Our departure from the kingdom and the events which happened during
our return to Manila
[On the same day on which we reached the ships, Captain Juan Xuarez
Gallinato arrived. He was told of our experience with the Chinese
and with the Cambodians, and of the good-will displayed in this
kingdom for its conversion, and also for the temporal ends proposed
in the service of his Majesty. Captain Gallinato showed that he
disbelieved much of what was told him, and that what he did believe
impressed him badly. In spite of all that was done to persuade him
to wait a few days, he was resolved to depart immediately; so we
sailed to Cochinchina for provisions. Here we were at first very
well received. Then Gallinato sent Captain Gregorio de Vargas as
ambassador to visit the king, and to ask him for the royal standard,
the galley, and the artillery, and the other things which had been
carried to that kingdom by the traitors who murdered Governor Gomez
Perez das Mariñas. The king took this demand so ill that he tried
to kill the ambassador, who barely escaped with his life. The king,
partly because of his rage, and partly from fear that the news of his
treatment of the ambassador would be carried back by the Spaniards,
sent two fleets and a large land force to destroy us. We here got
news of the death of the tyrant who had ruled over the kingdom of
Camboja and of the plan of a number of loyal chiefs to reinstate the
lawful king with the assistance of the Spaniards, to whom they meant
to offer great rewards. The Spanish ships were just putting out to
sea when the Indians reached the shore with the purpose of giving
them this invitation. It was known that the kingdom of the Laos
(to which the king of Camboja had withdrawn) was very near that of
Cochinchina; and Captains Blas Ruyz and Diego Velloso asked permission
to go by land and find the king. Gallinato permitted them to do so,
and I accompanied them to the city of Sinoa, where a son of the king
acted as viceroy. Some Augustinian friars who were in that country
begged father Fray Alonso Ximenez to go with them and celebrate the
feast of St. Augustine. During his absence, the rumor that the Indians
intended to murder us treacherously kept increasing; so that we all
went aboard, in order to be able to defend ourselves better. The time
for sailing to Manila had come, of which we had to take advantage
without waiting for either father Fray Alonso or the captain, because
we should otherwise have been obliged to winter there. On the third
of September, a multitude of people suddenly appeared on the hills,
and a fleet came sailing up into the cove where we were. There were
many galleys and small boats, and among them there were fifteen larger
two-masted vessels, fastened together three by three, with no one on
them but a steersman. These were loaded with wood and fagots, to set
fire to us; while, if we took refuge in the water, the people in the
small boats were ready to receive us. The men on the hills began to
shoot at us with their arquebuses, which they used skilfully, aiming
well, though they were slow in taking aim. The bullets, however,
fell short. Our two smaller vessels set sail, and by the aid of a
light breeze moved out into the middle of the bay. The ship in which
I was was larger; and, though we tried to do as the other boats did,
the wind was too light for us, and the fire-boats came upon us and
gave us a great deal of trouble. They came so near that from the top
of our poop we could see the steersmen, some of whom our men shot,
while others took refuge in some little boats which they towed. When
the fire-boats were left without anyone to steer them, they followed
the current of the water, and left us in peace. At this point father
Fray Alonso Ximenez reached the shore. They took off his habit and
dragged him, with nothing on but his breeches, before the viceroy,
who had come as general of this enterprise. He told him to put on his
habit again, and talked of his ransom; but our captain was so angry
at their treachery that he sent back a very wrathful answer. Thus
father Fray Alonso Ximenez was left a prisoner, but was not ill
treated. He received permission to live with the Augustinian fathers,
and at last was permitted to go to Macan without being obliged to pay
a ransom. From there he came back to this country at the end of a year
and a half. On the next day we set sail for Manila. There are shoals in
the midst of this gulf running for eighty leguas directly across the
straight course for Manila; and to pass these shoals it was necessary
to round one of the two ends of the chain--one in latitude nine, the
other in latitude seventeen. The latter being nearer the direct line,
we governed our course by it; and the flagship, sailing well against
the wind, rounded it. The vessel in which I was, being a poor sailer,
went by the other end, but got out of its course. We were becalmed
one night, so near the coast of the Philippinas that the people were
already beginning to prepare their clothes for going on shore. In the
morning we found ourselves in the midst of reefs which were not on
the charts. To make our way out from them, we were obliged to sail
back on our course; and after we had made our way out the wind was
against us, and we were obliged to sail toward the country which we
had left. We decided to land at Malaca, that we might at least escape
with our persons, for we cared little for anything else.] We reached
an island named Pulotimon, [16] which is forty leguas from Malaca. The
Indians here told us that there were some pirates in that sea; that
they were anchored about five leguas off, and that we should have
to pass them. This news greatly disquieted us, because our vessel
did not sail well or answer the helm well, which is the worst thing
that can be in a sea-fight. But it was not possible to escape this
danger, because there was greater danger in every other direction
where we wished to go. So we continued our voyage and met with the
pirates, as they had told us. They had five ships, four of them small,
and one of them large, strong, and well equipped, and provided with
nettings. On these boats there were many little flags, which, we were
told, were tokens of the prizes that they had taken. They were of a
tribe called China-patan, descendants of Chinese who have colonized
the kingdom of Patan. They had learned this business [of piracy],
because it is easier than others; and they had now sailed out to
practice it. That we might not show fear, but might excite fear in
