Chapter IV
The triennial of our father Fray Jerónimo de León passed with some disturbances, which did not fail to cause considerable disquiet in the minds of the religious, and disturb the peace of the order. The reason was, that after the first year of his term, he began to doubt whether he was lawfully elected, as it seemed to him that the real provincial was father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco; and indeed this was the case, as affirmed by our very reverend father general, Fray Nicolas de Oliva, of Sienna. Father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco had met a holy death in Zebú; and therefore our father Fray Dionisio Suárez, as provincial of the preceding chapter, began to govern [the province] as rector-provincial. Then Fray Jerónimo de León had recourse to the royal Audiencia[17] on a plea of fuerza, alleging this spoliation. And inasmuch as such proceeding acts as a stay, since it is a principle in law that Spoliatus debet ante omnia restitui, omni alio casu postposito,[18] they ordered that the government be restored to Fray Jerónimo, and that the question of title should be acted on later. But as judicial procedure is so slow, and of such bounds that they usually make a lawsuit eternal, our father Fray Dionisio Suárez was not inclined to secure his right at the cost of so much vexation; and therefore the triennial was completed in great peace; for father Fray Jerónimo de León was a religious very affable and worthy of being loved, and he deserved that his election should not be hampered by so notable a defect.
The time arrived for holding the session of the provincial chapter—the time in which the troubles which so many difficulties had caused to this province were to cease, and when not only the former peace and concord were to return, but great gains were to be secured in religious observance; for from the time of this chapter-meeting this province began to grow more strict, and to grow in all that conduces to its greater splendor, every chapter-session increasing in strictness of observance, to the greater glory of our regular institute. Such are usually the benefits that arise from the judicious choice of a good superior, who undertakes to fulfil the obligations of his office. The chapter was convened in the convent of Manila on April 14, 1674; its president was the father definitor Fray Luis de Montuyar, on account of the deaths of the two senior definitors, Master Fray José de Mendoza and Fray Isidro Rodríguez. By general agreement the election for provincial fell on our father Fray José Duque, commissary of the Holy Office. He was a native of Oropesa, and was fifty-six years old; a son of the convent of San Felipe at Madrid, and a very near relative of the glorious saint Teresa de Jesús; and an able minister in the province of Pampanga, besides having much to do with its pacification in the disturbances in that province which we have already related. He came over to this province of Filipinas in the year 1645, and always had the reputation of being a religious of very strict observance, with great ability as a ruler; and this province found him to be such during an experience of many years in his four terms of office therein—three as provincial, and one as rector-provincial—being always reverenced as the father of it. As definitors were elected fathers Fray Enrique de Castro, Fray José Gutiérrez, Fray Bernardino Márquez, and Fray Bartolomé de la Torre; and as visitors fathers Fray Antonio de Villela and the reader Fray José Rubio. Ordinances and regulations very suitable for the good government of the province were enacted, not many in number but useful and judicious.
At that period, this province was found very deficient in religious, on account of the many vacancies caused by death; on this account the ministries lacked the service which their extent and the arduous nature of some rendered necessary. Accordingly, as soon as the chapter-session adjourned the first care to which the new provincial devoted himself was to choose a well-qualified religious who might go as procurator to the two courts of Roma and Madrid, where the discords of the troubled chapter of the year 1671 had made a strong impression. For this purpose a private chapter-session was assembled, and therein a very judicious choice was made for this position, that of father Fray Juan García—a native of Las Encartaciones, and a minister in the province of Ilocos. The necessary despatches were given to him, and he embarked in the same year for Nueva España, in the galleon “San Telmo;” it was commanded by General Tomás de Endaya, a most successful man in these islands, where he died as his Majesty’s master-of-camp for them, in the year 1745. This religious had a prosperous voyage, and arrived at Nueva España and Roma; he successfully fulfilled his commission in all respects, and afterward returned to this province with a mission of religious, in the year 1679, so long was he detained in the negotiations at Roma and Madrid.
