Chapter 4

On the twenty-fifth of February of the current year, 1605, there arrived in the port of Cabite a ship from Nueva Hespaña, and in it Brother Gaspar Gomez of the Society of Jesus, with news of the decision which had been reached regarding the matter of Maluco; the order for this military service also came. There were, besides, in the said vessel about two hundred infantry, in two companies, of those who are to go on the expedition. Their arrival was very seasonable and caused much rejoicing in these islands, because it occurred at a time when we had received news by way of Macan that an army was being prepared in China to come here. [4]

The diligence shown by the viceroy of Nueva Hespaña in despatching these advices, and informing me of the condition of the embarcations there, was of great value in assisting me to prepare some necessary supplies; for nearly everything has to be obtained from different provinces, while some supplies must be imported from distant kingdoms, as China and Japon. Hence time is requisite for this purpose--and, indeed, even more than we have; but all will be made ready although with some difficulty.

The master-of-camp, Juan de Esquivel, arrived at the opening of the strait of Capul June 11, and came to Cabite June 17, after having disembarked the forces in the port of Ybalon--where he received my order to do this, and found ships in which to send them on to the island of Panay, where provisions for them are provided. The number of troops who have come with the master-of-camp are six hundred and fifty men, including thirty who came afterwards in a small vessel which had been left behind. These men had gone from Acapulco to Tehuantepeque for four pieces of artillery which were cast in Nueba Hespaña for this expedition.

The forces for which I asked from Nueva Hespaña for this undertaking were one thousand five hundred men, including sailors and soldiers. As for the five hundred who have served in old companies and are not altogether new recruits, I was told by the master-of-camp, that those from his regiment are for the most part good soldiers. What I can assert is, that the troops in the two companies who arrived first, and the troops of the master-of-camp who are here, have satisfied me very well. From this garrison and from the paid soldiers as large a force will be formed as can be spared, in order to leave matters here with a safe guard; since on account of the importance of this enterprise I must, if God gives me health, go on this expedition in person. I intend to take with me some Panpango Indians and some Indians from this region, among whom there are many good arquebusiers and musketeers. In company with Spaniards, they prove to be very good soldiers.

I asked for five hundred quintals of powder; and your Majesty informed me that the viceroy would send them. Although he did not send the whole amount, two hundred and thirty-five quintals of powder and a hundred quintals of saltpetre arrived. We shall be obliged to use what there is in the royal magazines here, that we may not lack so necessary a thing; yet the whole is but little.

The said viceroy wrote me that the troops came paid for a year, and that from the wages of the troops he had retained sixty-five pesos in the case of each soldier. The total amount is forty thousand pesos, which sum was sent under registry on the account and at the risk of the said forces. This is a piece of excellent foresight; for if the total amount of wages had been paid, as is customary, they would have gambled and spent the whole in two days, and would be in need the whole year, from which great evils would follow. For the expedition the viceroy sent sixty thousand pesos, without considering that the treasury here is in such a state that, even if the whole amount should be paid into it on account of these islands, there would not be enough to pay unavoidable debts and the loans which have been taken throughout a whole year from private persons, some of which were granted on my credit. I was expecting some good quantity of money on a separate account; and I also hoped for the ordinary soldiers who are sent every year to supply the places of those who are drowned and those who die of disease and in battle. We are continually waging war in one province or another, and sometimes at home. But I have been disappointed in all this, and must expend my efforts to get on as best I can, using some methods to prevent the service of your Majesty from failure.

As soon as I was informed that your Majesty would be pleased to command this expedition to be undertaken, I began on the very day when I arrived here to busy myself with the preparation of the materials and other things necessary to build the galleys and also to keep them in proper condition. I regard them as the most effective means of defense for this kingdom, on account of the causes which I have previously written to your Majesty. Accordingly, I have five equipped. The flagship has twenty-two benches, the second in command [_patrona_] and another have nineteen each, and two others seventeen each. One of these two which have seventeen will be launched within a fortnight, and has the necessary supply of rowers. These vessels are not made larger, being thus more suitable for these regions, because there are many shoals here; and when they are of this size they are sufficient for the contests which they have to carry on with the oared vessels employed by the enemy Another reason is the advantage of keeping down the number of rowers and reducing the expenses, as I have written your Majesty. These galleys have turned out very well, because I found here a good foreman; and although he died a few days ago, I have had the good fortune to find a second, a Genovese, a good workman. He is well known in Cartagena, where he built a galley. I have met with much opposition from the archbishop and from the licentiate Don Antonio de Rivera Maldonado, auditor of this royal Audiencia. If I had had to follow the opinion of either of them so that they could restrain my hand, the first stick of wood would still have to be worked. God knows what I have had to undergo in this, and what I am still undergoing; and He knows the evil results which follow from such a state of things in a region so distant from your Majesty, when those persons undertake to correct matters of war, and to meddle with them, who do not understand them and have nothing to do with them.

