CHAPTER VII.

ANNO DOMINI, 1571.

Of the Government of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi.

Manila being founded, and most of the towns of the surrounding district, in amity with the Spaniards, the Governor sent the Colonel to Pampanga, to reduce that province to the Spanish yoke, but he had no sooner arrived at the river Betis, on his way thither, than he was compelled to return, without being able to reduce either the town of Betis or that of Lubao; for it appeared that Rajah Soliman and Lacandola, who had gone with him to serve as interpreters between the Indians and him, had conducted themselves treacherously. This fully appeared by Lacandola leaving the Colonel, and returning to Manila without leave, for which the Governor ordered him to be put in irons, and, to increase his punishment, told his relations that he would not let him at liberty but at the Colonel's request; even then he did not accede to it without confiscating all his artillery, consisting of fifteen pieces of cannon, large and small. About this time Rajah Matanda fell sick, and requesting to be baptized, a clergyman of the name of Juan de Vivero administered this sacrament to him by the name of Philip: he died of his disorder, and was buried with great solemnity. On the 17th of July, Don Diego Legaspi, a nephew of the Governor, arrived; he was sent by Captain Juan de Aguirre to the aid of his uncle, having a short time before come to Panay with two ships, which the Viceroy of Mexico had sent to these islands as a reinforcement. The Governor ordered the Colonel to proceed to Panay, and despatch these ships to Manila, and afterwards go to Zebu, and bring his family to the capital. Whilst the Colonel was executing this commission, Juan de Salcedo was sent to reduce the people of Cainta and Taytay, two small towns high up the river Pasig, which had refused to acknowledge the Spanish authority, and had strengthened their position by some fortifications covering their towns. He carried Cainta by assault, with the loss of only two killed and five wounded, but with great slaughter on the part of the Indians, upon hearing which, the inhabitants of Taytay immediately surrendered. He afterwards marched to a town on the borders of the lake Bay, and of the same name, and summoned the inhabitants, but they answered him with their arms in their hands. He had with him Padre Friar Alonso de Albarado, who had accompanied Ruy Lopez de Villalobos in his expedition; had returned a second time to Mexico; and again had accompanied the other five religious, of the order of San Augustine, to Manila. This venerable person the Colonel sent, to assure the Indians, that he did not wish to employ his arms against them, and that he had commissioned the Padre Friar Alonso, to accommodate matters, requesting them immediately to deliver up their town of Bay. This in the end was acceded to, and was followed, by the submission of many small towns, on the borders of the lake. Juan de Salcedo went further up the country behind them, and found the people of Mahayhay, fortified by nature so securely on a hill, that they could defend themselves against a great force, with no difficulty, by rolling down immense stones. Having, however, reconnoitred it, he perceived a path less rugged than the rest, and where they seemed more negligent. By this path he surmounted the difficulty, and appeared above them, when they were seized with such a panic, that they fled precipitately, without making any resistance. For two days more, Juan de Salcedo was detained in this part of the country, passing through the villages, which, however, he found deserted, the inhabitants having taken refuge in the mountains. He in consequence returned to Bay, where he had left most of his people. It was understood, that in the country of the Camarines, there was a town called Paracale, where there were mines of gold. He sent back to Manila Padre Albarado, and some of the Spaniards; and having a few soldiers only, he encountered a great many difficulties, in undertaking the conquest of this town. Many days having elapsed, without hearing from them at Manila, the Governor despatched Major Antonio Hurtado in search of them, and he found Juan de Salcedo in Paracale, with all his people, very much weakened, in consequence of the hardships they had been exposed to, and the sickness with which they had been attacked. Salcedo returned with Hurtado to Manila, on which occasion there were great rejoicings, as he had been supposed dead, and the loss of a man so much loved and respected would have been severely felt.

About this time the Colonel returned from Zebu, having first subdued the province of Pampanga. The Governor now apportioned the conquered districts and towns, among the respective officers, who had so well earned that reward, reserving to his Majesty the usual tribute only. He directed, that the Indians should pay a moderate rent, to those new proprietors of land, and the Spaniards were enjoined, not to exact any thing above the rent so settled. In a little time it was discovered, that the Indians would not pay the tribute; and that the Spanish proprietors, had been guilty of many vexatious acts against them, which had produced revolts in various places. In Bohol, Panay, and in Marinduque, the Indians had killed several Spanish factors and soldiers. To prevent these disturbances from spreading, the Governor sent Captain Luis de la Haya, to examine into the matter, and to punish the aggressors. He executed his commission with such prudence, that, without exasperating the Indians, he chastised the murderers, and left the towns in complete subordination.

