These Philipinas Islands are surrounded by so many and various neighboring countries that they are like the center of a very beautiful circumference composed of cities, kingdoms and provinces. The condition of this district depends so much upon that of other places that it will not be inappropriate to relate briefly what has occurred this year in these other places, in order better to understand the present state of affairs here. And if the description of any places should not fulfil this purpose, it will at least serve to give an interesting notice of countries so far away. All that is written here is taken from relations and letters which our fathers have sent from various places, and from what I have seen this year in this country.
Of Eastern India
To begin with, the most notable of the events that have occurred in India is the destruction of the city of Baçani, a very beautiful city, and important as containing many Portuguese hidalgos. It was situated on the north coast, opposite the Mogors, with whom the Portuguese carry on war.[1] It was very well built of stone, with seven good monasteries of various orders; but its great strength was not sufficient to defend it from the powerful hand of God, who chose to raze it to the ground. To accomplish this, He employed all four of the elements: the water, which fell in a great deluge from the heavens; the air, which broke loose in the most horrible and furious winds ever known; the earth, which trembled terribly; and fire, which, wishing to serve its Creator in no uncertain manner, shot out its tremendous bolts into the air and discharged them over the miserable city. With such powerful enemies all the buildings fell down—not one stone remaining upon another—except a chapel of our Lady of Health [Nuestra Señora de la Salud], and part of the convent of St. Francis, where some people took refuge. There were lost, in the river more than sixty vessels loaded with provisions, bound for Goa; and two others from Ormuz, one coming and the other going. This destruction took place on the seventeenth of May, 1618. The reason for it only God, with His unbounded wisdom, knows. All that we here can understand is that the sins of the city provoked His wrath, and that for two years past interdictions and censures upon it have been continuous. Even the day before this disaster occurred, God took from it (as He did another [?]) Father Rodrigo, of the Society, who was one of His zealous servants, and transported him to another and a better life. When news of this reached Goa, great demonstrations were made there to appease the wrath of God, that He might not afflict that city as He had afflicted Baçani.
Of Great China
In China, within recent years, a very severe persecution of Christians broke out; and on account of the enmity of a mandarin, who was the cause of this storm, four fathers were ejected from the residences of Sanguin and Paquin [i.e., Pekin]. One of them was Father Diego Pantoja,[2] a native of Toledo, a noted religious, one of the most noted men who have been in China, and one who has learned most of the Chinese letters, sciences, and language. Upon reaching Macan from his exile, this father passed from this to a better life. There still remained in China eight fathers of our Society. These, with some others, are cultivating the vineyard of the Lord, maintaining in the faith those already converted, and bringing into it others, who, forsaking the false belief of idolatry, receive the water of holy baptism. In short, these fathers are promulgating the holy gospel. They write that they found, in one of the many provinces of that extensive realm, a people who worship the holy cross, and who are called Christians—although they are so only in name, for they are in truth heathen. They also found a synagogue of more than twelve thousand jews who live under the law of Moses.[3]
The Tartars, who usually are at war with the Chinese, this year invaded China on the north side by way of the border province of Lona [sc. Liao?].[4] They routed the Chinese armies, made a great slaughter among them, took some cities, and destroyed many villages; and then, because the winter is so cold, they retired to their own country to remain till another year, when, they say, they will come with a great force. And although they fear that they are not possessed of everything necessary for this invasion, yet a short time before,[5] a violent storm demolished for them that famous and strong wall, six hundred leguas long, which separated China from Tartaria. The events of this war and the state of the kingdom of China will be set forth in a petition, or memorial, which the mandarins presented to their king. Our fathers of Macan sent it to us, saying that the Christians of Paquin had sent it to them. The fathers put it into Portuguese; translated into Spanish, it reads as follows:
Memorial which the mandarins of Paquin sent to the king of China in the year 1618, when the Tartars invaded that kingdom.
