Sacred Catholic Royal Majesty:
When I saw that the affairs of this land had no permanent settlement
and no hopes of one, and that the natives were very much molested by
the Spaniards, and that so far as I could see God was being served but
little in this region because of the great license which men have here
for evil and the lack of justice, and that very little service was
being rendered your Majesty, since they are ruining excellent lands
here for you: I determined last year, sixty-nine, to go to Nueva
España in order to give advice of what was passing here in order that
some reform might be instituted in this, and to discuss the matter with
the viceroy in order that he might relieve the condition as much as he
could and give notice of the other things to your Majesty. [40] [I
determined] that if the viceroy thought that I ought to go to España
to discuss the matter with your Majesty, I would also do so. When I
reached Nueva España and discussed this matter with the viceroy, and
its great necessity for reform, and the extremely ruinous condition of
affairs, he thought that I ought to return and give notice of it to
your Majesty. Accordingly he told me that I would be fulfilling the
service of God and of your Majesty if I would immediately return to
these districts on the first ships. He gave me to understand that until
the remedy was specified he could reform some of the evils. Although
that order was very grievous to me as I had reached Nueva España ill
and worn out by the sea, since the service of two so great lords as God
and your Majesty was placed before me, I considered it fitting, and
accordingly reëmbarked for these islands on the ninth of March of this
year one thousand five hundred and seventy. I reached this island of
Panay where the governor is established, on the twenty-second of July.
All the people were overjoyed at the reenforcements that your Majesty
orders sent them, and with the concessions of the petition made from
this land. I found the country in a most ruinous condition and such
that more has been destroyed in this one year here than during the past
five years. Your Majesty owns so many islands in this district that one
is surprised at the number. [41] They are all very rich and fertile and
contain many gold mines, pearls, and wax, while some of them have
cinnamon. They are thickly inhabited and the people promise better than
those of Nueva España. But since your Majesty does not provide anyone
permanently and prescribe the manner of living, and protect and defend
the natives, and keep justice for them, and power to punish whoever
injures them, all will be lost in a very short time, for the policy
employed with the natives could last but one year here if there is much
greater violence. That consists in robbing them, burning their
villages, and enslaving them. If this is not done it is affirmed that
it is impossible to find support. This is false, for on the contrary,
it is impossible to find support in this manner, for everything is
being destroyed [by this manner of acting]; and the natives are
becoming so exhausted because they are not left for an instant.
However, they all desire peace in an extraordinary manner and to live
under the protection of your Majesty and to pay the tribute. They would
give the sum asked of them, if they thought that no evil was to be done
them. But today they are made friends and on the morrow they are
robbed. Many of them have been killed and many villages burned. I am
writing this in general although not going into details in anything, in
order, not to trouble your Majesty. I wrote more at length to the
viceroy of Nueba España in order that he might inform your Majesty,
for he can easily ascertain whether these things are so from those who
come here. This fleet came here at the beginning greatly in need of
people who knew how to govern, and the same is true of war, for besides
the master-of-camp here, who has died, all the rest know but little as
was evident in the war with the Portuguese in Çubu. At that time
although the Portuguese were so few, they caused so great extremity
that some captains advised the abandonment of the site and retirement
to another part; and if the Portuguese did not cause the abandonment
while they were there, they caused it when they left, and the strongest
site and best port in all these islands, so far as has yet been seen,
was abandoned, and we came here to establish ourselves in Panay along
the swampy and very poor shore of a river. It will be very much less
strongh than Çubu and has no port, while it is hot and unhealthful. If
your Majesty do not appoint some one to govern, this colony will daily
become less, and will fall entirely into destruction. If we are not
more firmly established, we religious cannot treat of the conversion of
these natives with zeal and care nor with so much fruit as if the land
had peace and security.
They sent from here to petition your Majesty to concede them the favor
to allow them to rob and enslave the Moros throughout these districts.
The reason that they gave for it was to say that they were Moros and
that they were preventing and opposing the preaching of the gospel. The
statement that they were preventing the preaching of the gospel was
false, for they have never prevented it nor do so at present. On the
contrary, there is an increase to be observed in families where the
husband is a Moro and the wife a pagan, who come in order to beg the
religious to baptize their son and make him a Christian; for they do
not at all object to each one living according to the belief that he
likes best. For all the Moros who live in these islands have been Moros
for but few years back. Many of them, such as those of Luçon, have
nothing except the name, and the fact that they do not eat pork; for
they have no mosque or cacique [sic] [42] (who are their priests). This
worship is only a trifle more firmly established among those of the
island of Burney than in the other, although they are also of recent
date there. [43] Not all the island is Moro, but only certain villages
along the coast, for the inhabitants of the interior are heathens. None
of them possess the lands of Christians or wage war on them, or do them
any injury; although we do to them, and much, for four or five ships of
Burneo have been pillaged and many people killed, while many more from
Luçon have been killed, although excellent friends to us. As to the
chiefs, they made the land friendly to us, or at least exerted a great
influence in that direction. They supplied us with food in abundance
and stuffs very suitable for clothing, and gold for our silver, in
order that we might barter for our necessities. Now, however,
conditions are such that no one dares come [to trade]. I do not believe
that any other reason can be given for authority to rob them, except
that they are Moros; and that is no legitimate reason and cannot be
done.
After we religious came to these districts with the fleet, at your
Majesty’s command, nothing besides a little rice has been furnished
us for our sustenance every week in the same way as to the soldiers. It
is a ration, but even with bread a man cannot be supported by it. I
have written to that effect to the viceroy of Nueba España so that we
may be supplied from there with necessities until there shall be
sufficient means of gain in this land from which to supply us; but he
either has no authority from your Majesty to do that, or he does not
dare unless it be remitted to us here. I entreat your Majesty to please
order us to be supplied with an amount each week per religious as is
done in Nueba España, in consideration of the fact that our expenses
here are heavier than in Nueba España. For the Indians in Nueba
España know only how to give, but these Indians here know only how to
beg. The soldiers who are here now are so poor that it is necessary to
try to give to them and not to beg from them. Consequently, it will be
necessary for your Majesty to make us a more liberal concession than to
the religious of Nueba España. I believe that one religious can be
supported in these regions for two hundred pesos but not with less. I
trust, God helping, that the fruit which will be obtained in the
conversion in these districts, will be so great that your Majesty will
make us other greater rewards. We have hitherto stayed here because we
suspected here that your Majesty would order us to abandon this place,
but since we now know that it is your Majesty’s will that we continue
to advance the undertaking, we shall begin to baptize all the people;
for although there are some Christians, there would be many more if we
had known before what we now know. May our Lord preserve the sacred
royal Catholic person of your Majesty for many years, as I your humble
and least servant desire. This island of Panay, July 25, 1570. Your
sacred royal Catholic Majesty’s most humble servant,