At the beginning of the year 1572, there arrived, with a great deal of rich merchandize, those Chinese whom the Spaniards had saved from shipwreck, in the island of Mindoro, together with many others of that nation, who brought damasks, satins, taffeties, silks, porcelain, and other things, with which the foundation of a lucrative commerce with Acapulco was laid. These Chinese, whom we call Sangleyes, from two Chinese words, hiang, lay, which signifies travelling merchants, continue to this day the commerce with Manila, and many have settled in these islands, where, however, they have frequently been troublesome, as will be seen in the sequel. About the time these merchants arrived, the Augustine friars intended to hold their second provincial chapter, and the first which had been celebrated at Manila; and at this it was determined, to send some of their order to China, to establish a religious intercourse between the two nations. The Governor agreed to this, and was desirous, at the same time, to send an embassy to the Emperor; but the Chinese would not agree to take it to China. The Friar Alvarado, however, who was the most desirous of the undertaking, began to study the language, that he might be able to convert and baptize the Chinese merchants, who seemed disposed to settle in Manila; this plan he had adopted in Tondo, where he had administered the sacrament to numbers. In this provincial chapter it was agreed, that Padre Herrera should be sent a second time to Mexico, in order to bring more clerical aid to this province; they likewise chose as provincial, the Padre Friar Martin de Rada, and elected a capitular of the convent of Manila; they established clergy in Zebu, Masbate, Otong, Mindoro, Tondo, Calumpit, and Lubao. Soon after this, convents were founded in the districts of Taal, Bay, and Pasig, and many visitations were made, by which it was ascertained, that the number of the clergy increased so much, that it became necessary, to separate the parish priests from the friars.

The greater part of this quarter of the island, being reduced to complete obedience, to the King of Spain, and nothing being known of the northern part of it, Juan de Salcedo offered to make the discovery, at his own risk. He collected men and ships, the Governor allowing him forty-five soldiers, with necessary ammunition. He sailed from Manila on the 20th of May, 1572; on the third day, he arrived at Cape Bolinao, in the province of Zambales, where he found a Chinese junk or sampan, and a party of Chinese, who had got possession of a chief and some Indians, with an intent to carry them to China. Juan de Salcedo re-took them from the Chinese, and gave them their liberty, which action so gratified the feelings of the natives, that they became immediately vassals of the King of Spain, and solicited to be placed on the same footing, as the people of the other districts. Passing from thence to Pangasinan, he coasted the whole of that province, and that of Ylocos, until he arrived at Cape Boxeador, examining all the ports, bays, and landing places, near which his squadron was able to approach, and it consisted of many, but very small vessels. He was desirous, of preserving a good understanding with the Indians, and most of the towns on the coast, received him in a very friendly manner, and supplied him with provisions, which he stood in need of; but on his entering the rivers and creeks, he found great resistance from the inhabitants of the districts bordering on them. He attacked them on several occasions, putting them to flight with great ease, and sent to them, desiring them to leave the mountains, with a promise of his friendship. Some, however, not relying on the promises of the Spaniards, could not divest themselves of their apprehensions, while others readily came down, submitted, and agreed to pay the tribute. In this manner he was proceeding, and had almost subdued these two large provinces [19], intending to pass on to Cagayan; but he was opposed by his own people, who became weary of the expedition. His second in command, Antonio Hurtado, proposed that he should go on, and prosecute his original plan, but Juan de Salcedo, although he desired it much, thought it better to accede to the representations of his soldiers, and they returned by the same route, confirming in their obedience the towns which had submitted. On his arrival at Bigan, the natives received him with so much cordiality, that he prudently determined on the step of founding there a Spanish city, for the purpose of controlling the neighbouring country.

Having, with this view, ordered the natives to cut sufficient timber to build a fort, and accommodations for those who chose to remain, he became desirous of executing the original project, which he had abandoned, of passing on to Cagayan. He left in Bigan his second in command, with twenty-five soldiers, and, with the seventeen that remained, he commenced this arduous undertaking, departing in three vessels on the 24th of July. Having passed Cape Boxeador, he entered a river where he found a mud village of salt-makers; he desired them to call their chiefs, as he wished to be on good terms with them, and after many messages they appeared with their Rajah, who was a very handsome man, and whiter than the rest of the Indians. Juan de Salcedo came up to him with open arms, intending to embrace him; but the barbarian, unaccustomed to such a mode of salutation, believing that he wanted to catch him, took to his heels and fled, and on no entreaty would he be prevailed on, to leave the mountains. Our people, therefore, hoisted their sails, and arrived at the river of Cagayan. They sailed up this river a considerable way, and found a populous district; but they dared not attempt any hostility against the inhabitants, as they were so few in number in comparison to the natives, and they resolved to return to Manila by that side of the island, in order completely to ascertain the whole extent of Luzon. They proceeded about one hundred leagues, without discovering any population, or any thing but a rocky shore. They coasted it until they arrived at a bay, which Juan de Salcedo thought had been named Amanto, having been there when he went to Paracale. In this, however, he was mistaken, but as that bay was very near, he arrived in a few days at it. Here he went on shore; and travelled on till he came to the towns on the lake, where he embarked on board a small boat with only four rowers. The boat was on the point of foundering during the passage, and the Indians deserting her by swimming away, he would inevitably have been lost, had not a proa, with some friendly Indians, passing by, immediately relieved him. Arriving at Manila, he received the melancholy intelligence of the death of his grandfather, on the 20th of August, 1572, accelerated much by the vexatious and multifarious duties of his office. He was interred in the church of the Augustines, with the magnificence due to his character and station.

By the death of Legaspi, the treasurer, Guido de Labezares became governor ad interim, by a decree of the Royal Audience of Mexico, and which decree was found among the papers of the deceased. A few days after Labezares had succeeded to the government, Manila suffered severely from a hurricane, which destroyed almost all the houses, these being built of canes, and drove back the two ships which had been sent to Acapulco, but which, after the storm subsided, sailed again for New Spain, carrying accounts of the death of Legaspi. The new Governor sent Colonel Martin de Goite, to reduce the revolted natives of Ylocos, which was done with little trouble, and he brought away the tribute of the king in gold, compelling them to ransom themselves, for a sum far exceeding that amount. This he was enabled so easily to do, by the exertions of Juan de Salcedo, who, at his own cost, had subdued nearly all this province, and who, as the Colonel represented, ought to be allowed to reap the fruits of his labours; but Guido de Labezares was prejudiced against him, and would not employ him until he was undeceived as to his merits. He then sent him to the conquest of the Camarines, which he effected with ease, and founded near the river of Vicol a Spanish city, calling it Santiago de Libon. He appointed as chief judge Captain Pedro de Chaves, with eighty soldiers. While Juan de Salcedo was making these conquests, the governor ad interim was exploring the whole of the Bisayas: he attempted to restrain within proper bounds the avarice of the factors, but it was without effect, as the moment he was gone they returned to their old practices. Meanwhile a ship from Acapulco arrived with three Augustine friars, men who were much required, not only for the purpose, of converting to the Christian religion, the natives of the conquered countries, but likewise to preserve the tranquillity of the different towns, and which could not be effected solely by force of arms.

When the Governor ad interim returned to Manila, he sent an embassy to the Rajah of Borneo, but without effect, as he had no wish to be on terms with the Spaniards. He likewise divided the province of Ylocos between the Colonel and Juan de Salcedo, who had been employed in that expedition. In the beginning of the year 1574, Juan de Salcedo sailed to take possession of his portion; he founded in the district of Bigan the city Fernandina, where he built a house for himself. While he was accomplishing this object, a large squadron of vessels passed by, which had taken a galeot and twenty men he had sent in search of provisions; and presuming that their intention was to attack him, he began to fortify the town, but seeing they prosecuted their route, he took it for granted they were going against Manila; and having collected together all the Spaniards he had in Ylocos, he embarked for the capital to the assistance of the Governor. This was the famous expedition of Limahon, by which Manila was nearly lost, but a short time after its foundation.

