_Concerning the pacification of the island of Mindanao; in the
year 1600_
In the relation of the last year you will have learned how occurred
the death, in the pacification of the island of Mindanao, of Estevan
Rodriguez de Figueroa, who offered to carry out this pacification
under the conditions which he stipulated with Gomez Perez Dasmariñas,
formerly governor of these islands--copies of which were sent to
his Majesty, and to master-of-camp Juan de Lajara, formerly of
the said expedition, who succeeded to his place when the camp was
abandoned, and came to Manila. Don Francisco Tello, governor and
captain-general of the said Philipinas Islands, who at that time
had taken possession of the government was considering how to aid
and stimulate the said pacification at the expense of the heirs
of Estevan Rodriguez, and with the agreement of the captains and
persons who were long resident and experienced in war in the said
islands. Don Juan Ronquillo was appointed commander of the galleys,
to prosecute the said pacification; and in the meantime, in order to
be present and continue the expedition, Captain Torivio de Miranda
was sent forward to encourage and animate the troops, under orders
to keep them in his charge; and in case the post should be abandoned,
and a retreat made to Manila, he should detain the troops and return
to Mindanao. The said Captain Toribio de Miranda having arrived at
the island of La Caldera, which lies forty leagues from the river of
Mindanao, there found the whole camp, which was returning from the said
islands. Conformably to the orders which he had, he turned back and
fortified the site where they had first been, which was on the river,
four leagues from the forts of the enemy. Juan Ronquillo, having been
despatched to Mindanao, had taken the camp in his charge, and begun
to achieve some success. He achieved a victory in the battle which
he fought with the Terrenatans, who had entered with eight hundred
men to give aid to the people of Mindanao. Before these successes,
he had written a letter in disparagement of that country (a copy of
which was sent to his Majesty)--on account of which, in a council
of war which had been held, the general Don Juan Ronquillo had been
ordered to make a last effort against the Mindanaos, doing them all
possible damage. He was then to come to the island of La Caldera, and
there build a fort, to be garrisoned with a hundred Spanish soldiers,
with artillery, arms, and munitions; and leave them there as a check
upon Terrenate and Mindanao, in charge of a good soldier, one of the
captains of the camp, and with the rest return to Manila. Although
Don Juan Ronquillo received this order, after having won considerable
victories, he again wrote that he would not abandon that place, even if
such were the order, because it would not be expedient to retire from
the camp and comply with what had been ordered, when he was leaving
the island of Mindanao already pacified--the chiefs, with whom he
had used gentle means, that they might all be more contented, having
again rendered submission to his Majesty; and likewise as the king
of Jolo again rendered obedience and submission. Confiding in this,
Captain Cristoval Villagra, whom Don Juan Ronquillo had appointed
commander of the garrison of La Caldera, had sent thirty soldiers to
the island of Jolo for supplies. They found at this time in Jolo a
Mindanao chief--an uncle of the king of Mindanao, and a brother-in-law
of the king of Jolo--who had been driven out of Mindanao because he was
rebellious. He treacherously killed thirteen Spanish soldiers. When
news of this was brought, Juan Pacho was sent to take the troops of
La Caldera in charge; and, when it should seem best to him, to try to
inflict punishment on the king of Jolo. Having gone out to inflict the
said punishment with six hundred Spaniards, the enemy unfortunately
killed the said Juan Pacho and twenty-nine Spaniards, the rest of them
retiring without any success. This news having come to the governor,
he sent in place of Juan Pacho Captain Toribio de Miranda, a person
in whom he had entire confidence, with an order not to attempt any
punishment until he had force enough for it. After this Captain Toribio
de Miranda arrived at La Caldera on the twenty-sixth of August in
ninety-nine. When the garrison was given into his charge he put the
defensive works in order; and with the arms which he brought, and
those which he found in the fort, he armed all the troops, amounting
to a hundred and fourteen soldiers. As directed by an order of the
governor, he sent a chief of the Pintados to Mindanao with letters to
the chiefs of the island, in which he informed them that they would be
protected, favored, and upheld in justice, as vassals of his Majesty,
and that with this object a garrison had been placed in La Caldera;
and that to aid in maintaining it, and in covering the expenses
which they had caused in the war by their disobedience, the largest
possible quantity of tributes would be collected for his Majesty, and
that he would send for them shortly--which had not been done earlier
because the Mindanaos had been so spent and afflicted. Having arrived
on the second of September at the river of Mindanao, and delivered
his despatch, this chief was well received, and found the people
in the settled state in which General Don Juan Ronquillo had left
them. Adiamora, the main chief of Mindanao, in the name of them all,
sent him back on the fifteenth of the said month, offering to give
to his Majesty all the tribute which they could collect.
At this time--news from the chief captain of Malaca having reached
the governor, to the effect that in the Sunda, [15] a hundred and
fifty leagues from that port, there had been seen a number of English
ships, whose designs were not known; and, a little later, word from
the commander of the fort of Maluco that there were at Terrenate,
within the port, two English ships with four hundred men and fifty
pieces of artillery--a council of war was held as to what was best to
do. The said council decided to withdraw the garrison from La Caldera
to Zibu, so that the enemy should not take that place; and, if they
should attempt to do damage to that province, they would find it in a
state of defense. Accordingly an order was sent to Captain Toribio de
Miranda to withdraw with the troops, arms, artillery, and munitions,
dismantling the fort; he was also told that he could return shortly
to the island with more troops and arms, in order to assist in its
defense. On the ninth of September Captain Toribio de Miranda arrived
at Zibu, with all the troops, artillery, arms, and munitions; and at
the same time General Don Juan Tello arrived at Zibu with a hundred
men, who came as reënforcement from the city of Manila. Having spent
six months there and commenced to build a fort of stone, the governor,
as they had no more news of the English referred to, sent an order to
the said Don Juan to come to the city of Manila--which he did with the
hundred men, leaving the province of Zibu in a prosperous condition,
with the troops which are usually kept there, and those of the garrison
of La Caldera, which in all amount to two hundred and fifty Spaniards.
After all this, in June of 1600 the governor received news, by way
of Malaca, that the ships which had passed to the South Sea belonged
to Dutch merchants, who had come to load with spices in the Maluco
Islands. Having transacted their business, they had returned to their
own country by way of Yndia, without doing any damage to the islands
of the west; it therefore seems that we are safe, notwithstanding
the news received of those enemies.