LETTER FROM MORGA TO FELIPE III
Sire:
In the ships which came this year to these islands from Nueva España, came the president, Don Pedro de Acuña, who thereupon took up the government; and in the ships which were afterward despatched to Nueva España, account was given to your Majesty of this, and of what else occurred on all sides.
A few days afterward, the president supplied himself with ships, military stores, and fighting men in the provinces of Pintados, in order to go against the hostile Mindanaos and Joloans—who, with the help of the Terrenate Moros of Maluco, are infesting them and overrunning those islands every day, with a great deal of damage. Just then word came from Andrea Furtado de Mendoca that with a number of galleons and a fleet of your Majesty's, he was descending upon the fortress of Terrenate to capture it; and conformably with a letter to the president from Arias de Saldaña, viceroy of India, which he sent at the same time, he begged that reënforcements of vessels and some men, which he needed, might be sent him, in order that the purpose of the undertaking might be assured. Recognizing the great importance of this, and considering that, if that fortress were taken, besides the great profit from the cloves, [13] these regions would be safe from so fierce an enemy as that which is harassing and overrunning it, and especially that these islands would root out those Mindanaos and Joloans—it seemed to him expedient and necessary that part of what had been prepared for Pintados should be sent to the aforesaid fleet. In order to carry this out well, the president decided that he would go in person to the island of Sibu. May fervent prayers be offered to our Lord that He may give them the good fortune which is needed, in order that by it service may be rendered to Him, and that of your Majesty may be entirely fulfilled.
Of the ships which this year set out from these islands for Nueva España, the flagship and one other put in at these islands at the end of four months of stormy sailing, having lightened a quantity of merchandise and then having suffered damage to the goods, very much to the sorrow and loss of the residents of this realm. The commander of the flagship, Don Lope de Ulloa, a relative of the Conde de Monterrey, and an experienced and courageous knight, thought to make repairs in Xapon and from there, having made ready, to continue his voyage. So he went in search of a harbor in that kingdom, in the province of Toca, near the place where, in the year 96 just past, the galleon "Sant Felipe" entered. The natives gave him assurances of safety and all facilities for his departure; but when he had entered a harbor there came a governor of Dayfusama, with a number of fighting men—arquebusiers, musketeers, and archers. After having given the men on the ship the same promise of security, and after having had six Spaniards sent to Miaco with a present for Dayfusama, [14] according to the custom of the country, he captured on land some religious and some other Spaniards who had ventured to go out from the ship; and then made extraordinary efforts to stop the entrance of the harbor and to seize the ship with all its cargo. Seeing the deceit and violence which was being committed, it became necessary for the Spaniards to defend themselves, and to get out of the harbor by fighting, with loss to both sides and with great difficulty; and so, through the mercy of God, they came to these islands. When the Japanese saw themselves deprived of the capture of the ship which they doubtless already thought their own, we do not know what decision they may have reached regarding those who remained on land—nor, above all, what Dayfusama may have done. It appears only that all friendship with these infidels is dangerous, and that at least the religious who interfere in this, and consider it certain, allow themselves to be deceived easily by their ardent desire to enter these lands, which is caused by their zeal for the conversion [of the infidels]; and thus they facilitate certain matters, and are more confident in them than is desirable.
It seemed to be necessary, considering the absence of the president from this city and the arrival of the two ships of this expedition, to give an account to your Majesty of what was to be known about these matters, by way of India, in a Portuguese ship which is setting out from here for Goa. In this I have been influenced only by what is for the service of your Majesty and in order that your Majesty may be informed of what is being done in these remote regions, by every route. I beg your Majesty to pardon my boldness, and I pray our Lord to guard your Majesty for many long years. From Manila, on the first of December in the year 1602.
Doctor Antonio de Morga
DOCUMENTS OF 1603
Three Chinese mandarins at Manila. Geronimo de Salazar y
Salcedo; May 27.
Resignation of his office by the bishop of Nueva
Segovia. Miguel de Benavides; July 4.
Letters to Felipe III. Miguel de Benavides; July 5 and 6.
Letters to Felipe III. Pedro de Acuña and others July-December.
The Sangley insurrection. Pedro de Acuña, and others;
December 12-23.
Source: All these documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla.