The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 14 of 55 / 1606-1609 / 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 Close of the Nineteenth Century

by Unknown

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[1] In the original there is a brief summary at the head of each paragraph, for the convenience of the council in considering the document.

[2] The botanical name of the clove is Caryophyllus aromaticus. See Crawfurd’s excellent account, both descriptive and historical, of this valued product, in his Dict. of Indian Islands, pp. 101–105. Cf. the account by Duarte Barbosa, in East Africa and Malabar (Hakluyt Soc. publications No. 35, London, 1866), pp. 201, 219, 227; he says, among other things: “And the trees from which they do not gather it for three years after that become wild, so that their cloves are worth nothing.” Crawfurd says: “It is only in its native localities, the five small islets [Moluccas] on the western coast of the large island of Gilolo, that it is easily grown, and attains the highest perfection. There, it bears in its seventh or eighth year, and lives to the age of 130 or 150.” He also states that the Dutch, in their attempt to secure the monopoly of the clove trade, exterminated the clove trees from the Moluccas, and endeavored to limit their growth to the five Amboyna islands, in which they had introduced the clove.

[3] Referring to the military order of St. John of Jerusalem, to which Acuña belonged.

[4] The Spanish form of the name of Mechlin, an important city of Belgium, between Antwerp and Brussels. The reference in the text is probably to some law enacted by the emperor Charles V while holding his court at Mechlin, during his long stay in the Netherlands.

Documents of 1606

• [The Dominican mission of 1606.] Diego Aduarte, O.P., and others; 1604–06.
• [The Dutch factory at Tidore.] Joan ———; March 16.
• [The Sangley insurrection of 1603.] Miguel Rodriguez de Maldonado.
• [Letter from the Audiencia to Felipe III.] Telles de Almaçan, and others; July 6.
• [Letter from the fiscal to Felipe III.] Rodrigo Diaz Guiral; July.
• [The Terrenate expedition.] Council of the Indias; August 5 and 15.
• [Decree establishing a way-station for Philippine vessels on the California coast.] Felipe III; August 19.
• [Chinese immigration in the Philippines.] Pedro Muñoz de Herrera, and others; July–November.
• [Letter to Acuña.] Felipe III; November 4.

Sources: All these documents are obtained from foreign archives: the third (a printed pamphlet) from the Real Academia de Historia, Madrid; the sixth, from the Archivo general at Simancas; the seventh, from the British Museum; the last, from the Archivo Historico Nacional, Madrid; all the rest, from the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla.

Translations. The first, second, fourth, fifth, and eighth of these documents are translated by Henry B. Lathrop, of the University of Wisconsin; the third and seventh, by James A. Robertson; the sixth and ninth, by Norman F. Hall, of Harvard University.