They are retreating and there is no one who can go ahead. They are sending chiefs from a distance to conduct us peaceably, who wish to become our friends and pay tribute. On the first of November I arrived anew at the mouth of this river on the site of Mindanao, where the fort which belonged to the Spaniards when they took the country was burned. There was a fleet there of more than sixty ships and we did not know what people they carried; but, believing that it was those whom we were awaiting from those islands, I was glad that they had arrived in so good time, and sent some of the friendly Indians to reconnoiter them. They said that they were Terrenatans. I immediately sent Captain Grabiel Gonzalez to make certain who it was, and on the way he met a caracoa which was on sentinel duty. Some arquebus-shots were exchanged, and without any injury he came back with the information. There Page 49were at this time in the whole camp, provisions for not more than nine days; and the munitions were so far spent that, having no matches, the soldiers were going about with fire-brands in their hands—for the few matches and balls which they had, had been taken by the troops who were outside harvesting the grain. We had to consider that as soon as we sent to call them back we were lost; for if the rice were not cut we should have nothing to live on. Likewise, on the other hand, I saw the great injury which I should suffer if the enemy should fortify themselves where they were working. It would cost me a great deal to dislodge them, and besides there was the risk which was run of losing the communication with your city; for we had to enter boldly into the enemy's country, as one of the boats of the friendly Indians from Zanboanga had done. Finally, as the evil of the want of food was most pressing, and as without food we could neither go back nor forward, I resolved to reënforce the pass of Vutil, so that the enemy could not pass that way and join with the people of Buyahen. The troops who were acting as porters kept the pass, and immediately, at the same time, I sent the people who were above down to the sea, ordering Captain Juan Pacho, who was at their head, not to come back without bringing in first all the rice which he had harvested and cut, as aforesaid. I got a galley ready with a good deal of trouble, for there was not even bonote[2] to calk it, and I had to go in person among the houses of the Indians to find some. I launched it, and fitted it with guns and new rigging to make it ready; for I was resolved Page 50that if the enemy fled I should follow them even as far as their own country. When the men got back I embarked, on Thursday morning, which I reckon to be the third of November. By noon I had come in sight of the enemy, where I anchored, and we exchanged cannon-shots. Seeing that he had a larger force than I had understood, I immediately sent an order to Captain Guerrero who was in Butil, that he should come down to the river of Vitara to the sea, with a galliot, and enter the mouth of this river of Mindanao and come within sight of the enemy, and exchange cannon-shots on his arrival. He did so, arriving at noon on Friday. On the way he met an outpost of the enemy, and killed a few Indians who were with them, with a cannon-shot. When he arrived at cannon-shot distance from the fort he anchored, and commenced to fire. The enemy replied so well that at the first shot they hit the galliot, and it was only by good fortune that it did not go to the bottom. With the second they killed a soldier. With such exercise the day was passed. Saturday morning, Lumaguan having arrived with some troops that were expected, I ordered Captain Guerrero to land immediately with twenty-five soldiers and join me, leaving the rest and the captain of the galliot in it, with orders that, when the troops began the investment, the galliot should come up close to the mouth of a lake which was close to the fort. Accordingly, when these troops came I landed ninety men with Captains Juan Pacho, Guerrero, Ruy Gomes, Grabiel Gonzalez, and Altra. I circled about the fort with the galley, fighting with a good deal of skirmishing, and the galliot doing the same on the other side, so that we had the fort between us. On my side the Page 51troops landed not a hundred paces from the fort, on which, on the side toward the aforesaid lake, they had already closed in, and which they had reached as well as on our side, where a very large cavalier was under construction, although they had not yet finished the enclosure. The enemy were so brave that although, by keeping their fleet within the lake, they might have gone away two nights before without losing anything, not only would they not do so, but they even ran the whole fleet on land, excepting one ship, using that as a bridge to pass from the cavalier to the fort.
