The fleet sailed which had been prepared to oppose them; but before any thing could be done, the four years of Obando’s government expired. His successor arrived, and the Marquis left these islands in the most deplorable situation in which they were ever known. The causes of these evils were either his own ill management, the incapacity of those he employed, or, perhaps, misfortune. What we are certain of is, that the period of his residence here was most calamitous. Yet, we must say, he had many great difficulties to encounter.
The following year he embarked in the galleon Santissima Trinidad for Acapulco, and died on his passage, without ever reaching New Spain.
CHAPTER XII.
ANNO DOM. 1754.
The Administration of Don Pedro Manuel de Arandia.
Don Pedro Manuel de Arandia, a native of Ceuta, and a Biscayan by descent, took possession of his government in July, 1754, and as soon as he arrived at Manila, he lost no time in adopting the regulations observed in Spain for putting the military on a more respectable footing.
The royal regiment, which consisted of two battalions, he formed into a corps of artillery, putting it into the state in which we now find it, and granted to the soldiers, as well as the officers, a pay sufficient to maintain themselves with decency, and perform their duty without the necessity of having recourse to any other employment for their support. He took great pains, likewise, in improving the arsenal of Cavite, and the situation and consequence of the officers of that establishment; in doing which he incurred the disapprobation and ill-will of many, to whom such reform and zeal was highly injurious.
In the commencement of his government, in the month of December, there happened a terrible shock of an earthquake, and the Taal, which is in the middle of the Lake Bombon, in the province of Batangas, threw out such an immense quantity of cinders, as completely to ruin four towns which were situated near the lake, and the inhabitants found it necessary to retire a league further into the interior. Many other severe shocks followed, accompanied by loud reports similar to those of contending squadrons, and the atmosphere was entirely obscured by the sand and ashes thrown up by the volcano, so that at Manila, which is twenty leagues distant, it was scarcely possible to see even in the middle of day; and at Cavite, which is rather nearer, the obscurity resembled the darkness of midnight.
I ascended, with the Señor Alava, to the summit of this volcano, but all that we could observe was a lake, about half a league in diameter, very deep, and containing water of a dark green colour.