese, who had fled from Macao to Manila, where he was
baptized by the name of Nicolas, and where he became a shop-keeper,
afterwards went to Japan, where he married; but finding that he did
not acquire riches quick enough, he entered the Chinese army, where he
rose very high, being appointed General against the rebels. Zunchin,
who was the last Emperor of the Chinese race, having hanged himself,
as already noticed, Nicolas sided with the Tartars, by whom he was
apparently well received. The Tartar Emperor heaped favours upon him,
and named him as one of his tributary monarchs, under the title of
Pignan, which signifies, conqueror of the south. By these means he
lulled him into security; and having at last imprisoned him and all
his family, completed his treachery by blowing him, and the greater
part of them, up with gunpowder.

His son, Cogseng, after this disgraceful transaction, turned pirate,
and sufficiently revenged the death of his father by ravaging the
Chinese coasts and islands. He was the conqueror of the island of
Formosa, and the first who triumphed over the arms of Europeans. The
Dutch, at this time, were complete masters of the island, they
possessed two thousand Europeans, with sufficient artillery and ships;
when hearing that the Chinese intended to attack them, they united
all their forces in Tayguan; but the pirate, who came with about one
hundred thousand men, landed on the opposite coast of the island,
and immediately entered on the cultivation of the soil. A short time
after, he invested the fort of Tayguan, and the Dutch capitulated,
after a seven months siege, by which they were allowed to leave the
island, with the ships they had in the port.

Cogseng, elated with this success, determined to become master
of the Philippines, for which purpose he sent the Friar Victorio
Riccio, a Dominican, with the title of his Ambassador, to Manila,
with a letter to the Governor, in which he required him to recognize
him as Sovereign, and pay him tribute, threatening, if he refused,
to ravage his coasts with his fleet. On the 18th of May, 1662, the
friar arrived on this embassy at Manila, and delivered his letter
with great secrecy, which, however, was not long withheld from the
public. The Governor without delay began to levy troops, repair the
fortifications, and recall all the forces to the capital; and in order
to be as secure as possible, he sent away all the Chinese merchants,
and others that were established in the islands. Upon this being
known, it was whispered that the Governor intended to decapitate
all the Chinese, who, being naturally cowards, believed the knife
already at their throats, and retired to the mountains, from whence
some passed, with great risk, in small boats to Formosa. The day on
which the Governor called the Chinese chiefs before him, in order
to intimate to them that they must retire, the remaining Chinese
believing that they were all to be murdered, took up arms; but the
Dominicans had sufficient influence to prevail on them to remain
quiet. The Governor now sent back Friar Riccio to Cogseng with an
answer to his letter, but, on Riccio's arrival, he found the pirate
dead of a fever, Manila being by this means released from the danger
with which she was threatened. The Chinese who had fled to Formosa,
circulated a thousand calumnies, which would have cost Friar Riccio
his life, if he had not been saved by the son of Cogseng, who had
succeeded his father in power; but not possessing the warlike spirit
of his father, he sent an Ambassador to Manila, to make a treaty
of amity and commerce with the Spaniards. Although the expedition
of Cogseng had not reached Manila, the place of its destination,
the effects of it had fallen very heavy on the islands, as all the
churches and convents near Manila were destroyed, to prevent the
enemy from converting them into military stations.

The Governor of Ternate had abandoned that station, by no means
easy to be recovered, as the garrison was, in its retreat to Manila,
accompanied by the Indians, called Mahhicas, who were the best friends
to the Spanish cause, and who were then settled at the mouth of the
river Marigondon, where their descendants remain to this hour. The
garrisons too of Calamianes and Zamboanga evacuated these stations;
and as they had always been a check on the Moors of Jolo and Mindanao,
opportunities were by this means offered of committing with impunity
such ravages in the Bisayas, that the friars were compelled to abandon
the province of Calamianes.

Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara had governed these islands with great
prudence, but notwithstanding this, several articles of impeachment
were preferred against him, and he was fined seventy thousand
dollars. On appealing, however, to the council of the Indies, the
sentence was reversed, and the fine remitted; but disgusted with
the world, he retired to Malaga, his native country, and took the
monastic habit.







CHAPTER XX.

ANNO DOM. 1663.

    The Administration of Don Diego Salcedo.