That very night they cried out to us, telling Captain Don Juan Pacho to have a care and not come to fight them, “because we are all Terrenatans, and you are Castilians and Tanpacans.” Although they might have been safe in their fort, and not have lost it unless they sold themselves very dearly, most of them went out into the open country to reconnoiter and there commenced to fight with the land troops. These acted so courageously and so quickly that the enemy had no time to prepare before they had come upon them in front; and when they wished to go back to the fort they could not do so at all, for the artillery of my galley, which was moored quite near, cut off their road with lenternas [grenades?] and balls. Our men kept coming forward without giving way in any part, gained the cavalier, and by the bridge that the enemy had provided passed on to the fort, and won it with all the artillery, altogether in less than an hour. They took the whole fleet, of which we were in much need, and ten pieces of fairly good artillery and more than fifty arquebuses, although most of these were thrown away by the friendly Indians. Page 52There were killed there on this occasion more than eighty Moros, among them the commander of their forces, who was an uncle of the king of Terrenate, and was named Cachil Baba, together with other cachils[3] and chiefs. Of those who fled many were wounded, most of whom died, as was afterward seen, in the marshes and mountains. One band of more than fifty Moros—some being wounded, among these a cachil—made an attempt to pass to the other side of the river, thinking that from there they might escape; but, as the river is broad and the current swift, they were all drowned. Every day we are finding more and more who have died from wounds and hunger, and those who have survived are gathering in small bands and going back to their country. They found some boats to take their goods across at the cape of San Agustin, and carry this good news to their king—whom perchance the gain will dispose to continue. This reënforcement was brought by Buysan, brother of Sali and uncle of Raxa Mura, who went to get him and wished him to attack the sargento-mayor, at the time when they cut off his leg. The king of Terrenate yielded to him respectfully, as your Grace may see by the letter of the chief captain of Maluco, a copy of which is sent with this, in which he informs me of what had happened. The troops who came were the most noble and gallant in all Terrenate, and the commander was an old man of more than sixty years, white-haired, with mustaches more than a span long. He was a very Page 53venerable person, and so valiant that, after being brought down with an arquebus-shot, so that he could not move, he raised his campilan in the air, calling out to his troops to fight until death. They came well supplied with women and goods, and the materials for making powder. They brought gilded field-beds to sleep on, with cushions of silk and chairs to sit upon, and richly worked cloths for their use. There was so much with this and other things that the booty must have been worth six thousand ducats; and though, as always, the soldiers took the lesser part, yet even thus some of them are a little better off.
I am well aware that I was very fortunate on that occasion, and if our Lord was pleased to grant me success, still fortune will change and the enemy will have it. Not only will that which remains to me here be lost, but even the Pintados Islands have been in great danger, having run the risk each year of being harried by these enemies. But though I knew that God was helping us in a time of such need, yet I had almost lost hope of success. On the other hand, finding myself puzzled and almost desperate at seeing that at the end of six months there had come no reply from the lord governor, nor in any way any intimation of his will or determination, and that it almost seemed as if he were forgetting us, as if we were a lost people without hope, I resolved to do what I did as one who was destitute of aid, and who must live by his own hands. The success was such that I may be pardoned. When I took the site of Buyaen I was so nearly out of supplies that there was not a cannon-ball left for me to use; and on this so important occasion, as I with reason believe it to be—and I may say that since the Philipinas were discovered there Page 54was never a better one in them—I had no others than what, by my own diligence, I gathered from some fishermen's cast-nets, and well they did their duty, since they fished so well on land.
