[Folios 1-9 of Bobadilla's work are occupied with a long and detailed
account of a miraculous cure experienced by Father Mastrilli, and its
result in sending him to labor in the foreign missions. Its substance
is as follows: In 1633-34, Mastrilli was in Naples, and assisted, as
a priest, at one of the altars erected for a solemn feast in honor
of the Virgin Mary. After the ceremonies were over, Mastrilli was
accidentally wounded in the head by a hammer dropped from a workman's
hand. His life was despaired of; but an image of St. Francis Xavier,
miraculously endowed with speech, promised to restore his health if he
would go to the Indias. Mastrilli vowed to do this, and to renounce
country, friends, and all else that he held dear, for the sake of
that employ; and the next morning found him cured and sound. In
fulfilment of his vow he went to Spain, and set out for Japan; but
(as related in previous documents) he was obliged to land at Manila,
and accompanied Corcuera to Mindanao.]
AN ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT ISLAND OF MINDANAO, AND THE HOSTILITIES
COMMITTED BY THOSE MOHAMMEDANS IN THE FILIPPINAS ISLANDS.
The great island of Mindanao is one of the largest in the archipelago
of the Filippinas Islands, which seem to be almost innumerable; and it
has even been said that there are over eleven thousand of them. [24]
I believe that if one counts islands large and small, inhabited and
desert, the above estimate is not far from the truth. In size, Mindanao
rivals the island of Manila, the chief and head of the others, for it
is almost three hundred leguas in circumference. Esteban Rodriguez de
Figueroa, one of the first leaders in the conquest of those islands,
and one of the most valorous soldiers who has been in them, made an
agreement with his Majesty to conquer this island at his own cost and
charges, and subject it to his royal crown--his Majesty awarding him as
tributary vassals, ten thousand of the first Mindanaos whom he should
subdue and choose for himself, and granting him other favors which
he sought. His Majesty accepted the agreement; and, with the title of
governor and captain-general, Don Esteban assembled at his own cost a
goodly army of Spaniards, which (as I have heard) numbered about four
hundred, and over four thousand Indians. They were all embarked in a
fleet of caracoas, which are oared vessels much used in the Filippinas,
carrying from fifty to one hundred rowers apiece. There are larger
ones, which are called juangas, and carry from one hundred and twenty
to one hundred and thirty rowers. They sailed from the island of Oton,
where the fleet was fitted out and collected. They reached Mindanao
and the army disembarked. When the enemy saw such a force, they began
to flee, and a victory was declared for Espana; but our satisfaction
was soon disturbed, for a wretched Mindanao audaciously resolved--it
is said, after he had taken opium, with which these people intoxicate
themselves--to assassinate our captain-general, even though he should
die in the attempt. The deed was to be done with his campilan, a
weapon something like a cutlass, with a lead weight at the hilt. The
weight makes its blows so terrible that it will cleave a man through
the middle. He hid in some bushes near the road on which our men
were marching in triumph. When General Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa
reached a place abreast of the bush where the Mindanao was hidden,
the latter leaped out unexpectedly and struck the general so fierce a
blow on his head with his campilan that it cleft his skull from ear to
ear. I can account myself a witness of this, because, although I did
not see that event, and did not go to the Filippinas until many years
after, yet in 1632 I saw the skull, when they disinterred the bones
of this famous but unfortunate captain from the old church of our
college at Manila (which he founded, and where his body was brought
for burial), to transfer them to the church which we have recently
built. The skull shows very plainly the cruel blow of the campilan,
so that even I said, as I held it in my hands, with great grief,
"Our founder will not deny the blow of the campilan." Those who
accompanied our general killed the Mindanao on the spot, without much
difficulty. They sounded the retreat, and abandoned their pursuit of
the enemy. This was the origin and the beginning of the misfortunes
and calamities which for so many years have caused us so much sorrow in
the Filippinas. Our army, having lost its leader and captain-general,
did nothing further. The Spaniards retreated, and fortified themselves
in a place on that river, where they remained in garrison; and Father
Juan del Campo, a fervent man and a great minister of the gospel,
gave instruction to several villages, until he died there. Many of
the Indians along this river had rendered obedience, and were paying
tribute to his Majesty. Afterward the garrison moved to another place,
called La Caldera, where the Spaniards remained several years. Although
they made no conquest of that country, they served as a check to
the enemy, because the latter could not sail out with their fleets
on plundering expeditions. As Don Pedro de Acuna afterward decided,
when he was governor in the Filippinas, this garrison was withdrawn
from La Caldera, which resulted in the utter ruin of the islands,
because land and sea remained in the possession of the enemy.