Don Diego de Salcedo not being able, by the prevalence of the
south-west-monsoon, to reach Manila by the ordinary route of the
straits of Bernardino, he made Cagayan, where he landed, and travelled
across the island to the city, and took possession of his government
in September, 1663. Immediately on his arrival, he held out every
encouragement to commerce, and preparation was made for sending the
usual ship to Acapulco as early in the season as possible, in order
to avoid those misfortunes which had too frequently taken place.

This conduct of the Governor at first gave great satisfaction to
the merchants of Manila; but they began very soon to discover his
diligence was directed only to his own individual benefit, or that of
his friends, as due care had been taken by them to buy up all the best
goods, leaving in the market only those of inferior quality; and that
no opportunity might be afforded to the merchants to procure a fresh
supply of the different articles from the coast, he despatched the
ship before the coasters could possibly arrive. By this means almost
all the commerce of Acapulco, for that season, centered in him and
his friends. About this time the news arrived of the death of Philip
the Fourth, and the Archbishop was attacked with protracted illness,
which ended in extreme debility, of which he died, 1667. The attention
of Salcedo had been completely occupied by the violent disputes, which,
during the whole period of his government, subsisted between him and
the ecclesiastical authorities, and which terminated in the Commissary
of the Inquisition of Mexico ordering him to be seized, and conveyed on
board the patache destined for Acapulco, in which ship he died, 1669.


                             END OF VOL. I.







NOTES TO VOLUME I.


Note I.--Page 6.

Were it not that we have this strong corroborative evidence of the
veracity of other travellers on this subject, we should be inclined
to attach a degree of impossibility to the existence of an European
power of the first distinction, in an insular situation, similar to
that of the Philippines, established there for nearly three centuries;
yet through the whole of that period incessantly exposed to the inroads
and depredations of the surrounding savage nations. But in the perusal
of the following pages it will appear sufficiently manifest that the
system of colonization pursued by the Spanish monarchy. From the first
discovery of the New World, and without little, if any, amelioration,
practised at this time, is least of all calculated for either the
extension of permanent national dominion, the enlargement of the
human mind, or the general dissemination of commercial industry. The
discovery of the Cape of Good Hope and America produced a revolution
among the European nations, which, aided by the phenomenon of the
magnetic needle, stimulated the human mind to exertions far more
arduous than had been effected by the Crusades; but the same spirit
that animated Peter the Hermit seems to have presided over the counsels
of the Spanish monarchy and directed its researches. To whatever
cause it may be imputed, whether political, moral, or physical, this
nation, so justly celebrated about this period, seems to have had
little progressive tendency to improvement, and till within these few
years the Spanish colonists of the eighteenth, in point of information
and commercial enterprize, differed in no respect from those of the
sixteenth century. The general dissemination of science, the gradual
dispersion of prejudice, the consequent expansion of the human mind,
and the example of surrounding nations, will doubtless have due
effect on those noble qualities which characterized the Spaniard of
the sixteenth century; and which, though enchained for succeeding
ages by the peculiarity of their internal politics, still exist in
the Spaniard of the nineteenth. No doubt, indeed, can be entertained
that the changes likely to be produced during the present eventful
period, will convert the reign of Ferdinand the VIIth into the æra of
Spanish regeneration, in all that can be considered steady in council,
great in arms, liberal in sentiment, and energetic in social as well
as commercial intercourse. And we fully trust that the blind and
persecuting influence which dictated the expulsion of the Chinese
from the Philippines, and produced consequences nearly bordering on
the annihilation of all industry and all commerce in the Islands,
no longer disgraces their counsels or finds an advocate in the breast
of one true Spaniard.


Note II.--Page 8.

We are well aware that at a distance from the seat of even an energetic
government, abuses will exist which may sometimes be beyond its
reach; but the instance before us, gives us at once an insight into
that system of oppression and abuse of power which prevails in the
Spanish settlements, and originated in the invariable practice of the
Spanish court, of furnishing the opportunity to their dependants in
the mother country to enrich themselves during a temporary residence
in the colonies.


Note III.--Page 12.

The most authentic communications on this subject to the translator,
are, that during the months of March, April, and May, the heat is
sometimes oppressive; June, July, August, and September, forms the
rainy season; the month of October of a doubtful character; November,
December, January, and February, a heavenly spring: and that the
climate in the whole is uncommonly healthy, the natives living to a
great age.


Note IV.--Page 13.