Chart of Manila Bay; photographic facsimile from Valentyn’s Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien (Dordrecht en Amsterdam, 1724)
[From copy in library of Wisconsin Historical Society]
Through the peaceful rule of Don Manuel de León, in which term all was prosperous and fortunate, the Filipinas Islands began to take breath after the troubles of so many preceding years; and in a short time they were gathering new strength and vigor. Don Manuel de León was a man of very good intentions, and had the excellent virtue of being very disinterested—which is very important in these regions, where the vice opposite to that has temptations so ready to make one fall headlong into the abyss of greed, which causes so many wrecks, as the root of all evils. Trading vessels came frequently from China, of which country the Tartars had gained entire possession; the Chinese, therefore, having laid aside their defensive arms, strove to accommodate themselves to the times, being anxious to repair the losses caused by war with the gains from trading—which is more adapted to their disposition than is war, Mars giving place to Mercury. The Chinese trade is the mainstay of the maintenance of Filipinas, by means of the silver which comes from Nueva España, which is the blood that gives life to this land; for from China come the stuffs necessary for clothing, from the shirt in their delicate fabrics to the needle and thread. Thence comes the fine earthenware which is, with reason, so celebrated throughout the world as choice and inimitable, because the material and clay of which it is made are found in no other place. Thence come drugs, and very rich coloring stuffs—especially vermilion, which is the best in the world. Finally, one cannot imagine any exquisite article for the equipment of a house which does not come from China, both cheap and excellent—especially the wares that come from Japón, with which country the Chinese have free commerce, just as it is totally prohibited to us. In some of the years of that fortunate governor thirty champans would land at Manila, and many from the province of Cantón, where is the city of Macán, a Portuguese colony—which is so rich in silks that it has enough of that noble commodity to supply nearly all of the whole world; it is conveyed in ships belonging to the Dutch, English, French, and Portuguese, and that which is carried to Manila and thence to Nueva España is the smallest part of it. The great city of Cantón (or Kuang-tung, as they call it) is far greater than the great Cairo or Babilonia of Egypt, for those who are most moderate in estimating its population allow it four millions of inhabitants; but although it is so great it is not the largest city in the extensive empire of China, for that of Nanking has eight millions, according to Father Martino Martínez in his Chinese atlas.[19] It is very commonly said in Manila that the city of Cantón has sixty thousand silk-looms, on which are made various fabrics of cloth and damask; and thus in one month enough is woven to lade many ships. By this some idea can be formed of the other industries of that city—or rather, that little world.
Commerce was also opened with the Portuguese of Macán, a trade which had been quite forgotten with the disturbances in China; and from that time it has continued, in varying degree, until this day. This trade, moreover, had been prohibited since the year 1640, on account of the wars with Portugal; but through the negotiations carried on at the court of Madrid by Don Fray Álvaro de Benavente, when he was procurator of this province—asserting that this was the best and safest means for the entrance into China for the missionaries who were going to Filipinas—the trade with Macán was opened and authorized, as was accordingly published in Manila by a royal decree; and it was made known to the Portuguese at Macán by another from their king, Don Pedro II. The pretext which was given for opening this commerce was the entrance of the missionaries into China, and its results have been various, according to what the Portuguese have found expedient for their own interests, on account of the pretensions which they make to the [ecclesiastical] patronage of China—in accordance with the line of demarcation [between the dominions] of the two crowns, by the celebrated bull of Alexander VI, a question which is not yet decided by a competent judge; and therefore our missionaries enter China when the Portuguese choose to let them do so. But the latter come every year to Manila with one or two shiploads of goods, which is the most profitable trade that they have, on account of its nearness and of their securing in barter the silver that is so esteemed by the Chinese. But as the Portuguese are so courtly and liberal a people, and inclined to boast of the obligations of nobility, some Portuguese gentlemen usually return quite destitute of funds—as occurred this year to Juan Tabora, a cavalier of the Order of Christ. He spent the wealth which he brought here, which was much, in elegant gallantries and in bull-fights; for he arrived here at a time when these and other sports were very frequent in Manila—not only on account of the prosperity and peace which were experienced during the entire term of office of Don Manuel de León, but through the jovial disposition of his favorite and secretary, Don José Castellar, who was a very witty and courtly man, and very fond of such pastimes. In these he spent whatever he was able to acquire, and when he came to die he was so poor that he was buried, through charity, in a chapel of St. Roque in the village of Mambong, belonging to the doctrina of Malolos in the province of Bulacán, which is in our charge.