At that time the island was ruled by a Moro named Buysan who claimed
the entire seacoast as his. Another Moro, named Silongan, ruled the
well-populated district along the river. These two Moros conspired
together, and called to their aid other friends, and even in certain
ways their subjects--as those of the island of Sanguil and Sarragan;
and the Caragas, who inhabit the further [i.e., from Manila] shores of
this same island of Mindanao, which from that side faces our islands
of Pintados. They gathered great fleets of caracoas and jungas,
which at times numbered over one hundred and even one hundred and
fifty vessels--arming them with several large guns, many culverins,
a large number of arquebuses and muskets and many other arms; and
manning them so heavily, that they could land six to eight thousand
soldiers. In this way masters of the land and sea, they infested the
high seas, capturing all our ships that navigated those waters, robbing
and burning towns, sacking churches, carrying off the ornaments and
consecrated vessels, committing a thousand desecrations on the sacred
images, breaking them into pieces and insulting them, and capturing
Christian Indians in so great number that it would break one's heart
to tell of it; for one time those whom they carried away numbered over
two thousand and five hundred. The Spaniards had no better fortune; for
some were killed, and others carried away as slaves. In the year 1616,
they set sail with a powerful fleet, after effecting an alliance with
the Dutch, who came with ten galleons, and entered the bay of Manila
on All Saints' day. They were, however, defeated and destroyed in the
following April, 1617, by our fleet under the leadership of General
Don Juan Ronquillo. While the Dutch aided the Mindanaos, the latter
worked dreadful havoc, capturing, massacring, robbing, and burning
everything there was. They came as far as Balayan, a large and rich
town on the island of Manila, and not far from the city itself. They
attacked the shipyards at Pantao, where a galleon and a patache were
in process of construction, and indeed almost finished. These they
burned, and murdered almost thirty Spaniards--among them Captain
Arias Giron and Captain Don Juan Pimentel, who were in command of
the yards. Others, besides many Indians, they made prisoners. They
captured from us a large quantity of firearms and some artillery,
and inflicted on us great damage. Even the fathers and ministers of
the gospel have not been exempt; for, on the last occasion of which I
have spoken, they captured and murdered two Franciscan fathers. Before
that, on other occasions, they captured Father Hurtado, who was kept
a long time in captivity in Mindanao, and Father Pasqual de Acuna,
who was a prisoner at Caraga and still lives. Before and since the
time of his captivity, he has labored gloriously for the space of
almost forty years in the islands of Pintados--teaching those Indians
until his great age and his failing strength obliged him to retire,
and end his life in the fulness of his years, devoting himself to
God alone. The other fathers and ministers crossed the mountains
to escape the cruelty of these Mahometans, enduring great hunger,
hardship, and distress.
To King Buysan succeeded Cachil Corralat, his son, who with
great sagacity and cunning set about making himself much more
powerful. Several times he made peace with the Spaniards, but his word
was ever a Moro's. It was soon known that he could not be trusted,
for he made and broke treaties with equal readiness. He infested the
seas with his fleets, sending out his own as he did in the year 1633,
when he sent out a large fleet which plundered and burned several large
and wealthy cities on this very island of Manila. But where he did most
harm was in our island of Pintados; for in the town of Ogmuc alone
he slew or made prisoners more than two hundred people--children and
women, as well as men. They captured the minister there, Father Juan
del Carpio of our Society, and cut him into pieces, of which his head
was the smallest. Cachil Corralat gave orders to his followers not to
carry to him a single father alive, but to slay them, in fulfilment
of a vow which he had made to Mahomet during a serious sickness,
not to leave a father alive if his health were restored. God, in His
just judgment and to punish us, chose to grant his prayer.
Other Mahometans, their neighbors, joined the Mindanaos--tribes from
the island of Jolo, who at one time paid tribute and then rebelled,
killing all the Spaniards. Although that island is very small,
and there cannot be more than three thousand men able to bear arms,
yet they are very valiant, and they have very plainly proved it to
us when they have sailed forth to scour the high seas--especially
one chief, called Dato Achen, who can be compared with the most
destructive African pirates. This man once attacked a shipyard which
we had established in the province of Camarines, in which several
galleons were being built. After the usual robbery and burning, he
slew or made prisoners many Spaniards and Indians. He carried away
artillery and firearms, with which he strengthened his defenses in his
own country. He overran the Pintados Islands and did a great deal of
damage there. At Cabalian he captured Father Juan Domingo Vilancio
of our Society, a native of Luca--a holy man, and known as such by
Indians and Spaniards, and even by the Moros themselves. As such,
the latter revered him and did not ill-treat him in their own country,
where they carried him. While efforts were being made for his ransom,
it was our Lord's pleasure to give him complete liberty by freeing
him from the prison of this [earthly] body, and giving him in heaven
his reward for his faithful labors. He toiled thirty years or more in
the conversion of the pagans, to the remarkable edification of all;
and he displayed heavenly sincerity, which secured him the love of
God and men. The Moros buried him on their island of Jolo. Although
we have asked for the body, they will not give it up, saying that
they would rather keep it because it is holy (for sanctity and virtue
are pleasing even to Moros and infidels). They allege other things
in proof of his sanctity, which I shall not refer to, because they
are not thoroughly investigated. The Lord will make them clear later,
to His own glory. Returning, however, to the Joloans, they are grown
insolent with their fortunate successes, no less on land than on the
sea; for, although we have gone there three times with powerful fleets,
they have come off with credit and singing victory. In short, we have
returned without accomplishing anything. There was one time, however,
when Don Christobal de Lugo, lieutenant for the captain-general in
the Pintados Islands, went there with a fleet, and sacked and burned
the principal town, and did considerable damage; but they have always
escaped, and repaid to us their losses. They put their trust in a
hill very difficult of access, which they have well fortified with
artillery, to which they retreat whenever they are attacked.
The evils that are suffered at the hands of these two enemies, the
Mindanaos and the Joloans, never were avenged, because, although
the governors sent out fleets after them, they did not encounter
the pirates on account of the great multitude of islands in the
archipelago; or else, if our ships did meet them, the Moros escaped,
for their vessels are remarkably swift and so have a great advantage
over ours. Then, to remedy so grievous injuries, Don Juan Cereco
Salamanca, who was then governor of the Filippinas, in the beginning
of the year 1634, overcoming remarkable difficulties which arose,
with a holy zeal for the service of God and of the king our lord,
ordered a position to be occupied on the island of Mindanao, at a
place which they call Samboangan. There he began to raise a fort which
should be a check to the Mindanaos and the Joloans, who came past
that place when they sailed forth on plundering expeditions. Although
they could pass us by standing out to sea, or in the darkness of the
night, without being seen from our fort, they would not so lightly
dare to leave behind their houses and lands with the Spaniard so near
a neighbor--for the latter could do them great injury by carrying
off their children and wives, and all their possessions, if their
towns were left unprotected when the men went away in their fleets;
or at least the Spaniards could await them on their return and knock
them in the head. The Moro king, Cachil Corralat, was much disturbed
at the proximity of the Spaniards; since now he could not make raids
in safety, as before; and he called upon the Joloans, the Borneans
and the Camucones to sail from various points to plunder our island,
which they did.
