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AN
HISTORICAL VIEW
OF THE
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS:
EXHIBITING
THEIR DISCOVERY, POPULATION, LANGUAGE,
GOVERNMENT, MANNERS, CUSTOMS,
PRODUCTIONS AND COMMERCE.
FROM THE SPANISH OF
Martinez de Zuniga.
PUBLISHED AT MANILA, 1803.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
WITH
A NEW AND ACCURATE MAP OF THE ISLANDS,
FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.
TRANSLATED
BY JOHN MAVER, ESQ.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. ASPERNE, CORNHILL; AND NONAVILLE
AND FELL, NEW BOND-STREET:
By T. Davison, Whitefriars.
1814.
CHAPTER I.
ANNO DOM. 1669.
The Administration of Don Manuel de Leon.
Don Manuel de Leon, the new Governor of these islands, took possession
on the 24th of September, 1669. The first act of his government was
to declare that Senor Bonifaz, who had been Governor ad interim, had
not been duly authorized, and though he confiscated his goods, he did
not succeed in his attempt to imprison him, as the moment he gave up
his government, he retired to the convent of the Franciscans. The
Governor found the commerce of Manila at a very low ebb, as there
were only two ships which sailed from the island, one from Cavite, and
another from Lampon, and there was very little doing in the commerce
with China. To remedy this, he sent to Macao Captain Losada and the
Jesuit Mesina to revive it, and by the prudence of these two, and
the disinterestedness of the Governor, such an extended commercial
intercourse took place not only with China, but with the adjacent
coasts, that these islands were filled with goods, which was of course
highly beneficial to the royal coffers. On the 11th of April, 1677,
the Governor, while at the nuptial ceremony of the Oidor Coloma,
was taken suddenly ill in the church, and being removed to a house
on the river side close by, he expired the same day.