I expect to take with me on the expedition four of these galleys, and a vessel which has arrived here just now from Acapulco, which was made here and has capacity to carry a large amount of troops and provisions; it is of seven hundred toneladas. This vessel I will have fitted and put in good order. I expect also to take another of moderate size, of two hundred and fifty toneladas, which I have had built in the province of Camarines. I shall have three Moro ships from Perú. These will be very light, the largest being of a hundred and fifty toneladas, and the other two of a hundred and thirty each, more or less. Thus in all there will be five, in addition to seven brigantines and five lorchas, vessels built after the fashion of China and Japon. These are very good with both oar and sail, and have greater capacity and accommodation for carrying provisions than any other kind of vessels with which oars are used.

I expect that this expedition will include the foregoing vessels and galleys on account of your Majesty; and that in addition there will go seven or eight other ships belonging to private encomenderos and other persons. These will be ships of moderate size, with a high freeboard, in which their owners will take a quantity of biscuit, rice, wine, meat, and other supplies; these will be of great assistance, since a number of volunteers will go. This provision made by private persons is of considerable usefulness, and on that account I have had it made. To induce them to go it is absolutely necessary to encourage them to it, and to urge upon them the service which they will render to your Majesty. This I have had to undertake, since in view of the losses and misfortunes which they have suffered, they are poor and discouraged. They finally volunteered to go with a good will, and their going will be an assistance of no little consequence; as a result of it, I am certain that we shall have provisions for more than a year.

I have commanded the whole of this body of vessels to assemble in the island of Panay, at the town and port of Oton, where the infantry is on shore. When they have assembled there they will proceed, and I will leave this city after the day of St. Francis, taking advantage of the north winds. I shall attend to whatever shall be necessary there, and get it all in order by the end of January or the beginning of February. That is the season best suited for the voyage to Maluco. It will then be most likely that we shall have the benefit of the monsoon which is likely to blow with gentle and favorable brisas. In this way I shall not be forced off my course by vessels with a high freeboard; this accident happens very often, because of the great number of currents among these islands. I have no doubt that we shall encounter some vessels from Olanda and Gelanda, and more this year than others, since this is the year of the clove monsoon more than the two previous years; for in the third year the clove-trees bear much more heavily. The fruit is like olives, and the trees resemble olive-trees in their leaves and in their size, as I am told. [5] I had further information from Enrique de Castro, a Fleming, a native of Amberes [_i.e._, Anvers?], a man of good reputation, able to speak several languages, and very sensible; he told me that he came as a soldier in one of the companies brought by the despatch-boat which reached here February 25. He said that he had left Olanda fifteen months before, from the city of Nostradama [_i.e._, Amsterdam]; and that there, and in another city in the same country of Olanda, they were preparing twelve or thirteen large vessels with the purpose of coming to the Yndias. He was told that they were to seize Ambueno and the Maluca Islands, and that they were carrying a large number of men, besides lime and cut stone in ballast, to make a fortress. I am much afraid that this is true, because of what I have previously written to your Majesty with reference to the advices which I have received from the king of Tidore. He states that the king of Terrenate had sent to invite the Dutch, offering to permit them to build a fort and a factory in his country, in order to make them willing to assist him against the said king of Tidore, against the Portuguese, and against us. Accordingly the forts there and in Ambueno are in danger. The one at Tidore is a matter for jest; and the commandants, as well as the commanders of galleons, think of nothing but merchandise and of making their fortunes. The same thing is true throughout the whole of Yndia. If this news should prove true, there would be much difficulty in this enterprise. May God turn all things well for His cause.