them, we passed close to their ships, with our flag flying and our
drum beating. They failed to see that our invitation was feigned,
accepted it, and, weighing their anchors, followed us all night, giving
us chase till morning. The small vessels surrounded us, and with the
large one attacked us. Their arms at close quarters were pikes and
javelins with points hardened in the fire [tostadas]. The arms which
they used at a distance were culverins and arquebuses. In using our
arquebuses we did not waste a bullet, for there were many on whom to
employ them. [We were alarmed by the explosion of a keg of powder, but
fortunately only one man was killed. I was standing alone on the poop,
watching for the result of the fight; and at first the enemy did not
notice me, since the waist was full of their pikemen. At last, one of
them perceived me and flung a pike at me, giving me a wound of three
dedos in depth. I descended from the poop; but, before I reached the
deck, one of the fire-hardened lances struck me in the right jaw,
leaving its point and innumerable splinters in the flesh. With my
two hands upon my two wounds I went to confess some wounded men
who were in danger. At last when the enemies saw that their prize
cost them much, they left us and went away without our being able to
follow them, because our vessel was so unfit. We afterward learned in
Malaca that out of two hundred pirates (which was their total number)
more than half had been killed. Most of us were wounded, and two or
three died--besides two others, who were shot by accident by their
own friends. After we had escaped this danger we came, two days later,
upon a surprise which was equally great. In the strait of Sincapura,
by which we were obliged to pass, we found a fleet of eighty large
galleys, with heavy artillery amidships and along the sides. This
was the fleet of the king of Achen, who was going to do what injury
he could to the king of Jor [i.e., Johor] to whom belongs the country
of that strait. The latter had sixteen galleys for its defense, which
were in the mouths of the rivers to prevent his enemy from entering
them. Malaca is between these two kingdoms. There was at that time an
agreement that neither of these kings should be assisted with men,
but only with provisions and ammunition, one side receiving the
one and the other the other, but neither receiving both. We passed
ourselves off to them as Portuguese; and when they called upon us to
enter their galleys we excused ourselves, because of the aforesaid
agreement, and went on in peace to Malaca. I went to our convent,
where the religious were surprised at my coming, partly because it
was the middle of November, when they did not expect a vessel from
any direction, and partly because they saw me in so coarse a habit,
very different from that which they wore. Besides that, I was very
dirty and very lean, and had my body and face all bound up because
of my wounds. Although my appearance was so strange, they were so
discreet (or I had better say so charitable) that, without asking any
questions they arranged to take care of me, called in the surgeon,
and brought me underwear and a habit after their fashion. After I
was cared for and clothed, they asked me whence I came and how I had
been brought there. I was charmed with the kindness which they had
shown me, and told of my wanderings and of the sufferings which I had
endured, by which they were greatly astonished. I remained there for
six months. My cure took three months, and from the wound in my face
every day two or three splinters were discharged, some larger and
others smaller, until at least a hundred had come out. Though the
wound closed, two remained within, which came out two years later,
two dedos below the wound. I was much inconvenienced during those
three months, because I could only open my mouth a little way; and
hence it was very painful for me to eat until, by exercise, my jaw
came back to its former usefulness. Of the soldiers who came with me,
some went to India and twelve to Camboxa, supposing that the rightful
king was now probably there. They found on the throne his son,
who with a great army given him by the king of the Laos, and with
the captains of whom I have spoken, had returned to his kingdom of
Camboxa and pacified it. Here they remained for a considerable time,
though they were disappointed in everything. I and the others returned
to Manila. The voyage is one of five hundred leguas, and it took us
fifty days because of the many calms.] One calm night, when there
was no one at the helm, the binnacle, or three-wicked candle which
lights up the compass, fell down from the quarterdeck; and the flame
instantly burst out through a hatchway which was over it, frightening
all of us--for there is nothing more dreadful at sea than fire, for
everything in a ship is like tinder. In this ship, although it was
small, there were more than three hundred slaves, men and women. All of
them raised their cries to heaven. The captain, whose duty it was to
encourage them, immediately fell on his knees to make his confession,
as if things had already gone beyond remedy, but I pushed him away a
pace and a half, saying that it was not time for that yet, and that
he ought to look out for the fire first. I am almost certain that if
he had been permitted to confess to me we should all have burned to
death, because, however little our safety might have been delayed
by confessions, there would have been no remedy afterwards. We put
all the clothes there were there into the water, to soak them, and
then threw them down the hatchway, one on top of another. In this way
God was pleased that the fire should be put out; and we were left as
much amazed by this sudden and dangerous accident as people are who
are waked out of their sleep by a beam of light falling on them. We
at last reached Manila by St. John's day at the end of a year and a
half of this tedious and painful journeying. Soon after, father Fray
Alonso Ximenez arrived by way of Macan from Cochinchina, where he had
remained a prisoner. After all our hardships, afflictions, dangers,
and wounds, we brought back no other fruit but that of having suffered
for the gospel. Our only intention was to go to preach in that kingdom,
having been invited by its king, and influenced by his promises to that
end. These were great, though he was unable to fulfil them, since he
had been despoiled of his kingdom when we reached it, as has been said.