About thirty leguas farther on from that Villa Fernandina and past the
cape called Boxeador and in a latitude of nineteen degrees lies the
province and river of Cagayan. It is a very large province and very
densely populated and exceedingly well supplied with rice, cotton,
[103] very large fowls, deer, buffaloes, and a great quantity of wax.
The shore of that river which is called Tajo is very large. About two
leguas from the sea is settled the city of [Nueva] Segovia. It was
colonized by Captain Juan Pablo de Carrion by order of Governor Don
Gonçalo Ronquillo. That river is about eighty leguas distant from
China, less rather than more. Inasmuch as it is so near, and also
because it contains so many people and is so rich and well supplied
with food, the effort has been made often to completely subdue it and
settle it, but that effort has not as yet been successful. I believe
the cause is the few Spaniards and the few religious that can enter it
at one time. That land is very fitting for commerce with China as that
country is so near, and has excellent rivers for galleys and ships. One
can cross to China in one and one-half days, and the mainland of China
is often reached at night. In the month of March of the year 82,
Captain Juan Pablo de Carrion went to colonize that province, and since
then many more people than before live there. [104] When he reached
that place he found a fleet of Japanese pirates who desired to settle
there and had taken possession of the river. Passing through their
midst without receiving any harm, he went up higher on the river and
with the greatest haste made a sort of fort from an old galley that he
had, in which he mounted his artillery as well as possible. The
Japanese general wrote him a letter, in which he said that he knew well
that they were robbers like himself, but that he was there first, and
had come at his king’s command; consequently, if Carrion wished him
to go away and leave him the river he was to give him a large sum of
gold. The captain replied to him that he came only to protect the
natives and to take from the Japanese the gold that they had seized
from them and drive them out of the country. When the Japanese found
that nothing would be given them, more than six hundred men came one
morning at dawn to attack the fort, armed with excellent muskets and
weapons. Our men numbered about eighty but they were defended by their
small fort of old stakes. A great number of the Japanese were killed
while not more than one of our men was killed, and it is even said that
he was killed by accident by those who were inside the fort. When the
Japanese saw how evilly the day was going for them and tasted of the
skill of the Spaniards, they determined to retreat, and leave not only
the fort, but also our men and return to their country. I was told by
Father Francisco Cabral, [105] of the Society of Jesus, who was then
provincial in Japon, that he had talked with them and that they were
afraid of the Spaniards, and said that such people [as the Spaniards]
had never been seen. They were astonished above all else at the
rapidity and skill with which the Spaniards discharged their weapons.
Surely they had good reason to be afraid, for I believe that there is
now no better soldiery than that of the Philipinas, especially the
arquebusiers. The people of the province cf Cagayam resemble those of
Ylocos. They are very vile, and poorly dressed, but are fine
husbandmen. Christianity has not entered there to any extent, but there
are some fathers there. They have begun to build churches although the
land is not entirely quiet. It will be pacified soon, our Lord willing,
as in the other parts, especially if there are priests to send.