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History of the Philippine Islands Vols 1 and 2

A >> Antonio de Morga >> History of the Philippine Islands Vols 1 and 2




This is the best coast [112] of all that have been discovered,
and the most suitable for galleys, if God should ordain that they
come hither. I have already discovered where the king keeps his
treasure. The country is very rich, and the city of Canton well
supplied, although there is nothing to be said in regard to its
buildings, of which the whole city possesses few of any importance,
according to the information received from a Theatin [113] Sangley with
whom I found much pleasure in talking--though I was able to do so for
only one afternoon. He was a man of intelligence and reason, and it is
said that he is a scholar. He told me that in Paquien [i.e., Pekin],
where the king resides, and in Lanquien [i.e., Nankin] the fathers
of the Society enjoy the quiet possession of three houses. There
are seven fathers, among whom is one called Father Riçio, [114]
an associate of Father Rugero who went to Roma. He is an excellent
mathematician and has corrected the Chinese calendar which contained
many errors and false opinions, and their fantastic idea of the world,
which they believed to be flat. He made them a globe and a sphere,
and with this and the sound arguments and reasons which they give
them, the fathers are considered as people descended from heaven. He
says that in those regions the people would be very favorable to
conversion, if there were ministers; and that there [i.e., in Pekin]
the foreigners are not looked upon with wonder as they are here
[i.e., in Canton]. He says that the people are much more sensible
and reasonable, so much so that they call the people of this country
barbarians. He adds that Lanquien lies in the latitude of Toledo,
namely thirty and two-thirds degrees, and that from there to Paquien
is a twenty-five days' journey, so that the latter city must lie in
more than fifty degrees of latitude. [115] The above-mentioned brother
comes down annually to collect the stipend given them by the people
here for their three houses. Now they are expecting a great friend of
theirs who is said to be the second person nearest to the king. One
can travel through all this land by water, and therefore it abounds
in everything, for articles are conveyed over the rivers and there
is no need of beasts of burden, which is its special greatness.

He who wishes to depict China without having seen the land, must draw
a country full of rivers and towns, and without a palmo of ground left
lying idle. I wish I had more time in which to describe some of the
things of China which I have observed and inquired about with special
care, and of which, if God please, I shall be the messenger. The
affairs of Camboja are in a good condition, and we shall arrive there
at a seasonable time, if it be our Lord's will that we leave this
place with good auspices. The king sent a ship to Manila at the end
of August to ask for assistance. I do not know whether it has arrived
or whether it returned to put in port, for it left very late. Bias
Ruis sent fifty picos [116] from Camanguian. According to report,
the king has apportioned and given him nine thousand vassals, and as
many more to Belloso.

At present we ourselves are enduring the necessity of which Don Juan
Çamudio will inform you. I entreat your Grace to help us, since it
is of so great importance. I kiss many times the hand of my lady
Doña Joana. May our Lord preserve your Grace for many years in the
prosperity and tranquillity which we your servants desire. From the
port of El Pinal, frozen with cold, the twenty-third of December,
ninety-eight.

If my brother should come before I return, I beseech your Grace,
since it is so natural in your Grace to do good to all--especially
to those of that land--to show him the goodness which your Grace has
always shown me.

