Finally, all of the slaves demanded by Governor Gomez Perez had to be supplied, but with injuries and acts of oppression; and with the same injuries and oppression they were all put on the galleys. There they remained some time before sailing, and some of them died, because they were unused to that life. All those slaves proved insufficient to man all the galleys, and the flagship was without rowers. On that account, and in order to complete the work, more severe methods were used than at first. The governor ordered that two hundred and fifty Chinese be drafted from those who go to Filipinas to trade, in order to man or equip the flagship. Each of them was to be paid two pesos monthly from the royal treasury. The governor assured them that they would not be chained, but free, and could have their weapons and serve as soldiers, and would only have to row the galley during calms, if any should occur, and in order to double certain headlands. This decision being communicated to the Chinese, they ail refused it as an intolerable burden. But when our governor insisted upon this, in order to carry out his design, the Chinese governor assembled his people in order to discuss the matter, and to plan how they might choose two hundred and fifty from among them all; and he threatened that he would take every tenth man by their houses. That threat disturbed them so much, that the next day, all their windows were closed, and the merchants closed their shops; and the community was deprived of the provisions which were supplied to it by them. Our governor, upon seeing this, saying that they had mutinied, had about fifty of them seized, the first whom he could find, and put them in the galleys at the oar. Thereupon the rest, being cowed, assembled, and made up from among their number all the two hundred and fifty. And inasmuch as no one of them wished to be of that number, they distributed among those who accepted that service twenty thousand pesos, which were given as a present to those Chinese who would go on the galley, each one being given eighty pesos, besides the king's pay. With this good aid, Chinese were not wanting to consent to act as rowers, although the twenty thousand pesos were spent among them—or, more correctly, among the officers. From those two hundred and fifty Chinese, five companies were formed, and five Chinese Christians appointed as captains. They made their musters and reviews, with pikes and catans—which are but slightly different from cutlasses—and appeared to be happy and contented. Amid these occupations Brother Gaspar Gomez came unexpectedly to Manila, loaded with information which he referred to the governor in a number of private conferences. He said that the king of Ternate was not badly prepared, although his forces were somewhat weakened by his not being in very great harmony with the majority of the chiefs of his kingdom. Many were threatening to rebel because of his tyrannies and excessive levies of tribute. Now Javanese, Lascars, and Moros from Meca no longer resorted to Ternate, as they did in the time when Captain Morones went there during the term of Santiago de Vera. Gaspar Gomez gave very detailed information about the two forts of Talangame. He found that the king of Ternate usually had about three thousand soldiers, one thousand of them arquebusiers; while a considerable number came from the other kingdoms of his crown. They fought with missile weapons, campilans, and shields, and other armor of coats-of-mail and helmets, which Portuguese had traded for spice. They had considerable ammunition, all made by themselves from materials taken there by the Javanese as payment for cloves. Their chief place was the city of Ternate, where the king and all his court resided. Consequently it was the best guarded, and from that place the others obtained strength, courage, and all reënforcement. Gaspar Gomez advised that our army attack before dawn, for all assaults made at dawn on that people had always succeeded well. If our fleet could arrive unseen, it would without doubt conquer. But that king had placed spies and sentinels on almost all of his islands, and even in Canela, Sarrangán, and Mindanao. From the fort of Amboyno and from the kings of Syan [i.e., Siaó] and Tidore, a goodly number of bronze culverins and much other artillery could be brought in their caracoas. The Amboynos would send these at command, and they would be sent from Syan and Tydore as soon as requested; for, besides doing homage to the crown of España, those kings are hostile to Ternate. The supplies necessary to finish the war, even in case the king of Tydore should fail them (of whom it might be suspected that he did not wish to see his enemy totally destroyed), were the artillery and craft that were being prepared; and more than one thousand two hundred soldiers, well-armed and equipped with coats-of-mail and helmets, until they should go to the island of Banda in order to garrison that island as it needed. There should be a number of light vessels to catch the enemy when fleeing. Thus would the war be finished entirely and quickly, and without bloodshed. The infidel Ternatans themselves even said and published the same. They confessed that, if a large contingent of soldiers should reach their land, they would universally render homage without fighting. Consequently he inferred that secret Christians were living in the Malucas. The entire conquest of that island of Banda was very useful and advantageous, and of slight risk; and its maintenance was of great importance to the inhabitants of Amboyno, which belongs to us. Gaspar Gomez also affirmed that the Portuguese were facilitating the enterprise considerably, and recounted the interest and profit that would accrue to his Majesty. Father Antonio Marta was also of that opinion, in whom Governor Gomez Perez placed so great faith. Brother Gaspar Gomez to these so full reports and information added such details that he quite set on fire the mind of the governor.
