In order to prevent the enemy from fortifying large buildings outside the walls, “orders were issued to demolish the churches of Santiago, Bagumbaya, Hermita, Malate, Parañaque, Dilao, San Lazaro, the Parian, and Santa Cruz—besides various country houses which the Spaniards own in those environs.” (Murillo Velarde’s Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 272.)
[13] This son was called Kin-sié, also known as Tching King-may and Sipuan; La Concepción says (vii, p. 55) that he, “who had been reared in the study, among books, did nothing to cultivate the country which his father had acquired with so many dangers and fatigues, and the troops therefore became, in his service, lax and cowardly.”
[14] The references in this document to the rulers of China can hardly be satisfactorily identified; the various names given to the same person, the conflicting claims of various usurpers or temporary rulers, and the struggle between the dying Ming dynasty and the Manchu conquerors, cause great confusion and uncertainty in the history of that period. The actual ruler of China was then the Manchu Chuntche (1646–61); he was succeeded by his second son, Kanghi.
[15] Nanking was, under some early Chinese dynasties, the capital of the empire. This name signifies merely “Southern Court;” the proper appellation of the city is Kianningfu. Odoric of Pordenoñe, who visited it near the year 1325, says that its walls had a circuit of forty miles, and in it were three hundred and sixty stone bridges, the finest in the world (Yule’s Cathay, i, pp. 120, 121).
[16] This was Hia-mun, or Emuy (known by the English as Amoy); it lies off the province of Fuh-kien, at the mouth of the Lung-kiang (“Dragon”) River. On it lies the city of Amoy, a large and important commercial port; it has one of the best harbors on the coast. (Williams’s Middle Kingdom, i, pp. 114, 115.)
[17] Diaz relates this (Conquistas, p. 619) in greater detail. “The Tartar [i.e., Chuntche], seeing himself reduced to so great straits ... resolved to command that all the [inhabited places on the] maritime coasts should be laid waste and dismantled, for a distance of three or four leguas inland, throughout the more than eight hundred leguas of coasts which that empire possesses. This, to the great injury of the empire, left demolished and razed to the ground innumerable settlements and cities, enough to compose several kingdoms. This was the greatest conflagration and havoc that the world has seen, ... and only populous China could be the fit theater for such a tragedy, and only the cruel barbarity of the Tartars [could make them the] inventors and executors of such destruction. The upheaval which the execution of this so unexampled cruelty caused cannot be described; the loss of property is incalculable; and human thought cannot conceive the horror produced by the sight of so many thousands of towns and cities burning. At last this general conflagration was completed, the fire lasting many days—the clouds of smoke reaching as far as Hia-muen, more than twenty leguas, and the sun not being visible in all that broad expanse. Stations were established at suitable distances for easily rendering aid, well garrisoned with soldiers; and watch-towers were erected a legua apart, to keep a lookout over the sea-coasts. A public proclamation forbade any person to pass the bounds assigned, four leguas distant from the seashore. With these precautions, if Kue-sing’s ships landed there, a great number of soldiers were quickly assembled to dispute his entrance into the country—thus keeping within bounds Kue-sing, who now did not encounter sleeping men.”
[18] Referring to the bay whereon was situated the chief settlement and fort of the Dutch in Formosa, that of Tai-wan, in the southwestern part of the island.
Letter from Governor Salcedo to Francisco Yzquierdo
Summary of this letter, written from Manila, dated July 16, 1664, giving information regarding the condition of the islands at his arrival, and the measures that he had taken.