I
_Relation of affairs in the Filipinas and in other regions, for the
year of 1628 and 629, sent by the fathers [of the Society]; and of
a victory gained by our men_.
An excellent and large fleet has left this great island of Mindanao
during these last few days to punish the insolence of the Dutch and of
the Joloans, the neighbors of Mindanao, who are robbing the country
from us and capturing the Indians of these Filipinas. The fleet is
there, and I was to embark with it, but in order not to leave this
district alone Father Fabricio Sersali, a Sicilian, went. The fleet
consisted of thirty ships and more, and in them sailed two hundred
Spaniards and innumerable Indian soldiers and rowers. May our Lord
give us the success that we hope. [56]
A fleet of two galleons with high freeboard has also left, and in them
four companies of soldiers, in pursuit of the Dutch enemy who were in
Macan and along the coast of Great China. Advices were received of a
Dutch ship which was carrying one million pesos' worth of wealth. The
result has not been ascertained as yet.
[_Word in MS. illegible_] On March 13, fire fell from heaven upon
the Parian or fair of the Chinese (according to what they themselves
swear, namely, that they saw it fall), and burned it all, without a
single one of the more than eight hundred houses that it contained
being left; and the only thing that was left standing was a church
which was in the Parian. [57] The Parian of Manila and almost all
the city of Zebu were burned, with great loss.
The fleet which went from the province of Oton to punish Jolo has
arrived at this very moment. I shall relate here a very fortunate
result that our Lord gave them. It is as follows. The island of
Jolo is next to that of Mindanao. The fleet left here, as I said,
on the first of April. At dawn of Holy Saturday it reached the mouth
of the river of Jolo, and entering it and attacking the village,
the enemy fled as a single man to the mountain, so that the energy
of all our men was directed to pillaging. The sack amounted to thirty
thousand pesos. What was pillaged from the house of the king amounted
to six thousand pesos in silk, cloth, wax, huge quantities of wax,
innumerable weapons, and other things of great value. It was all
divided among the villagers. That news was one of the best which
this country has heard, as that enemy was the one who does us most
harm. Father Fabricio Sersali, who was with the fleet, preceded them
all with an image of St. Francis Xavier raised on a spear. In this
manner did the aged saint enter the mosque, and leap for joy. Now boats
are being prepared in this town of Arebalo to complete the uprooting
from these islands of those nations who disturb them. They burned the
town, and the house of the king, the mosque, and the rice which they
could not carry away. They felled the palm trees, so that they might
deprive those people of support. They did all that in one day. They
burned one hundred and forty ships--forty large ones and the others
of less burden. Such and such people were captured; and then they set
out on their return in high spirits, in order to go out another time,
for which they are preparing. Oton, May 30, 628.
_Hernando Estrada_ [58]
Will your Reverence aid me with your holy sacrifices and prayers, so
that I may imitate many apostolic laborers whom we have had here, and
of whom we have at present many, who have come from all those provinces
of España; they have made and are making gardens pleasant to the sight
of God, from the obscure forests which the devil has possessed so many
thousands of years and still possesses in these islands. For, as we
have been told, there are eleven thousand islands, of which that of
Manila is the largest and most important. It has more Christians [than
the others], and yet even in it there are many infidels, who make war
on us. Among the other islands there are very few [with Christians]
because of the many which are so full of infidel people who profess
the devilish worship of Mahoma. I cannot depict to your Reverence how
surrounded we are by that canaille on all sides, and the wars that
they so frequently make upon us--so that, in the summer especially,
no one can be safe in his house. Daily do they enter our villages,
burn them and their churches, break into bits the saints and images,
and capture the poor Indians.
I left Manila in a champan, which is a boat used by the Chinese, and
in which they come from their country here. We were four of the Society
who embarked in it, and God was pleased to give it so favorable a wind
that by means of it we escaped from the hands of the enemy, who were
in ambush, watching for an opportune moment. The father-provincial
[59] took the same route in a caracoa--a boat used in this country;
but that craft was knocked to pieces before reaching the place where
the enemy had established themselves. Hence it was necessary for
him and his associate to come overland, suffering extraordinary
hardships, over mountains and through rivers, for more than one
hundred leguas. Thus does it seem that they escaped as by a miracle,
as well as did the champan.
Soon thirty or more boatloads of Camuzones Indians arrived here. They
were naked, having only a bit of cloth with which they cover,
etc. Their weapons are certain pointed bamboos, but those bamboos
are very strong. They entered a village which was under my charge,
and burned it, together with its house and church. They broke the
saints into pieces, although the ornaments were saved. Nine persons
were captured here.