At this time the king of Camboxa, named Landara, sent the governor an embassy through two Spanish captains, accompanied by many Cambodians, with the requisite authority for prosecuting his cause. That barbarous king took care that his ambassadors should not be natives of his kingdoms, because of the lack of confidence with which his vassals inspired him as to their faithfulness. He chose the ambassadors from different classes, so that a good result might come from the difference of their characters and dispositions. One was a Portuguese, Diego Veloso by name, and the other a Castilian, Blas Ruyz de Fernan Gonçalez. [284] They presented Gomez Perez with a fine gift, consisting of a considerable quantity of ivory, benzoin, chinaware, pieces of silks and cottons, and an elephant of a noble disposition, as was learned later by experience. They proposed their embassy, which was, in short, to beg help against the king of Syan [i.e., Siam], who was about to attack the Cambodian king with a vast army. The latter in recognition of that aid offered to become a vassal of the king of España, and a Christian. That king was certain that so valorous and courageous a knight as Gomez Perez would, under no circumstance, refuse a deed in which God would receive so obvious a service, and that would be so advantageous to the crown of España. The governor accepted the present, and responded to it by another of certain European products, and thanked the king for his confidence in applying to him. However, it was impossible for him to set about that help just then, or divert any portion of those forces that were prepared to punish the king of Ternate and recover that kingdom and the rest of Maluco, which had rebelled with so great an insult and outrage to the Spanish nation. His Highness should trust in God our Lord, and persevere in his attempt to serve him in the holy and true religion. When the Ternate enterprise was over, he would take his force to the relief of Camboxa. With these hopes, which were fulfilled by Don Luys de las Mariñas, his son, those ambassadors left. In order to give them truthful satisfaction and a just cause for the delay, it was necessary to publish the true purpose of that fleet, which until then had been kept secret.
Then the governor determined upon his departure, and tried to take with him as many men as possible. They were enlisted, willingly or by force—those who were requested and those who were compelled, alike. The encomenderos and soldiers caused a prodigal expense in ships, supplies and parades—which, because of the great opportunity furnished for all that in Filipinas, exceeded the governor's power and wishes. The governor sent Don Luys, his son, with all the regulars to the island of Cebu, where all the fleet was to be assembled. There he remained six months, awaiting new orders. Gomez Perez was detained in Manila, planning matters of importance. Two days before leaving, while a guest and dining at the house of Pedro de Roxas, his assistant, where he was wont to amuse himself in heavy gaming and merriment, he became so gay—beyond his custom, and contrary to the harshness of his character—that many interpreted it as his last farewell, and an omen of what happened. He recounted in conversation, amid much laughter, that father Fray Vicente, of the Franciscan order, had told him that that enterprise could not succeed; for the army was composed of conscripted men, and especially because the married men were going. The governor left Manila October seventeen, with six royal galleys, one galleon, one fusta, one fragatin, and a number of fragatas, caracoas, and vireys—different varieties of craft of the natives of the country. All the vessels, those belonging to his Majesty and those of his vassals who offered their persons for his service, totaled one hundred. There were one thousand well-armed Spaniards and more than four hundred arquebusiers from the vicinity of Manila; and another thousand of those called Visaias, people who use lances, shields, and bows and arrows. Besides these, there were more than four hundred others, Chinese, of those living throughout that island; and of those who come to trade, another goodly number, with pay—the great majority of whom were conscripts rather than volunteers. There was in the galleys a quantity of food for the fleet. The governor appointed his son, Don Luys Perez, as lieutenant of the fleet, and ordered him, as above stated, to assemble it at the island of Cebú. He himself embarked in the flagship, a vessel of twenty-eight benches, manned by two hundred and fifty Chinese; and eighty Spaniards also embarked in it. They reached Cabite, whence they sailed on the nineteenth, together with several vessels carrying private persons, who followed the governor at their own expense. They coasted the island of Manila, until they reached Balajàn; then they separated, for the vessels did not lose sight of shore, while the governor sailed in the open sea. On the twenty-fifth, he came alone to pass the night at the promontory of Azufre [285] ["Sulphur Point">[ on the island of Manila, opposite that of Caça, where the current runs strong and the sea is choppy. As it was during the blowing of the brisa, the galley could not advance. It anchored under shelter of the point, but, through the strength of the current, dragged slightly. In order to return to its shelter, the Chinese were kept incessantly at the oar. In fact, they rowed with little energy—either because they were men new to that labor, and forced to the oar by violence; or because they were fatigued, and harassed by those who commanded them. Other contrary winds assailed them, which further impeded the voyage. In order to double