When I left that city I told your Grace that, even if I found myself in the utmost need, I should not turn my prow back thither; but first should go to the land of the enemy, and my duty should be well done. If I have accomplished this against so many difficulties as your Grace may see, I believe there are few men who would not have been moved by the circumstances and the necessity which urged me on. When I was most pressed and the troops most in want—so much so that it would bring pity to the heart of anyone who saw it, no matter how hardened he was; for their shirts, shoes, and hose but ill sufficed them, and their food was only a dish of rice with nothing else—even at such a time, I conquered the island; for we may say that it is already conquered, as the larger part pays or gives tribute; and I hope, God willing, that a year from now the whole island will pay us. All this occurred in the midst of the winter, in water waist-deep, with no change of clothing, and the men weary from head to foot. What I think most of is, that I kept the men free from discontent, which seems almost a miracle. And when it was understood that I must depart for lack of supplies, I put in the warehouse eight hundred sestos of rice of forty gantas each; and I supplied almost the whole camp for a month and a half with the crops; the Spaniards and Indians brought in food enough for another month, and the friendly Indians did the same. Much more than what was gathered was destroyed and ruined, as it was not the harvest season. Page 55
On all these occasions soldiers and captains worked so gallantly that I have never before so much regretted being poor, since I cannot provide them with some little part of all that they deserve. The sargento-mayor and Captain Juan de Valencia arrived on the twenty-eighth of the last month in a fragata, in which they had been despatched from that city to Butuan. They brought a thousand sestos of rice and some fish, wine, and some clothing which Captain Guenca gave them in Zebu, together with other articles. Very luckily they were retarded, as I had also been, so that they did not arrive earlier; for if they had been twenty days earlier the enemy would have taken them without fail.
The friendly natives were so alarmed at this that even those from the village of Tanpaca, who are near to this fort, withdrew their goods to the tingues, and did not feel safe. They thought that we were dead, and told us to eat, for we must soon kill the Terrenatans. It is strange what fear they felt of the latter, incomparably more than of us; although immediately after this victory they said that we were more valiant than the others, and that there was no people like us. When the fight was over we had no place to store the tribute in acknowledgment of sovereignty which the friendly chiefs offered us in token of friendship, paying it in rice, for at the time of the invasion from Terrenate, Silonga had not threatened them, or made them abandon their good purpose. Immediately upon my arrival I sent to get it, and to prepare them, and to tell them that they might be certain that they would always be under his Majesty's dominion, and likewise to collect the acknowledgment. On this mission the captains, Juan Pacho, Guerrero, and Page 56Grabiel Gonzalez were sent with eighty soldiers; and six days ago they informed me that the natives were very firm in their friendship, and that they were busy harvesting the rice which they were to pay. Lumaguan and his people were doing the same thing, being obliged to pay seven hundred sestos of clean rice. In order to collect this, all the men had to pass on to the great lake [i.e., Lanao] for which this island is famous; and as the fame of our works had spread throughout the whole island, two chiefs had already come down from the lake to say that they did not wish to fight with the Spaniards, but to be their friends and pay them tribute. Thus I hope, through God, that inside of twenty days the whole country will be settled; and while sending down the people already mentioned, I myself shall go out in person and go along the coast of the lake and of the cape of San Agustin. Four days ago there came to me word from another chief who wished to be friendly, that the Terrenatans are leaving this road and passing on; for there was not one of them who did not drop his arms and flee. I shall go as far as La Canela, subduing all the country up to that point. This will not detain me long, as I shall follow down the coast and on the way meet the fleet, which was to be despatched from those islands. As it was already so belated when I arrived, it would have been in danger if I had not come to its rescue, and might not have arrived here. I have also kept merchant vessels from the islands of Jolo and Taguima during this whole time. Thus far they have been giving help to the enemy, the most important which they have received; but as they were present at the defeat of the Terrenatans, they are little disposed to remain with Page 57them or favor the people of Buyahen. I warned them to be waiting for me at the end of January at La Caldera with the tribute, so that I should not go to their country to punish them. If they do not give it, perhaps I shall do so, as it will be the most certain way.