If it were not sufficiently ascertained that the author of this work
was not a foreigner, but a monastic Spaniard, it might be concluded
from this expression, that he meant to cast a strong reflection on
the Spanish government; but in the progress of the work the reader
will discover that he is fully justified.


Note V.--Page 14.

"The fishermen place their net zig-zag-ways in from eight to eighteen
fathom water; at each angle they have several chambers, and over every
angle they have a boat moored, with two or three fishermen in it, who
are always watching the fish when they enter the chambers, and with
a line, supported on the surface by a buoy, they draw a net across
the chamber door." Vide Jackson's Mediterranean Commerce, p. 103-4.


Note VI.--Page 18.

The diversity of opinion as to the substance of which these nests are
composed, is such, that to this hour we are left on the wide field
of conjecture, and without any clue which may be absolutely relied on
for unravelling the mystery. The intelligent Sonnerat, as a judicious
naturalist, is entitled to every attention on the subject, and he,
by admitting into his work the following quotation from "Transactions
philosophiques de la société Batave, établie dans l'isle de Java pour
l'avancement des arts et des sciences, vol. iii." gives us reason to
suppose that he adopts the opinion of that writer. He prefaces his
introduction of the subject by the following scientific description
of the bird:

"La salangane (hirundo esculenta, Lath. sp. 26. Lin. Rumph. herb.
vi. pag. 183. tab. 75. fig. 4. Forster.)"

And then proceeds with the extract thus:

"The salanganes are of a blackish grey colour, somewhat inclining
to green; but on the back, down to the tail, as well as under the
breast, the colour is mouse grey. The whole length of the bird, from
the back to the tail, is about four inches and a half; and its height,
taken from the beak to the extremity of the foot, three and a quarter
inches: its girt is ten and a quarter inches: the longest feathers of
the wing are about four inches. The head is flat; but the thickness
of the downy feathers which cover it make it appear round, and rather
large in proportion to the rest of the body. The beak is large, ending
in a sharp point, but hooked like that of a nocturnal bird of prey;
its size is augmented by the addition of a naked membrane, similar to
parchment, which folds inwards when the beak is shut, but expands with
the opening of it, and enables the bird, while on the wing, to seize
with greater facility the insects which constitute its food. The eyes
are black, and very large; and the tongue not forked, but of the form
of an arrow. The ears flat and round, with a small oblong opening,
and entirely covered by the downy feathers of the head. The neck very
short, as are the legs, and bones of the wings. The thighs entirely
covered with feathers; and the lower and more delicate parts of the
legs, as well as the feet, provided with a black skin resembling
parchment: each foot has four toes, three pointing forwards and one
backwards; they are separated from each other even to the root, and
the middle one, including the claw, is at least as long as the lower
part of the leg; each toe is furnished with a black claw, pointed,
hooked, and very long, by means of which it attaches itself, with great
facility, to the juttings of the rocks. The tail is at least as long
as the body, even including the neck and the head; when it is spread
out it has the shape of a wedge, and has ten large feathers; the four
first on each side are the longest, and when the tail is closed they
extend beyond the others about an inch; the others diminish towards
the middle of the tail, and nearly equal the length of the body. This
bird is extremely light and delicate; ten of these swallows will only
weigh about two ounces and a half. The inhabitants of Java call them
lawit, and the mountaineers give them the names of berongdagæ or waled.

"There are two places in the neighbourhood of Batavia where they
are found in great abundance; the one, Calappa-Nongal, is about ten
miles to the south of the town; the other, Sampia, is a little more
distant towards the south-west, but both lie in that elevated range
which takes its direction by the sea coast, and which appears to be
different from the great chain which pushes itself into the country,
and traverses the whole island. Besides these principal places,
there are many others, both in the same district, and at a very great
distance from the coast, where these birds are found, though in fewer
numbers; and there are even some which are carefully concealed by
those of the inhabitants who are acquainted with them.

"There are two bird mountains, called Goa (caverns) by the inhabitants
of Java, which are insulated rocks, hollow in the middle, and pierced
by a great number of openings, for the most part of sufficient size
easily to admit a man; others are more difficult of access, and some
so small that nature seems to have intended them for the security of
those little animals. These rocks are composed of a grey calcareous
stone and white marble, and are covered with a multitude of lofty trees
of different kinds. To the interior of these caverns the birds fix
their nests in horizontal ranges, and so close to each other, that,
generally speaking, they join; they build them at different heights,
from fifty to three hundred feet, higher or lower as they can find
a berth; there is not a single hole, or convenient spot sufficiently
dry and proper, which is not occupied; but if the surface is in the
smallest degree wet, or even damp, the birds immediately abandon it.

