[3] See the letter by Fajardo, here referred to, in Vol. XVIII, pp. 247–279.
[4] See this letter in Vol. XXIV, p. 301.
The Conquest of Mindanao
Letter from Father Marcelo Francisco Mastrili,[1] in which he gives account of the conquest of Mindanao to Father Juan de Zalazar,[2] provincial of the Society of Jesus in the Filipinas Islands.
Gratia, et pax Christi, etc.
I would by no means have expected, Father, your Reverence’s command to inform you of our expedition to Mindanao, had you known that the letters which I wrote to Father Juan de Bueras from Lamitan had remained at Sanboanga; because, since I recounted in them, with much detail, all the events of the conquest of Mindanao, I asked him to read them to your Reverence, so that, without fatiguing yourself with my separate letter, you might know what had happened. And now, having in obedience to your command, departed for Taytay, I will here relate to you faithfully as much as I can remember.
Your Reverence of course knows how Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, governor of these islands, having determined on the expedition to Mindanao, called a general council of war, in which all were of adverse opinion, saving only his nephew, Sargento-mayor Don Pedro Hurtado de Corcuera. In spite of this, constrained by desire for his own glory, and for the honor of the two Majesties, the human and the divine, he resolved, notwithstanding the contrary opinion of the entire council, to persevere in his pious intentions. On the day, therefore, of the Purification of our Lady, February second of this year 1637, having with all the soldiers attended confession and communion in the chapels of the palace, he ordered them to embark in eleven champans, which were already provided for this purpose. Father Juan de Barrios and I embarked in the flagship with his Lordship, and Sargento-mayor Don Marcos Zapata, whom he brought for a companion, and to sit at his table. The priest Don Juan, chaplain of the fleet, sailed on the almiranta, with Sargento-mayor Don Pedro Hurtado de Corcuera; and an Augustinian friar came, as confessor for the Pampangos, in Lorenço Ugalde’s champan.
The previous day a letter had come from the archbishop, stating that there were eighty hostile caracoas at the island of Mindanao; so his Lordship, in order to surprise them, sailed with five champans for the opposite and outer coast of the island, and directed Captain Ugalde to skirt the inner coast, with the rest of the boats, as far as Point Nasso,[3] on the shore of the island of Othon. The fact that they found no trace of enemies anywhere, stamped the report as false, and as inspired by the effort of the devil for the purpose of hindering us in our journey; for we were compelled, by taking this route, to toil for more than twelve days in order to cover the distance of twelve leguas to this Point Nasso in Othon, the brisas being dead ahead when we attempted to round the cape. One day when (an opportunity offering) we were trying to double it, the fury of the wind and the sea was so great that we broke the steering-gear, and there was great danger of the ship’s foundering, and of our being drowned. I would have been drowned more quickly than anyone else, for, being at the stern, I became entangled with the sheets of the sail,[4] at the time of the furious and unexpected turn which the ship (being no longer under control) gave, through the force of the wind.
So great, in fact, was the rage and pain which the evil one suffered on account of our expedition, and what he already feared [from it] that, as I afterward knew with certainty, he often complained to a certain person, speaking in an audible voice in the woods, saying: “Why come ye? What do ye seek? Who brought you here? Curses on you; I will deprive you of life, and we will have done with this!” I did not believe this at the time, as coming from the father of lies; but he taught us later, by experience, how much he did to make his word good.