Limahon was a pirate of such renown, that the Emperor of China had sent against him three different squadrons, and he was in fact so pressed on all sides by this force, that having captured a Chinese junk coming from Manila, who informed him of the new conquests by the Spaniards, he determined to sail for this country, and be crowned King of these islands, in order to be secure, by this means, from the Emperor's attacks. He arrived at the island of Corregidor, which is in the mouth of the bay, the 29th of November 1574, with sixty-two junks, in which he brought one thousand five hundred women, two thousand soldiers, and a great many seamen, sufficient artillery, muskets, and swords. The Spaniards had no intimation of his arrival at Corregidor, and the same night his second in command, who was a Japanese of the name of Sioco, landed with six hundred men, with which he entered, and attempted to take possession of Manila. In the attempt to land his men he lost three boats, which were swamped by the surf; but he effected his object, without being at all discovered by our people. He first landed at Parañaque, supposing it to be Manila, but soon finding out his mistake, he began his march to it by the beach, his vessels following him, and at day-break he arrived at Manila, where he was discovered by the Indians. They made all haste to the Colonel, who lived close to the royal gate, where the college of St. Joseph now stands, and informed him, that there was an immense body of Moors of Borneo coming by the sea side. The Colonel, however, as he had no reason to conclude, that the Borneans considered themselves, in direct hostility with the Spaniards, gave no credit to it, till he saw the Chinese enter by the gate, close to his house. Three soldiers, who were placed as guards there, attempted to resist them, but they were soon overpowered by multitudes, and one only escaped, severely wounded.

The wife of the Colonel looking out of the window, thought they were Indians come against them, and called out, "Here the dogs come, we are all dead." The Portuguese interpreter, who accompanied Sioco, enraged at this reproachful epithet of the lady, ordered the house to be set on fire. The Colonel, who was ill, immediately on this got up, put on his armour, and unsheathing his sword, leapt out of the window in the midst of his enemies, who received him on their swords, and cut him to pieces. They killed the wife of a common soldier, whom they found in the house, and left for dead Dona Lucia Corral, the wife of the Colonel, but she afterwards recovered from her wounds. Sioco pursuing his march, encountered some Spaniards who were on their way to assist the Governor, and seeing that there were few opposed to him, he formed his men into a half moon, and charged the centre of the Spaniards. The engagement was long doubtful, when eight soldiers being killed, the rest must have shared their fate, had they not been joined by twenty more, under the command of Captain Alonso Velasquez, the aid-de-camp of General Amador de Arriaran, and Gaspar Ramirez, aid-de-camp of the Colonel, who charged the Chinese so furiously, that Sioco was obliged to retire to his boats and join Limahon, who had anchored in Cavite. Sioco justified his ill success in this action, by saying, that the people were tired by their long march along the beach, which excuse Limahon admitted, and determined on another assault on the third day. This affair having happened on St. Andrew's day, the Spaniards attributed it to the intercession of that Saint, that they had not all fallen into the hands of the Chinese, and expressed their gratitude, by choosing him patron of Manila, instituting an annual solemn feast on the occasion. Limahon's delay of the second attack, was the means of saving all, as it gave time to Juan de Salcedo, to join with his force from Ylocos. He arrived in the bay, in the night of the same day of St. Andrew, and understanding that Limahon was in Cavite, he did not attempt to enter there, but landed on the Pampanga side of the bay. The day following, in the evening, he met with two Indians, who had escaped from the engagement, and informed him of all that had happened; he immediately made sail, and entered Manila that night. When he was at the mouth of the river, he ordered the trumpets to be sounded, and placed a great number of lights about his ship, to induce the enemy to believe, the approach of considerable relief to the Spaniards, who saluted him in form, all of which caused great alarm to the Chinese. The Governor ad interim, was so pleased with the diligence of Juan de Salcedo, that he appointed him Colonel, in the room of Martin de Goite.

The same night, Limahon weighed anchor from Cavite, and pressed on to Manila, and Sioco disembarked the following morning, after having sworn by an oath to his General, that he would either die in the attempt, or that day be in possession of the house of the Governor. He directed his march to the fort, which our people had constructed of timber, faggots, and barrels of earth, and he divided his troops into three bodies. He ordered one to march down, through the principal street of the city, to the square, where he expected the Spaniards would sally out of the fort, and engage them; and in this expectation, he sent another body, by the side of the river round the fort, and the third, which he commanded himself, he led along the beach. The division which had been ordered down the principal street, arrived in the square, and in order to induce the Spaniards to sally from the fort, they set fire to the houses. Fortunately the Spaniards did not quit the fort, though they saw their houses burning, but contented themselves with playing their artillery upon the Chinese, doing a great deal of mischief. Sioco, finding that it was not possible, to draw the Spaniards from their fortifications, and having lost many of his men, ordered the division that had arrived at the square, to assault the fort, at the same time leading on his own. Such was the multitude of the Chinese, against so few on our part, that the palisade was forced, and they entered through a part, which Ensign Sancho Ortez defended, and in which he was killed, performing prodigies of valour. Immediately the Governor heard of this, he repaired to the fort, attended by the Colonel; they cut their way through the Chinese, and having entered it, repulsed the invaders with great loss. The Chinese, panic struck at this, retiring by degrees towards the shore, the Spaniards followed them close, making great slaughter among them; but, to our great misfortune, our people suddenly abandoned their advantage, at the sight of Limahon's squadron, which had just entered the river, but had not been able hitherto, to take part in the action.

