LETTER FROM THE ROYAL OFFICIALS TO FELIPE II
Sacred Catholic Majesty:
We reported to your Majesty all of the events up to the day of its departure by the “San Pedro,” which came to these districts as flagship and which left this port on the first day of June, sixty-five, under favorable auspices for the discovery of this expedition and voyage. We shall now relate to your Majesty as your Majesty’s faithful servants what new things have happened here since then.
A ship with news of the arrival at Nueva España reached this port where we are settled in your Majesty’s service, and of the flagship which went to discover the route which our Lord was pleased to have accomplished in the most invincible days of your Majesty. Not little should all Christians entreat His Divine Majesty to grant many years of life to your Majesty, so that the holy Catholic faith might be increased and exalted by your Majesty’s influence in the so great kingdoms and seigniories that are located in these districts.
After the departure of the “San Pedro,” the natives of this port, both the chiefs and the other people, came to render obedience to the governor in your Majesty’s name, and to place themselves under the protection and dominion of your Majesty. They offered to recognize and to hold your Majesty as their natural lord, and said that they would give you the products of their land, namely rice, millet, and borona. The governor received them as such vassals and told them what they were to observe to keep our friendship. They are so vicious a race and have so evil morals that they keep no faith nor perform anything although they have promised it. Accordingly we have temporized with the natives of this port and with the other natives who have as yet offered to accept our friendship. Inasmuch as no further force is shown them than that willed by you, we have as yet not been able to do less; and inasmuch as (as we have remarked above), they are a vicious race and possessed of bad morals, and recognize no ruler, therefore if their chiefs try to force them, they will do nothing else than go to another island. They find enough desert lands if one tries to force them in their own. Until having your Majesty’s order and instructions, the governor has not cared or consented to have war made on them; and we consider it as certain that if that had been done, we would have suffered, and have all met our death most wretchedly, for the first thing that those natives do is to take away all the food, and the misery in which they hold the land in which they live is such that war cannot be made there under any circumstance. Had it not been for the good government that has been exercised in all things in not making war upon those natives, and treating them well, we would doubtless all have died. Our Lord has been pleased to direct this entire affair as His own and to show us miraculous rewards. May it please His Divine Majesty to continue such actions and to preserve us in His holy service and in that of your Majesty.
In view of the great delay in sending us aid from Nueva España, and news of what your Majesty has ordered provided, it was determined to despatch the patache “San Juan.” It carries seventy quintals of cinnamon which was bartered for in the island of Bindanao, namely, at the point called Cavite. We have heard that it is abundant in that part and that it can be easily gathered. Bindanao is a well settled island both in the north and in the south. We have heard that there is much gold in all parts of it, and that if we settle it and cultivate the land we shall learn many secrets of it. The inhabitants there are warlike and full of malice. We have taken possession of it in your Majesty’s name.
Moros have come to this port where we are at present from certain islands called Luçon and Bindoro. They have brought rice and gold to sell in exchange for silver and pearls. These men have told us that the Chinese go to their land to trade and carry away all the products of this archipelago, namely, gold, wax, and slaves. From the information given us it is a rich land and has [plenty] of trade.
A mutiny happened on November xxviii of the year lxv, but our Lord was pleased that those who took part in it should not succeed in their vile purpose. That mutiny was of such a nature that had He permitted it [to succeed] because of our sins, we would have all miserably perished. But He was graciously [inclined] to show us mercy, and did not allow them to succeed in the deceptions with which the devil had imbued them. Consequently, the ring-leaders were punished, and the matter smoothed over and settled. Justice is rightly done in what arises. There was another mutiny afterward which was engaged in by the same ones, although there were not so many in it and it was not a matter in which they could succeed. All punishment was inflicted in accordance with law.[1]
The said aid and advice that was despatched from Nueva España reached this port in so desperate and so unfortunate a condition that, according to our understanding, no Christians have ever heard of anything so filled with chances. Our Lord was pleased to bring the ship miraculously and those whom it carried, as your Majesty will see by the report that the governor is sending of what happened. The crew killed the captain and alférez and afterward hanged the sargento-mayor who was coming with an appointment [to that post] in place of the absence of the one here in this camp. He in company with other tyrants killed the said captain and alférez, and his companions afterward hanged him. After that event they reached certain islets, located about seven hundred leguas from this port. They tried to abandon a great portion of the men there, while they intended to go to the district where the Chinese and Javanese trade, and to pursue their career of piracy if they were able. Our Lord was pleased at that juncture to give courage to the men who wished to serve your Majesty, some of whom were naked while others were clad only in their shirts. They determined to go to the ship and raise a shout in favor of your Majesty. It succeeded as we have written. Our Lord was pleased to give them strength and to direct them so that all the tyrants were left ashore on one of the said islands where the ship was anchored. The ship arrived here without any kind of aid either of arms or of ammunition, for all of which we had sent to ask. The men were quite worn out and in a deplorable condition, and all their clothing had been left ashore. As soon as they arrived, the governor ordered an investigation of everything that had occurred in all the affair, and he is sending the report to your Majesty, by which everything will he more explicit and detailed.