certain promontories of the land, it was necessary to ply the oars, and to urge on the rowers with the severity and punishment generally used in galleys. They thought that harsh, and contrary to the governor's assurance, when he promised them that they would be treated with affection. But neither the whip nor threats, nor overcoming the currents by dint of the sweat of their limbs, seemed to them so intolerable and injurious as to hear from the governor's mouth harsh and severe words, ordering them to row manfully; for did they not, he would put them in chains, and cut off their hair. Such an insult among the Chinese is worthy of death, for they place all their honor in their hair. They keep it carefully tended and gaily decked, and esteem it as highly as ladies in Europa; and, in dressing it, display their taste and their social standing. They determined to mutiny, in order not to suffer such an insult and disgrace. Having appointed for that purpose the following night (namely, the twenty-fifth of October), when the Spaniards had lain down tired out upon the benches, and in other places in the hull, the Chinese did the same. However, they so cunningly divided themselves that each Chinese lay down beside a Spaniard, and pretended to sleep. Just before the hour of dawn, which they considered the most suitable time and the safest of all, upon seeing the Spaniards in their soundest slumber, the Chinese, at the sound of a shrill whistle (which was the signal agreed upon among them), all arose at the same moment; and each one with the greatest haste put on a white tunic or shirt, so that, in the midst of the uproar and the darkness, they might recognize one another, and distinguish those to be killed. However, for the greater security of the deed, they also lit a considerable number of wax tapers, which they had concealed in the folds of the white tunics. Then they seized their catans, which are sharper and more curved than our cutlasses, and each Chinese commenced, without disturbing the silence, to strike his neighboring Spaniard; and then, with the increase of their fury, to behead all those who were sleeping. More than sixty had embarked on the flagship, among them the servants of the governor, and others, old soldiers, who in order to oblige and accommodate him were enduring discomfort. They had been gambling all the night; and being tired, and because of the excessive heat, were sleeping naked, some in the midship gangway, others on the benches, while the more favored ones, to whom were given better quarters, slept aft. The governor went into his cabin to sleep. The Chinese proceeded to slaughter those who, suspecting nothing, were sleeping; it was done so quickly that when some of those asleep in the stern awakened, the other Spaniards were already dead. The guard did not perceive it, and such carelessness could admit of no excuse, for they had been sufficiently warned, and examples had preceded. Some waked, but finding themselves wounded and confused, jumped overboard, where most of them were drowned. Some—a very few—jumped overboard before being wounded, but they were also drowned, although they were near shore, for they could not reach land because of the strength of the current. Twelve escaped, and many dead bodies were found on the beach. The Chinese, now grown bolder, seized the pikes that they had hidden under the benches, and with outcries completed their treachery. The governor, who was sleeping below the hatchway, with a lantern or candle, awaked. In order to awaken him, the Chinese themselves began purposely to make a greater noise; while they cried out to him and begged him to come out and settle a quarrel among the "Castillas," as they call the Spaniards. He, either for that reason, or thinking that the galley was dragging as on other occasions, arose in his shirt, opened the hatchway, looked out, and pushed his body half way through it. At that same time, the Chinese fell upon him with their cutlasses, and fatally wounded him. They cleft his head, transfixed him with their pikes, and ran him through with more than barbaric ferocity. Perceiving that his death was near at hand, he retired, and took the prayer-book of his order, which he always kept with him, and an image of our Lady. Between those two refuges, which were later found bathed in his blood, he yielded up his life. However he did not die immediately, for they found him later in his bed, tightly holding the image, where he bled to death. About him were the bodies of Daniel Gomez de Leon, his valet, Pantaleon de Brito, Suero Diaz, Juan de Chaves, Pedro Maseda, Juan de San Juan, Carrion Ponce, and Francisco Castillo—all servants of his—besides the bodies of four very valiant slaves, who merited the same end. The outcome was not learned until dawn, for not one of the Chinese dared enter the governor's room that night, fearing lest a portion of the eighty Spaniards of the galley had taken refuge there, so cowardly did their guilt make them. The only survivors in the galley were Fray Francisco Montilla, a discalced religious of St. Francis, and Juan de Cuellar, the governor's secretary, who were sleeping below decks—where the Chinese, since they are so cowardly, did not dare descend for three days, until after the fury of the first attack had ceased. Then they put them ashore on the Ylocos coast, on the same island of Luzon, so that the natives would let them take water, and because the friar and the secretary had made a certain compact with them, to surrender, if no harm was done them. The Chinese, assured that no other longtime Christians were alive, commenced to cry out and rejoice loudly at having committed that deed, saying now they had no one to fear.