Limahon observing this, ordered his ships off, in order that his men might become desperate, on finding themselves deprived of all protection from him: the contrary effect, however, was produced by it, as they were seized with such a panic, that they could not face their enemies, but formed themselves on the shore, and received the fire of our artillery, which was discharged repeatedly upon them, determined rather to wait death with firmness, than return into the engagement. In this they would have persisted, had not Limahon arrived with four hundred fresh men. As all was not lost, he ordered some of his people to burn a ship and galley, which, with a few other small vessels, were drawn up on the beach, and which, when they had destroyed the houses, they had forgot to burn with the rest, and he made a false attack on the fort, in order to compel the Spaniards to sally out, to hinder the operation. The Colonel guessed his intention: he, however, sallied out with fifty men, against those only who were proceeding to pillage the city, and put them to flight precipitately. Limahon seeing that his plan had not succeeded, having lost many men, and finding that his principal captain, Sioco, had been killed, he embarked his troops, and, under favour of the night, returned to the river Parañaque, where he killed all the Indians, he found assembled in any hostile way, and, before day-break, he set sail, and did not bring to, until he came to the province of Pangasinan; where he entered into an amicable arrangement with the chief, forming an encampment, and fortifying it with a strong palisado on an inlet of the river Lingayen. The Governor was determined to follow him into the province, but he found it necessary first to restore the fortifications of the city, and likewise to quell a sedition of the Indians, who, on this occasion, shewed how little they could be depended upon.

The natives of Manila, whilst the Spaniards were engaging the Chinese, robbed their houses and maltreated their slaves; those of Tondo killed some Sachristans belonging to a convent, and they would have done the same with the clergy, but that they could not have concealed it. Those of the island of Mindoro, however, imprisoned the friars, and took them to the mountains, where they were not bold enough to murder them, till they saw how the action with Limahon would terminate, and how things would be adjusted. Rajah Soliman and Lacandola, the chief of Manila and Tondo, apprehensive that the Governor would punish them for this ill conduct, retired to Navotas, where they fomented a rebellion. In order to quell this the Colonel, accompanied by Friar Marin, set out immediately, and when Lacandola understood they had arrived, he sent to them to request the friar would repair to a station about three leagues distant, where all the chiefs were assembled, and where they were desirous of treating of a reconciliation with the Spaniards. The friar Marin determined to proceed to the station which they mentioned, and there he met all the chiefs, who received him with much joy, but they could not be persuaded to see the Colonel. Lacandola alone abandoned his fears, in consequence of the promise the friar had made him, and left Navotas with an intention to present himself, but he found that Juan de Salcedo had returned, and directed his way to his house. Salcedo encountered two ranks of armed men on the banks of the river, near the house of Lacandola; he boldly went up to them, and took away their lances and arrows; when, Lacandola arriving, he said, "What is the meaning of this? why are these men armed?" The Indian made many excuses, and promised to wait on the Governor the day following, in company with the friar Marin. The Governor admitted the excuses, and presented Lacandola with a silk mantle and a gold chain. Won over by this treatment, Rajah Soliman, in four days, presented himself to the Governor, and the sedition was thus terminated. Captain Rivera subdued the people of Mindoro with the same facility.

