Of the provincialate of our father, Fray Diego de Ordás; and of
the second coming of the Dutch, and the ruin that they caused
in Abucay.
The father master Fray Alonso de Carvajal governed this province during
his triennium with general acceptation and credit, and he increased
the regular observance there by example rather than rigor. The time
having arrived for the new provincial chapter, it was held in the
convent of San Pablo in Manila, May eleven, one thousand six hundred
and forty-seven. Father Fray Alonso de Lara, senior definitor of the
preceding triennium, presided, as no letters-patent had been received
from our most reverend father-general to enable any one else to
preside. Father Fray Diego de Ordás was elected provincial with the
greatest harmony, by the fathers voting. He had been a minister for
many years in the province of Bisayas, and had come to these islands
in the year 1624. In the year 1635 he had brought a fine mission of
religious, as we saw in its proper place. The definitors elected were
father Fray Jerónimo de Paredes, [60] Fray Andrés de Fuentes, [61]
Fray Pedro Valenzuela, [62] and Fray Gaspar López. [63] The visitors
present were those of the preceding chapter, father Fray Juan Gallegos
and the father lecturer Fray Diego de Ochoa. For the near future were
elected fathers Fray Pedro de Mejía and Fray Tomás de Villanueva. [64]
Afterward, in a private meeting of the definitors, on May 18, father
Fray Martin García [65] was chosen procurator-general in España,
and definitor of this province for the general chapter of the near
future. He was given the authority to appoint a discreto. It was
determined to buy a hospice in Méjico for the care of the religious
who come to these islands on the missions that are conducted from
España. But that was not put into execution until many years after,
when father Fray Juan de Borja [66] obtained it by buying some houses
which belonged to Onofre de Lorenzana along the highway of Tacuba,
where the hospice is located at present. Neither did the embarcation
of father Fray Martín García take place, because the Dutch fleet was
in the Embocadero of San Bernardino, waiting both for the galleon
from España and for the one about to sail from Cavite for the port of
Acapulco. For the same reason the provincial was given dispensation
so that he was not required to go to visit the Bisayan provinces,
in order that he might avoid the same danger.
[The troubles with the Dutch in the year 1647 follow. They are
sufficiently treated in VOL. XXXVI. Diaz adds:]
This was the last exploit of the Dutch enemy in these islands, which
they had infested for many years with extraordinary pertinacity. It
may be that, tired of the little benefit that they secured from
their hostilities, and affrighted by the vast expenses caused by
the equipment of so many fleets and by the many men that they lost,
they were undeceived in thinking that the defense of these islands
does not rest with divine Providence, which preserves them more by
miracles than by human force.
The rebel Dutch arms derived no better success in the undertakings
that they had attempted during those times in Joló and Zamboanga,
guided by the chief Salicala (who was hostile to the Spaniards), and
bribed by a rich present of amber and pearls so that, the Joloans
being protected by their favor, the Dutch could take Joló as their
own, and the Joloans would not try to look for a better opportunity
for safety. The Dutch sent two well armed war-galleons from Batavia,
so that they might have more than enough forces to oppose the few
Spanish forces of whom Salicala had informed them. They reached Joló
in the middle of July, 1648, and after having dug their trenches they
demanded the surrender of the place from the sargento-mayor, Esteban
de Orella Ugalde, a brave Biscayan, who was governing that fort. He
was given a limit of four hours, but he replied with so great valor,
showing his intention to defend the fort, that the Dutch began to
bombard it with three pieces of artillery, on the twenty-seventh of
the said month. Our fortress, although small, played its artillery too,
so successfully that many of the Dutchmen were killed, and among them
the admiral of the expedition. The bombardment lasted for three days,
but their shots were unable to demolish our forts, although these
were so weak that our men afterward destroyed them with clubs. The
Joloan Moros, seeing the lack of advantage gained by their allies,
grew mistrustful of their patronage; and the Dutch withdrew, tired
and angry. The peace made by Don Francisco de Atienza with the king of
Jolo followed that attack; and on that pretext the fort was demolished
and the Spaniards retired, as it was a useless undertaking and one
of no advantage.
