They ask for Father Martinez [and] Alexandro[10] at Jolo [and] Father Carrion at Buiaon, but without an associate. I say that, following even to the end of the world, I do not know to what to compare these Moros of Samboangan. They have paid all their tributes. This is a brief relation. I pray your Reverence to pardon me and commend me to God, for indeed what I desire is necessary. Sanboangan, April 23, 1638.[11]
[1] In the manuscript that we follow the letter of March 31 is given second, while that of April 5 is given first; we have arranged them chronologically.
[2] Garo: probably the same as garita; a fortified outpost?
[3] The translation of this passage seems to be, “If God fights against a city, he who guards it watches in vain.” The difficulty lies in ”a custodierit,” which we translate as “fights against.”
[4] Sulu, the chief island of the group of that name, has an area of 333 square miles. It contains numerous mountains, some of them nearly 3,000 feet high; and their slopes are covered with magnificent forests. Of the ancient town of Sulu (the residence of the “sultan”), on the southern shore, hardly a trace remains; the present town of that name was built by the Spaniards in 1878, and is modern in style. See U. S. Gazetteer of Philippines, pp. 842–850.
[5] “Four groups having different customs may be distinguished among the inhabitants of the archipelago: the Guīmbajanos, or inhabitants of the mountains, who are the indigenes; the Malay and Visayan slaves, whose descendants have intermarried; the Samales, an inferior race, though not slaves; the true Moros, who trace their origin from the Mohammedan invaders, and who dominate the other inhabitants.” “Physically the Sulu natives are superior to the ordinary Malay type, and, according to Streeter, are a strange mixture of villainy and nobility.” (U. S. Gazetteer, pp. 845, 846.)
[6] Babui, in their language, signifies “pig;” apparently they called the Spaniards “swine,” as expressing the acme of contempt for their besiegers.
[7] “Thanks be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
[8] Combés says (Hist. Mindanao, Retana’s ed., col. 264) that this queen, named Tuambaloca, was a native of Basilan, and that she had acquired such ascendency over her husband that the government of Joló was entirely in her hands. This statement explains the presence of the Basilan men in the Joloan stronghold.