Part 6 (1/2)

Marcos Dias returned to Tidore at the first monsoon, in the beginning of the year six hundred and two, bearing an answer to his message, and taking the reenforcements that had been asked, of provisions, ammunition, and a few soldiers. He was satisfied therewith, until a fitting opportunity should offer for making the desired expedition from Manila.

Of the government of Don Pedro de Acuna, governor and president of the Filipinas, and of what happened during his administration, until his death in June of the year six hundred and six, after his return to Manila from Maluco, where he had completed the conquest of the islands subject to the king of Terrenate.

CHAPTER SEVENTH

In the month of May of six hundred and two, four s.h.i.+ps came to Manila from Nueva Espana, with a new governor and president of the Audiencia, named Don Pedro de Acuna, knight of the Order of St. John, comendador of Salamanca, and lately governor of Cartagena in Tierra Firme. He was received into the government to the great satisfaction of the whole country, on account of the need there of one who would be as skilled in matters of war as watchful and careful in the government. Don Francisco Tello, his predecessor, awaiting his residencia which was to be taken, had to remain in Manila until the following year, six hundred and three, and in the month of April he died of an acute illness. The new governor, upon seeing things in so great need of stability, and so limited resources in the royal treasury for the purpose, found that his lot was not so good as he had imagined when he had been appointed; since the state of affairs obliged him to risk a part of his reputation without his being able to remedy matters as quickly as was to be desired. He took heart as much as possible, however, and without sparing himself any personal labor in whatever presented itself, he began with what was to be done in Manila and its environs. He began to construct galleys and other vessels in the s.h.i.+pyard, for there was great need of these, in order to defend the sea, which was full of enemies and pirates from other islands, especially from Mindanao. He discussed going immediately in person to visit the provinces of Pintados, in order to supply more quickly the needs of that region, which was causing the greatest anxiety. But he had to postpone that several months to arrange for the despatch of j.a.pon and Jolo matters, and for the s.h.i.+ps which were to make the voyage to Nueva Espana, all of which came at once and had to be seen to.

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

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

The governor, Don Pedro de Acuna, in fulfilment of his letter, namely, that he would send a s.h.i.+p to Quanto, prepared and then sent out a medium-sized s.h.i.+p, named ”Santiago el Menor” [i.e., St. James the Less], with a captain and the necessary seamen and officers, and some goods consisting of red wood, [152] deerskins, raw silk [153]

and other things. This s.h.i.+p set out with orders to go to Quanto, where it would find discalced Franciscan religious and there to sell its goods and return with the exchange--and with the permission of Daifusama--to Manila. Thus j.a.panese matters were provided for, as far as seemed necessary, according to the state of affairs.