The Dutch greatly regretted the peace made between the Joloans and
the Spaniards; for they had already prepared for that undertaking,
and for the attack on Zamboanga seven of the strongest galleons armed
with picked men and many munitions of war. In order not to lose so
great reputation, they went to attack Zamboanga, where Don Francisco de
Atienza, a brave Toledoan, was governing; and they remained in sight
of the channel, in order to await the relief-boats for Ternate, which
were returning to Manila in charge of General Juan de Chaves. But,
having had contrary storms, those vessels arrived so late that the
Dutch had set sail eleven days before, in despair of succeeding in the
undertaking. Before leaving, the enemy tried to land men in Zamboanga;
but our artillery did them so much damage that they retired to the
port of La Caldera. Captain Pedro Durán Monforte followed them on
land with fifty Spaniards and many Pampangos, in order to prevent them
from disembarking; and the enemy, therefore, contented themselves by
destroying with their cannon the hills, on which they wasted more than
600 balls. They thought that their opponents' camp would be quite
demolished by that; and they assured themselves by landing their
small boats with some experienced men. But our men received them so
spiritedly that they made the Dutch retire to their ships, whence they
returned twice with new reënforcements. But all of them were driven
back with like slaughter, until they gave over their obstinacy, and
sought the shelter of their galleons with the loss of a hundred men;
while our men suffered no other loss in this encounter than a single
man killed when Zamboanga was bombarded--namely, Captain Don Luis
de Rojas, whose head was carried away by a cannon-ball. The Dutch,
despairing of being able to come out of the matter with credit,
retired to the port of La Caldera, and returned thence to Batavia
thoroughly scared.
Pitiful was the disaster that befell the father definitor, Fray Pedro
de Valenzuela, in the year 1648. Our father provincial, Fray Diego de
Ordás, had entrusted to him the annual visitation of the province of
Ilocos. If one goes there by land, he must inevitably pass through a
stretch of unsettled country for a day's journey, between the province
of Pampanga and that of Pangasinán, from the village of Magalang to
that of Malunguey. One cannot pass it with security without an escort
of Zambals, who are, like the Pampangos of those elevated villages in
that province, a brave people. The reason is, that all that unsettled
portion is exposed to the incursions of the blacks from the mountains
of Playa Honda, who are the cruelest of all that scattered nation.
Those blacks are the ancient inhabitants of this island of Luzón,
which is the chief and largest island where Manila is established;
for the other nations of the Indians are lately come from the adjacent
islands of Borney and Sumatra. They are not so black as those of
Africa, but have a color much clearer, although they are alike in
their curly hair. That race is especially wretched and unfortunate,
and cowardly and treacherous. They live in the mountains like wild
beasts, naked, and without villages or houses. They wander about
continually, and sleep on the ground in the open, or in the hollow of
some great tree. Their best shelter is formed of some leaves hastily
arranged. They excel in hunting, for deer, wild boars, buffaloes,
and mountain carabaos abound in these mountains. Their arms are the
bow and arrow, in which they are very skilful. Their paganism almost
amounts to atheism, for they have no idols or sacrifices, but only
some vain superstitions--in which they are so tenacious and blind that
if any of them would become a true Christian it would be regarded as
a miracle. They are so fond of that manner of living (in which they
are not at all different from the brutes) that not only do they not
desire to live in settlements like men, but some of them who have
been reared from childhood in Manila and other places, run away,
and return to the wretchedness of that life when they are grown,
and to their nakedness and poverty. [67]...
Among the evil inclinations of those unfortunate creatures, the
greatest is a ravenous appetite for killing people and cutting off
their heads--first of their enemies, but even of their friends and
relatives--and that for very slight cause. That cruelty is for them
honor, nobility, and estimation. But it is a greater glory to cut
off the head of a Spaniard; and, after performing their dances and
superstitions before it, they use the skull as a drinking vessel in
their greatest feasts.
The father definitor, Fray Pedro de Valenzuela, found himself among
those barbarous people in the most dangerous part of that wild region,
which is a site called Puntalón--a precipice between hills. He refused
to take an escort, for he was overconfident; and thus he paid for his
carelessness by being shot through with many arrows. Those people cut
off his head, which became the occasion of great banquets, dances,
and revels. But all the blacks concerned in that act of treachery were
overtaken very soon by the punishment of heaven; for they all caught
a disease which is called that of St. Lazarus [i.e., leprosy]....
That horrible disease has been inherited by their descendants, and
the blacks recognize and confess that it is their punishment for the
murder of Fray Pedro Valenzuela. From that time, they have not dared
to kill any priest; but they only rob them of what they carry. In my
time, a religious of St. John of God was able to escape death among
those blacks by uncovering his tonsure while passing that dangerous
and unsettled district.
Some years later, the same blacks killed General Don Felipe de Ugalde,
a brave Biscayan, in the same place, because he trusted in his great
valor. But the number of the enemy was greater, and they drove so
many arrows through him that he bled to death, after he had first
killed many of the blacks. They cut off his head, which they held in
high esteem as a trophy of such a victory, until it was possible to
ransom it and bury it with ecclesiastical rites. Many other Spaniards
have been killed by their carelessness and great confidence; and
consequently, that unsettled stretch is very dangerous.