Not only was the commerce with China, Cantón, and Macán set free in the time of the fortunate governor Don Manuel de León, but another was begun—indeed, almost discovered—which was very large and profitable, which has greatly increased the wealth of the citizens of Manila. This is the trade and traffic of the coast of Coromandel or Malabar[20] in Eastern India. This is the coast which extends from the mouths of the river Ganges, at the beginning of the large kingdom of Bengal, as far as the cape of Comorin; it is inhabited by Malabars, a people very shrewd and intelligent, and fond of work, and so crafty that when it is worth their while they deceive [even] the Chinese, who excel in the ability to cheat. The Malabar and Bengal people are unsurpassed in the art of spinning and weaving cotton cloth; for they weave pieces more delicate than the finest cambrics and Dutch linens, and gauzes so fine that when they are spread upon a table, the thread can hardly be discerned, it is so thin and delicate. But that in which they most excel, and have been alone and inimitable, is in their very fine cotton cloth dyed exquisitely with the finest colors; and this has another quality most excellent and admirable, which is that the more it is washed, the finer and more lustrous the colors appear, and they never are washed out or become dull. Without doubt these so rare colors are those which Job mentions in the twenty-eighth chapter, when making comparisons with Wisdom, he says: Non conferetur tinctis Indiæ coloribus.[21] On this coast of Coromandel the English, Dutch, French, and Danes maintain their factories, and possess an extensive commerce in cotton cloth, which is consumed throughout Europa—and much more in the regions of the north, because cotton is so good for protecting them [from the cold]. But the largest settlement, and the one most frequented for commerce, is that which the English have, named Madrastapán, or Fort St. George;[22] it is peopled with innumerable dwellers of all nationalities, not only those of India but Europeans. This is greatly favored by the policy that is in use in this great town, very different from that which obtains in Inglaterra, which is to permit the exercise not only of the apostolic Roman Catholic faith, but of all the heathen doctrines and ceremonies; and thus the Catholics have their churches, and so do the schismatic Armenians, with schismatic Basilian monks.[23] The heretics have their meeting-houses,[24] according to their sects; the Moors [i.e., Mahometans] their mosques, and the heathen their pagodas; nor even is their synagogue denied to the Jews; and all live peaceably, exercising the occupations of trade, as harmoniously as if they all had but one faith and religion. About two leguas distant is the city of Santo Tomé, a noted colony of the Portuguese, which in former times enjoyed [the distinction of] being the emporium of all Eastern India; and the cause of its destruction was its enormous wealth and the lack of harmony among the Portuguese, a people who are naturally inclined to disagree. On a lofty height near the city there is an ancient church, in which is venerated an image of Our Lady, which is said to have been painted by St. Luke and deposited in that place (called Meliapor) by the apostle St. Thomas, who preached to the Malabars our holy faith and suffered martyrdom in this place—where is guarded a stone cross near which he was put to death; and the lance with which they pierced him, stained with his holy blood, is displayed, with other memorials of this glorious apostle. [Diaz here mentions the great probability, fortified by citations from Juan de Barros, that the remains of the apostle repose there.][25]
This commerce with the coast of Coromandel had remained quite neglected by the Spaniards of Filipinas—who never had maintained any other trade and commerce than that with China, Japón, and Macán—until this year of 1674. Then a citizen of Manila, a Catalan, named Juan Ventura Sarra, a courageous man, having first made with a fragata which he owned a voyage to the kingdom of Siam, from which he gained some wealth, extended his navigation to this coast of Malabar, where he left trade established; and in the following year Don Luis de Matienzo went thither, with much silver, and gained enough profit to persuade the citizens of Manila to engage in this traffic. The principal commodity which is brought from the Coromandel coast is certain webs of cotton, many of them forty varas long, which they call “elephants,” which are highly valued in Nueva España; accordingly, it is this merchandise which is chiefly shipped to those regions.
The governor placed on the stocks the frame of the galleon “Santa Rosa,” the work of that accredited master of this important and useful art, Juan Bautista Nicolá; and it came from them one of the finest and largest galleons that had been built in the port of Cavite and made very successful voyages, sometimes being driven back to port. The governor commanded Juan Canosa Raguses, a very able builder of vessels with lateen sails, to build two galleys; these proved to be very suitable and swift, and rendered much service in driving away the Camucones, very crafty and troublesome pirates, who almost every year infest the Pintados Islands, plundering and taking captive. This is a barbarous people, cruel, and cowardly; indeed, they could not be the one without being also the other. They inhabit a chain of small islands, which extends from Paragua to Borney; some of them are Mahometans, and others heathen. But they [all] cause much damage to the Bisayan Islands, which they ravage without opposition—going so far as to carry away, in the year 1672, the alcalde-mayor Don José de San Miguel, as we have related in another place. They have a great advantage in the exceeding swiftness of their vessels, which enables them to find their defense in flight. Their confidence and boldness reached such a height that they even dared to infest the coasts of the island of Manila. The provincial of that time (of whom this chapter treats), Fray José Duque, while on his way to visit the islands of Pintados, came very near being made a captive, with his companion Fray Alvaro de Benavente; for they were attacked by a squadron of these pirates near the island of Marinduque, where they would have been a prey to their cruelty if they had not been protected by divine kindness, through the valor of Captain Francisco Ponce—a veteran soldier, who killed the captain and another of the pirates—and also the coming of a high wind, which gave wings to the champan to place itself in safety.