The forces of the regiment of the master-of-camp, Esquibel, have received their pay for a year in advance, as the viceroy informs me by his letter. At the present time more than half the year has passed, and by the time they leave Oton the whole year will have been completed. Inasmuch as in the order for this expedition which your Majesty commanded to be given, I noticed that the Marques de Montes Claros was directed, in case the forces should be retained in the service of your Majesty for a longer period than the said year, to send me money to pay them in case I advised him thereof, it seemed well to me to advise him of this matter immediately, and to tell him that during the coming year he should send me what is needed for a thousand men in addition to the sea force. It is plain that this will be necessary for by the time that the fleet leaves these islands the [soldiers'] year will be at an end. I therefore beseech your Majesty to be pleased to give him imperative commands to fulfil this requirement; since soldiers in a country of enemies, and so far from their own country, serve badly if they are in need. Thus many important opportunities might be lost, and even considerable disadvantages might be experienced without there being any possibility of remedying them. If the enterprise turns out prosperously--as by the grace of God I hope it will--I expect that it will provide the means for maintaining the conquest, for paying all the expenses which have been and shall be incurred, and for affording a large quantity of cash surplus in addition to the expenses, besides repairing the losses incident to this affair. In particular, I think that to drive the enemy from the Maluca Islands and from the inlands of Banda will be of great advantage for our affairs in Flandes, since the rebels of Olanda and Gelanda harvest the product of these islands and draw from them great wealth, by means of which they carry on war and become rich. I, therefore, again beseech you to be pleased to give commands that this expedition may be adequately provided with supplies. I also beg that what is necessary for the expenses of the fleet and for other requisite objects may likewise be sent. I further request that for the regular expenses of the government a liberal supply may be placed in the treasury of the islands on a separate account, since the treasury is so needy and so heavily burdened with obligations.

Weapons and gunpowder are always opportune, and generally the lack of these causes a great deal of trouble. I accordingly beg your Majesty to be pleased to command that as large an amount thereof as possible may be sent, and that the forces at Manila may also be supplied. I suggest that although what is now of most importance, and what must primarily be considered, is merely the regaining of the fort and island of Terrenate, still the care and attention which will be necessary to protect and sustain the conquest, at least for the first few years, will not be small. During that time it will be necessary for us to keep it under control with arms in our hands. We shall have contests every day with the natives of the country, and likewise with the Dutch, who will not at once be willing to abandon it without testing the defense which it can offer, for the reasons which they publish there and in the other Maluca Islands, and in the islands of Banda. With regard to this matter I have written to your Majesty. We must be on the watch everywhere, making Terrenate our center.

By the first section of the orders which your Majesty was pleased to command to have sent to me for this expedition, it appears that the captains who come on the expedition receive sixty ducados a month and the privates eight, whether they were recruited in Hespaña or in Nueva Hespaña. I was commanded that if this rate of payment for the soldiers might be moderated in view of what is paid the soldiers here who are of the same rank, I should reduce it, but with fairness. I have to state that the pay of a private in this garrison is six pesos a month. This is little, in view of the fact that the country is incomparably more expensive than when their rate of pay was fixed, as I have previously written your Majesty. The eight ducados which the soldiers of the expedition receive is high pay; and accordingly, in my judgment, it would be well to pay the infantry in both forces at the rate of eight pesos (of eight reals) a month, in addition to the thirty ducados of extra pay which are allowed every company in Hespaña and other regions. I should advise that the captains of both forces should be paid at the rate of fifty pesos, the ensigns at twenty pesos, and the sergeants at the rate of ten, as they are now paid here. The captains here receive only thirty-five pesos, while those of the expedition are paid sixty ducados, which amount to eighty-two pesos and six reals. Your Majesty will give such commands as you shall be pleased to issue. Until we receive the decision of your royal will in this matter, the accounts of the members of the expedition will not be closed. May our Lord keep the Catholic and royal person of your Majesty, as Christendom has need. Manila, July 1, 1605.

_Don Pedro de Acuña_

[_Endorsed:_ "The requests in this letter were honored, in virtue of advice given to his Majesty by the council, August 5, 1606."]

Sire:

In two ships which left here for Nueba Hespaña last year, 1604, General, Don Diego de Mendoca, of my order, [6] wrote to your Majesty in duplicate, giving information of all the events which had happened here. It pleased God that the flagship should return to port, after having suffered from a tempest during which it was obliged to cut off the mainmast. It returned to this port today, four months after it had left it, although without any loss of the property which it carried, [_Marginal note_: "Let him be informed that this letter has been received and that the council has been advised of what he reports."]