"At break of day the whole of the birds take wing with a great noise,
and in the dry season immediately shoot up so high in the atmosphere,
in search of their food, as to be soon lost to the sight: they return
about four in the afternoon, and again take shelter in their holes,
to which they confine themselves during the rest of the day, those
excepted which are hatching. On the other hand, during the rainy
season, it has been often remarked that they never ramble very far
from their holes, particularly in the government of Java, where the
rocks even border close on the sea.

"They feed on all the varieties of insects which are found hovering
over stagnated waters, and they easily secure them by means of the
extended opening of which their beak is capable. Their most formidable
enemy is a bird of prey, which catches them in great numbers as they
escape from their holes, and which the inhabitants are very careful
to keep at a distance as much as possible by shooting them.

"They prepare their nests with the more solid parts of their food,
and by no means with the froth of the sea or marine plants, as has
been asserted [1]. This opinion is the more founded in probability,
as it is ascertained by experience that those birds which build on
the rocks, already mentioned, have never been seen on the coast,
and that they could not repair thither and return in any reasonable
time on account of the lofty chains of mountains they would have to
traverse, and the tempestuous winds which prevail there. The great
difference, then, in the colour and value of these nests, is a proof
that their quality depends solely on the nature and abundance of the
insects which form their food; perhaps, likewise, on the more or less
perfect solitude of the places they resort to for it.

"The nests collected in the territory of Calappa-Nongal and of Goadja
are quite grey, and are of one-third less value than those of the
territory of Sampia. These last again are in far less estimation
than the excellent sort sent every year from Ternate and Passir,
or those found in the islands immediately adjoining, and on that of
Borneo in particular.

"These birds require two months to prepare their nests; they
immediately after lay their eggs, and sit fifteen or sixteen days. As
soon as the young take flight, the gathering of the nests commences,
and is repeated every four months: it is the harvest of the proprietors
of those rocks. This is performed by men accustomed from their infancy
to clamber among these precipices: with reeds and bamboos they provide
themselves with ladders, with which they mount up to the holes; but
when the depth of the caves is too great, they have recourse to ropes.

"When at the bottom of these caverns, they place against the inside
notched bamboos, which answer the purpose of ladders, to enable them to
reach the nests, and if these are beyond their immediate reach, they
detach them with bamboo poles; there are likewise holes, but in very
limited numbers, which may be got at by means of ladders of bamboo.

"This employment, which is attended with very great risk, costs the
lives of many human beings, and particularly of those who attempt
to steal the nests. For their preservation, guards are placed here
and there.

"The mountaineers usually employed in collecting the nests never
undertake it till they have sacrificed a buffalo, the usual prelude,
with the Javanese, of all their enterprizes; they mutter a few
prayers, anoint their bodies with aromatic oils, and fumigate the
caverns with incense, a precaution, according to them, absolutely
necessary. The principal of these caverns lie in the island of Java,
where a female deity, under the appellation of Raton laut Ridaud,
or Princess of the South Sea, is held in high veneration. A small
hut, containing a covered bed, is prepared for her, together with
several elegant dresses, and which no person but a Princess dare
approach. Every Friday, during the period of collecting the nests,
incense is burnt in it, and the bodies and clothes of all those who
propose to mount the rocks ought to be exposed to this fumigation. The
rest of the Javanese are not so superstitious, and attach much less
importance to ceremonies. These caverns are lighted, on such occasions,
by torches made with the rosin of a large tree, called the cavet,
and of the inner bark of the areka.

"The collection of the nests does not last more than a month, and, as
has been said, may be repeated three times annually. Some think that
it might even be extended to a fourth, but that is not very probable,
as all the people employed in this work affirm that a nest, as long as
it remains entire, is constantly augmented or thickened by the bird,
which never totally abandons it till it becomes dry and woolly in
the inside.

