The Dutch greatly regretted the peace made between the Joloans and the Spaniards; for they had already prepared for that undertaking, and for the attack on Zamboanga seven of the strongest galleons armed with picked men and many munitions of war. In order not to lose so great reputation, they went to attack Zamboanga, where Don Francisco de Atienza, a brave Toledoan, was governing; and they remained in sight of the channel, in order to await the relief-boats for Ternate, which were returning to Manila in charge of General Juan de Chaves. But, having had contrary storms, those vessels arrived so late that the Dutch had set sail eleven days before, in despair of succeeding in the undertaking. Before leaving, the enemy tried to land men in Zamboanga; but our artillery did them so much damage that they retired to the port of La Caldera. Captain Pedro Durán Monforte followed them on land with fifty Spaniards and many Pampangos, in order to prevent them from disembarking; and the enemy, therefore, contented themselves by destroying with their cannon the hills, on which they wasted more than 600 balls. They thought that their opponents’ camp would be quite demolished by that; and they assured themselves by landing their small boats with some experienced men. But our men received them so spiritedly that they made the Dutch retire to their ships, whence they returned twice with new reënforcements. But all of them were driven back with like slaughter, until they gave over their obstinacy, and sought the shelter of their galleons with the loss of a hundred men; while our men suffered no other loss in this encounter than a single man killed when Zamboanga was bombarded—namely, Captain Don Luis de Rojas, whose head was carried away by a cannon-ball. The Dutch, despairing of being able to come out of the matter with credit, retired to the port of La Caldera, and returned thence to Batavia thoroughly scared.
Pitiful was the disaster that befell the father definitor, Fray Pedro de Valenzuela, in the year 1648. Our father provincial, Fray Diego de Ordás, had entrusted to him the annual visitation of the province of Ilocos. If one goes there by land, he must inevitably pass through a stretch of unsettled country for a day’s journey, between the province of Pampanga and that of Pangasinán, from the village of Magalang to that of Malunguey. One cannot pass it with security without an escort of Zambals, who are, like the Pampangos of those elevated villages in that province, a brave people. The reason is, that all that unsettled portion is exposed to the incursions of the blacks from the mountains of Playa Honda, who are the cruelest of all that scattered nation.
Those blacks are the ancient inhabitants of this island of Luzón, which is the chief and largest island where Manila is established; for the other nations of the Indians are lately come from the adjacent islands of Borney and Sumatra. They are not so black as those of Africa, but have a color much clearer, although they are alike in their curly hair. That race is especially wretched and unfortunate, and cowardly and treacherous. They live in the mountains like wild beasts, naked, and without villages or houses. They wander about continually, and sleep on the ground in the open, or in the hollow of some great tree. Their best shelter is formed of some leaves hastily arranged. They excel in hunting, for deer, wild boars, buffaloes, and mountain carabaos abound in these mountains. Their arms are the bow and arrow, in which they are very skilful. Their paganism almost amounts to atheism, for they have no idols or sacrifices, but only some vain superstitions—in which they are so tenacious and blind that if any of them would become a true Christian it would be regarded as a miracle. They are so fond of that manner of living (in which they are not at all different from the brutes) that not only do they not desire to live in settlements like men, but some of them who have been reared from childhood in Manila and other places, run away, and return to the wretchedness of that life when they are grown, and to their nakedness and poverty.[15]...
Among the evil inclinations of those unfortunate creatures, the greatest is a ravenous appetite for killing people and cutting off their heads—first of their enemies, but even of their friends and relatives—and that for very slight cause. That cruelty is for them honor, nobility, and estimation. But it is a greater glory to cut off the head of a Spaniard; and, after performing their dances and superstitions before it, they use the skull as a drinking vessel in their greatest feasts.
The father definitor, Fray Pedro de Valenzuela, found himself among those barbarous people in the most dangerous part of that wild region, which is a site called Puntalón—a precipice between hills. He refused to take an escort, for he was overconfident; and thus he paid for his carelessness by being shot through with many arrows. Those people cut off his head, which became the occasion of great banquets, dances, and revels. But all the blacks concerned in that act of treachery were overtaken very soon by the punishment of heaven; for they all caught a disease which is called that of St. Lazarus [i.e., leprosy]....
That horrible disease has been inherited by their descendants, and the blacks recognize and confess that it is their punishment for the murder of Fray Pedro Valenzuela. From that time, they have not dared to kill any priest; but they only rob them of what they carry. In my time, a religious of St. John of God was able to escape death among those blacks by uncovering his tonsure while passing that dangerous and unsettled district.
Some years later, the same blacks killed General Don Felipe de Ugalde, a brave Biscayan, in the same place, because he trusted in his great valor. But the number of the enemy was greater, and they drove so many arrows through him that he bled to death, after he had first killed many of the blacks. They cut off his head, which they held in high esteem as a trophy of such a victory, until it was possible to ransom it and bury it with ecclesiastical rites. Many other Spaniards have been killed by their carelessness and great confidence; and consequently, that unsettled stretch is very dangerous.
CHAPTER VIII
Events of those times, and the provincial chapter of the year 1650. The insurrection of the Indians of Palapag, and their pacification.