Sacred Royal Catholic Majesty:
This letter will serve to advise your Majesty that by the _capitana_
"San Pablo," which left this port on the first of July in the past
year 1568, I wrote at length to your Majesty regarding events which
had happened up to that time; and I refer you to the letters which
will go on this despatch-boat in the general budget, which is thus
accidentally increased. Now I shall relate the history of this
ship, and what happened to us after it left, with as much brevity
as possible, both to avoid prolixity and because the governor Miguel
Lopez will give your Majesty a longer and fuller relation. This ship
was despatched with more than four hundred _quintals_ of cinnamon for
your Majesty, besides small wares and other articles as specimens,
which would give no little satisfaction in that land. There arrived at
this port of Cubu on the eighteenth of September of that year a small
vessel of Portuguese, whose captain was Antonio Rrumbo de Acosta,
a person who had already come, the year before, to this port with
letters from the Captain-general Gonzalo Pereyra. He said that the
captain-general was coming with, all his fleet to see the governor
[of the Philippines] and provide him with necessaries, and that having
been separated from his fleet, he [Acosta] came to seek shelter at this
port, as he had knowledge of it, whence he would return immediately
to seek the fleet. He did so, having first been well received by
the governor [Legazpi] and this whole colony. On the twenty-eighth
of that same month, he came back to this port with letters from the
captain-general to the governor, saying that the former was very
near the port. The governor answered his letters, and despatched
them; and on the thirtieth of the same month, the captain-general
entered the port with a heavy fleet of Portuguese. They came with
nine sail--four ships of deep draught and five galleys and _fustas_,
without counting other small vessels which the natives of Maluco use
for the service of the larger boats. They remained in this port certain
days, peacefully, during which the captain-general and the governor
saw each other twice--once on land and the other time on sea. At the
last visit, the Portuguese stated that he would serve summons upon
us, which he at once proceeded to do. On the fourteenth of October he
sent the first summons, which the governor answered. The Portuguese
made answer to this reply and after that made his third demand; and
on the same day when he did this, he came to blows with us, in which
nothing was gained. He surrounded us at the entrances of this port (of
which there are two, one to the east and the other to the west). He
always endeavored to make war on us from the outside, in order to
guarantee his own safety as much as possible. Many people were seen
from this camp, and he captured many more, without it happening that
they could take or kill any of us. He granted life to a few soldiers
and boys that fled from this camp and went to his fleet. During the
time of this blockade, the flagship was burned because it was of
no use, and so that the nails it contained might serve for a ship
that was being made. At this time came the news that the _capitana_
"San Pablo" had been lost in the Ladrones during a storm, and while
the ship was moored. All the people had escaped and came to these
Filipinas islands in a bark which they made from a small boat. It
was a marvelous thing that one hundred and thirty-two people should
come in it as they did. May God pardon whomsoever did us such harm
in losing this ship in this manner. The Portuguese had notice of
this loss, and, having kept us surrounded all the rest of the year,
went away from this port on the first of January of this year 69, with
different ideas from those which they brought hither--because they had
maintained that we must go with them to India; and the captain-general
demanded in his papers or summons that we should leave these islands,
since they were within the demarcation of the king of Portugal. Now
because, as I said, the governor will give your Majesty at greater
length the news of all this, and is sending a relation and the
copy of the demands, I shall say nothing further of it. I finish by
saying that the despatch-boat "San Lucas" is being sent away today,
in order to request that your Majesty may send us sufficient help,
suitable to our need, which is very great, as they who are going to
you in this ship will bear witness; and by referring you to all that
I have before explained to your Majesty. In the ship "San Juan,"
which left this port on the twenty-sixth of July, of the year 67,
I sent certain tamarind trees and ginger roots to be planted in the
more fertile districts of that Nueva España. Now I am sending your
Majesty by Rrodrigo Despinosa, chief pilot who came in the _capitana_,
some roots of pepper already sprouted, for the same purpose. I, as
a zealous servant of your Majesty, am always, so far as my little
strength permits, watchful of everything that concerns the royal
service. And because I personally desire to inform your Majesty of
these things, and in order that I may do it as fully as I have heard
it, I beg your Majesty to do me the favor to send me your favorable
permission, in order that I may do so in the first ship that may leave
these parts for that Nueva España; and because in all things I hope to
receive favor from your Majesty, in regard to all the rest referring
to the aforesaid letters that I wrote your Majesty which are likewise
going on this vessel. I close begging our Lord to keep your Majesty's
sacred royal Catholic person, and prosper you with increase of greater
kingdoms and seigniories, as we, your Majesty's servants and vassals,
desire. From Cebu, June 5, 1569. Your Sacred Royal Catholic Majesty's
faithful vassal and humble servant, who kisses your royal feet,
_Guido de Lavesaris_