FERNANDO DE LOS RIOS CORONEL

After Don Juan de Çamudio's departure from El Pinal, where Don Luis
Dasmariñas remained with his junk awaiting the assistance that he
expected from Manila and which he had requested through Don Joan and
Alférez Francisco Rodrigues, Don Luis thought that, since some time had
passed, the answer was being delayed, while his people were suffering
great want and cold there. Therefore he tried to put out to sea in the
junk, and to make for Manila. But the weather did not permit this,
nor was the vessel large enough to hold all of Don Luis's men for
the voyage. He stopped near the fort where the Portuguese of Macan
again sent him many messages and requests to leave the coast at once,
warning him that they would seize him and his companions, and would
send them to India, where they would be severely punished. Don Luis
always answered them that he had not come to harm or offend them,
but that he was going to the kingdom of Camboja for the service of
God and of his Majesty; that he had been shipwrecked and had suffered
many hardships, the severest of which had been due to the Portuguese
of Macan themselves, subjects of his Majesty; that he was expecting
help from Manila in order that he might return thither; and that he
begged and requested them to aid and protect him, and to free the
two Castilians whom they had seized. Finally he declared that if, in
spite of all this, they should attempt to do him any harm or injury, he
would defend himself to the best of his ability; and he protested that
any losses resulting therefrom would lie at their door. Thenceforward
Don Luis Dasmariñas kept strict watch on his ship. He kept his weapons
ready and the artillery loaded, and was on his guard day and night. And
he was not mistaken, for the people of Macan resolved to attack him in
order to seize him. To this end the chief captain himself came one day,
with some fustas and other vessels, and with men armed with javelins,
guns, and artillery, when they thought the Castilians would be off
their guard, to attack Don Luis Dasmariñas. The latter, suspecting
what was about to happen, awaited them arms in hand; and as he saw
the Portuguese fleet attacking him, he began to play upon them with
his muskets, arquebuses, and a few pieces of artillery, with such
rapidity that he inflicted a very severe loss upon his enemy and
upon the ship which carried the chief captain, killing one of his
pages who stood behind him, and other persons. The chief captain
retired with all the other vessels, and they made for the high sea,
having been defeated by Don Luis, who did not attempt to follow them
but remained on the watch. As the Portuguese did not dare attack him
again they made for Macan, and Don Luis Dasmariñas put into the port
of El Pinal, where he thought he would be in greater security. There
Don Luis remained until Captain Francisco Rodrigues arrived with the
ship from Manila, and joined him. They distributed their men between
the two ships and made some purchases with what this last ship had
brought from Manila, in the very city of Macan, for the Portuguese,
for the sake of their own interests, gave and sold them goods, in
spite of a certain apprehension of the law. They returned to Manila
leaving a few men in El Pinal who had died of sickness, among whom was
Fray Alonso Ximenez, the principal promoter of this enterprise. His
associate, Fray Diego Aduarte, did not choose to return to Manila,
but went to Macan and thence to Goa, in order to go to España. Don
Luis reached Manila with both ships, and his expedition to Camboja
and his conduct of the said enterprise remained in this state.

It has been already related that the galliot, one of the ships of
Don Luis Dasmariñas's fleet, in which Luis Ortiz and twenty-five
Spaniards had sailed, after having put into Cagayan and refitted
there, sailed again during fairly good weather to find the fleet. This
ship although so inadequate to resist storms at sea, was permitted,
through God's mercy, to encounter those which it met without being
wrecked. It made its way along the coast of Cochinchina and Champan,
inside the shoals of Aynao, and reached the bar of Camboja. Expecting
to find all or some of the ships of its convoy within the bar, it
ascended the river as far as the city of Chordemuco. There they
found Diego Belloso and Blas Ruys de Hernan Gonçalez, with some
Castilians who had joined them, and other Portuguese who had come by
way of Malaca, and with whose assistance many battles had been won
in favor of King Prauncar, who had been restored to his kingdom,
although some of his provinces had not been entirely pacified. It
was learned there that neither Don Luis Dasmariñas nor any other of
his fleet had reached Camboja. Those in the galliot said that Don
Luis was coming in person with a large force of ships, men, arms,
and some religious, to accomplish what he had always desired to do
in that kingdom; that he would not be long in coming; and that their
galliot and crew belonged to his fleet. Blas Ruis and his Castilian
companions greatly rejoiced over so opportune news. The former thought
that everything was turning out well, and that now, according to the
present state of affairs, matters would be accomplished and settled as
they wished. Diego Belloso and his party, although they did not show
their regret, were not so pleased, for they much preferred the happy
termination and reward of this expedition to be for the Portuguese and
the government of India. They had had certain quarrels and disputes
with Blas Ruis over this. But seeing that the affair had reached this
state, they conformed to the times. Thereupon all joined together,
Portuguese and Castilians, and informed Prauncar and his mandarins
of the arrival of Alférez Luis Ortiz with his galliot and companions,
saying that they were part of a large fleet which would shortly arrive,
and that Don Luis Dasmariñas was coming in it in person, with religious
and men to aid and serve the king, in conformity to what he himself
had requested in his letter to Manila, several months before. The
king seemed pleased at this, and so did some of his mandarins who
liked the Spaniards, and recognized what benefits they had derived
from them hitherto. These believed that the matter would turn out
as it was represented to them. But the king's stepmother, and other
mandarins of her party, especially the Moro Malay Ocuña Lacasamana,
were vexed at the arrival of the Spaniards, for they thought that
the latter, being valiant men, numerous, and so courageous, as they
already knew, would dominate everything, or at least would take the
best; moreover they alone wished to deal with King Prauncar. Thus
their aversion for Spanish affairs became known to be as great as
the favor with which Prauncar, on the contrary, regarded them. The
latter immediately assigned the Spaniards a position with their ship
near the city, at the place which Blas Ruiz and Diego Belloso occupied.