The Camucones are a nation inhabiting some islands subject to the king
of Burney. Sometimes alone, and sometimes in company with the Borneans,
they have infested our seas with their fleets, pillaging our islands,
capturing many Indians, and killing all the Spaniards whom they took,
because they did not wish to carry these alive to their own country;
accordingly they granted no Spaniard his life. They are a base and
very cruel people. These robbers began as petty thieves, with a few
small vessels; but with the captures which they have been continually
making, they have grown so powerful that they send out great fleets
upon the sea, and do a great deal of damage. In the year 1625, while
the archbishop Don Francisco Miguel Garcia Serrano was visiting the
district of Bondoc, these Camucones attacked the town one morning, and
the archbishop had no little trouble in escaping over the mountains;
they stole whatever they could carry away, with the silver and the
pontifical vestments. That same year, they captured Father Juan de
las Missas of our Society, who had come from Tayabas to preach and was
returning to the island of Marinduque, which was in his charge. They
killed the father, and captured all who were aboard his ship, except
perhaps some one who escaped by swimming. They did much more damage,
continuing their depredations up to the year 1636, when, as I said,
they sailed with a large fleet, at the solicitation of the king Cachil
Corralat. They entered so far among the islands, that from them they
sailed out upon the high sea--an act of great daring. They arrived
at and plundered Palapag, a mission of our Society. They rounded Cape
Espiritu Santo, and captured over a hundred Christians at Baco. There
they divided into two bands. One passed over to Albay, on the island
of Manila, where they were met by the alcalde-mayor, Captain Mena,
of the Order of St. George, with several Spaniards and six Franciscan
friars. The Spaniards pressed the Camucones so hard that seven of
their caracoas went ashore on the island of Capul, where many of their
Christian captives were set free. The natives of the said island slew
some of the Camucones. Three of their caracoas they abandoned on the
sea, going aboard others to make their escape more easily. Not one
of our men was killed in this encounter, except that one Franciscan
father was wounded by a musket-bullet, and afterwards died of his
wound. The other band went out to sea again, coasting the island of
Ybabao. They entered a town called Bangahun and made prisoners there
more than one hundred other Christians. This troop fought a battle with
a caracoa full of soldiers from the city of Zebu, who inflicted some
injury upon the Moros, killing and capturing some. These Camucones,
returning afterward to their own country, while they were coasting the
island of Panay, were overtaken by a sudden storm, which drove three of
their caracoas ashore. Those who escaped with their lives were captured
by the natives, and many of them are now on galleys at the port of
Cavite. Other caracoas stealthily ventured to the Calamianes Islands,
where some Spaniards came out to meet them, and captured two of their
ships, and set free twenty captives from the island of Mindoro who
were among their prisoners. Fifteen other caracoas were coasting the
island of Paragua in company; and, two days before arriving at Borney,
they encountered thirty caracoas of Joloans, who had recently quarreled
with the Borneans. The Joloans attacked the Camucones and Borneans,
captured their fifteen caracoas, and made prisoners many Camucones and
more than one hundred of the Christians carried off by the Camucones;
these latter were ransomed at Samboangan, at a moderate rate.
After these pirates Cachil Corralat sent his fleet, which did
considerable damage in our islands. In order to stop it and check
all these enemies, the governor, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera,
decided to go forth in person and make an expedition to Mindanao, to
begin the punishment of this enemy, because they were most powerful--as
we shall soon see, describing first the naval victory given us by
our Lord over the fleet despatched hither by Cachil Corralat.
[The next part of this compilation is an account of the naval
victory over Tagal's fleet in December, 1636; it is practically
the same as that which we have already presented in our VOL. XXVII,
although rewritten and much abridged for publication. Then follows
Mastrilli's letter to his provincial (June 2, 1637) which also we
have published; Bobadilla states that he reproduces it verbatim, save
for the correction of "a few words which are not quite in accord with
our ordinary language, as he was a native of the city of Naples." The
document ends with a description of Corcuera's triumphal entry into
Manila, evidently compiled (with some additional details) from Juan
Lopez's letter on that subject, already presented to our readers.]