"After the nests are gathered, nothing remains to be done but to dry
and clean them, and they are then packed in baskets and sold to the
Chinese. The price varies, as depending on their whiteness and degree
of perfection; some are grey, and others reddish, while those of the
best sort are extremely rare. They are sold on the spot for from eight
hundred to one thousand four hundred rixdollars for one hundred and
twenty-five pounds weight. This price, and the insatiable avarice
of the Chinese, often produce cheating, and an adulteration of the
article. They have no hesitation in corrupting the guards with money,
opium, or clothes; and deceits are practised, against which the most
extreme vigilance is often unavailing.

"The two places we have already mentioned, Calappa-Nongal and
Sampia, belonged formerly to the Dutch East India Company, but as
the advantages resulting from the possession of them were partly
unknown, or diminished in value by the dexterity of the Javanese, the
company formed the resolution of letting them by public auction, and
nearly one hundred thousand rixdollars is drawn from them, a sum far
exceeding their utmost expectations. In the same range of mountains
there are besides these other places of the same description, but
of less importance. There are likewise two or three in the interior,
and some others, which are concealed with great care.

"There are in the government of Samarang, in the island of Java,
three mountains celebrated for their birds, called Goadaher, Gede,
and Nangasari. The sea washes their base, and flows so far into the
interior of the latter, that it may be said they can catch fish in
the body of the mountain. The nests in these districts are of an
excellent quality, but very difficult to collect, on account of the
precipitous nature of the rocks, and the violent beating of the surge
against them, which renders it necessary for those employed to suspend
themselves from the top by ladders of bamboo. In the island of Java,
about twenty-five quintals of these nests are collected annually.

"There are likewise swallow caverns in the island of Bantam, and in
Sumatra; but the inhabitants of the former are so indolent, and the
government so detestable, that they are not even at the trouble to
sow rice, nor do they cultivate any one article which contributes to
human existence. The Chinese have never attempted to penetrate into
the interior of this kingdom, and they have no commerce whatever with
the mountaineers; indeed they have very little intercourse even with
the coast.

"The Javanese and Europeans established in India eat even the birds
themselves when young, but it is difficult to procure them; they are
considered as a very luscious food. The nests, on the contrary, when
stewed as a soup, and afterwards exposed to the dew, and sweetened
with sugar, are said to be highly cooling, and the Javanese administer
them successfully in violent fevers. The author of this memoir has
had occasion to observe that, prepared in the manner which will be
subsequently mentioned, they have been useful in disorders of the
throat, and in hoarseness. Most probably this remedy has been borrowed
from the Chinese, who (according to information furnished to the author
by a man who was in the habit of dealing largely in these nests) use
them most generally in the winter, because disorders of the throat
are very common at that season in the southern regions of the empire,
on account of the habits the Chinese are in of indulging themselves
over the fire.

"But though the author has repeatedly eat these nests, prepared in
various ways, he has not been able to bring himself to put much faith
in the very nutritive and strengthening property attributed to them. He
has had them analyzed by good chemists, but the result has been only a
gummy solution, of rather a disagreeable taste, which might, however,
be of service in certain disorders of the chest.

"These nests are, in fact, only articles of luxury or ornament on
the tables of the rich. The Chinese are passionately fond of them:
after well soaking and cleaning them, they are put with a fat capon
or a duck into an earthen pot, closely covered; they are simmered
for twenty-four hours over a small fire, which is called timmen;
thus prepared, this eatable acquires a relish infinitely more rich,
and a more nourishing quality.

"The trade in these nests, which some years ago was of little
importance, has been greatly on the increase for some time. The price
is constantly rising in China, and Batavia is the principal market
for them. The company having abandoned it, the inhabitants derive
sufficient advantage from it to diminish the exportation of specie,
which is highly prejudicial. It is now very well ascertained that
the species of swallow which builds these nests is not to be found
in China.

"Linnæus, in his Systeme Naturel, characterizes this swallow, which he
calls the hirundo esculenta, by white spots only on the feathers of the
tail. But those birds of Java, which construct the nests in question,
have no spots either on their tail or elsewhere. The feathers of the
tail are entirely of one colour, that is, grey, approaching to black
on the upper, and a lighter grey on the under surface.

"Rumph says, in speaking of these apodes marinæ, that the feathers of
their tail are spotted, and that the breast has black and white spots.

"Valentyn in his description of the small swallow which builds the
eatable nests, says nothing of spots, and only states that the body
is veined white and black.