Before Don Luis Dasmariñas left Manila with his fleet, Captain Joan
de Mendoça Gamboa requested Governor Don Francisco Tello to allow him
to go to the kingdom of Sian with a moderate-sized ship, in order to
trade. For the greater security of his voyage and business, he asked
the governor to give him letters to the king of Sian, in which the
latter should be informed that he was sent as the governor's ambassador
and messenger to continue the peace, friendship, and commerce which
Joan Tello de Aguirre had contracted with Sian the year before. Seeing
that Don Luis Dasmariñas, who was on the way to Camboja, had left in
Manila for another occasion some ammunition and other things of use
to his fleet, Don Joan, in order better to facilitate the granting of
his request, offered to take these stores on board his ship and sail
round by way of Camboja, where he supposed that he would find Don
Luis Dasmariñas, and deliver them to him. The governor thought the
two proposals timely, and having furnished him with the necessary
despatches, Don Joan de Mendoça left Manila with his ship, taking
as pilot Joan Martinez de Chave, who had been Joan Tello's pilot
when the latter went to Sian. He took as companions some sailors and
Indian natives. He had a quantity of siguei [117] and other goods to
barter, and the ammunition and provisions which he was to convey to
Don Luis. With him embarked Fray Joan Maldonado [118] and an associate,
both religious of the Order of St. Dominic. The former was a grave and
learned man and a very intimate friend of Don Luis Dasmariñas, to whom
his order took great pleasure in sending him as a companion. They left
Manila, without knowing of Don Luis's shipwreck two months after the
latter had set sail. Crossing over the shoals they shortly reached
the bar of Camboja and ascended to the capital, where they found
the galliot of the fleet and learned that its other ships had not
arrived. The king received them cordially and lodged them with Diego
Belloso, Blas Ruiz, Luis Ortiz, and their companions. They passed
the time together, and would not let Joan de Mendoça leave Camboja
with his ship until something was heard of Don Luis Dasmariñas. A few
days later, they learned through Chinese ships, and by other means,
that the latter had put into China with difficulty and in distress,
and that he was there preparing to continue his voyage. Although this
event caused them sorrow, they still hoped that in a short time Don
Luis would be in Camboja with the two ships of his fleet.

At this same time, a mestizo, named Govea, son of a Portuguese
and a Japanese woman, who lived in Japon, collected some mestizo
companions, as well as Japanese and Portuguese, on a junk which
he owned in the port of Nangasaqui, with the intention of coasting
along China, Champan, and Camboja, to seek adventures and to barter,
but mainly to make prizes of what they might meet at sea. With them
embarked a Castilian who had lived in Nangasaqui after the wreck of
the galleon "San Felipe," while on its way to Nueva España in the
year ninety-six. His name was Don Antonio Malaver, and he had been
a soldier in Italia. He came to the Filipinas from Nueva España as
captain and sargento-mayor of the troops brought that year by Doctor
Antonio de Morga in the fleet from Nueva España to Manila. Don Antonio
Malaver, who had no wish to return to the Filipinas, thinking that
by that way he could go to India and thence to España, and that on
the road there might fall to him some share of the illgotten gains
of that voyage, embarked with Govea and his company. After they had
run down the coast and heard some news of the entry of Spaniards
into Camboja, Don Antonio persuaded Govea to enter the river of
Camboja, where they would find Spaniards, and affairs in such a
state that they might take some effective action in that kingdom,
and thrive better than at sea. They went up as far as Chordemuco,
joined the Castilians and Portuguese and were received into their
company and list. As they all--and they were a considerable number of
men--saw the delay of Don Luis Dasmariñas, they proclaimed as leaders
Fray Joan Maldonado, Diego Belloso, and Blas Ruis. Then they began
to treat with King Prauncar on their own account concerning their
establishment and comfort, and to request lands and rice for their
maintenance and other things which had been promised them, alleging
that they did not derive the necessary usufruct and profit out of
his concessions to Belloso and Blas Ruis. Although the king gave
them good hopes for everything he brought nothing to a conclusion,
being hindered in this by his stepmother and the mandarins of her
party, who would have liked to see the Spaniards out of the kingdom;
and in this they gained more animus every day by the non-arrival of
Don Luis Dasmariñas. Consequently, the Spaniards spent the time in
going to and fro between their quarters and the city to negotiate
with the king, with whose answers and conversations they sometimes
returned satisfied and at other times not so much so.