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

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

During the first days of the governor's administration he found in the s.h.i.+pyard of Cabit two large s.h.i.+ps which were being finished to make their voyage that year to Nueva Espana. One of them, belonging to Don Luys Dasmarinas, by an agreement which the latter had made with the governor's predecessor, Don Francisco Tello, was to go with a cargo of merchandise. The other, called the ”Espiritu Santo,” built by Joan Tello de Aguirre and other residents of Manila, was to make the voyage with the merchandise of that year credited to the builders, but was to pa.s.s into possession of his Majesty on its arrival in Nueva Espana, according to an agreement and contract made with the same governor, Don Francisco Tello. Don Pedro de Acuna made so great haste in despatching both s.h.i.+ps that, with the cargo which they were to carry, he sent them out of port at the beginning of July of the aforesaid year six hundred and two, with Don Lope de Ulloa in the ”Espiritu Santo” as general, and Don Pedro Flores in charge of the ”Jesus Maria.” Both s.h.i.+ps went on their way, and in thirty-eight degrees met such storms that they were many times on the point of being wrecked, and threw overboard a quant.i.ty of their merchandise. The s.h.i.+p ”Jesus Maria” put back into Manila with difficulty after having been more than forty days in the island of the Ladrones, whence it was unable to depart. During this time they had opportunity to pick up all the surviving Spaniards from among those left by the s.h.i.+p ”Santa Margarita,” among them, Fray Joan Pobre, who had jumped into one of the boats of the natives from the galleon ”Santo Tomas,” when it pa.s.sed that way the year before. Five other Spaniards were in other islands of the same Ladrones, but although every effort was made to bring them, they could not come. The natives brought Fray Joan Pobre and the others to the s.h.i.+p in their own boats, with great friends.h.i.+p and good will. After they had been entertained on board the s.h.i.+p, which they entered without fear, and after iron and other presents had been given to them, they returned without the Spaniards, weeping and showing great sorrow. The s.h.i.+p ”Espiritu Santo,” with the same difficulty, put into j.a.pon, as it could do nothing else, with its mainmast gone, and entered a port of Firando, twenty leguas from a station of the religious of St. Augustine, who had gone there the same year from Manila, and where also the s.h.i.+p bound for Quanto had entered. The harbor could be sounded [i.e., it formed a good anchorage], but to enter and leave it were very difficult, because its channel had many turns, with rocks and high mountains on both sides. However, as the j.a.panese natives with their funeas towed and guided the s.h.i.+p so that it might enter, it had less difficulty. When it was inside, a j.a.panese guard was placed on the s.h.i.+p, and those who went ash.o.r.e were not allowed to return to the s.h.i.+p. The supplies furnished them did not suffice for all their necessities, and the price was not suitable. On this account, and because a large number of soldiers had a.s.sembled quickly at the port from the whole district, and had asked the general for the sails of the s.h.i.+p, which he had always declined to give them, he feared that they wished to seize the s.h.i.+p and its merchandise, as was done in Hurando, with the s.h.i.+p ”San Felipe,”

in the year ninety-six. He acted with caution, and kept much closer watch thenceforward, without leaving his s.h.i.+p or allowing his men to leave it alone, or any of the merchandise to be unloaded. At the same time he sent his brother, Don Alonso de Ulloa, and Don Antonio Maldonado to Miaco with a reasonable present for Daifusama, that he might have provision given them and permission to go out again from that harbor. [155] These men made the journey by land. Meanwhile, those on the s.h.i.+p were greatly troubled by the j.a.panese who were in the port, and by their captains, who were not satisfied with the presents which were given them to make them well disposed, but forcibly seized whatever they saw, giving out that everything was theirs and that it would soon be in their power. Fray Diego de Guebara, the Augustinian superior in Firando, came to the s.h.i.+p and told the general that he had put into a bad harbor of infidels and wicked people, who would take his s.h.i.+p and rob it, and that he should endeavor with all his might to get it out of there and take it to Firando where he [the father]

was living. Meanwhile he told him to be on the watch and guard to the best of his ability. As the father was returning to his house with some pieces of silk, given him on the s.h.i.+p for his new church and monastery at Firando, the j.a.panese took it away from him and did not leave him a thing, saying that it was all theirs, and he went away without it. About a dozen and a half of the Spaniards of the s.h.i.+p were ash.o.r.e, where they were kept in confinement and not allowed to go on board again, and although the general warned them that he had determined to leave the port as soon as possible, and that they should make every effort to come to the s.h.i.+p, they could not all do so, but only four or five of them. Without waiting any longer he drove the j.a.panese guard from the s.h.i.+p, bent the foresail and spritsail, loaded the artillery, and, with weapons in hand, one morning set the s.h.i.+p in readiness to weigh anchor. The j.a.panese went to the channel at the mouth of the harbor with many funeas and arquebusiers, stretched a thick rattan cable which they had woven, and moored it on both banks in order that the s.h.i.+p might not be able to sail out. The general sent a small boat with six arquebusiers to find out what they were doing, but at their approach, a number of the j.a.panese funeas attacked them with the purpose of capturing them. However, by defending themselves with their arquebuses they returned to the s.h.i.+p and reported to the general that the j.a.panese were closing the exit from the harbor with a cable. Taking this to be a bad sign, the s.h.i.+p immediately set sail against the cable to break it, and a negro, to whom the general promised his freedom, offered to be let down over the bow with a large machete in order to cut the cable when the s.h.i.+p should reach it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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