"If these differences are allowed to be essential, it will follow
that there must be two kinds of these swallows, the one with a
spotted breast, and having white spots on the tail, the other without
either. It is possible, even, that there may be a third variety, that
called momos, or bocrongitams. These likewise form their nests of
part of their food; but mixed with so much impure matter that no use
can be made of them. Care is taken, therefore, to drive them away,
that they may not injure the nests of the better species. They are
readily known from these latter by their superior size, and their
legs being provided with small feathers down to the feet.

"In the kingdom of Tonquin, and in China, there is a great demand for
these nests of the salanganes. They form their most exquisite food,
and they attribute to them the property of strengthening the stomach,
and of being a powerful aphrodisiac. They are preserved for the tables
of the King, and those of the principal nobles who are able to procure
them. They are diluted, made into gravy or soup, and mixed with all
sorts of choice aliment, and every kind of taste is imputed to them.

"In the state in which the salanganes are sold, they bear a close
resemblance to the half of a preserved citron, both in size and
shape. They are put into small boats, which the people of the country
are sufficiently dextrous in piloting through the rocks where the
nests are found. The King of Cochin-China retains in his own hands,
exclusively, the portion of this trade which belongs to him, as the
most precious production of his dominions, and of which the sale is
most to be relied on."


Note VII.--Page 18.

This shell, which even here, as every where else, bears the name of
cowrie, forms likewise the currency of Africa, as it formerly did
that of India; and this may probably furnish an argument in favour
of the Malay origin.


Note VIII.--Page 21. Note IX.--Same page.

Two causes are here assigned for the wretched state of these
dependencies, apparently different, but in fact flowing from the same
source. We are told that the surrounding nations are more industrious,
and can work at a cheaper rate, and that the insects and rats destroy
the produce of the soil. Were the encouragement of agriculture and
manufactures an object of importance in the colonial system of the
Philippines, the extension and protection of the former would soon
circumscribe the dominion of the rats, its most destructive enemy;
and if the productions of the soil were, as they ought to be, in as
great plenty, and at as low a rate as on the neighbouring islands,
manufactures, particularly with the aid of machinery, would be afforded
at a profit adequate to the exertions of industry. But the truth
is, that the Spanish government is rather desirous of considering
the Philippines as the grand depot of the commerce of South America
with India and China, and it may be presumed that, on this account,
not only is its industry repressed, but the very heavy expense of the
settlement submitted to and annually sent from New Spain. The revenue
stated to be collected in the islands amounts to about one million of
dollars, and this, together with about the same sum remitted by the
Acapulco ships, enable the government to defray the annual charges
of the colonial establishment.


Note X.--Page 24.

The Spanish author, on the subject of the origin of these Negroes,
forms a conclusion directly at variance with what he afterwards says
with regard to the origin of the Indians. He admits that the similarity
of the former to those of Angola, with the exception of only a shade
in colour, carries sufficient conviction as to their parent stock,
and of course allows the islands to have been originally colonized
from Africa, and by a people infinitely less advanced in cultivation
than the Indians, setting aside at once his own very well founded
subsequent conclusion, that the colonization of all the islands of the
South Sea, with the Marianas, Philippines, &c. must have originated in
South America, and proceeded gradually before the wind. The constant
course of easterly winds in the Pacific, joined to the instances he
adduces of similitude of language, unquestionably aid his hypothesis,
which, though probably more curious than practically useful, is yet
deserving of attention. There is not, indeed, a more embarrassing
subject than that frequently proves to be, which treats of the origin
and ancient connexion of distant nations, and after all, as in this
case, we are too often left on the field of conjecture.


Note XI.--Page 25.

The reason here given for the wretched condition of these people
seems more candidly than might be expected from a Spaniard, to take
the load of responsibility from them and cast it on the government;
and the perusal of the succeeding pages will but too well confirm
the propriety of the censure.


Note XII.--Page 36.

Sonnerat asserts, that among the mild inhabitants of the fertile
plains on the west border of the Lake Bay, adultery is the only crime
punished with death; but it seems more reasonable to conclude, that
of the two the Spaniard is most to be relied on.


Note XIII.--Page 37.

The striking resemblance of this to the price exacted by Laban from
Jacob for his two daughters, will not be passed over by the reader
unnoticed; and we are obliged to conclude either that such similarity
of customs must originate in a common source, or that a certain state
of social life, in certain climates, will produce manners mutually
approximating.