Ocuña Lacasamana and his Malays had their quarters near those of the
Spaniards, and since they were Moros, so opposed in religion and
pretension, the two parties had no affinity. Once a quarrel arose
between Spaniards and Malays, and several men were severely wounded on
both sides. Among them Alférez Luys Ortiz, commander of the galliot,
had both legs run through and was in great danger. King Prauncar was
angry at this, but did not dare to inflict any punishment or make
any reparation for these injuries. While matters were at such a heat
and the Malays were ill-disposed toward the Spaniards, one day while
Fray Joan Maldonado, Diego Belloso, and Blas Ruyz were in the city,
and Luys de Villafañe was in command of the quarters, on account of
the wounds and illness of Luys Ortiz, another quarrel arose in the
quarters with the Malays. Luys de Villafañe, taking advantage of this
opportunity, determined, with a few Spaniards who followed him, to
unite with Govea and his men, and attack the Malays, their quarters,
and the goods that they possessed, and sack them. Incited by anger and
still more by covetousness, they carried this out, and after having
killed many Malays and taken a quantity of property from them, they
retired and fortified themselves in their own quarters and in the
Japanese ship. The king and his mandarins were very angry at this,
and not less so were Fray Joan Maldonado, Belloso, and Blas Ruyz,
who were in Chordemuco; but Ocuña Lacasamana was far the angriest,
at seeing the injury and insult done him, and at the breaking of the
peace so recently made in reference to former quarrels. Although Fray
Joan Maldonado, Belloso, and Blas Ruiz went at once to the quarters
to remedy the matter, they found it so complicated that not even
King Prauncar, who tried to intervene, could compose it. The latter
warned the Spaniards to look to their personal safety, for he saw
their party fallen and in great danger, without his being able to
help it. Fray Joan Maldonado and his companion, although facing the
matter in company with Diego Belloso and Bias Ruis, yet took refuge
in Joan de Mendoça's ship for greater security, and some Spaniards
did the same. Diego Belloso, Blas Ruiz, and the others relying on
the king's friendship, and their services in the country, remained
on shore, although they took every precaution and kept the closest
possible guard over their safety. [119]

The Malay Lacasamana, aided by his men and the mandarins of his
party, and supported by the king's step-mother, lost no more
time, nor the present opportunity, but attacked the Castilians,
Portuguese, and Japanese, at once, both by land and sea. Finding them
separated--although some offered as much resistance as possible--he
killed them all, including Diego Belloso and Blas Ruiz de Hernan
Gonçales. Then he burned their quarters and vessels except that of
Joan de Mendoça, who, fearing the danger, descended the river toward
the sea and defended himself against some praus that had followed
him. He took with him Fray Joan Maldonado, the latter's associate, and
some few Spaniards. On shore there remained alive only one Franciscan
religious, five Manila Indians, and a Castilian named Joan Dias, whom
the king, who grieved exceedingly for the deaths of the Spaniards,
had hid carefully in the open country. Although the king advised
the friar not to appear in public until the Malays were appeased,
that religious, imagining that he could escape their fury, emerged
with two Indians in order to escape from the kingdom. But they were
found and killed like the others. Joan Dias and three Indians remained
many days in concealment, and the king maintained them, until, after
other events, they could appear. Thus the cause of the Spaniards in
Camboja came to an end, and was so entirely defeated that the Moro
Malay and his partisans remained complete masters. They managed the
affairs of the kingdom with so little respect for King Prauncar,
that finally they killed him also. Thereupon a fresh insurrection
broke out, the provinces revolted, each man seized whatever he could,
and there was more confusion and disturbance than before.