This year, 1618, in the sixth moon, which is the month of August, the president of the council of war presented to the king a memorial for the defense [of the kingdom] against the Tartars, who entered by the north walls. He humbly begs of you, my king, that you give attention to this matter, and quickly open your treasuries in support of this war to raise soldiers and to collect supplies. The facts of the situation are, as I just now heard from the mandarins who are in the province of the north walls, that the Tartars assembled with the determination to seize this country of China. They say that on the day selected for battle they entered through the walls and captured some people, whom they sacrificed and burned at two in the morning before the pitched battle; and, while they were burning the sacrifice, great bombs and ingenious fireworks were discharged. They raised flags on the hills and proclaimed their own king as king of Paquin. Of soldiers who bear arms and other people there are thousands of thousands—they are indeed, innumerable. Each soldier carries several weapons. They entered by force of arms through the walls called Humbre. The mandarins entrusted with the defense of this part of the walls collected two armies [companias], ninety-six captains, and three hundred thousand men, and came to blows eleven times. In the first encounter our captain-general and thirty-seven captains ordinary were killed. Our captain called Chun entered valiantly on horseback into the ranks of the Tartars, killed five of them, and was then himself killed and mutilated on the spot. Countless numbers of our men died in these actions; some thousands were captured; and, in retreating from the battle, amid the confusion and tumult, more than a thousand more were killed. The victorious Tartar raised his flag aloft and his men cried out, “Our king of Paquin comes to take possession of Great China, which dared to resist him.” The Tartars, following up the victory, killed in various encounters more than six hundred captains and soldiers of repute. The inhabitants of the cities and towns deserted them and fled to the forests with their women and children. On the same day the Tartars took three cities.
When I heard this news I met with the Colao and the mandarins of the court to take counsel as to what should be done. And truly it seems that Heaven is assisting the Tartars, for how else could they kill so many thousands of men and take three cities in one day?[6] We all say that this is a punishment from Heaven, like so many other calamities that are being suffered. For example, it did not rain during the whole of last year in the province of Paquin, and so the people went about almost dead. In the province of Xanto the hunger was so great that they ate human flesh, for which there was a public market. A great multitude of rats crossed the river. The fires of heaven burned all the royal palaces. A gale blew down the five towers. There were, also, in the heavens two suns, one swallowing the other—an occurrence, certainly, of dire portent. Another very extraordinary thing beside these occurred. We saw that man called Chanchain enter the palace to kill the prince, in which event the mandarin [illegible in MS.] wishing to speak to you, my king, in a rather loud voice, in order to show his fidelity. But you did not choose to listen to him, and, instead, you ordered him to be put in the jail, and in fetters, and sentenced to death, on the charge of having disturbed the soul of your mother, who had recently died. We, the mandarins, wishing [to aid?] him, beg you that you may be pleased to pardon him; because it would certainly be a great pity to treat as a rebel a faithful mandarin, who merely showed his love for you.
Moreover, the viceroys and the Chaiery of each province several times sent you memorials advising you of the calamities of the people, and begging that you be pleased to diminish the customs and impositions, a matter worthy of careful consideration. In the same way, all the mandarins of the court have often implored you, by means of memorials, that you should go out incognito to hear complaints for the good of the government of the kingdom, and to bring it into harmony with the will of Heaven. If you had done this, we would now find ourselves in a very peaceful condition, and our empire would last a thousand centuries; but oh king, as you neither listened to nor examined into what was proposed to you, it appears, rather, that you are sleeping at your ease in your palace. You act as if you did not notice what you clearly see with your eyes. Hence for a long time the mandarins have been very much troubled. We have seen rivers running with blood. Are not all these matters of evil portent? There are indeed, other disasters than the falling of the walls on the Tartar frontier. We often sent memorials asking you to order that they be rebuilt; and at last you sent two mandarins with two hundred thousand men to repair them. They went out last year in the ninth moon. While on the way, for some unknown reason, a quarrel arose among the men at midnight; and in less than two hours more than eighty boats and over seven hundred men were burned, besides the many who were drowned. All this augured evil. And thus we sent you a memorial asking that you should give audience on matters concerning the good government of the kingdom, according to the will of Heaven. You answered, “Now it is cold, now hot; I am indisposed and unable to do it; I shall choose another day to go out, or you may choose it.” We the mandarins, together, chose the seventh day of the same moon, which was convenient. You, however, did not answer favorably, but instead threw the memorial into the fire.