As I have had no letter from the lord governor I do not know what he may have ordered concerning the continuation of this establishment; but I can say this for myself, that even if he orders me to desert it in so great need as it is, without giving the least information as to the situation in which I now am, which is very different from what I have hitherto thought it, I should not do so. For if it is not kept up for the good which it may be hoped will result to the country, in order to make up for the damage which it suffered in being laid waste, then it must be done for the consideration that its condition will be like that of all the Pintados, which were laid waste unmercifully. And as these affairs are not well understood there, perhaps they thought it sufficient to station here, or at La Caldera, fifty soldiers as a garrison in order to keep the country in check. Those and as many more will be a breakfast to these natives on the day when they do not see that things move on so effectually as now; and they would have done the same thing to those who would have remained in this fort, when I was told to withdraw the rest of the camp to Zebu. In short, I have done this only of my own free will, for good or evil, and without advice—not because I am not given to taking it on all occasions, but because in this country it has always turned out ill, and few are brought into friendship through force. Page 58
Neither do I think of wasting time in besieging Buyahen any longer; because, by the means which I have now taken, I shall reduce it to peace with much less difficulty. I am negotiating a marriage between Raxa Mura and the sister of Xlunao, who is the chief of this village of Tanpaca. He is willing and anxious for it and has already embarked to come to see me. As he is a boy, although he is respected by all, his uncles Sali and Silonga would not let him do so. They have hindered him, warning him that he will be hanged. He is importunate in his desire to come, saying that he has no fear of the Spaniards, because he has done them no harm; and his father, Dimasanca, was their friend and paid them tribute, and why should they do him harm? As his uncles are so much to blame they are keeping him back, thinking that they cannot receive the mercy that Raxa Mura will, on account of their treacheries; and that, if he came, they would be lost. If they could make sure that they would not lose their heads, they would all be friendly and the island would be pacified. But it is enough that Raxa Mura should be friendly, wherefore Captain Juan Pacho is under orders to carry on this negotiation through the mother. If this plan of mine is not successful and fails, they must be overcome by want where they now are; for I have them so close pressed and hemmed in that they are not lords of the land a pace from their fort, and they will die of hunger, as neither salt nor fish can enter to them, and their crops have been taken from them on all sides, so they must either die or surrender. And what makes them more reasonable is, that three days ago I took a fort at the place where I have the galliot from Vutil. I have closed the river in such Page 59wise that there is no way to go up or down it, and I have there a captain with twenty-four soldiers. They were greatly affected by the defeat of Terrenate; and as they had put their hope in that they lost it thereby as much as if they had been defeated. Sali and Silonga called a meeting of all their people and sought their advice as to what to do. All the timaguas and other chiefs told them that there was nothing to do but become the friends of the Spaniards and pay them tribute. They answered that they would not pay tribute, but would fight first, and they warned them that they should do so. They all answered that they did not wish to fight with the Spaniards, for it was well known that that meant to go to death. The advice that their people gave them was good, but it pleased God that they should choose the worst.
If there had not been such a lack of rowers I should have traveled by means of two hands and forced their respect. But I have so few Indians, and keep them so busy in all kinds of ways that we should be thankful for what has been done. They must have harvested much rice likewise in other parts, and therefore a considerable amount of that to be sent from there [Manila] can be dispensed with. I have something more than four hundred Indians, and two hundred and fifteen Spaniards, counting soldiers, sailors, and gunners. Some of these are crippled and maimed. The war of men continues. Although I understand that this will be more costly to me than was the Terrenate war, two soldiers only have been lost—one of them having his head carried away by a cannon-shot, and the other one his bowels by an arquebus-shot. I sent asking your Grace if you would have those conveyed back to Manila who are Page 60no longer capable of service. It will be a gracious act to favor their cause.
In the last letter which I wrote to your Grace I gave an account of the products of this land, so far as they were known up to that time; and now I am doing the same with what has since been observed. In the first place the country is healthful, as has been clearly shown; for if the want, hardships, and privations which the troops have suffered here in mid-winter had occurred in that city, not a man would have lived through it. The climate is incomparably better than that of that island [Luzón]; for in the whole year there are not six days of extreme heat, and the evenings, nights, and mornings are usually cool. Gold is found in all parts, although not in large quantities, but it must exist where there are traces of it. Throughout the whole island there is a great deal of wax and much tortoise-shell. Rice is sowed in all parts, and in some places in great quantities. They raise fowl, goats, and swine in all the villages, and wax they do not save. There is a great quantity of wild game, which is excellent, growing larger than in other places.