The Spanish garrison left in La Caldera, at the withdrawal of Don
Joan Ronquillo's camp from the river of Mindanao, passed into command
of Captain Villagra at the death of Captain Joan Pacho in Jolo, and
was suffering for lack of provisions; for neither the people of the
river could give them to the Spaniards, nor would the Joloans furnish
any on account of the war declared upon them. Therefore the garrison
urgently requested Governor Don Francisco Tello either to aid their
presidio with provisions, soldiers, and ammunition, or to allow them
to retire to Manila--a thing of which they were most desirous--since
there they gained no other special result than that of famine, and
of incarceration in that fort, and of no place wherein to seek their
sustenance. The governor, in view of their insistence in the matter;
and having but little money in the royal exchequer, with which to
provide for and maintain the said presidio--and for the same reason
the punishment that was to be inflicted upon the Joloans for their
outrages upon the Spaniards, and their insurrection was deferred--and
thinking that the return to Mindanao matters would be a long question:
he was inclined to excuse the difficulty and anxiety of maintaining
the presidio of La Caldera. In order to do it with a reasonable
excuse he consulted the Audiencia and other intelligent persons, and
requested them to give him their opinion. But he first communicated
his wishes to them and gave them some reasons with which he tried to
persuade them to give him the answer that he desired. The Audiencia
advised him not to remove or raise the garrison of La Caldera, but to
reënforce and maintain it, and to attend to the affairs of Jolo and
the river of Mindanao as soon as possible, even if what was necessary
for those two places should be withdrawn from some other section. They
said that this was the most urgent need, and the one which required
the greatest attention in the islands, both in order to pacify those
provinces and to keep them curbed; lest, seeing the Spaniards totally
withdrawn, they should gain courage and boldly venture still farther,
and come down to make captures among the Pintados and carry the war
to the very doors of the Spaniards. [120] Notwithstanding this reply
the governor resolved to raise and withdraw the garrison, and sent
orders to Captain Villagra immediately to burn the fort which had
been built in La Caldera, to withdraw with all his men and ships,
and return to Manila. This was quickly done, for the captain and the
soldiers of the garrison waited for nothing more than to dismantle
the fort and leave. When the Joloans saw the Spaniards abandoning the
country, they were persuaded that the latter would return to Mindanao
no more, and that they had not sufficient forces to do so. Thereupon
they gained fresh resolution and courage, and united with the people
of Buhahayen on the river, and equipped a number of caracoas and other
craft, in order to descend upon the coast of Pintados to plunder them
and make captives. The people of Tampacan, who lost hope of receiving
further help from the Spaniards, and of the latter's return to the
river, since they had also abandoned the fort of La Caldera and left
the country, came to terms with and joined the people of Buhahayen,
their neighbors, in order to avoid the war and injuries that they
were suffering from the latter. Then all turned their arms against
the Spaniards, promising themselves to make many incursions into their
territory and gain much plunder. Accordingly they prepared their fleet,
and appointed as leaders and commanders of it two of the experienced
chiefs, of the river of Mindanao, called Sali and Silonga. They left
the Mindanao River in the month of July of the year ninety-nine, in
the season of the vendavals, with fifty caracoas, containing more than
three thousand soldiers armed with arquebuses, campilans, carasas,
other weapons with handles, and many culverins, and steered toward
the islands of Oton and Panay, and neighboring islands. They passed
Negros Island and went to the river of Panay, which they ascended
for five leguas to the chief settlement, where the alcalde-mayor and
some Spaniards were living. They sacked the settlement, burned the
houses and churches, captured many native Christians--men, women,
and children--upon whom they committed many murders, cruelties,
and outrages. They pursued these in boats more than ten leguas up
the river, and destroyed all the crops. For the alcalde-mayor, and
those who could, fled inland among the mountains, and accordingly the
enemy had a better opportunity to do what they pleased. After they had
burned all the vessels in the river, they left the river of Panay with
their boats laden with pillaged goods and captive Christians. They
did the same in the other islands and towns which they passed. Then
they returned to Mindanao, without any opposition being offered, with
a quantity of gold and goods and more than eight hundred captives,
besides the people whom they had killed. In Mindanao they divided
the spoil, and agreed to get ready a larger fleet for the next year,
and return to make war better prepared. [121]

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