The Spaniards, who were in other boats, near the land, although they saw the lights, and indistinctly heard the noise from the flagship, supposed that it was some unexpected work connected with the galley, or something of that sort. When they learned what was happening, after a long interval, from those who escaped by swimming, they could not remedy it and consequently remained quiet. They were but few, and of inadequate force, and their enterprise was ruined. They waited until the morning, and when it dawned they saw that the galley had already set its bastard, [286] and was sailing toward China with the wind astern, and they could not follow it. It made its voyage, as the wind served it, along all the coast of the island, until they cleared Luzon, the Sangleys continuing to celebrate their victory. [287]….
[The secretary and friar, after suffering great tortures of mind from the Chinese, who threatened often to kill them, are saved at last, through the superstition of the Chinese, and left ashore on the Ilocos coast. The Chinese show their cowardice in a conflict with the natives on that coast, whither they return later "to sacrifice to the demon" one of their Christian Filipino prisoners. Being unable to reach China, they land at Cochinchina, "where the king of Tunquin seizes their cargo, and two large pieces of artillery embarked for the expedition to Maluco, the royal standard, and all the jewels, ornaments, and money. He let the galley drift ashore." The news causes great lamentation in Manila. "Some of those who hated the governor rejoiced, but their wrath immediately vanished and they wept generally." Subsequent events follow:]
… The news having been learned in Manila, and no papers of the governor being found, appointing his successor (although it was known that he had a royal decree for this), and believing it had been lost in the galley along with much of his own property, and that of the king and private persons: the city appointed Licentiate Rojas as governor, and he filled the post for forty days. But the secretary, Juan de Cuellar, together with Fray Francisco de Montilla, returning in a wretched plight to Manila, reported that Gomez Perez, before leaving, had left the appointment drawn in favor of his son, Don Luis; and that they would find it in a box in the convent of St. Augustine with other papers, in care of Fray Diego Muñoz. Rojas had already sent an order to Cebu for all the men of the expedition to return, which was obeyed. Thereupon Don Luis, having come, by virtue of the authority delegated by his father, although with certain protests, succeeded to that government, until the arrival of Don Francisco Tello.
Such was the end of that cavalier, whose achievements, judged by themselves, have worth, and receive worth also by his zeal in performing them. He did not lack political and military virtues, or prudence in both. But he shut his eyes to examples, and, contrary to their teaching, dared promise himself results, so that he became rash and even confident. But Christian charity excuses all this.
Don Luis, his kindred, and friends, wished to continue the expedition to Maluco, and Father Antonio Fernandez came for that purpose from Tydore; but it was not carried out. The fleet was broken up, which was a signal providence for the Filipinas Islands. For at the beginning of the following year, one thousand five hundred and ninety-four, a considerable number of Chinese vessels, laden with men and arms, but no merchandise as was their wont, came to the islands. The vessels brought seven mandarins, some of the greatest viceroys or governors of their provinces. It was rumored and was proved that when they learned that, as Gomez Perez had undertaken that expedition (on which he had been accompanied by all the Spaniards), they would find the country unarmed, they were of a mind to conquer it or sack it—which would have been very easy for them, had they found it as they expected. The mandarins left their ships twice to visit Don Luis, attended by a great pomp and retinue. He received them kindly, and gave each mandarin a gold necklace. They told him that they had come by order of their king to get the Chinese who were wandering unsettled among those islands without his leave. But this was considered a pretext for the truth, for so many mandarins were unnecessary for it, or so many armed ships and supplies. Those Chinese were the same as those who killed Gomez Perez, men from Chincheo. Accordingly Don Luis, as against a known offender, sent his own cousin, Don Fernando de Castro, in a vessel to recount their treachery to the Chinese king; but the voyage turned out badly, and this effort wholly failed.
At this time Langara, king of Camboxa, requested help earnestly, and asked Don Luis to keep the promise that his father had made him some time before. Consequently, in fulfilment of it, and so that those forces, or some portion of them, should continue in the service of the Church, for which they were prepared as a benefit for Ternate, he determined to aid that king with them.
[A description of Camboxa follows, with observations on its religion, wealth, products, industries, and fauna. The account of the first expedition to that country is as follows:]