Note XIV.--Page 42.

Without, in any respect, detracting from the merit of the propagators
of the Christian faith in these islands, or claiming any superiority
for our own tenets or practice, I fear we need not travel beyond the
pillars of Hercules to the southward, and the Ultima Thulé to the
northward, to discover such perversion of human intellect, although,
I trust, it is no proof that we are very bad Christians.

The influence of traditional superstitions is too generally known
and admitted to require to be descanted on. Its operation commences
with the first dawn of reason, and very rarely is it found that even
all the strength of the human mind, aided by religion and philosophy,
can thoroughly eradicate the impressions it makes. The water kelpie
of the north of Scotland differs from the Patianac and Tigbalang, only
as being a good natured and very useful being; and we are all familiar
with the mythologic machinery of our ancestors, for we will take leave
to entertain a belief that Fingal and Ossian did once exist, and that
the latter pourtrayed the manners, customs and opinions of his time.


Note XV.--Page 46.

It is curious to observe the progress of science and discovery, and
still more deserving our notice is the transitory nature of power. The
magisterial authority assumed by the Pontiff on this occasion might
possibly have saved the effusion of human blood, and its interposition
at that crisis, as a mediator between the most powerful nations then
in existence, if it was beneficial in no other respect, seems to have
stimulated the Spaniards to attempt the discovery of a passage into
the Pacific by the southern coast of America.


Note XVI.--Page 65.

This must either be a mistake, or we must conclude that the intercourse
of the Portuguese with these islands had furnished them with the
European improvements.


Notes XVII. and XVIII.--Pages 106-7.

The circumstances stated on both these occasions, incontestably prove
that the energy and exertions of the Portuguese in establishing their
own exclusive dominion in the eastern Archipelago, even in defiance of
the fiat of his Holiness, had led them to impart to the natives that
knowledge which they themselves had been but lately possessed of;
for the use of cannon, on board ships, did not come into practice
till about the year 1539.


Note XIX.--Page 129.

Thus it is that the Spaniards appear even to have deceived themselves
in subduing those islands. In the course of this work, the reader
will be enabled to appreciate the nature of what the Spaniards called
a conquest. The progress of a few men into the interior of a country
under the protection of fire-arms, and the baptism of some individuals,
to whose language the Spaniards were perfect strangers, and who of
course could form no idea of the obligations imposed by the ceremony,
seem to constitute their notion of conquest. Thus it is too that their
authority extends over so small a portion of these delicious islands.


Note XX.--Page 197.

The inhuman custom of infanticide is not only practised with impunity
in China, but seems even countenanced as the readiest means of
limiting a population which would otherwise be superabundant, and in
time exceed the productive powers of the country. By the narrative of
Lord Macartney we learn, that in the tract of country through which
the embassy passed, the population appeared excessive; at the same
time that cultivation and industry seemed to be extended to their
utmost limits. All the accounts we possess of that extraordinary empire
concur in this representation. What effect the very pious application
of the funds of the eleemosynary establishments at Manila may have
in checking this savage custom is not noticed by the author; and we
have reason to fear the practice is so general, that any attempt to
check it by this means might rather tend to stimulate the avarice
of the parents, and produce an opposite effect. The Chinese are as
yet but in a half civilized state, and while they continue so we can
entertain but slender hopes of any alteration more consistent with
the feelings of humanity.


Note XXI.--Page 211.

The whole of this paragraph comprises a more virulent Philippic against
the Spanish government than we could have expected from a Spaniard;
but which the reader is by this time convinced is no less just than
spirited. That the mild measures the author recommends would have
the desired effect may be fairly doubted. He appears to write as a
monk rather than as a statesman; but it cannot admit of a question,
that if it were possible to combine with such measures a military
establishment, under the control of wise laws, whose mild influence
might be generally felt, and equally protect the native as the
Spaniard, the unstable authority of that nation upon these islands
would soon assume a different character, and reduce the quantum of
human misery which their present system is calculated to perpetuate.





                      T. DAVISON, Lombard-street,
                          Whitefriars, London.







NOTE


[1] This is an opinion very generally received, and naturalists,
in copying one from another, have stamped a credit upon it. Houttyn
himself, in his Natural History, vol. i. part v. page 607, gives a
description of this bird, and of its manners, very different from
the above.





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