At this time, in the year 1675, Governor Don Manuel de León was in great danger of dying, on account of having placed himself under medical treatment, without being actually sick, solely for the sake of improving his health—a proof that it might have cost him his life. Don Manuel was a corpulent man, and had grown so fleshy that he was almost unable to move about without aid, at which he grieved much because he could not attend to many functions which belonged to the obligations of his office. In view of this hindrance and his desires, Juan Ventura Sarra (whom I have already mentioned in the voyages to Siam and the coast of Coromandel) bound himself to cure Don Manuel and remove from him that great encumbrance [of flesh]—confident because he was a very expert surgeon, and the governor a man of great courage and reared in and accustomed to the perils of war. The governor accordingly accepted this treatment; and the skilful surgeon opened his abdomen in many places and removed from him many lumps of fat, and then sewed up and treated the wounds. In a few weeks the governor became well, and his flesh was much reduced, to the wonder of those who saw how the surgeon cut the flesh from his body, and the courage which the governor displayed—and what caused most dread [of the result] was his being an aged man, but little less than seventy years old. The king of León, Don Sancho I, was cured about the year 920 of a similar infirmity of excessive obesity, by the physicians of the Moorish king of Córdoba, Abderramen; but their treatment was not so harsh and sanguinary. It is certain that Juan Ventura Sarra was a great surgeon, and showed that he was such not only with this governor, but also in the year 1682 with his successor, Master-of-camp Don Juan Vargas Hurtado. There was no hope for Don Juan’s life, on account of a large abscess in the hip, which was not understood to be such by the physicians; but Juan Ventura knew what it was, and opened the abscess with a large lancet which he made from a dagger, more than a tercia[26] long, since the cavity was very deep. In this operation he showed his skill as much as Don Juan de Vargas displayed his great bravery and endurance, which aroused admiration.
Although the cure of Don Manuel de León was so marvelous, he did not, since that inordinate obesity was now a disease and a corruption of nature, long enjoy the agility and lightness of body that the medical treatment had obtained for him; and so he gradually fell back into that unusual infirmity, and again found himself, as before, without the use of his limbs. He had many wounds in his body, which he had received in more than fifty years of military life in Flandes, Alemania, and Galicia, where he had taken part in battles more celebrated than were known in those times [i.e., of which Diaz was writing]. He had been so courageous in not fearing dangers that they called Don Manuel de León “Ironhead.” Among these he had one deep wound, which must have been imperfectly or only apparently healed; and this in course of time, and with the pressure on it that would be caused by the increase of flesh, opened, a great flow of blood issuing from it. This occurred so inopportunely that he was present in the church of Santo Domingo, clothed in mourning garb, assisting in the funeral rites for Doña María Cuéllar, wife of Auditor Don Francisco de Coloma.[27] His blood flowed very copiously, but those near him could not see it on account of the mourning garments, and because the chair and cushion were of black, until he began to swoon, and sank into the chair. They carried him in their arms to his coach, and thence he was conveyed to his palace, where all the care due to the cure of such a personage as he was furnished. The above-mentioned Juan Ventura Sarra treated him, applying all means which the art of surgery imparts to those who are so skilful as was Juan Ventura, who within four months brought him to what seemed a state of convalescence. But as his age was so great, and could not give much aid to the medicine (which only assists nature), Don Manuel could never regain sound health. The physicians ordered him to go to one of the houses that stand by the river opposite Manila, where he spent a long time—until, on the night of April 8, 1676, they found him dead in his bed, although he had retired without any indications of such danger. They found a power of attorney authorizing the father provincial of St. Dominic, Master Fray Diego de San Román, to make a will in his name, and directions that he be interred in the royal chapel of the Incarnation belonging to the soldiers of Manila, where he lies in a little chapel which stands on the gospel side. He was one of the best governors who has ruled these Filipinas Islands, very disinterested, pious, affable, and clement; and his death was therefore regretted by all classes. The estate that he left was the only property belonging to a governor that was put to good use,[28] the religious who acted as administrator applying it to pious works which the governor had named to him—such as the holy Bureau of La Misericordia, so that for years many orphan girls were given in marriage by means of that part [of the governor’s donation] which belonged to their dowries, until, with the successive wrecks of the two galleons “Santo Cristo de Burgos” and “San José,” in the years 1693 and 1695, the principal of that great endowment was entirely consumed. He also left directions to found a well-endowed chaplaincy in his native place—Paredes de Nava, in the district of Campos—and many other good works, worthy of his piety.
On account of his death the senior auditor, Don Francisco de Coloma, took charge of the government, in company with auditors Don Francisco de Mansilla and Don Diego Calderón y Serrano for civil affairs—for already had come the decision, in the controversy between the two auditors, by the royal and supreme Council of the Indias in favor of Don Francisco de Coloma, although his government lasted but a short time, on account of his death. During the time while they governed, however, they were very well agreed. The new governor despatched the ship “Santa Rosa” (which had just been completed) for Nueva España, in charge of General Don Francisco de Teja, a Navarrese gentleman; and it had a very prosperous voyage, as we shall see in due time.