The Governor being relieved from the anxiety, which the restlessness of the Indians had occasioned, determined to follow Limahon to Pangasinan. He found, on mustering, that the soldiers in Manila amounted to two hundred, and about two hundred more were scattered through the provinces of Bisayas and Camarines; from among these he manned the squadron, with two hundred and fifty Spaniards, and he added one thousand five hundred friendly Indians. On the 22d of March 1575, the Colonel sailed with this armament to Pangasinan, and, on the 29th of the same month, in the night, arrived in the river Lingayen. The day following he sent Captain Pedro de Chaves to take possession of the ships belonging to the corsair, and Captain Gabriel de Rivera to reconnoitre his fortifications. Chaves executed his commission with ease, as the Chinese fled from their ships, the moment he boarded them. Rivera attacked the works, firing upon them, and making a dreadful carnage. Limahon, observing what passed, ordered his men under cover of a grove of date trees, where they might defend themselves more easily. Captain Chaves sent assistance to Rivera, and a most sanguinary engagement commenced. Rivera at last routed the Chinese, compelling them to retire to their fort, which he would have scaled, but, finding the palisade too lofty, he had recourse to the expedient of ordering his men to rush in a body against it, formed as it was of date trees driven into the earth. This they did with such force, that they broke through, opened the gate, and entered the fort. The Chinese then retired within the second palisade, which was the quarter of Limahon. The Spaniards ought to have attacked the inner fort, before the Chinese had recovered from their panic; but their avarice prevailed, and they dispersed themselves through the different houses, which had been built within the first palisade, plundering them, without attempting any thing else. Limahon was not slow in taking advantage of this error of the Spaniards, and, attacking them with four hundred men, he drove them out of the works with great loss, thus paying dearly for the indulgence of their habits of plunder. Ashamed of this defeat, our people returned a second time to the assault, when they retook the first line of works, but being unable to force the inner one, they burnt the houses of the Chinese, and going on board their boats, they retired to where Pedro de Chaves was posted. Here, finding one of the junks unserviceable, she was set fire to, and a retreat of the whole body was made good, to the post where the Colonel was stationed, with the rest of the armament.

Juan de Salcedo, convinced of the difficulty of taking the fort by storm, and desirous of being as sparing as possible, of the lives of his Spaniards, considering the difficulties they had to encounter, determined on attempting to reduce Limahon by fair means. Having in his army a Chinese who had been established in Manila, he ordered him to write to Limahon; but this letter having no effect, he wrote a second to the same purpose. Limahon replied, that he was considered a savage tiger, whom all were desirous of catching; but he assured them, that he should either kill them, or they him. The Chinese, therefore, thus declining every amicable proposal, the Colonel resolved to throw up works near to their works, but at such a distance as to be without the range of the enemy's artillery. Upon his beginning accordingly to pitch his camp, however, a shot was fired which passed close to him, and wounded his aid-de-camp in the leg, affording him a convincing proof that their artillery could reach all over the small island. It was, therefore, deemed necessary to remove the camp to another position, and to blockade the mouth of the river to prevent Limahon from escaping, until the Governor of Manila should determine, whether he would have the works taken by assault, or that, by means of a blockade, the Chinese should be starved into submission. Upon this retreat of the Spaniards, Limahon collected the remaining fragments of the junks, which had been burnt, and with these built some boats within the fort. Four months passed in this manner, when, finding he had no other resource, Limahon opened a canal to the river, and, in the night, escaped with all his people in the small vessels he had constructed. To deceive the Spaniards, and conquer the difficulties opposed to him in the mouth of the river, he set fire to a few small vessels filled with combustibles, and, ordering a false attack to be made on the guard, he, in the meantime, escaped; and, without any obstruction, on the 3d of August 1575, prosecuted his voyage. During these transactions between Juan de Salcedo and Limahon, the Augustine friars held a chapter, and appointed priests in the towns of Candaba and Macabebe, in the province of Pampanga, in Bizan, in the province of Ylocos, and in the island of Negros. They were not satisfied with the innumerable converts, they made in these islands, but they became desirous of attempting the spiritual conquest of the empire of China. There was at that time in Manila, a Chinese of the name of Aumon, who had been sent by the viceroy of Fouquien, in search of Limahon, to promise him pardon, on the part of the Emperor of China, if he would cease his depredations. This Chinese had been to Pangasinan, and told Juan de Salcedo, that he wished to see the pirate; but as Salcedo distrusted the nature of his mission, Aumon deemed it prudent to return to Manila, where he paid his court so well to the Governor, that he delivered him up fifty captives which had been taken from Limahon. Aumon was now desirous of returning to China, and the Augustine friars conceived this would be a good opportunity, to attempt an establishment there. With this view they endeavoured to persuade him, to take two friars under his protection, which request the Governor seconded; and, as the news of Salcedo's success against Limahon had, by this time, reached them, Aumon determined to comply with the request. The friars Martin de Rada, and Geronimo Marin, were nominated for this undertaking, and, at the same time, as ambassadors from the Governor, were the bearers of a letter to the Viceroy of Fouquien, and another to the Emperor, which they were ordered to deliver to the Viceroy, as their directions were not to proceed beyond that point. But as it was intended, that these religious should remain in the province of Fouquien, to propagate the Christian faith, two Spaniards were sent to bring back the answer to the embassy. They left Manila on the 2d of July 1575, and before they returned, the new Governor of these islands arrived.