Another brother and I were going to another village, without thought
of enemies. We entered the bar of a river at about one in the
afternoon. That afternoon the enemy entered the same river. The next
day, while we were giving thanks, they made a sudden attack on the
village, whereupon all the people fled. We two went to the mountains,
where we remained eleven days. Thence the enemy took their way toward
another village, where the father-provincial was, together with Father
Juan Lopez, [60] his associate, and other fathers. Before the enemy
arrived, they received the warning which I sent them. Consequently,
all took to the mountains, and the father-provincial and the other
fathers were among the mountains for a number of days, where they
suffered hardships. But our Lord was pleased to order that the enemy
should not reach that village nor the village where I was staying,
for fear of the narrowness of the rivers, lest they could not get
through them when they departed. But they went thence to another town
located on the seashore, and burned it entirely. The enemy also went
to other villages of our missions and burned them, and the fathers
escaped as by a miracle from their hands. When the enemy capture the
fathers they cut off their heads, as they did two years ago with a
father whom they captured. They treat the Spaniards whom they capture
in the same way. Consequently, we all go about as if we were soldiers;
our ships are laden with arms; and forts have been built in the chief
villages and fortified with firearms, with which to defend ourselves;
while forts are being built in the other villages.
All those coasts of this sea have been crowded with sentinels this
year, for it was rumored that many Dutch ships were to come, and they
always come to sight land at the cape of Espiritu Santo.
When we go from some villages to others, we cross many deep rivers,
which are all generally full of caymans or crocodiles. These [reptiles]
swallow a bull, a cow, or a deer even to their horns, thus causing
great loss. They also catch and eat the Indians daily.
There is a most abundant quantity of snakes, almost all of which
cause death when they sting. There is but one remedy for the wounds,
namely, if they happen to have a little of the earth from San Pablo. By
having it blessed, they are infallibly cured; and he who is treated
with this remedy does not die. There are other snakes which are not
poisonous. They are so large that they can swallow a large wild boar,
or a large deer, horns and all. A father and some Indians killed one
which was eating a hog; they ran up on hearing the grunts of the hog,
and speared and killed the snake.
There is great abundance of material products, and the country is very
fertile. The grain of these regions is rice, and as a rule each fanega
of grain sowed yields one hundred fanegas, and many yield two hundred
fanegas, especially if it is irrigated and transplanted. There are
oranges of many varieties, some of them resembling large melons. Honey
and wax is found in the trees, where the bees make it. The wax is worth
sixteen or twenty reals an arroba, and a jar of honey one real. I
saw a tree which had many honeycombs hanging on the branches. The
mountains are fuller of wild boars than are the commons of España
of swine and cattle in acorn time. One of those swine, if it is fat,
is worth two reals, but only one if not fat; and a deer is worth the
same sum. There are almost no fruits of España. There are melons,
cucumbers, pumpkins, and radishes of the country, and quantities of
cabbages and lettuce. There are many native fruits, some of which are
excellent, but they are not so many or so good as those of España,
while the food does not have the same nourishment as in España. The
swine here are excellent, and better and more healthful than those
of España; for they are eaten like mutton, and are given to the sick
as mutton is in España.
God is ever our physician and apothecary in sickness, and but few times
does one fall grievously sick when our Lord does not supply the lack
of medicines, without which [_MS. holed_: we?] get along very well,
and God helps [us]. Panbohen, July 6, 1629.
_Pedro de Prado_
We received a letter from Eastern India which gives very good news of
its condition; for the Dutch are now in small numbers and are very
much disaccredited, with both the Moros and the heathen, and these
have revolted against the Dutch and driven them from their lands and
from the houses of trade that they owned, because they have found
them false in their commerce and deceitful in their trading. Our men
went to help drive out the Dutch.
Good news comes from Zeilan and Tebet of the great conversion to
Christianity that is being effected there and in other regions,
and that the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ continues to increase.
Ruy Freire went to besiege Ormuz with some ships, and the viceroy told
him that he was going in person with [_MS. holed_] ships to capture it.
Father Geronimo Perez [61] had cut down, at a residence, a tree
which was called nino, in order to dispel the superstitions of the
Indians. That tree was twenty-five brazas in circumference, and there
are other trees of this species whose trunks are used by the Indians
as houses. [62]
Father Muxica writes from Macan that Father Trigautio had come from
China to Macan, and said that there were many highborn and influential
people in China who were being converted, and that they were living
very exemplary lives. Manila, July 5, 1628 [_sic_].