The ship "San Antonio," the almiranta, which left port first, has not been heard from up to the present time. It is regarded as certain that it was lost, by having struck upon some desolate island or some shoals as it was driven by the tempest. A few days before the arrival of the flagship, there were seen on the coast of this island opposite Manila, and on the Babuyanes, which are some islands in the province of Cagayan, a quantity of bales of cloth from the lading of the almiranta. It is accordingly inferred that the ship was lost on its way to port here, during some very severe storms which took place during that season and in that region. Still, some hopes were entertained that it might have made its way to Nueva España, although with a very small amount of cloth; but these hopes were lost with the coming of the two ships on which arrived the master-of-camp, Juan Desquivel, and the officers of the expedition for Maluco. These vessels, having left Acapulco on the twenty-second of March, reached Cavite on the seventeenth of the present month, and reported that they had no news of the said almiranta. This has been a very great loss and one which has thrown this kingdom into almost incredible misery. The return of the flagship has added to its wretchedness, because the citizens have nothing from which to obtain money from Nueva España, since their goods have not arrived there. The documents which were sent in the flagship last year go in it again; and in this ship I send duplicates, which your Majesty may give commands to be shown to you.

The matter of the payment of the Indian tributes was settled by the Audiencia, by me, and by the archbishop and the religious orders, in conformity with the directions given me by your Majesty. The assessment which was made accompanies this letter; and therewith will cease many wrongs which have been inflicted upon the natives, and the encomenderos and collectors can satisfy their consciences, if they desire. [_Marginal note_: "Let this section be filed with the papers which gave occasion to it, and with the report which has been sent, and let the whole be delivered to the fiscal."]

By a royal decree of your Majesty, dated October twenty-fifth of last year, 1603, I was advised that your Majesty had given commands for permission to be granted to the mariscal Graviel de Rivera that, in spite of the fact that he has Indians in encomienda on these islands, he may be permitted to live in the City of Mexico, where he is at present, for two years, on condition that during that period he shall maintain eight musketeers in this garrison at his own expense. I was enjoined to fulfil this command and to see to it that the musketeers should be serviceable men. On the part of the said mariscal, the fulfilment of this decree was demanded, the aforesaid permission being presented; and, although I answered the demand of the mariscal by stating to him the condition of affairs in the island, I have thought best to refer the matter to your Majesty. As soon as I arrived in these islands to undertake my office, I was handed the instructions given to the governor and captain-general who had previously filled them, Don Francisco Tello de Guzman. By section 47 of these directions, it was ordained and commanded that if, when the said Don Francisco Tello should have arrived at Nueva España, the said mariscal should not have returned to the said islands, his encomiendas should be confiscated and should be assigned to others, without permitting reply or excuse; and if any other procedure was followed it was directed that it should be held as null and void. I made inquiries to find out if the said Don Francisco Tello had complied herewith. I discovered that, although he found the said mariscal in Mexico, he had not complied with the commands given by the said section, but that he had brought him with him to this city, and in a short time had given him permission to return to Nueva Hespaña for three years, under color of having business to do for this city. I also found that the said mariscal had appealed to the Audiencia, affirming that the time was too short, and I learned that he received license to remain for an additional year, making four in all. In truth, however, the power of attorney held by the said mariscal had been revoked by the city before he left it in the year 1600. Upon this, I wrote to the said mariscal in Mexico that, since he was aware of the decree of his Majesty with regard to his absence, he should return to fulfil the duty of residence to which he was obliged in these islands, as soon as the time of his license had expired. If he should go beyond the period allowed, I informed him that his encomiendas would be vacated and would be assigned to others. Since he has not fulfilled the requirement of residence, and since the said term is at an end, therefore, in virtue of the said section of the instructions and in fulfilment of what is decreed by another and separate royal decree, I have commanded that the encomiendas should be vacated, and that one of them, the encomienda of Bonbon, should be granted to General Don Juan Rronquillo del Castillo, a man whose merits, services, and abilities are known to all. This encomienda is at the present time in his possession. The income from the other encomiendas I have commanded to be placed in the royal treasury, which is being done. As for the report of the said mariscal, made to me in Mexico, that he was there with the permission of the Audiencia and governor on business for the city, I wrote your Majesty, in a letter on the second of November of the year 1601, that it seemed to me proper for permission to reside in Nueva España to be given him, in view of his services and age, since he was serving with eight musketeers in defense of this country. After I arrived here and saw how this matter had been arranged, in view of the aforesaid facts, and of the great inconvenience which results from the non-residence of encomenderos in this country, I vacated the said encomiendas, as it seemed to me that your Majesty would not be served by giving a dispensation to the said mariscal in this matter; and I would not have made the report which I made in Mexico if I had previously seen the documents. [_Marginal note_: "Let this be filed with the papers which deal with this matter."]