The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 03 of 55 / 1569-1576 / Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century

by Unknown

Relation of the Western Islands Called Filipinas

(Captain Artieda, who went to those islands for the king, wrote this relation.)[1]

Nueva España has two ports in the South Sea. That which is called Acapulco is [very] good and can give shelter to many ships, no matter how large they may be; it is in seventeen and one-half degrees of north latitude. The other is called Puerto de la Navidad; its entrance is shallow, and it can therefore give shelter to small ships only. It is in nineteen and one-third degrees of north latitude. From whichever of these ports one goes to [any of] the Western Islands, the best route is to sail strictly in the latitude in which lies the island that one wishes to reach; for in the season of the brisas, which is the right time to make the voyage, favorable stern winds are never wanting. The season for the brisas lasts from the end of October to the end of April. From the end of April to the end of October the vendaváls Page 169blow,[2] which will be of help on the way back; but let it be remembered that he who wishes to return ought to take a higher degree of latitude, because there the winds will not fail him.

In view of your Majesty's command and orders from Don Luis de Velasco, viceroy of Nueva España, the expedition commanded by Miguel Lopes de Legaspi has discovered since November twenty-first, 1564, the following islands to the west, in the South Sea:

North-southwest from Puerto de la Navidad, in about ten degrees of north latitude, and at a distance of eleven hundred and twenty leagues, were found some islands running east and west. The inhabitants were dressed in a sort of cloth made of thin palm-bark. The men wore long beards, and for that reason the islands received the name of Barbudos.[3] No weapons were found among them, from which we can infer that they are a peaceful people, and that they had never come into conflict with other men. They live on cocoanuts, roots, and fish. It was learned that they kept some Castilian fowls. These islands may be about one hundred and seventy-five leagues from Nueba España [S: Nueva Guinea]. Page 170

[Further west by a distance of four hundred leagues lie the islands called Chamurres or Ladrones, which, according to report, number thirteen islands. The largest of all is not forty leagues in circumference. They are all alike in appearance, trade, and food products. I have seen but the island of Guahan. Their weapons consist of slings and clubs hardened in fire, which they use instead of lances. They hurl stones to so great a distance with their slings, that they are beyond range of the arquebuses. They live on rice, bananas, cocoanuts, roots, and fish. They have great quantities of ginger.]

Further west is the island of Mindanao, with a circuit of three hundred and fifty leagues. It is in its greatest measurements one hundred and forty leagues long, and sixty leagues wide. The northern promontory juts out between the two rivers of Butuan and Zurigan, famous for their gold, although the Spaniards who went there were able to find but little—or, to be more accurate, none. According to what I have learned, all the gold mines of this island are so poor that the natives offer their labor for a gold maes[4] or three reals per month. In this island cinnamon grows. I believe that, if good order be established there, we shall be able to barter for eight hundred quintals, and even [one thousand][5] for a year of this article; for I was present at the barter of Page 171that which was lost with the flagship. In one month we bartered for more than six hundred quintals of cinnamon at three reals per quintal, this money being reckoned in iron of that land. This island contains pitch. [I do not declare here the trade, rites, clothing, weapons, and food of this island, because many others are just like it; and I will place this information at the end of these islands, in order to avoid prolixity.] The middle of the island lies in fully seven and one-third degrees of north latitude.

Northeast of Mindanao is another island called Tandaya. There are certain rocky islands with an island called San Lorenzo in their midst. The fact of their being small and uninhabited does not debar anyone who wishes from finding them on the chart. Tantaya has a circuit of one hundred and forty leagues, and is almost triangular in shape. [The clothing, weapons, rites, and food of this people are the same as that above.] Its center lies in fully twelve degrees north latitude.

Nearer the island of Mindanao than the above-named, and extending in a north and south direction ten leagues from the point of Mindanao, is another island called Baybay. It has a circumference of ninety-eight leagues, and forms a strait on the east with the island of Tandaya, less than a league wide; and another on the south with a very small island, called “Panae the little,”[6] through which strait one cannot pass, except in a small and light vessel. West of this strait is the island of Mazoga. It is reported Page 172here that this island is very small, and that it has a population of six or eight Indians. [It forms another strait, which can be passed by any ship.] The center of the said island of Baybay is in eleven degrees of latitude. [It has the same people, weapons, trade, and customs as the islands above.]

There is another island, called Zubu, where the camp was established, and remained until broken up by the Portuguese, on account of the excellent harbor formed by it with another island called Mattan—which is almost uninhabited, unwholesome, and a large part of it covered with swamps. It is here that Magallanes was slain. The port has two entrances, opening northeast and southwest. Through my influence and with [S: against] the consent of most of the men, the camp was removed to the island of Panae. I went there by order of the governor, and drew the plan of a fort, which now is being built. [It has the same people, and trade, and customs as the islands named above.] The center of it is in about ten and two-thirds degrees of latitude.